Bandit Wines Cabernet Sauvignon California Bandit Wines is a boxed wine company that you can find on Safeway’s lowest shelf. I haven’t had much boxed wine in my life. But when I tap into the foodie party line, I hear from craft enthusiasts that beer in a can has no metallic aftertaste and that boxed
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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
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2011 Green Fin Cabernet Sauvignon California In the tradition of Trader Joe’s wine, the exact region in California these grapes hail from is murky, but that’s all part of the mystery, right? This Cab smells of berry and nothing else. Thin- to medium-bodied, barely there sweet anise and leather notes come out right away then
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Red Diamond Shiraz 2009 Washington State This Shiraz has the most interesting nose I’ve smelled in a while. It’s full of leather and juicy blackberry. The wine itself is much thinner than expected for a Shiraz, but it’s nicely matured. Blackberry swoops up then is replaced with whipped cream and spices. Pink peppercorn, a hint
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Primal Roots 2010 Red Blend Acampo, California I love blends. They make me happier than wines primarily made of one grape. Together, the blend is smoother, more drinkable, although I assume an argument can be made that they lose character along the way. That may be the case with the Primal Roots 2010 Red Blend.
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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,
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Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Tawny Port Portugal I failed to take a picture of this tawny port before I recycled the bottle. Somehow, I think you’ll make do. What you won’t do with is not recognizing what tawny means, which I just discovered while researching this post. Tawny ports are ports aged for long enough
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Castelmaure Corbières Col des Vents 2008 Languedoc, South France   This red wine’s nose is full of jammy blackberry-fruit-leather notes. It smells warm, with a smidge of potpourri essence to it. Aeration is important for appreciating this wine—-it tastes far too tight and tart without it, like cranberry and eucalyptus. Given some airing, the tartness
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Col di Sasso Cabernet Sauvignon & Sangiovese Blend 2009 No photo this time! It was a casualty of my trigger finger. It smells mildly of fig and tastes of fig, too, with plum notes also. Besides the healthy portion of fruit, it’s dry, leathery, a bit bitter, and abundant in allspice.  Overall, it was too
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Trader Joe’s Reserve Growers Petite Sirah 2008 California Nice raspberry and leather nose with plenty of clove. The wine is surprisingly thin before the spices fill in the gaps. Clove is indeed one of those spices, and anise is, too. The fruit is there, but it’s second fiddle to the spice. In addition to the
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