My wife, reeling from our recent negative experience with the 1997 HCCS Cabernet Sauvignon (and sensing my desire to avoid tapping into our pitifully small "wine cellar") bought this wine at a Vermont gas station last night. Perhaps that isn't fair--they have a very nice little convenience store there. Still...

Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty good wine. It is a little young, but very drinkable, coming (as it is) into full power. The aromas and tastes were a little hard to pin down, but not because they were faint or indistinct--if I had a gun to my head, I would say "blackberry," though I have never had blackberries. I have had raspberries, and this kinda tasted like that, only "darker." I guess it would be fair to say "berry scents and tastes, pleasant but not overwhelming." In fact, I expected something a little stronger. No matter. The wine did present a surprisingly long finish, though not a powerful one.

The price for the wine was about $12, and this offered good value. As with a good many of the wines I've reviewed, this is not a wine that will bowl you over with its manifest greatness; but you will get a nice little wine that should go pretty well with chicken or pork dishes.

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