The United Steaks

On a recommendation from my local wine shop clerk, I picked up a couple bottles of Coppola Claret. First, a lesson about wine clerks.

Most wine novices are a bit intimidated about shopping for wine in a specialty shop, and mostly, they shouldn’t be. While there are a few snobbish, holier-than-thou types running around, the vast majority are out to discover what you like about wine in order to make recommendations that 1) you will enjoy and 2) will keep you coming back as a valuable customer. Something I wish I would have realized a bit earlier in my wine days.

Back to the Coppola Claret, I was in the shop the other night looking for some recommendations on some $15-20 wines I could use to stock a new wine fridge. Nothing fancy, just a good stock of wine for normal drinking situations. I was steered to the $11/bottle Coppola Claret and told to pick up a bottle, try it, and if it didn’t agree with me, we’d try something else.

I cracked it open last night and I’ll be stopping back in this weekend for the first few bottles to inhabit my new fridge. A deep dark red - almost black -in the glass. A velvety texture with a strong berry flavor. Very well balanced. A great wine to have on hand for those impromptu drinking occasions.