As far as I can tell, the Acacia “A” is well-regarded and generally liked by all (where “all” means people who are willing to pay $20/bottle or ~$10+/glass).  Its easy to see why:  there is nothing offensive about this wine.  It has good enough fruit, and it is decently smooth.  Not a whole lot else going on though.  The finish is very quick.  It occurs to me that I should taste this blind against the Castle Rock (which costs about half as much!).  Very curious which would prevail.

scored: 87

paid: $15 (on sale from $19)

Three very tasty wines that we sampled at Uncorked! wine store / tasting room in Saratoga CA.  All were delicious and I would go back for a glass (or bottle) if I had the dough (these were in the $30-$60 range).  The Chardonnay from Santa Lucia Highlands was pleasantly oaked (which I like).  The Pinot (Russian River Valley in Sonoma) was smooth and dry.  The real winner though (and also topping out the price range) was the Audelssa from Sonoma, a Bordeaux-style wine that was smooth as butter.

The bottle had all the right notations:  ”estate bottled,” alcohol less than 14%, vineyard has a proper name… but the results just don’t stack up to my palate.  To be fair, there is bright fruit hiding in this bottle, but beneath a sharpness I couldn’t abide.  The most curious thing was I could swear I was tasting garlic in the finish.  And then I noticed:  the winery is in Gilroy.

paid: $13

scored: 75

This was officially the first wine we encountered on our honeymoon (I can’t count the California red we shared in the airport bar before our red-eye flight, nor the vin de Pays d’Oc that Air France served us).  Complimentary from our hotel in Lisboa!  I later saw it on wine lists for about 16 Euro, so figure your run-of-the-mill $10 sparkle.  But after a looong flight, and sitting on that deck with my bride — it might as well have been a ‘53 Dom Perignon.

I have some serious catching up to do on all the great wines we tried on our honeymoon! We tried Kopke’s “regular” (non-reserva) at a wine bar in Obidos and it was spot-on.  For only a few Euro more we picked up this bottle and took it home.  I’m at a bit of a loss for how to describe Portuguese red wine, but it definitely has its own particular aroma.  All my criteria were met and exceeded here:  good fruit, smooth on the palate and smooth on the finish.  This is fabulous wine.  Incidentally, it was the only Douro (doh-roo) wine I really enjoyed.

paid: 12 Euro

scored: 92