This lovely little red blend from Trader Joe’s might be the best bang for your buck ever. Good for simultaneously sautéing and sipping, La Granja 360 has all kinds of blended wines. This Grenache and Syrah blend is really fruity and smooth. Truly, I could ask nothing more from a wine that cost $4.99! It’s even won some awards.

A buddy of mine recently splurged on some nicer bourbon (than we poor grad students are accustomed to drinking) and it is just delightful. The only downside is the alcohol provides a bit more burn than I would like, but man, the nose on this thing is incredible. It smells like someone melted some vanilla/clove butterscotches in a glass. The taste has a bit more wood and brown sugar and CARAMEL. Of course, I can’t pick out as many elements as these guys, but I still enjoyed it.  8/10, but factor in the price, and its 7.5/10.

mmmmm

Territorial, a local vineyard/tasting room, had some food trucks and live music last night, so we went with some friends and got a bottle of this. It was decent, a lower, darker, heavier pinot noir, a little cherry and almost tobacco, but not quite as good as the 2008 Meriwether Pinot Noir we had 2 days ago. Maybe too subtle for me at that time. I enjoyed the accompanying crepes almost as much as the pinot..

For kicks and giggle we had a bottle of this next, and it was very light. My buddy joked that it was watered down pinot noir, but I guess that’s what a noir rose tastes like? Pleasant and summery, but any body or substance was too evanescent to be tangible. The best part was the label.

A buddy and I split a bottle of this tonight. Really good, from a local vineyard, the grapes come from some place 20 minutes away. A darker, heavier pinot noir. Smokey, cherry notes. Very nice… sort of pushes the bounds of what a pinot grape can do.