It is Friday!!! Time for Best Wine of the Week.

I feel a little cheesy to calling out this wine as my favorite wine of the week. It is as trendy in the wine geek world as boys wearing untucked dress shirts and expensive jeans at a Johnson County bar.

You know what though.....I've actually had this wine twice and I've enjoyed it both times.

So without further drama........

This week's wine of the week is............

2008 Orin Swift Cellars "The Prisoner"

This wine is a Napa Valley red blend and I've started seeing it pop here and there. Just because several of us wine geeks have found it doesn't mean the rest of you are in the know. But I think you will be soon enough.

The wine is a blend of a majority Zinfandel (46%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (26%) and the rest is some Petit Syrah, Charbono, Syrah, Grenache.

No doubt it is a big, voluptuous fruit bomb with cool blue, red, and black fruits with nice lush, soft tannins and apparent spice like pepper and what I'd say is a little bit of new oak (vanilla). This wine is cool because it is a crowd pleaser AND it drinks well now. I'm not a huge fan of old Zinfandel and while this guy has some other varietals I still don't think most will like the way it tastes when it has some age.

I paid $68 on the wine list at Zest for it which means it should be had at a wine shop for $40. Not cheap by any means but this ain't Wyandotte County. For a semi-special night with some friends and an awesome meal cooked outdoors this would be a great place to start the conversation.

Final Note: A word on blends. Blends have often confused because in America we really like buying wine with the varietal name on the bottle....ie, Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. California wine law dictates that it must 75% of that varietal to put it on the label as such. Blends are often a labor of love for a winemaker in my opinion because they are trying to make the best wine they can regardless of what they have to put in the bottle. Since many wine sections and wine lists are organized by varietal they usually get stuck in a section by themselves that only us wine geeks shop. Good for us......bad for you. You can also look for Meritage but that usually connotates a blend made from Bordeaux varietals. However, this isn't law. Blends are a fun thing to check out and they often have funky names like this one and a very popular one called Menage a Tois.....however, I'm not a fan of it and a white blend I am fond of called Caymus Conundrum.

Enjoy. Have a great weekend.

Vaya Con Dios!