Here are some red wines that never skip a beat year in and year out. Tasty and delicious and accessible. While even most wines meant for immediate consumption, several reads with quality improve if they’re aged a year or two. These can good to drink now or lay down two or three years!
Even the best wineries do not produce consistent quality year after year; But these wines I have enjoyed regularly and always seem to be available; which is a big plus… serve these in a big wide glass. They go well with an assortment of food as well. Pasta, Steak, Pizza, Burgers, Fish Tacos..
No frills. I have hand picked these 5 red wines.
2017 ‘CS’ Substance Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley, Washington
Delicious and structured wine with deep dark cherry, espresso bean, cedar and baked spice flavors. A rich and round wine. Good Length on the finish. Good Stuff from Columbia Valley Washington that continues to impress over the past few years. If it was form California it would be a lot more expensive than it is.
2015 Petra Zingari Toscana 2015 Tuscan Blends, Tuscany, Italy
Savory tobacco notes, earth and herb notes, lots of plums and big tannins. An Tuscan wine with Merlot and Petit Verdot. A juicy wine with cherries, dark chocolate I blind tasted this wine among some solid French Bordeaux and it the comments were fantastic; given that it is about half Sangiovese. It can age too.
2017 Chateau Puygueraud Bordeaux Cotes de Francs, Bordeaux, France
Black fruits, black olives and soy, smoky tobacco and rich. Every year seems to provide a better and better value. A very fine Bordeaux from the Cotes de Francs. Mostly Merlot with a good dose of Cabernet Franc and the rest Malbec; it’s dense with layers of fruit.
2016 d’Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia
I’ve been drinking this one for over 10 years now. Dark fruit chewy and round tannins. These tannins have a long, spicy, peppery finish. Clean, Oaky and complex wine showing tons of fruit like a blackberry pie along with that fresh mushroom and forest floor you want from an earthy Shiraz.
2015 Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge Cotes du Rhone, Rhone, France
An always elegant and rich Syrah, from up and down the Western Rhône. Spicy, peppery, and smoky, dark fruit, alive and earthy and more salt notes of black olive on the finish. Year in and year out this wine has always hit the mark. This Côtes du Rhône GSM from Guigal is aromatic and smooth.