Okay, 2 years and counting. Either way, the Montes Alpha is fantastic. For under $25 bucks, it is one of my top choices. A bit overly grape-y, but other than that, a real find.

I wish this bottle were cheaper. At 11.99 is is only a good value. Although, in California this runs for about 8.99 a bottle making this an extraordinay value. Big plumy fruit and high alcohol content make this wine bold but not harsh. A great pairing for bbq. Highly recommended.

Oh lord, were stuck in Lodi again.
This was a $9 bottle from Costco (all hail Costco!). The wine manager placed neon colored sticker on the display proclaiming it is “his pick”, and by god, that is good enough for me.

Paired up with a semi-strong gruere this wine really didn’t measure up. I am guess it might have done better on its own, but it lacked the strength and structure I was looking for. Thumbs down.

Balanced with a bit of spice it was smooth and very drinkable. At $12 a bottle, it was a little forgetable, but I think I might need to try it again before passing judgment.

This was Delan’s selection for a visiting friend. It had nice apple and walnut flavors and was reasonably refreshing without being overly sweet. At 13 dollars it was a solid buy but not a deal.

Screw tops wines. Ugh. Well once you can get over that, this $6 bottle was even and had long legs stong bite, and grass and oak flavors. A very good bottle in this price range.

This $5.99 bottle is the bottom level of traders Joe’s private label line. It is 3 times the price of Charles Shaw, but is not 3 times as good. Still, by any price measure, an eviable mix of quality and cost.

This one runs about $7.99 a bottle and is probably worth giving it a second chance. It had a bit of a musky flavor that I did not like, but everything else was good. There is always the chance that I was chemically unable to make sound wine judgements when this one was opened.

If I were going to name a wine, I would certainly try and trick people into thinking it was $300 a bottle going for $5. In any case, Mouton Cadet A.k.a Junior Sheep was hardly similar to how I would imagine its senior bordeaux brothers taste. It was not bad and at the price, I would give it another shot.