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We tried cheap bottles of chardonnay from five popular brands to see which one tastes the best.
Woodbridge was the clear loser, since it had a very unpleasant aftertaste.
Trader Joe's Charles Shaw was in the middle of the pack because it was tasty, but also seemed a little watered down.
Yellow Tail came in first place because it had a very pleasant flavor, and tasted like quality wine.
2018-05-23
Nothing beats a delicious glass of wine after a long day at work.
However, a good bottle of wine is expensive — but does it need to be?
I, along with five of my co-workers, put five inexpensive bottles of chardonnay to the test to see which one tasted the best as part of an ongoing INSIDER taste test series. In the past, we've compared everything from ice cream and fried chicken to cheap beer.
We bought all five bottles in New York City and spent anywhere from $2.99 to $11.99 per bottle. We performed our taste test blind to ensure that our ranking was not influenced by brand loyalty.
We compared each of the brands based on three categories: Flavor, quality, and aftertaste, ranking each bottle out of 30 points in total.
The brands we tried included:
Woodbridge
Barefoot
Cupcake
Yellow Tail
Trader Joe's Charles Shaw
Keep scrolling to see our thoughts and how each bottle ranked.
We sampled five popular but inexpensive chardonnays: Woodbridge, Barefoot, Charles Shaw, Cupcake, and Yellow Tail.
So much wine.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Chardonnay is the most popular and widely-bought white wine in the world, though what it tastes like depends on were it's grown.
First up was a 2016 chardonnay from Woodbridge.
Woodbridge.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
We were really disappointed by Woodbridge and ended up giving it 8/30 points.
Bottoms up.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Woodbridge's chardonnay had a really overbearing and slightly sour flavor. Some might call it "floral." One taste tester even proclaimed it reminded her of drinking Franzia, while another said she could feel it go all the way down her throat. The general consensus was that this wine had an unpleasant flavor, but an even worse aftertaste.
Price: $7.99 per bottle
Flavor: 3/10
Quality: 3/10
Aftertaste: 2/10
Overall: 8/30
Next we tried a 2014 chardonnay from Barefoot. The brand is very popular among cheap wine connoisseurs, so we were curious to see how it would stack up.
Barefoot.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
We liked Barefoot and gave it 22/30 points.
Barefoot was good.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Barefoot was very smooth and fruity. It was also much sweeter than Woodbridge, in a good way. One taste tester even said it tasted like juice. Overall, this wine was pleasant to sip on and had a less strong aftertaste.
Price: $6.99 per bottle
Flavor: 8/10
Quality: 6/10
Aftertaste: 8/10
Overall: 22/30
Up next was Cupcake's 2014 chardonnay. Cupcake was slightly more expensive than the other bottles and had aged longer, so we had high hopes.
Cupcake.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Our hopes for Cupcake were quickly shattered. We ended up giving it 10/30 points.
The Cupcake chardonnay had a bad smell and aftertaste.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
We were disappointed in Cupcake. One taste tester said, "If a waiter poured this for me at a restaurant, I would send it back." Others agreed and said the color and smell was off, and that it had a bad aftertaste.
On the plus side, this wine tasted more oaky than the others (apparently, it's aged in American oak for nine months), so if that's a taste you like in a wine, you may really enjoy this one. It definitely wouldn't be a crowdpleaser though.
Price: $11.99 per bottle
Flavor: 3/10
Quality: 4/10
Aftertaste: 3/10
Overall: 10/30
The brightly colored Yellow Tail 2016 chardonnay bottle was next.
Yellow Tail.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
We ranked Yellow Tail really highly, with 26/30 points.
We loved Yellow Tail.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Yellow Tail's chardonnay had a very smooth and pleasant, citrusy flavor with hints of vanilla that left a nice aftertaste. One taste tester said, "If you said it was a $20 bottle of wine, I'd believe you."
Price: $7.99 per bottle
Flavor: 9/10
Quality: 8/10
Aftertaste: 9/10
Overall: 26/30
Trader Joe's Charles Shaw 2015 chardonnay was the cheapest, at only $2.99 per bottle.
Trader Joe's Charles Shaw.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Trader Joe's Charles Shaw was a solid middle-of-the-pack contender with 20/30 points.
Charles Shaw got the job done.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
This wine was the sweetest one we tried, though it tasted a tad watery. You could taste a little oak here too.
We decided that although it's not the best wine, it is definitely not the worst wine either, and is actually a pretty nice and refreshing palette cleanser. For only $2.99, it is a cheap way to please a crowd, or even just yourself.
Price: $2.99 per bottle
Flavor: 5/10
Quality: 6/10
Aftertaste: 9/10
Overall: 20/30
After a lot of sipping and deliberating, we felt we had a clear winner...
Which one is the best?INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Yellow Tail was our number one.
Yellow Tail ranked #1.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
Here's our complete ranking:
1. Yellow Tail
2. Barefoot
3. Trader Joe's Charles Shaw
4. Cupcake
5. Woodbridge
Barefoot come in second, and Trader Joe's Charles Shaw placed third.
Yellow Tail is the king of cheap chardonnay.INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
If you are looking for a good, cheap bottle of wine, we recommend Yellow Tail, Barefoot, and Trader Joe's Charles Shaw.
Don't buy Cupcake unless you like an oaky flavor, and no matter what type of wine you generally like, you're better off skipping Woodbridge.
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Ciara graduated from Wake Forest University with a B. A. in Communication & Media Studies. Although she was born and raised in Houston, Texas, she has been to over 23 countries and on four continents including South America, North America, Europe, and Asia. Ciara can now be found eating her way through New York City.
