Bonny Doon Big House Red, 2003                   $8.99, Trader Joe’s (widely available)

I love Bonny Doon wines. They’re reasonably priced and often good. I was a member fo their wine club for a year, and I can’t recommend it highly enough: If you’re looking for a winery that gives you experiments and takes you on a journey of wine through different styles, this is the one you want. The winery, just north of Santa Cruz, is also great. Super-friendly, courteous, and filled with good tidbits, they’ll fill you up on good wine and finish you off with chocolate and Framboise.

Yum.

So Trader Joe’s now carries their Big House Red. Everything in this wine is what I like: It’s a blend of Carignane, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Syrah, Barbera, and Malbec. Every one of these grapes is something that I’ve gone gaga over at one time or another.

I crack this screw top (and yes, I love the screw top and its lack of cork taint, but… but… but… can’t it somehow not be so much like opening a Pepsi?) and I’m rewarded with an intoxicating nose. I remember my last visit to the winery, and why, oh why didn’t I pick up a few bottles of this? Wasn’t is more than nine bucks? The nose is subtle, but it promises a wide array of flavors and colors. The wine is deep and richly colored and promises deliciousness.

Which it fails to deliver.

Right on the front end of the palate, there’s a little fruit along with a teeny bit of boldness. That, unfortunately, fades away into a watery mass of wine. I had to look around to make sure I wasn’t suddenly a French schoolboy with their famed glasses of watered wine. There is a finish on this wine; it’s a little subtle, and it fades away fairly quickly, but it more or less does the job.

I don’t know how something that smells so good can taste so… thin.

It’s just thin. I’m so disappointed. It’s not bad, just… thin.

I guess you can be too thin, even if you can’t be too rich. If you’re a wine, at least. Come on, BD. We know you can do better. Make it happen. There is surely taste to be found in these grapes.

Trinchero Family Sauvignon Blanc, 2004. Beverages & More, $11.99

Stonehedge Reserve Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 2005, Beverages & More, $12.99

Part 2 of a lot in the series of the Bevmo 2fer…

Summertime in San Francisco. It’s foggy and windy and occasionally beautiful. I’ve got this hankering for summer wines in the sun, and I’m fulfilling it every time there’s a hint of sun. The winter rains this year didn’t only endanger the vine crop in Napa and Sonoma (I was up in Napa April, and there wasn’t a hint of green on any vine… nor a hint of sun in the sky). So grab summer wine while you can. And summer vegetables. Or wait ‘till October here in SF. If you’re somewhere else… drink up and send some sun our way.

I’ve been remiss, drinking these wines and not reporting on them, so I’m serving up a two-fer this week. Two sunny days, two Sauvignon Blancs.

Tonight I got home and remembered that I have the house to myself. MM is out with her grily basking in Mendo beachshine (Warning: may include fog) leaving me here to haul off to work and whatnot. Trails and Heels turned down my dinner invite, so I came home and cooked alone, and drank alone.

First up: The Trinchero Family Sauv Blanc. It’s got this really thin nose. Not a whole lot to it, like a decent table wine. It pours over your tongue and brightens things up, leaving little kiwi and banana traces. It doesn’t have much of that lovely citrus SB taste that I’m looking for, but it’s perfectly fine for an evening alone cooking up all the farmer’s market veg that’s threatening to go bad in my fridge. Problem is, now I’ve got like 4 meals and only one mouth. It’s not really too bad of a problem to have, I suppose, in this age of refrigeration. There is a nice slow finish on this wine. It’s not bad. At twelve bucks, I think you could do better, but remember: It’s twelve bucks and a nickel for two right now, so that’s not too bad. Pretty good, even. Totally worth stocking up for sipping in the park or for the off chance there’s sun at the Stern Grove festival.

Yesterday was the How Weird street fair. Rather than competing with my previous performance involving King Cobra and Tecate and a missed day of work, I decided to bop along with Trails and bring along a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. It was the perfect day, and quite possibly the perfect wine. There wasn’t a sun in the sky, Trails had just gotten this cool neoprene wine carrier from REI that did a totally decent job of keeping the wine cool, if not cold. I grabbed the bottle of the Stonehedge Sauvignon Blanc because it was the first Sauv Blanc that came to hand when I was rushing to change my shirt, put on sunscreen, get a bottle of wine and get going, figuring that anything would be good in the sun, boy, it really fulfilled my needs. It was a perfect midrange Sauvignon Blanc. There wasn’t a huge flavor to it, but it smelled nice, tasted bright and fresh, with lots of citrus—kiwi and lime, mostly, and had a nice smooth finish. It might not have been anything to die for or to drop a bunch of money on, but it sure did work well out there in the sun. Tasty. Refreshing. Sippable. Delicious. Highly recommended—I’ll probably go back and stock up a bit over at the big bad summertime sale. It can’t really hurt, now can it?

Footnote: The Trinchero is kind of growing on me. It’s maybe a little sweet, and it doesn’t go so well with food, but it’s definitely a decent buy. The kiwi is developing out a bit in the air. Maybe leave it open a bit and splash it around as you pour. Or just spend the extra buck for 2 bottles of the Stonehedge…