Wines Of (cheap) Distinction

One of the side aspects of our firepit has become the chance for my wife and I to sit down and have a bottle of wine as we discuss whatever is happening with kids, the world, church, our plans, and way too often, work. "Sometime" I'm going to get a MUCH better ordered wine list than this, but having a bottle of wine that we really enjoyed last night led me to the idea that a blog post that I linked and updated from time to time was "a way":

• Smoking Loon Merlot, 2005, Firepit 5-25, purchased at RCLS Auction. Very low tannin, smooth. Looks like it only got an 81 from Wine Spectator, 2003 got 85, 2004 84, so they may be worth looking for. Looks like it can be had for <$10 a bottle.
• Little Penguin Cabernet Savignon, 2005, 2006. The Spector gave the '05 an 88 and the '06 an 85. We haven't had a bottle we didn't like, but we may need to do more research to see if we can find some '05 around. This can be had for < $6 a bottle.
• Apothic Red ... we call it "Apathetic" ;-) $7 a bottle, blend, we love it. 
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