This is a nice dry chianti… not really all that complex but fine otherwise… a house wine type of thing. Certainly good enough for $5.

An awesome movie! Too bad there wasn’t more dancing, though.

A summary blurb (not written be me):

“Lingshi is a mountain village situated at an altitude of 12,000 feet in the Great Himalayan region of Bhutan. It is a four-day trek through the wilderness from Bhutan’s capital city, Thimphu. 49 year-old Ugen Tenzin has been Lingshi’s postal runner for 26 years. This documentary follows his journey in the winter when the route is snowbound and in mid-summer when the monsoons lash out. Ugen spends twelve to fifteen days of the month traveling. Despite the risks and the tiring ascents and descents of high mountains and valleys, he plans to continue until his retirement.”

I think the merlot is the best of the two buck chuck, but some would counter with “that’s not saying much”. It’s obviously not the greatest ever, but one can’t be throwing down $$$$ wines all the time.

Very nice dark liquid raisiny/plum flavors. Smooth. Relatively cheap at $6/375ml. A lot of port at this price level (or cheaper) is on the disgusting or tepid side.

I have drunk a lot of this recently. As it is fortified, one can easily stick the cork back in without drinking the whole bottle, although purists probably cringe at that. I think I will have another glass of it right now.

The 2004 was ok, but not really inspiring. I seem to remember their cheap pinots to be better, but perhaps 2004 was a bad year.

I tend to avoid cheap pinots nowadays as the chances of them being ok is not all that great. Spanish wines in the $5-$10 range are a much better deal.

I received this as a gift for catsitting and was surprised with how complex and tasty it was. However, it seem a bit blunted and weak, and I think it would have been better had I drunk it earlier in its lifetime.

The 2001 was a cab/merlot/franc blend. I believe their vintage red table wine formulation can vary significantly each year.

Alright, but only just so. It’s cheap but drinkable.

A very sweet wine, as one might expect from the description, but not sweet enough for an actual dessert wine on its own. It found it tasty with smooth honey and peach flavors. $6.50 or something like that.

I found the bouquet of this wine rather noxious, although its varietal charactistics were very pronounced. I still think it rather skunky. I have taken to decanting young red wines for a while before drinking to smooth out harsh notes and develop the flavor a bit; that helped a bit with this one.

The taste was not all that bad, but nothing to get to excited about. I have forgotten any specific tasting notes.

I would not get this one again, but it was only $2.99 at Trader Joes in Washington. OK for that price, but their merlot and cab are better.