A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines

This is our first negotiate wine from South Africa, a great wine country. The Nederburg winery was founded in 1791 near Pearl, not far from the Cape of Good Hope. This wine is one of their series, Winemaker's Reserve. It is marketed by Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, who is not your little farmer's vineyard. Stellenbosch markets around one third of all South African wines with a value exceeding one third of a billion dollars. I probably do not have to tell you about the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, a popular red grape in Bordeaux, France, California and many other locales as well. Let's see if we can get a good deal. It looks like it has been a pretty long time.

Our wine review policy All wines that we taste and review are purchased at full retail price.

Wine Review Cedarburg Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 12.5% alcohol about $ 9

Let us start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Medium - deep red / purple, aromas of wild sweet cherry, cassis, earth, licorice and cedar tones, dry, medium-rich, currant and spice flavors with soft tannins to finish. Serving Suggestions: Grilled or fried meat, white meat, pizza or pasta or old cheese. And now for my review.

I started by sipping the wine alone. It was okay with tobacco, long, and presented round tannins. But seemed a little too sour. The first meal contained a commercially barbecued chicken and potato salad. The Cab had plumy and earthy notes. It was more forceful with chicken than it was with potato salad.

The second meal centered around slow cooked beef rib with potatoes accompanied by a lime and garlic tomato salsa. The wine was strong, mouth filling and long. I got tobacco and dark fruit. This Cab was tough. With the somewhat spicy salsa, it was peppery and not lose its force.

The final meal consisted of a packaged baked ziti Sicilian with eggplant that I slather with grated parmesan cheese. There was a fine balance between acidity, tannins and fruit with a slight bit of tobacco.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a yellow Cheddar. This wine was round, okay, and it showed good fruit. The second mating was with a Swiss (Emendable). Things written on the same, but the wine was more acidic.

Final Judgment. I will definitely buy this wine again. This really struck me as something of a bargain. If you're a big fan of Cabernet Sauvignon, you can take it up a notch with Nederburg Manor House's line. I prefer staying in their bargain price class, but try a different grape.