All-Purpose Wine Thread - anyone interested?

Slappy - I agree with your take on the Marques de Caceres Crianza. Haven't had the Rioja.
Another spanish wine I have enjoyed is a garnacha from Las Rocas.
Also, Rex Goliath makes some pretty good reds, as well - also at a good price.
And I remember having a viognier from McManus that was about $10.

I'm making red gravy tonight, so I'm about to open a bottle here in a few minutes.

 

I love the big California Cabs-

3 of my favorite Cabernets

-ZD - for zero defects - a vinyard started by 2 aeronautical engineers

-Jack London series Cab from Kenwood Vinyards

- Clois Du Val

 

I'm a big Coppola wine fan. While I was in high school, my parent's were members of a wine club from a vineyard in San Fran and we always got three bottles of wine every 3-4 weeks. I thought the stuff was awful for the longest time. I guess my tastes expanded because now I love wine. Some good suggestions on here. Thanks for starting this thread, hustle.

 

Love the Coppola Syrahs.

Also partial to Tudal's Tractor Shed Red.

 

Chateau Chollet (2000) is on my shelf now, along with a bottle of Toscana Le Bronche (2000) Cabernet Sauvingon
Those are mid-range to "cheap" wines that taste good.
Gato Negro is really, really inexpensive but tasty for a red.
Some of the Kendall Jackson products are good and cheap.
If you've never drank red win but want to try, get some upscale (usually under $10) Lambrusco.
That stuff is sweet and almost bubbly, but it should get you interested in pursuing other more refined red wines.

 

Outside of California Cabs my other favorite red is a Brunello. Expensive but if you want a special wine well worth the money.

 

Brunellos are great wines.

I like good California Zins as well -- Ravenswood's single vineyard productions are fantastic.

 

Vintner's blend is OK.. not great, but it will do.

 

Several folks have mentioned Australian wines and I admit that I'm a fan as well although I think that the Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon has been deified to the point of ridiculousness.  My absolute favourite red is Little Penguin Shiraz - a slightly spicy red with a black cherry/vanilla thing going on that I can't get enough of.  It's also very reasonably priced running about $ 12.00 Cdn at the Ontario liquor stores.

 

It's a half step below OK, but it's cheap. One of the most amazing example of a markup was when I went to a fancy bar a couple of years back. They were charging $13 a glass for the Vintner's Blend -- which could be had for $5.99 a bottle.

 

For whatever reason, I've started drinking wine instead of beer the last six months or so.Still like beer, but beered out after a lifetime or so... maybe.
So I have found a lot of trial and error. What I do now is when I crack a new blend/brand, I keep a crib sheet of what I like and ont. Parallel 45, red, me like. Panarroz Jumilla, not so...

 

Has anyone dared try any of the offerings from Childress Vineyards?

I was thinking I might get a handful of opinions (both on here and among my wine-drinking friends) for my blog in time for the Sonoma race...