I was at a wine tasting hosted by a local distributor this past week, and the best red in the house was a Petite Sirah by Spellbound. Now, this was not what I'd consider a very good PS - it was watery, the texture was not very good - but that incredible spicy kick you get from PS just made it much more interesting than the competing varietals. Petite Sirah is like the sexy red head in the room: no matter how dumb or obnoxious, he or she will always have at least one thing going for them.

Unfortunately, this bottle of De Bortoli is really quite stinky. I have the feeling - with no real evidence to support it - that this is a danger of PS spice: when the quality sinks below a certain water line, spice becomes stink. The fruit is actually quite decent once you get beyond the little piece of New York wafting out of your vino. But let's be honest, once the stink takes up residence, it doesn't really matter how nice the other roomates are!

83 with a big drive-by sign, even at 7USD!