I realized the other day while out shopping that it had been awhile since I tried a good old standard bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Like most wine drinkers, I was introduced to wine through white wines, like chardonnay. But, when I started drinking red wine, cabernet was one of the first I ever tried.

In my continuing quest to find a wine that is easy on the palette as well as my purse, I found a bottle of Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. Now, pictured is 2003 bottle from the Santa Rita web site, which I would bet is just as good. Normally, this bottle costs $5.99 at my local grocery store, but they had it on sale for a dollar off, so I ended up purchasing it for $4.99.

This was an excellent deal and reminded me of my first love of red wine. The Santa Rita web site offers these comments, and I have to pretty much agree with them: Ruby red wine with good intensity and brilliance. To the nose it is a fruity wine, dominated by ripe red fruits, cloves and vanilla. On palate it is a medium bodied wine, tasty, with ripe, almost sweet, structural tannins, enhancing this everyday wine's elegance.

If you aren't normally a red wine drinker or perhaps would like to introduce a friend to red wines, this might be a good bottle to consider for a taste test.