Mirassou is another blast from the past years of my hospitality career. I began bartending on the day of my 18th birthday and reasonably soon thereafter discovered wine could be something more than the stuff you hold your breath to swallow at the holiday dinner table. Mirassou was considered a "pinky-in-the air" wine by the seasoned Riunite-guzzling waitresses I ran with back then. Don't laugh about the Riunite-it was a giant step up from the Boone's Farm and Cold Duck they'd been weaned on in rural Vermont.

Mirassou has put competent wines on American tables for decades. They're actually the longest continuously run family winery in our land, with an inception date of 1854. The sixth generation of the family has streamlined the label's offerings and closely protected the price points. I am pleased to report that the quality surpasses the price by a benevolent margin.

The cabernet displays rich color and a lightly spiced nose. Muted tannins tip their hat to berries and black cherries that give way to peppercorns and velvety dark cocoa impressions. The round fruit feel is no doubt due to a spritz of merlot in the blend and a secondary fermentation for part of the batch which in turn is blended back in to soften the wine's overall character. I would venture ageing barrels were all conditioned (code for previously used). My only critique is an acid/tannin structure that seems a hair simple for a cabernet, but perfection is usually much further away than this for a paltry 9 beans a bottle. At the end of the glass, the wine tastes simply like it's time for more.

Craig Pierce, clubhouse manager of Baker Hill Golf Club, can be reached at

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