A is for Argentina or more specifically Alamos Malbec. I have found this everywhere including the Walgreens and 7-11!

A nice well rounded red red full of flavor around ten dollars and if A stands for adventurous after you have “vanquished the Alamos” a few times feel free to explore ANY wine from Argentina they are nearly incapable of making a bad one.

B is for Bogle. So nice and easy that one California producer makes so many consistently good examples of varietals.

Whether its the “I can believe it is so smooth Merlot” or the Petite Sirah, make sure and try the Zinfandel also. Great bang for the buck and the Chardonnay is another fine example of varietals well made and worth it.

C is for Columbia Crest which like Bogle are good across the board.The Columbia Crest (from Washington State) Cabernet can hold its own against some California cabs at twice the price!

While these wines won’t satisfy the jaded or adventurous, they also provide a good baseline for comparison. I have opened much more expensive bottles and Mrs.Vino says “Save your money I would rather have Columbia Crest!”

So your mileage may vary and if these wines seem too pedestrian to you I plead with you to share better wines at a similar price point. I was at a tasting recently and I asked an old friend what he was drinking and he said “Anything that is five dollars.”

And I get that. He readily admitted it meant more to his wife and he drank the kangaroo or the penguin or whichever animal was the cheapest!

Screaming Eagle cabernet sauvignon is $2000 a bottle!

If you spend somewhere in between those two extremes welcome! We are in this together. What was your last bottle?

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It nice to have consistent producers who year in and year out just make good wine. No ratings, no hype just go to bottles that are easy to find.