Snap Dragon California Cabernet Sauvignon

Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon (90 percent), merlot (10 percent)

Region: Sonoma, Calif.

Vintage: 2007

Price: $6.99

In the glass: Snap Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon is a deep blackish-red color with an opaque purplish-red center going out into a purplish-red rim definition and medium-high viscosity.

On the nose: It exudes layers of ripe crushed black fruit with dominance by black currant, boysenberry and blueberry jam. Then comes a touch of creme de cassis, vanillin from oak, earthy minerals and phenolics.

On the palate: The wine immediately coats the palate with black fruit characteristics, followed by cherry and cassis juices, and then a ripe, firm — yet very silky — tannin structure with some degree of alcohol, as it comes out a little "hot." Snap Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon has an excellent midpalate with loads of fruit and crushed loganberry, and finishes very nicely with chunks of cherry liqueur and creme de cassis. It does need to be opened for 30 minutes-plus before consumption, which will give it a chance to "burn" off some of the initial alcohol, but then it reveals nice concentration and excellent potential for this price category.

Odds and ends: Although we know that Yellow Tail was the first line of "animal wines," as they are endearingly called by the wine-drinking population, I am certain that Snap Dragon is not the last. By way of Wild Gecko, Little Penguin and Koala, we have become used to seeing varietal lines in the grocery stores, and often these wines are good as everyday drinking wines. Snap Dragon is from wine company behemoth Diageo, which owns a lot of California vineyard land and is producing a line of tasty and easy-drinking wines priced at $7 in the market. Kudos to them for thinking of the average wine drinker. This is an easygoing wine, and it should be just perfect with sirloin steak on the grill. Drink it now through 2012.

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.