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Yes! Rancho Zabaco is the slightly more expensive one. As JF mentioned, it's hard to tell the difference by the labels. Just go with the Dancing Bull variety and save the 2 bucks.

Just thought I'd resurrect this one for an update. Tonight's selection is a 2001 Quinta do Crasto from the Douro region of Portugal. This is a dry red wine, nicely blended from native Portuguese varieties (Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional [a/k/a Tempranillo in Spain]). This wine is elegantly dry and crisp, with a deep reddish-purple color. The acidity is slightly elevated, which makes a strong complement to the red fruit flavors. The tannins are firm, but the wine is not heavy on the palate. I would imagine it goes well with any number of red meat, chicken or pasta dishes, and would make a delightful accompaniment for fresh fruit and cheese as a snack or dessert.

This one set me back $10.79 for a 750.

Matt, I've been meaning to dry a non-port wine from Douro(although, I do love port). Maybe I'll give it a try.
Over the weekend, I opened a bottle of "Mad Fish" Western Australian Shiraz. Excellent. Spicy, smooth, and full of fruit flavor. Only 10 or 11 bucks.

I'm with Bernard on this one...

Chilean Red - CASILLERO DEL DIABLO

Our favourite of the moment. Lovely body & flavour, and a good price.

Another favourite is a local winery that's really making a name for itself. If you like fruity wines with full body taste, Rodrigues wines might be for you. For something different the cloudberry (locally known as "bakeapple") is exsquisite.

Jamie

I'm having my study group over tonight and I picked up a bottle of Michel Schlumberger Cab, 2000 and a McGuigan Merlot, 2001. There aren't any wine snobs in my study group, so hopefully these will go over well.
Matt G: Matt, have you ever tried any Spanish wines? A friend of mine recommended Ribera Del Deuro, Val Satillo, and the Flor de Pinqus. What do you think of these?
Jon

Jon, I love Spanish wines. I could rhapsodize about the delights of Rioja, but I'll spare everyone! The Ribera del Duero wines are very similar in makeup and character to the Portuguese Douro (hint: Duero and Douro are the names for the same river in different languages) reds. I know that Flor de Pingus is a Duero, although I've never had it. I have no familiarity with Val Satillo. Ribera del Dueros are usually a little "juicier" than the Riojas, but since both are primarily made from tempranillo grapes, I think the main difference is in the way they are aged.

There are also some other fun Spanish wines to try. I have had some outstanding somewhat-Australian-style reds from Catalonia that you wouldn't believe for their fruit-forwardness. I've also had some Basque-style Garnachas that would curl your teeth, but they are so full of spicy character you just can't resist!

And before I become remiss in my duties, tonight's selection is a 2000 Château Carsin Côtes-de-Bordeaux from France. A Côtes-de-Bordeaux indicates a wine that was made from grapes sourced from multiple areas of Bordeaux. Hence they can't call it, say, Saint-Estephe, but that also means that Côtes-de-Bordeaux are considerably cheaper than more wines with more restrictive appellations.

The Château Carsin gives a nice hint of the quality of the 2000 Bordeaux harvest (one of the best vintages in recent years), with a pleasant fruitiness not often associated with Bordeaux. It has slightly rough-edged tannins, but that should actually help in accompanying roasted and grilled meats. It is a deep, opaque garnet color, and has a surprisingly floral smell. This bottle sells for about $14.

I find the 2000 Bordeauxs to have a full body with a slight hint of cherries. However, I drink them straight from the bottle so I can't tell you anything about "nose" or "legs" or that other stuff. Life is so uncomplicated for people like me.

Matt, I'm curious where you buy your wines? Do you have a good wine shop nearby, do you buy online?
Jon

I'm somewhat fortunate in that there is a shop with an extensive selection not far from my home. They also have a "wine club" that gets me a minimum of 10% off every bottle I buy, plus every 13th bottle is $0.01! The best part, though, is that they have two wine tasting extravaganzas per year (spring and fall). The fall tasting is on 30 Oct., and there will be about 700 wines available for tasting!

Going to try all 700, Matt G.!?

I'll give it my best shot, Bernard! Last April I think I lost count after about 30! (I stopped swallowing the samples shortly thereafter!)

We did a wine tasting a few years ago and I was shocked at how many different wines we tried ~30 without really getting too wasted. This was due to tasting, not drinking the wines, and spitting out the wines I didn't particularly like.
Jon

Well, this time I'm resolved to do more spitting and less (wait, this is starting to sound rather crudely suggestive....), umm, Oh!, DRINKING. (Whew!) It's no fun when you get all schnockered when trying to find some good wines to add to the collection. I made that mistake BIG TIME at the first mega-tasting I attended. After a few hours, you could have served me Everclear mixed with grape Kool-Aid and I'd have remarked how wonderful it was and that we should maybe order a case! There were some later-discovered disastrous decisions made that day.

I have since learned not to go overboard on actually downing all the samples. I also find that I really do like to swish the wine around in my mouth for about 10 seconds, because then you get the full effect of the taste, which if you swallow the wine immediately, you'll only get a sort of ephemeral taste of what's really there. (Of course, that only applies when tasting, because if you have a full glass and actually drink it you get a sort of cumulative effect.)

OK, enough about wine tastings. Tonight I opened a wine new to me, a 2002 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha from the Calatayud D.O. in Spain. I had heard some glowing reports of this particular winery's "Viñas Viejas" (old vines) bottling of the same variety, but alas, I think this was the winery's stepchild offering. While it exhibits much of the garnacha/grenache grape's characteristic spiciness, the wine appears to have been vat aged, which suggests a metallic aftertaste (I'm guessing stainless steel vats, maybe?), so the oak aging that tempers most garnacha's roughness was sadly missing. It's still not as rough as some garnachas I've had, but I think that this one will have to be relegated to the "not again" category.

Just stir in a little tequila and that should take care of that garnachee thingy.

I'm drinking one flavored with juniper - that tastes good with an olive.

Kathy, as my friends and I used to chant mantra-like in college:

"Gin is your friend."

Matt, I like Spanish Rioja as well, but I can't pretend to discriminate between labels as you.

Tonight with dinner we had a very generic Portugal wine "vino verde" Aveleda Vihinoverde whhite wine that is gulpable (and perhaps more suitable to summer---but a family favorite) and a little bubbly.

jf, who has a taste of juniper under his tongue as well....

Last night I had a "vino merde", no wait, that was a French wine. Never mind.