Fess Parker Frontier Red Lot 61 '05
The Nitty Gritty:
- Vintage: 2005
- Varietal: Blend
- Winery: Fess Parker
- Region: Santa Barbara
- Country: United States
- Price: About $10
- Rating: 91/100
- Tags: best value Blends
Fess Parker’s red table wine was an accidental find. I’d been perusing the otherwise unimpressive wine list at Old Ebbitt Grill in downtown Washington when my eye fell upon it. Aside from the catchy name, Frontier intrigued me as the most unique-looking wine on the list — a blend of grenache, syrah, petite sirah, cinsault, mouvedre, and carignane. I ordered it and was instantly impressed — it was everything I love in a red, smooth, rich, spicy, but not overwhelmingly alcoholic. At $8 a glass, it had better be good.
Needless to say, I was surprised, if not shocked, to find my beloved Frontier Red at a wine store in Maine, six months later, for about $9. Could this be true? Granted, I shouldn’t have been terribly shocked at being price-gouged at Old Ebbitt, but, considering how good the wine had been, I couldn’t believe it was only 9 bucks a bottle. I convinced my “mah” (that’s “mother” for you non-Mainers) to buy one. We both loved it.
I since have had two more bottles and am absolutely convinced of its quality. This is truly a best-value wine. It may not be the easiest to find (you won’t find it at Tiger Mart, but stop shopping there anyway!) but I’ve found it in a few places, including World Market.
You owe it to yourself to try this, no matter your level of wine appreciation. If you like red, you’ll love this.
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By Lauren McNally
Lauren B. McNally is a communications consultant in Washington, D.C., who spends most of her free time exploring culinary and oenological pursuits with friends. She hails from Maine and graduated from Bowdoin College, completing additional study at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.(where she found the dining hall cuisine rather offensive and repulsive, as opposed to that of the top-ranked Bowdoin Dining Service). Her palate is ever-evolving but she includes California Zinfandels, Cotes du Rhone, and white wines from Burgundy and the Loire Valley among her current favorites. Her least favorite wine-related phrase: “I don’t like _.” Lauren also enjoys cooking Italian and French cuisine, and has an unnatural obsession with Gorgonzola and pancetta.
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