Terra D'Oro Zinfandel Port, no vintage on bottle, (about $20)

About the Wine:  Fortified wines are made by adding brandy before the wine has time finish fermenting.  The addition of the brandy increases the alcohol content of the resulting wine but also kills the yeast, preventing it from converting the natural sugar to alcohol and resulting in a much sweeter beverage.  These sweet, strong wines are sometimes called dessert wines because the high alcohol content and intense tastes make them incompatible with a meal.  Port is the classic drink to have with a cigar because the taste of the wine is strong enough to be appreciated through dulling effects of the cigar on the palate.

About THIS Wine:  Ports tend to be very dark, almost black in the glass.  This one is a garnet color that fades to a pink rim.  The nose is thick and spicy with hints of tobacco and leather.  The palate is thick with sweet, jammy raspberry, cherry, and spice.  These flavor linger in a potent but pleasant finish.

Drinking This Wine:  Have it with a cigar or with something sweet like ice cream or cake. 

Overall Impression:  Port wines tend to be expensive, so at twenty dollars this one is good for the price.

Cloudline Pinot Noir 2009 (about $18)

About the Wine:  The Drouhin family are well known producers of Pinot Noir in France's Burgundy region.  One of the younger members of the family took a liking to the climate and soil in Oregon and set up her operation there.

About THIS Wine:  The color is a uniform garnet with a distinct pink rim.  The nose is heavy with lush, jammy red fruit and hints of clove.  The fruit delivers on the palate in a very rich, red fruit taste that lingers pleasantly in the finish.  The finish is neither dry nor bitter.

Drinking This Wine: Neither dry nor tannic, this is an easy sipping wine.  It would also pair well with roasts and other seasoned red meats.

Overall Impression:  It is unusual to find a bottle of this quality for under twenty dollars.  At eighteen this bottle is a great value.

Graziano Zinfandel 2007 (about $16)

About the Wine:  Shelf life for wines under twenty dollars s very hard to predict.  Most wines, especially red wines, should be good for at least five years but it does not always work out that way.  For that reason it is always something of a gamble to buy older wines on a hipster budget.

About THIS Wine:  The wine is garnet color in the glass with a ruby room.  The nose pops with sweet cherry, raspberry, and other jammy red fruit.  The fruits deliver on the palate and fade into a tannic finish.

Drinking This Wine:  It is alright for sipping and would also go well with burgers and game meats.

Overall Impression:  This wine is pretty good, but not spectacular and I doubt if it will keep much longer.  It is should be about thirteen or fourteen dollars and is thus a bit overpriced.

Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir 2010 (about $18)

About the Wine:  Australia is a sad story in the wine business.  Its arid climate is conducive to growing any number of quality wines and for a time the continent was the next great frontier in wine production.  The rise of Yellow Tail and other low quality brands so thoroughly damaged the reputation of the continent's wineries that many in the business view it as a dead trend.  But a few plucky vineyards have manged to carry on with quality wines.

About THIS Wine:  The color is a uniform garnet, a very encouraging sign in Pinot Noir.  Fruit is surprisingly lacking on the nose, which favors a musty, smoky odor.  A palate of bright cherry and spice gives way to a licorice finish for a pleasantly complex experience.

Drinking This Wine:  Good as a sipping wine or perfect with roast duck.

Overall Impression:  The wine is very good and the price is not exorbitant.  It is reasonable for the price.

Dragon's Hollow Merlot 2008 (about $12)

About the Wine:  Part of the adventure of wine making and drinking is the quest for new places to grow grapes.  Each place gives a distinct terroir and places with lower labor costs offer the possibility of very good wine at a low price.  Thus it was only a matter of time before someone started a vineyard in China.

About THIS Wine:  The wine is a light purple with no discernible rim.  Smoke and red fruit blend for a very pleasant nose that utterly fails to deliver on the palate.  I was surprised that such a bland wine could have such a bitter, acidic finish.

Drinking This Wine:  Don't.  Just Don't.

Overall Impression:  This is a bad wine at any price.

667 Pinot Noir 2010 (about $13)

About the Wine: This line of wines are made from vines grown from cuttings from very good vines in French vineyards.  The idea is to capture the best vine stock and recreate the fine wines they produce.  It would be interesting to taste 667 alongside its French counterpart.  Sadly, I must make do with tasting this Pinot Noir by itself.

About THIS Wine:  It is garnet in the glass, almost the ideal color for Pinot Noir.  Jammy cherry and licorice are present in the nose and deliver on the palate along with a slightly smoky flavor.  The finish is pleasantly dry.

Drinking This Wine:  I sipped a glass with a friend and we found it light and pleasant.  This is a good sipping wine.  It would also do well with salmon or seasoned poultry.

Overall Impression:  Though lacking in complexity this is a very pleasant wine and it is quite versatile.  At thirteen dollars a bottle it is a very good value.

Line 39 Chardonnay 2011 (about $11)

About the Wine:  Some time ago I reviewed Line 39's 2010 Cabernet and found it quite good.  One of the challenges winemakers face is the need to produce multiple varietals under one label.  The obvious benefit is name recognition.  If a customer tries one varietal and likes it then they are likely to experiment with others.  The problem is that great soil, weather, and wine making process for one grape may not work as well for another, damaging the brand.  Alternatively, the terroir and process may make multiple varietals taste the same.  The noted New Zealand wine company Oyster Bay produces Chardonnay that tastes so much like their Sauvignon Blanc that the need for both is questionable.  So it will be interesting to see how this works out.

About THIS Wine:  Light and luminous in the glass, this wine has no distinct rim.  Smoke and mineral notes dominate the nose with hints of citrus underneath.  The smoke is no doubt the product of oak barrel aging but the prominence of the fruit and mineral smells means that the wine was in oak for only a short time.  I would guess no more than six months.  Minerals are strong on the front palate with citrus growing prominent as the taste develops.  The minerals linger in the finish.

Drinking This Wine:  It could be a sipping wine and would also go quite well with white fish or unseasoned roasted chicken.

Overall Impression:  Nothing spectacular here, but the wine is pleasant and inexpensive.  It is  good for the price.