A: While it is certainly impressive when a taster can nail the exact identity of a wine blind, this is not the actual purpose. By removing label bias, a wine can be assessed based solely on what the taster finds in the glass. A top taster will be able to correctly assess the quality of a wine without those outside factors, and perhaps guess where the wine is from. You can also learn which wines coast on their reputations, and which wines are truly great values.

Q: You're going somewhere with this, aren't you?

A: You bet! I recently attended a blind tasting of 18 Cabernets with a retail price of $25 or more - they didn't have to be from California, though they turned out to be. The group of 18 was a mix of trade professionals and amateur wine lovers, and, at the end of the tasting, all 18 people were told to vote for their three favorite wines, Two wines tied for first place, and two wines tied for third. We began unveiling the winners.

One of the third place wines? Salva Tierra 2006 from the Napa Valley. Salva Tierra is the second label of Renteria Family Winery. The Renterias are a true American success story - unlike the venture capital dilettantes who own so many of the most exorbitantly-priced Napa wineries, they came up through the ranks. Salvador Renteria  came from Mexico in 1963, worked a harvest in Napa, and landed a job at Sterling Vineyards, where he rose from field hand to foreman, eventually overseeing the planting and care of some of Napa's greatest vineyards.  He began his own vineyard management company in 1987. In 1993, his son Oscar joined the firm. They also began making wine from select vineyards. Their Stag's Leap Cabernet is one of my favorite 06s. Oscar is one of my favorite people in the wine business.

The Salva Tierra 06 costs $29.99.

Then we unveiled the first of the two top wines. I'm happy to say it was my bring - the 2005 Larkmead Napa Cabernet; one of my favorite producers since the 1998 vintage. The second of the first place winners?

(Here's the humbling moment.)

The other top wine - a second bottle of Salva Tierra 2006. All I can say is that we were pretty consistent in our voting, even if we didn't realize we were tasting the exact same wine twice.

But here's the real lesson: Salva Tierra 2006 Napa Cabernet at $29.99 is an incredible value. This took out some pretty pricey wines...except for Larkmead 05 - (and there's a few bottles left of that one, too).

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