You see this stuff all over the place, the label being unnervingly consistent regardless of the varietal or vintage, the name a tribute to the winemaker’s father. Often, I avoid wines like this, especially when no AVA is to be found on the label, but occasionally I relent. This afternoon was one of those times, and as I sat at my computer plugging away at an upcoming piece on Lebanon and Chateau Musar, a glass of relatively simple, satisfying California Cabernet was just the ticket.

Deep, dark, rich, and bold, this wine opens up with a nose of dense dark fruit and vanilla notes, leading into a fully dry, full in body wine that offers more dark fruits on the palate, some hints at tart cherry, mouth coating tannins, and subtle notes of walnut leading into a long dry finish. I enjoyed it more towards the end than I did at the beginning, and I recommend you let it open up a bit and give it time to grow on you.

This is a solid, every-night sort of wine, and at a price point that’s more than manageable. A solid QPR with full points for value, it gets 89 points on my scale.