Thanks for the comment, Lola. We always love to hear other people’s thoughts about the wines we review. Cheers!

This is my favorite wine. It was recommended by the gentlemen that own my neighborhood wine store, and of which I’m a regular customer. It’s great paired with food, or if you are just relaxing and want to sip wine. I’m actually arranging for a case of it to keep in my wine cabinet. Excellent wine!

Janelle, I’m glad to hear this is a wine that has brought you into the red camp. As far as finding other similar wines, yes there are other wines with flavors resembling this one, but nothing exactly like it. This wine is a blend with zinfandel being the dominant grape, and the characteristics show a strong influence from the zinfandel… but that’s not all that’s in this one. The oak is also over the top in this wine. If you like this and want to find other wines you like, I’d suggest looking for other red wine blends that are zinfandel-dominant and heavy on the oak.

I just got this red from my local Nuggets at around $10 and sad to say I’m not impressed at all. This wine is either 2 years too young to be drinkable, or the vintner doesn’t know what he’s doing. The aroma of this mix is very subdued, not a lot comes through. The color is extremely dark and matte. Once you taste this, the initial bad omen impressions come full circle: I do not recommend this wine. It is far too sweet, causing me to cringe. I’m sorry but this is not a $10 wine, I would value this at about $4. I normally do not post reviews like this, but my experience has left me extremely disappointed.

Hi Albe. We don’t sell wine here, we just review it.

Hi Denabeth. Yes, you are a Zin girl, as this is a zinfandel blend. I’m glad you’re finding red wines that you like. Cheers to that!

Yikes! The dreaded bottle variation! Hopefully you just got one bad bottle.

Being from India, I am not a huge fan of wine I try it out this once in a while. On a recent trip to US, I was in a mood to drink a good wine. Hit a wine and spirit store in King of Prussia. Gosh the store was so huge and there were innumerable wines. I was lost on what to try. A lady who was also shopping there, suggested Apothic Red. Voila. What a good wine. Ever since I have been drinking this wine.

Great wine!! Bought this in washington state, yelm, wa! Wonderful blend… keep bring it into Safeway!! in Yelm!

I bought a bottle of this from WalMart. It has a nice smell but the taste is nothing like it smells. Almost like an artificial scent was added to nasty stuff.

Thanks for sharing, Nadine. I’m glad you found a red wine that works for you. Cheers!

I would leave a bad review just to keep the price of this wine from rising, but these guys know what they are doing. This is a fabulous blend. Not a lot of complexity, but nevertheless, a big bold taste, an unusually velvety mouth feel and a smooth finish.

I TOLD EVERYONE I KNOW EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW FRIENDS FAMILY COWORKERS THE WORLD IS THAT GOOD I LOVE it AND EVERYONE ELSE WOULD TOO!

Wanted to love this one but I can’t handle the overpowering vanilla. To me it tastes like a vanilla ice cream soda with wine in it, it’s just too much. Cheers to everyone who loves it, but man, it’s not for everybody.

This blend is by far, the best amongst several other wineries blends. Over the Holidays, we entertained several families and must I say my whole case was exhausted over a one week period. Compliment galore was the order of the day and I did “free” marketing for Apothic Red by gifting bottles to half a dozen out of town friends!!

This wine teeters at earning all the bad adjectives about wine but ends up just right. It is light but not thin. Neither sweet nor dry. And it could never be characterized as over alcoholed not only because it weights in at 13 percent but also because its OVER THE TOP oak (you can practically taste the barrel) steps in on the finish and never allows any alcohol to show.

What more can you ask for in a $10 bottle of wine? It is inexpensive but not cheap, something you will find yourself drinking again and again with no shame.

Wow, tspence. It sounds like you really love this wine!

You’re not the first person to comment to me about the Apothic 2010 being disappointing. I haven’t had an opportunity to taste it yet.

You might try the Gnarly Head Authentic Red. It’s another zinfandel blend, although it’s a little more fruit-forward than the 09 Apothic. But it’s worth a try.

Another one you might like is the 2009 Concannon Conservancy Crimson and Clover. It’s a petite sirah blend, so a little different, but it has a nice balance of fruit and spice.

Tim, being a recent and avid fan of your website, I’ve really come to trust your judgment on wine. In my social circle (and age group) it’s hard enough to explain why I’m sipping an Italian red while my friends are twisting off the cap to American piss-water beer, let alone trying to decipher the intracacies of an inexpensive bottle of wine.

That being said, I’m really hoping that there was a huge swing between the 2009 and 2010 to justify my disappointment. I’ve been hearing so much about Apothic Red from different sources. After reading your review for the 2009 and seeing the 2010 in the grocery store for $9, I had to buy it. The result was utter disappointment. This wine lacked any kind of character or complexity, whatsoever. I get that wine is an extended form of grape juice but this really tasted like someone added gin to a bottle of grape juice. I detected slight vanilla and faint oak, but this changed very little after decanting for an hour. As much as I want to say that I detected plum and cherry on the palate, it was more the California effect than anything. I’m hoping that I’m not judging this on the simple fact that this was a very sweet California red blend.

This was a very forgettable bottle of wine but I’m just ooing to chalk this up to a bad experience and go on letting you guide me towards some great buys.

Thanks for your guidance, Tim.

‘…it would not be surprising to find a “WHAT?” …in the opposite direction!!

Actually, I am finding the 2010 Apothic Red to be a fun, smooth and slightly sweet fruit forward wine with a hint of smoke and oak, among other flavors. I have had about 4-5 bottles and have found all of them to be drinkable and good right out of the bottle. Easy, easy drinking.

Hm m m, I read some of the negative comments above. I am now wondering if the batches are varying….

Still, I absolutely think it’s worth a try. I was very pleasantly surprised!
For the price, I think it is a steal.