Little Black Dress, California (United States) Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

This shows plenty of Cabernet character for eleven bucks, but it also shows a lot of gutsy, pleasantly earthy accents around the edges, which makes perfect sense when one learns that the blend is actually 78% Cabernet, 9% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignan, 5% Syrah, and 3% Malbec.  I have no problem with labeling this as Cabernet Sauvignon, since that is the predominant varietal profile of the wine, and on the contrary, this is a very clever way to avoid the problem of one-dimensionality in a highly affordable wine.  Kudos to the staff at Fetzer Vineyards, the company behind this brand.