Let’s say you typically spend under $10 per bottle and you’re in the store and come across Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon.  It has this bold red label with a very regal looking lion figure.  It’s a very impressive label and looks like it must be a good bottle of wine.  It says “Select” on the bottle.  That must mean it’s a premium product.  And it’s $13—that’s $3 over your typical limit.  Ohhh… it has to be good, it’s $13!

So you make your move, “I’m going to splurge today and get a really good bottle of wine!”  You grab the Hess Select and head on your way.  (Paying before you leave the store of course.)  Then when you open the bottle you feel like you got robbed. 

I think a lot of wine drinkers find themselves going through this scenario.  They typically buy bottles under $10 and find themselves wanting to spend a few dollars more to get something a little bit better.  But that’s where wine gets tricky.  Spending more doesn’t always mean that you’ll get a better bottle of wine.  Particularly if it’s only a couple bucks more.

In a way, wine is like fashion.  Sometimes you pay more for a brand name, even though you could get something of higher quality for less money if you went with a lesser known name.  There are some wine producers who consistently produce high quality year after year and have real credibility to their name, while with some others you’re just paying more for the name.

This bottle of Hess Select is a great example of a wine that’s bad for business if wine producers want to reward consumers for spending more and encourage them to increase their wine budgets.  That’s right… it’s not worth the extra $3.  In fact I wouldn’t pay more than $7 for this bottle of wine.

Overall, this is a fairly run of the mill cabernet.  There’s nothing extraordinary about it.  The nose is rather peculiar with dusty, herbal and vanilla nature to it.  The palate has reasonable concentration of blackberry and vanilla flavors.  The best part is the velvety smoothness of the tannins.  It has a fairly long finish, but again there’s nothing extraordinary about it.

I gave this wine an 84.  It’s not awful, but you can spend less and find something better.

Wine: Hess Select
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 13.5% 
Rating: 84
Price Paid: $12.97