All best buy items are marked as Best Bottle in my wine diary.  Best buy selections are arranged by varietal.  I will add categories as they are needed.

Enjoy!

Several areas along California's long central coast, from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, have been recognized for their wine growing potential in the last 15 years.  One of the late "discoveries" has been Paso Robles, in San Louis Obispo County.  J. Lohr is one of the best labels I know of from the area.  I've always thought of it as a restaurant wine, just because during my time at Glazers it was on a bunch of great wine lists and had very little retail exposure.  Restaurants love that because the insane mark-up is less transparent.    But a value this good can't stay a secret forever.

The Seven Oaks Cab is a big, robust wine.  Julie rightly pointed out the flavor of spicy green pepper.  While this was a great wine to drink, I think a couple more years in the bottle will do great things for it.

During the late 80s European and American wine makers began to see Chile as a wine growing region of tremendous potential.  Wine has been made in Chile for more than 400 years, but new planting and foreign investment in modern production methods dramatically increased the quality.  

When Chilean wines hit the world wine market they quickly established reputation for quality at low prices.  Los Vascos, controlled and part owned by France's Baron Lafite Rothschild, is one of the best examples of fine Bordeaux style reds made in Chile: great tannins, subtle berry flavor, rich aroma.  Don't let the price fool you, this is a winner.

You know the old saying: "if something looks too good to be true, it probably is."  And a Napa Cab (any Napa Cab) for $10 doesn't seem quite right.  But I'm an eternal optimist (when it comes to red wine) and had to give it a try.  Good thing that I did.  This was a good drink.  Lots going on in the glass, and a flavor that opened up over several minutes.  Not the greatest Cab ever, but a very real wine.  

Coyote Creek is new to me; definitely not a brand that has had any retail expose in the Houston market in the last five years.  A bit of a mystery too.  Their web site makes no mention of any Napa wines, only Paso Robles.  Still, there it was, on the shelf.  Napa Cab...  ten bucks...  powerful red...  how can you beat that?

A personal note:  Last week I was in California, interviewing for a marketing job at E&J Gallo.  I was excited by the prospect of returning to the wine industry.  Sadly, I was not selected for the position.  If anyone I spoke to at Gallo reads this, it's my "no hard feelings" review.

Rancho Zabaco is a neat brand concept.  Gallo describes it as "Zin-centric".  Much like Ravenswood, Zabaco bottles other wines but focuses on a line of Zinfandels, including California, Sonoma, Russian River Valley, and even single vineyard appellations.  This "Heritage Vines" bottle is the mid-tier Zin, and it is a real bang for the buck wine.  As loyal readers know, I'm a big fan of big Zins.  This one certainly qualifies with all the flavors right where they should be.  Rich, tart, fruity, spicy.  A great buy.

This is a great wine wine at a great price.  Wholefoods is really starting to stand out in my mind for just that.  I love the Rhone, and all its imitators from California to South Africa to Australia.  This is a fun bottle with bold peppery spiciness and a pungent flavor of raspberries.  Worth looking for.

I'm a sucker for a clever wine label (Bonny Doon's 'Critique of Pure Riesling' comes to mind).  What a disappointing wine snob I can sometimes be. Goats do Roam is a play on the French Cotes du Rhone appellation (a favorite of mine) so I couldn't resist trying it.  Besides, on May 9 I spoke so poorly about a South African wine, but promised to review a better one soon.

Goats do Roam is a very pleasant wine.  It has a rich black cherry, coffee and tobacco flavor.  Very rich.  Despite its great taste and texture we didn't finish the bottle after opening it; and I thought the wine tasted even better the next night.   A combination of traditional Rhone varietals and South Africa's own Pinotage clone.  Very tastey...  and a cute label... 

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed an Argentine Malbec (May 14) very favorably.  This is another excellent red from the same region, but the similarities end there.  While Malbec is Argentina's signature wine, this Syrah is almost an homage to the French Rhone style.  The peppery, cedar spice and the tannic, yet thin texture are typical of Chateauneuf-du-Pape that sell for $18-20.  Henry LeGarde has been making wine for more than 100 years (of solitude, ha!) in the Mendoza valley, Argentina's finest wine growing region.  There 97 Syrah was made entirely from estate-grown grapes.  A very romantic, traditional bottle of wine.

