A Bottle of the House Red, Please

Santa Ema Cabernet Sauvignon (Chile)
2002 and 2003
$3.99
Jen’s Notes

This is our reliable house red, available for $3.99 at Trader Joe’s and around $7.00 elsewhere. At $3.99, Santa Ema is an amazingly inexpensive (a prerequisite for your house wine), quality wine. We actually buy this one by the case; it is the perfect wine to have on your average weeknight when you whip up an easy dinner and spend some quality time with your beloved. With the Santa Ema in the wine cellar, you no longer have to make the spur of the moment trips to the local corner store where you usually end up with something overpriced or, worse, overpriced and bad.

This wine isn’t knock-your-socks-off complex, but it does show defined and pleasant berry fruit layered over firm, slightly smoky tannins. It is surprisingly well-crafted and integrated for a wine south of the $10.00 mark (usually, anything at this price point is more like that Two Buck Plonk we all heard about a year or so ago). If you like something a little softer, try the Merlot for the same price.

Another good quality in your house wine is the ability to pair it with food. We have had the Santa Ema Cab with everything from pizza to roast chicken and it has always worked beautifully.