Wine review: Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cabernet Merlot 2007

One of these days, I need to write a post about the vast, almost endless selection of Australian red blends that cost $10 or $12. These are solid, dependable wines -- the Rosemounts, Lindemans and McWilliam's -- that are a step up from the livestock wines that have dominated the Aussie export market for the past decade.
Until then, consider this: The Penfolds ($12, sample), which is a a good example of the quality and value that these wines deliver. The biggest problem with most cheap red wines is that they're offensive -- literally. Ask a beginning wine drinker who says he or she doesn't like red wine, and they'll tell you it's because the wines are too green (flavors of unripe fruit) or too tannic.
The Penfolds is neither, and the plum fruit is quite pleasant. Is it a complicated, sophisticated wine? Nope. But it is more than a fair value, the kind of thing to pick up at the grocery store on the way home from work. Drink this with burgers, sloppy joes or meatloaf.

Penfolds, red wine, wine review, Australian wine, red blends