Deen De Bortoli, Vat 4, Petit Verdot, 2005 (Australia) - This was store recommended, plus it's only the second Petit Verdot I've seen as a stand alone varietal.  The first sample was St. Supery, a co-worker brought it in, and I really liked that one a lot.  Well it was nice in this case to have a second sample to compare St. Supery to.  So how was it?  Vat 4 is really quite enjoyable.  It's made in a bold fruity style along the spirit of a big Shiraz or big Cab.  Granted it didn't have the pepper or finesse of the earlier Verdot sample, but then again there's quite a price range difference of these two (Vat 4 is only $15, I'd bet St. Supery was $30ish).  All in all I think this is a very enjoyable wine and a good value worth repeating.  I'll give it a 7 out of 10, which is quite a good score (St. Supery had been an 8).

Castello di Salle, Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Riserva, 2003 (Italy) - A historic wine from one of the 5 ancient castles of a historic region.  Really quite decent, though compared to the Quatri Mani I reviewed earlier this clearly is the Montepulciano which came in second.  Still, I'll give it a 6 out of 10 for upper average, and on paper I suspect this is supposed to be the more respected of the two brands.

Indaba, Sauvignon Blanc, 2007 (South Africa) - A cheap white wine which was so weak I personally thought it was more like a lightly flavored water.  Nancy said she liked it though.  Still, I'll just give it 4 out of 10 for below average.