Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, $15,29-$17.99, 89 points, is a deep magenta color, and having a rather mute aroma at room temperature, but what I did get was sweet and and lovely.
The medium body carries light delicious flavors of plum, cranberry, and licorice, with a wonderful spicy finish with just a hint of menthol.
The key to this wine is "balance", which it has, and for the money, ranks high on my buy list of Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
Robert Mondavi Napa Valley 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, $15.56-$29.99, 91 points.
The "Old Faithful" is a wine ( First Review) I reviewed before, but wanted to taste with the Kendall-Jackson to get my taste bearings as a plumb-line.
The thing that struck me was the "balance". Again you find a wonderful wine for between $15-$30, again scored 91 points, having a balance of fruit, acid, tannin, flavor and finish, which make this a great table wine, gift, or just to drink alone.
Two wines, about the same price, with very little separating them, but their very popular and familiar names. Wines that you can buy almost anywhere, and at these lower price-points will not disappoint!
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Duckhorn vineyards presents one of the most interesting Sauvignon Blancs I've tasted yet.
Duckhorn Napa Valley 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, $26.99-$29.99, 92 points, with 25% Sémillon this is a White Wine most everywhere else as I understand it and is similar in style to White Bordeaux. This wine is delicious, it is round, aromatically floral as well as citrus (Lemon) with some fresh-cut grass, it is bright and complex, easy to drink, yet a sipper of a wine, perfectly pair-able (We had this with Smoked Paprika French Fries and Blue cheese on crisp celery and fire-hot buffalo wings. Note that the wine was tasted first, and not to confuse the fine long peppery finish with our cuisine.
To the price ($26.99): Want something special? Then that's what you pay for. Whenever my son visits, it is always special. Ben, that means you too!
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Penfolds Thomas Hyland 2006 Shiraz, Adelaide, Australia, $11.99-$14.99, 89 points, appears quite a clear ruby color, with a light sweet aroma, and medium body with a rich mouth-feel. This Shiraz reminds me a bit of a light high elevation California Zinfandel with hints of strawberry and red cherry, damson plum and licorice. The finish has some spice and some heat from the wine's 14.5% alcohol.
I liked this wine, but it suffers from a one dimensional (Though delicious) character, but for under $15.00 this is a buy, and I'll be looking for more recent vintages.
Penfolds almost always makes a great wine at all price-points and across all vintages, making this another go-to winery.
Question: How many wines tasted in one day does it take for you to look like Lucy?
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Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna 2005 Shiraz, (Revisited) $19.95-$28.99, 91 points, is sourced from various appellations, but Peter Gago, the winemaker, has nicely tweaked this Shiraz into a prize.
A deep red wine, with cooking spice and floral hints wafting well into a bouquet.
This wine is big and rich, but not over-powering, with good acidity and bright spices that makes for an excellent accompaniment to Lamb, Beef, or Buffalo for that matter, but this is also a stand alone wine, having flavors of mocha, blueberries, plum, and sweet cooking spices all diminishing nicely late palate into a peppery finish.
Though I tasted this wine before, I thought a more thorough revisiting might be in order.
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Rancho Zabaco Russian River 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, $7.80-$29.00, 89 points, made my day, at $7.80 and hidden away for a couple of years (Sauv-Blanc: not a keeper I'm told), was just great with another night of fish (Spiced and baked) and Maine Lobster ($5.99 lbs).
To the wine:
Almost crystal clear with a slight golden color, and an aroma of lemon-lime grass, which carried on a light plus body (good acidity) continued seamlessly onto the my palate, but late white grapefruit, and finishing with a brisk spicy finish, tied a nice bow to this wine.
There was just a hint of a sour note, but still a good stand alone wine for me. Ethan and I had no problem finishing this bottle with our meal, and we both had a mirror-view of just how good this wine was.
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Neal Napa Valley Rutherford Dust Vineyards 2006 Petite Syrah, $30.59-$37.99, 88 points.
I think I'm going to get some flak for this score, but I've got to call them as I experience them.
I am a fan of Neal wines, but this one, which I had great expectations about, caught me off-guard.
The color had a sliver thin silver rim lining, but quickly went black to the core.
The aroma was a quite nice clove/cedar wafting bright and clear.
A nearly full body carries an early palate sleek smoky earth, but then falters on a muted plum and black licorice with little spiciness. However, the finish has a long herbal cayenne quality.
There may have been a problem with this bottle, but without having another or a more recent vintage, I can't say for sure, but this wine just did not have a brightness or lively fruit, or spiciness which I would expect. So, as it stands, this is not a buy for me.
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White Hall Lane Napa Valley 2010 Sauvignon Blanc,
$16.14-$20.99, 91 points, has a nice, but an expected lemon grass aroma.
The color is a crystal clear pale sun-flower yellow.
A medium body with an olive-oil viscosity (9% Semillon) has mouth-watering acidity, mild lemon-grass flavors give way to a delicious grapefruit and citrus zest, but a late palate sour note precedes a good ginger finish.
The White Hall Lane Napa Valley 2010 Sauvignon Blanc paired wonderfully with a fried peppered Haddock and Sea Scallop medley, and proves again that it is one of those go-to wines when mediocrity just will not do.
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The medium body carries light delicious flavors of plum, cranberry, and licorice, with a wonderful spicy finish with just a hint of menthol. 
The key to this wine is "balance", which it has, and for the money, ranks high on my buy list of Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
