Huge fruit on this one--packed with blackberry and cherry notes, and a very soft finish. Good table wine--but beware of the big fruit. Had it with Rendang (indonesian spicy beef stew) and it was pretty good, thanks to that heavy load of fruitiness. Lacks complexity that most wines in this price range offer.

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Valentin Bianchi has done a consistently nice job with their Cabernet Sauvignon the past few vintages. Always a good value and never a disapointment. Clean cassis notes matched with a balance of acidity and tannins: could age a few more years, but not over-whelming now. Pairs nicely with a variety of cheeses.

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It used to be easy to find $10 proseccos...but these days it's a bit more difficult. I like that this prosecco is 'different' in that it's from Trentino and not Veneto (Trention-Alto Adige is well known for it's white wines...so...), but it really tastes like a massed produced wine. Prosecco is not nearly as refined or elegant due to the charmat method (basically making the bubbles in a big stainless steel tank, then bottling it, rather than a secondary fermentation in the bottle like champagne), however usually there are beautiful, clean flavors. This was just alright. Sure, crisp and clean--but a slightly 'cheap' taste to it. The bubbles didn't hold up in the glass long...you can find better proseccos. The problem, they're closer to $20 these days than $10.

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Obviously wine is subjective...but if you have an opportunity to sit through a blind tasting of similarly priced NV champagnes (whether from small growers or big negociants that buy their grapes from god-knows-where like this particular one) you may be surprised to find that this champagne is always ranked the least favorite. This house makes lots and lots of champagne--reminds me of similarly mass produced bubbly from Spain, the US, Australia, other parts of France. There is not the clean elegance that champagne's should have, nor is there the rich toastyness. Instead it smells of sulfur and is a bit dirty tasting with bubbles that are so-so. While i've certainly had worst sparkling, I'm giving this such a poor review because there are SOO many other good sparklings out there in a similar price range...and I've had $15 cava's that taste more like what a true champagne should taste like than this...but, oh, marketing. It wins people's hearts. If you read the other reviews people had this for a special reason--because it is a $40-$60 bottle of wine; to celebrate an engagement, a birth, an anniversary. I'm sure it was great for that...but it doesn't make it good wine.

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I was literally blown away by the '03 Greysac. One of the best values to come out of Bordeaux in a very long time. 2004 was not a great growing year, but it wasn't poor either (just not as grand as 03 & 05). The 04 seems to have a touch more than one would want of Brettanomyces; leaving the nose meaty, mushroomy and lacking of fruit. The finish is off, the wine very tight up front and falling apart on the tail end (I suspect due to the Brett). We tasted through two of the '04, seems to be an overall flaw. Nevertheless, I'm biased in my love of the '03 Greysac. This wine is not completely flawed and if one is looking for an example of a left bank bordeaux, that's affordable in price with some unique Medoc qualities--it can be found here.

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