value wine tasting

My colleague Aaron had a wine tasting party on Saturday. The rule was: Nothing over $15. Here are my notes:

2004 Sterling Vintner's Collection Cabernet Sauvignon - Pretty bad. Icky.
2003 Northwest Cellers Cab-Merlot Blend - Pretty bad. Weak, bad color, overly sweet.
(NV) Cheap Red Wine - I can't believe California lets them export this. It's truly terrible. It was bright pink and incredibly sweet. It burned.
2002 Terra Blanca Merlot - A decent winery but an uninteresting wine. Merlot done badly. Don't let that discourage you from trying their other wines. I've actually been to the winery, and it's a beautiful facility. Anyone touring Yakima should stop in.
2003 Chateau Beaulieu - A sleeper of the '03 Bordeaux vintage, but unfortunately not very consistent from bottle to bottle. This is what I brought. I bought a half case, and some bottles have been stellar, one I had to pour down the sink, and this one was okay. It was smooth but lacked structure.
2003 Rabbit Ridge Syrah - A great value wine from Paso Robles. This was the favorite of the night among most attendees. Chewy, dark, smooth, fruity.
2005 Fat Bastard Chardonnay - Not overly sweet like a lot of value Chard, but not buttery enough (or at all) for my taste. A wine that sells mainly due to clever naming.
(NV) Cheap Red Wine - Can you believe two people brought this crap? At least we know it's not consistent because this tasted nothing like the other bottle. This one was absolutely revolting. I had to dump it after one sip. It was like drinking rubbing alcohol that had been flavored with wine-extract (which is a product I just made-up rather than denigrate Kool-Aid's good name).
2005 Seven Deadly Zins - My favorite of the night. I love this wine. It's been consistently good for the last three or four vintages and is a frequent drinker at my house. Some places have started charging over $20 for this wine, but you can still get it for $16 at most respectable wine shops.

This is the point where we left. A few more wines showed up later that I didn't get to taste, but I'm not too worried about it. :)

Overall, it was a rough night. And the rumors are true--I did get set on fire. There were these strategically placed tea-candles...

For pictures of the event, including the burn hole in my shirt, check out Aaron's page.