I admit it, I've always wanted to try Jacob's Creek just because of the name.  But I never did.  It was not a brand I sold, and I felt a little silly buying a bottle out of sheer vanity.  Well, my father-in-law saved me the trouble.  He saw it a Sam's, and had no trouble at all buying it...  Just because of the name!

I like Australian wines and I like Shiraz.  I even like trying to say Shiraaaaaz like the Aussies do.  Norma made a leg of lamb, and what could be more appropriate?  They're just silly with sheep down under.  The lush texture and spicy flavor were great with all the garlic and rosemary.  I might even buy another bottle for my self, but not just for the name.

Back so soon?  (see Oct. 4 review)  Yeah, I was so impressed with this humble Crianza that I had to grab another bottle.  Back in my days at the wine company I got in the habit (probably a bad habit) of stowing a bottle of wine along on business trips.  It can actually be pretty nice to relax in a hotel room, sip a little red and watch HBO.  It's cheaper than drinking in the lobby bar...  that's for damn sure.  

This time I was hanging out in the Posada Royale in Simi Valley, on a visit to our Moorpark office.  I only got through half the bottle while watching Proof of Life with Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan.  Not a bad flick, but it had been a long day and I was due to give a presentation the next morning.

The Argentines make some great red wine.  It makes perfect sense; they eat more beef per capita than any other country.  Malbec is not yet a well known grape in the US.  Cahores, a tiny commune in southern France, makes a Malbec wine.  In Bordeaux it is widely used, but only in small amounts to add color when reds are too light.  But the Argentine wine makers have embraced it as their own. Malbec is their unique statement, much like Zinfandel is in California.  

Malbec makes a dark, almost black-red, wine.  Bad Malbec is terrible, like having dirty shag carpet in your mouth.  But good Malbec is rich and tannic, lush and robust.  This bottle from Alta Vista is killer.  Merlot smooth with Cabernet bite.  

Note: There are some great Argentine wines available now.  Look for Mendoza on the label, a high, mountainous region known for excellent reds.

Ok, ok...  I'm as surprised as the rest of you to be talking about Action Jackson.  I was a bit embarrassed to even buy a KJ product, but I'm a sucker for blends, and it's two of my favorite grapes.  But I'm always looking to try something new, plus the price was right.

I found the Collage to have a lot more body than I expected, and a good, peppery, Rhone-like flavor.  It didn't have that "hot in the mouth" feel associated with "Zin under ten".  Julie enjoyed it too, although I drank most of the bottle and went to bed happy.

I hate to say it, but KJ really made a good wine this time.  There is also a Collage Cab-Shiraz, and I may have to give it a try.

I like Merlot on occasion, but finding a good one at a reasonable price is harder than it is with, say, a Cabernet.  But I love Bogle's Petite Syrah, so I was willing to give their Merlot a try.  It was very nice.  Much more complexity than I expect from a $10 Merlot, and it didn't have that annoying grape-jelly flavor so common in young Merlots.  An excellent pick, but I can't take credit for this one.  My mom served it to us, and it made for a very good drink.

Julie and I picked this bottle up remembering the romance of our trip to Portugal last summer.  Vinho Verde is a white wine made in northern Portugal.  The name, meaning green wine, refers to the fact that it is drunk young, usually one or two years old.  They drink it everywhere over there.  This is not a serious wine.  It has a scant 9% alcohol, a light texture, slight effervescence, and a refreshing, almost thirst-quenching flavor.  Dry and every-so-slightly fruity, Vinho Verde tastes more like Fresca than anything else.  A summer wine, an afternoon wine, a swimming pool wine, an "I can't believe I drank a whole bottle" wine.  Try one. 

Cory McNinch and Keryth Mendelow both came over for dinner tonight, and we had some fine, fine food and wine, let me tell you!  

I don't like Chardonnay!  And let me tell you why:  most of the Chardonnay I taste is either from California, or it is mimicking the Cal. style.  I hate fat, buttery, peaches and cream Chard.  That's why I love the steely, flinty, crisp flavor of white Burgundy.  I also have learned that the same lean Chardonnay flavors can be found in the cold climate Chards of Oregon and Washington.  This one's a winner; crisp, acidic, lively.  Amazing that a '95 was still so clean and refreshing.  A good drink and a great food wine.