Margarita Vinyard 5 Mile Bridge Zinfandel 06

Keeping an open mind, we are trying more wines outside of our usual Cabernets and Syrahs. This one is a "$4.99 for $12.99" at Gross Out, so it doesn't promise to be a screaming deal, but it does promise a change of pace.

The bottle says it is from Paso Robles and not much else. 14.2% alcohol. This one has a natural cork with a cute 5 under the foil.

In the glass, the wine is a dark purple. The nose is grape and berry. Nice fruit on the palate smoothly transitioning to a strong tannin finish. The sulfide detector went off on this one (one sneeze). This wine seems very correct for a Zinfandel.

We like this 5 mile for 5 bucks bottle. This 5 mile bridge is better than the Woodbridge you can get for $5.

Hayman & Hill Zinfandel 2007

At $6.99, this is a more expensive wine for our local Gross Out, so we hoped for a little more from this lottery ticket. It met our higher expectations.

The bottle says it comes from the "famous" Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma. We aren't really up on our map of the micro-climates, but you expect Sonoma wines to be a bit better than the average. The natural cork makes it more risky in a discount wine, but we saw no problems. The wine describes itself like this: "Abounds with classic plum, blackberry, and peppery spice character, with rich stone fruit on the palate and a long finish."

We found the wine to be quite correct for a Zinfandel. The color was deep purple. It had a light fruit nose. The taste was fruity and fairly complex. It was mild on the pepper and had a nice light finish. This wine is not as big as a Cabernet and went well with crackers and double creme Brie.

We rate it as a good value. A winning ticket if you are looking for a $7 Zinfandel.