Red
Find the top rated red with Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s extensive red reviews and easy to use rating system. Our red ratings are full of great information and will help you make the perfect choice!
RustRidge 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley)
- $28
Blackberry, cassis, and oak aromas are accompanied by an unusual caramelized note suggesting marzipan. In the mouth, it's extremely soft, almost flabby, with light fruit. Doesn't seem like it's going anywhere.
— S.H.
(12/1/2001)
Robert Mondavi 1998 Merlot (Carneros)
- $35
Disturbingly vegetal aromas, like canned asparagus-evidence of incompletely ripe grapes-that lots of oak can't hide. Structurally, the wine is fine, with silky smooth tannins and crisp acids, yet the flavors are thin and disappointing.
— S.H.
(12/1/2001)
Paul Thomas 1999 Merlot
- $8
The demand for Merlot grapes has left slim pickings for the value brands like Paul Thomas. Earthy, stemmy and showing bare hints of red fruits, this is a hard, tart red wine giving little of the pleasure of Merlot.
— P.G.
(6/1/2002)
Hopkins Vineyard 1999 Estate Bottled Cabernet Franc (Western Connecticut Highlands)
- $16
Herbal, green aromas are surrounded by leather, barrel char and some berry syrup. The mouth is sharp, featuring mostly pie cherry and cranberry fruit, and while the finish broadens out somewhat, it’s still a linear, hollow wine without much richness. —M.S.
— M.S.
(3/1/2003)
Feudo Monaci 2000 Negroamaro (Salice Salentino)
- $9
Burnt cedar and slightly dusty raspberries on the nose introduce the dominant, raspberry note on the palate. The finish is clean, short and very berry. An easy-drinking beverage.
— C.S.
(5/1/2002)
Porta 1999 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Aconcagua Valley)
- $14
The forceful nose is somewhat awkward; it has leather and some interesting unidentifiable notes, but also a solid whiff of green. That same green element appears on the palate in the form of bell pepper, which doesn’t really work with the candied fruit. Big tannins put it all over the map.
— M.S.
(12/1/2002)
Coulson Eldorado 2000 Safari Vineyard Zinfandel (El Dorado)
- $18
Dark, dry, tannic and acidic, this is a wine that needs big, rich foods, or else a good deal of time in the cellar. Doesn’t offer much now beyond heft.
— S.H.
(11/1/2002)
Thomas Coyne 1998 Syrah
- $12
From Lodi grapes, a jam-scented wine, with pretty raspberry, black-cherry, and crushed-pepper aromas. Pleasant, light and fruity, with dry flavors of berries. No obvious faults or complexities in this soft, almost Beaujolais-like wine.
— S.H.
(7/1/2002)
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