red wine

[camille]

Can you recommend a really good, interesting and romantic red wine, preferably cabernet souvignon or merlot? It's for a gift to someone special who is not a novice like me!

[Jerry D Mead]

If your budget is modest, it will be hard to beat 1997 Sterling "Napa Valley" Merlot (about $20).

Ferrari-Carano Tresor Reserve (a Cabernet, Merlot, etc blend) is wonderful in virtually every vintage and sells in the $40-$60 range if memory serves...and it has a great art-work label depict a firey sunset on the California coast.

Joseph Phelps Insignia (again any vintage) is up into the $100 price category and is once again a Cabernet blend (or Meritage as they're called) and a spectacular wine.

It's not a Cab or Merlot, but if you can find the just released (Dec. 1) 1997 Columbia Winery "Red Willow Vineyard" Syrah it will knock his sox (and any other piece of clothing you're interested in disposing with) off.

Another off-subject suggestion...Dolce from Far Niente is as close as California gets to French Sauternes like Chateau d'Yquem. It is an exquisite sweet dessert wine...liquid gold made from Botrytis cinera-infected (a rare beneficial mold)grapes. Even the silk-screened bottle is a work of art. It's around $60 for the .375 (half bottle).

Have fun!

[camille]

Thanks for your recommendations. Someone else also recommended Chateau Gruaud Larose, which prices at about $60 a bottle. Is this a better buy? I noticed in a wines book that its ranked as a Second Growth in the 1855 Official Classification of the Great Wines of Bordeaux.