Bay Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon NV California

The nose on opening is subdued in the extreme. The first glass was not particularly fruity though there was a vague impression of blackberries. There's no tannin. None of the other tones you'd expect from a California Cabernet Sauvignon are really noticeable. This is a very homogenous middle-of-the-road Cabernet Sauvignon. It's NV, but I suspect that one reason it was so very muted in tone was that it was also very very young. It's not at all bad, and quite drinkable, but it's very generic, a Cabernet Sauvignon without any real identity. This is a pleasant wine, and quite quaffable, but it's not really a wine to be enjoyed on its own. I would describe this as pizza wine, wine to complement a good fresh-baked pizza you have delivered or that you stop and pick up on the way home, that won't really draw attention from the pizza but may very well be improved by the pairing. That said, I think the extra dollar or so for Crane Lane Cabernet Sauvignon is very well spent.

This is one of those "mystery wines"; I purchased it at a Fred Meyers, a local grocery chain, for $2.99. The bottle says it was produced in Ripon, CA. Diligent Web searching finds several people asserting that this is a Frank Franzi Bronco wine label, but it's not one that Bronco or Classic Wines of California, another Bronco holding company, name, so I'm at sea. I'm not the only one blogging about the Bay Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon, either. Fred Meyers however has a lot of Bay Bridge wines, in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay. I'll follow up this post if I learn anything new.