Yesterday we had rain, hail and lightening here in the Bay Area (think San Francisco), in addition to some cold - well cold for us - weather. Traci decided to make chicken and dumplings for dinner to warm us up. She even made her own chicken stock to make the soup later.

To accompany we each just wanted a glass of wine and nothing more so we unscrewed the lid on the JC Cellars "Daily Ration" Red wine. It's really inexpensive at about $10 per bottle and for that price you get a red wine that is pretty rich without being "grapey" and overly simplistic and this version was no exception. Fun wine, rich red raspberry and blackberry flavors, a little chocolate and pepper. Medium to medium full bodied with a decent finish length. I believe this was a blend of Zin, Syrah and Petite Sirah. Very nicely done 87/100

For those that don't know, JC Cellars is a local winery (Oakland, CA) that produces very good Syrahs, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and a couple of white rhone varietal wines. The jug wine is 1/2 gallon and the composition changes monthly...I believe it is wine that for whatever reason just doesn't make it into their final blends or isn't going to make it the single vineyard wines that are bottled. When they run out, they run out and sometimes there's a month or two where the wine isn't available...

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with JC Cellars other than living in Oakland and enjoying their wine and hospitality (at the winery) from time to time.