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.