For those who want the perfect wine to go with their meal, check out Wine That Loves, wine that's expertly designed for the foods you love.

This is one of those wines you take a sip of and realize instantly what a steal it was. Nice big flavor, on the dry side with tastes of spice and berries- maybe even a touch of pepper. I'd love to have paired this with a nice piece of dark chocolate, but it worked just as well with the cheeseburgers we had instead.

Check out their web site.

We got this in Williamsburg, at a wonderful place called A Chef's Kitchen, where the chef and his wife, John and Wanda Gonzales, hand pick a lovely selection of wines for their small store. The best part? ALL of the wines are priced at $10. All of them. And after having bought several bottles from them, I trust their taste implicitly. And if you're ever in Williamsburg, I would suggest (based on recommendations from my in-laws) that you make the effort to join them for dinner.

Check out this article from the New York Times:

Forget about I.P.A.’s, strong, hoppy brews developed by the British centuries ago to withstand the ocean voyage to colonial India. Americans are now making double I.P.A.’s, Extreme I.P.A.’s, even Unearthly I.P.A.’s.

Not being one to pass up a deal, I picked this wine up because of the lovely label and the equally pleasing price ($8.99). Its appears to be made by the Our Daily Red people, who describe it as:
Clockspring Vineyard in Amador gives us this unique Zin!!! One will find a wine that intersperses white pepper on the tongue with a medium weighted body-- a very adaptable wine that can be can be enjoyed with all types of food or on its own. This is not a high alcohol, prune and jam job most often associated with this region.

Me, I would say its the wine version of black cherry cola. Not unpleasant, but also not complicated- quite drinkable. I thought it was sweet (interesting that they say its not a "prune and jam job", considering cherry jam is the strongest note I found), and I couldn't catch the white pepper taste at all.