Y'know what? I swear a lot. Get over it.

I caught a gross case of snots & sneezes this week, so the combination of impaired taste/smell and over-the-counter sinus meds may hamper the accuracy of my senses, and/or perforate my liver.  Somehow, by providence or magic, I have been wonderfully, graciously, gifted with a boatload of wine this week!  (DD, I promise to opine about the box you gave me asap!  I left it at a gf's house, but I was surprised how much I liked it and how quickly it went to my kneecaps). Our friend Glover came for a visit tonight and brought with him two perfect DW candidates: cheap, new-world Cabs! 

Wine:  "Fuzion" Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2011, by Fuzion Alta
Origin:  Argentina
Price:  $8.95
CC score:  3.5 of 5 = MEH+

This wine was not bad, a bit one-dimensional, definitely dry, but it was just a little... flat. It claims hearty blackberry and plum notes, but they weren't obvious to me.  It joined me for dinner (more on that below) and it seemed pretty happy to accompany the satanically good club sammich that I ate the fuck out of.  I bet it would also rock beside a slab of some dense chocolate cake.
Next!

Wine:  "Obikwa" Cabernet Sauvignon 2011,
Origin:  Western Cape, Sahth Ayefrika
Price:  $9.45
CC score:  3.75 of 5 = almost PFG

I thought I had tried this cheapo gem once before, but I think it was the Shiraz, which would have scored a MEH if I'm remembering the flavour correctly.  Their website is cheery and clever - I made an error signing in with my birthdate and was cutely re-directed here: http://www.obikwa.com/saveage.q.  There's a whole lot of wine awards going on there, and they really insist that their company is "sustainable" by having smaller, lighter bottles, and using lower-wattage light bulbs in ... well, all of South Africa uses lower-watt bulbs, it seems.  And while we're on the subject, I'd just like to declare that the phrase "carbon footprint" annoys me to no end, much like "organic" which is increasingly bastardized by city-people so far removed from food-production, who grow a single tomato plant they bought at Home Depot (probably because Dr. Oz mentioned organo-something on his stupid fucking TV show) and suddenly become enlightened in the ways of perma-culture, and then say shit like "I found organic Oreos at Whole Foods" (aim gun barrel at temple).

ANYHOO, I found the wine pretty mouthy, definitely fuller than the Fuzion.  Here are the berry flavours I was promised!

I poured a little (and I actually mean little, I'm still convalescing) of each with our take-away tucker tonight (thank-you, James), served up from the locally famous Early Bird diner - my entree was a turducken club with maple mayo & a green salad.  Now normally I'd never order anything with the word 'turd' in it, but it's kind of their signature thing.  It was SO SAVORY!  The sandwich was roughly the size of my cat, and bloody brilliant.  There was a moment where a bit of arugula and duck-bacon met the Obikwa and it was pretty much overt, heavy-petting of my tastebuds.  All in all, I'd bring either of these wines home again for a good roll on the floor.  With some chocolate cake.

Pairs well with Advil cold n' sinus.  Thanks, Gloves!