Cheap wine offers surprisingly good flavor

While everyone else is busy with the official start to the holiday shopping season, you should be stocking up on Full House Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, so that you have enough to drink through this year and next.

Not only is the wine deliciously drinkable, but it is on the market for less than $3. I did a double-take when this was revealed to me following a blind tasting of about 25 cabernet-based wines from California.

I had it ranked well over several wines that run $25 to $30, so the value here is nothing short of astonishing. This one really takes the prize for value of the year, which might even merit consideration as wine of the year.

There's a serious winery operation behind it, and the fruit comes from excellent vineyards in the vast Central Coast of California.

In the glass, Full House Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium ruby-red color with a fine dark core going out into a clean pinkish rim definition with light viscosity.

On the nose, there is pungent crushed black currant fruit, white pepper notes, blackberry marmalade, blueberry juice and hints of new oak, minerals and vanilla notes.

In the mouth, the wine immediately fills your palate and coats your tongue with intensely concentrated sweet black fruit components, crushed blackberries, creme de cassis and ripe Bing cherry flavors. It has a wonderfully balanced midpalate, with the fruit and tannins in complete harmony, right through to the lengthy -- seemingly a full 20-plus seconds -- and interestingly fruity finish showing lots of sweetness.

It is a relatively intense wine that needs opening about 30 minutes before drinking. Full House Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is a wonderful companion to pretty much anything you can cook up with meat and pasta this time of year, but don't be shy about just drinking it by the glass on its own. Drink it now through 2008, and serve it at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wine: Full House Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon (85 percent), merlot (15 percent)

Region: Central Coast, Calif.

Vintage: 2005

Price: $2.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.