A few months back, I received a unique shipment of wine samples from the Scotto Cellars portfolio. Disclaimer: Samples means these wines were free for me to review. This fifth-generation winemaking family based in Lodi, California, has impressed me with their range of offerings, from the Scotto Family Cellars’ delicious, soft 2013 Malbec to the
Read more

The First Vine Red Wine Blend (Sonoma, CA) is one cheap glass of wine. But there are times when you know only a cheap wine will do. Those times are when you don’t care what you’re drinking — you just want something vaguely alcoholic in your throat and so you should not spend much money
Read more

Seigneurs de Bergerac 2010 Rouge Bergerac, France This red wine blend of French varietals has a nose full of leather and strong, jammy plum and cherry. Some vanilla rises up as well when sniffing. When sipping, it strikes me as very smooth with plenty of spice and chocolate. It comes across as Mexican in savoriness,
Read more

Wild Vines Blackberry Merlot This is a cheap, cheap wine purchase. I’m pretty sure it cost me a whopping $3.50. What can I say? A fruit wine sounded fun while perusing the shelves at Kroger. It’s very purple with red highlights, like a Mr. Sketch grape-scented marker. But little grape makes it into the swallow
Read more

Cocobon 2010 Red Wine California   This is one of those wines I selected based on the label design, and I’m not ashamed. Look at how pretty that brown and beige label is! I love it. The taste ends on mildly sweetened cranberries, and it starts with milk chocolate and pomegranate seeds. Those fruit flavors
Read more

Napa River Napa County Merlot 2008 Napa Valley, CA I can’t pick anything up from the nose of this merlot, but I’m not complaining. It’s a delicious wine. It’s thin-bodied, very smooth, and just to the right of dry. The prominent berry flavors are present in equal parts of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry like a
Read more