During this past weekend in Shenandaoh, I decided to sample one of the local wines with dinner. This is one of Linden's single vineyard offerings -- a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Merlot.

I asked the restaurant to decant, and was pleasantly surprised at the ample dark fruit aromas when I initially sampled the wine. The flavors, however, were somewhat muted. It did open up to reveal some cherry and currant notes, but remained fairly monolithic and mediocre. $36.99 on the restaurant wine list ($30 at the winery). Not a bad wine, perhaps equivalent to a $12-15 California red.

Call it 83 on the GD scale.