Non-vintage California Cabernet
Big Red California Cabernet Sauvignon
Joseph J.D. Franzia's family house takes an earlier Paso Robles Cabernet and starts the California bottling in Lodi, a table red at twenty-five dollars.
The back label calls it bold, generous, and made to share. Blackberry, cassis, and plum on the nose. Black cherry, earth, and sage on the palate. Stainless steel, then six months with oak. One bottle is here at the suggested retail of $25. If a California Cabernet is supposed to taste like a big red country, this is the glass they named for that idea. What are you pouring with the steak?
A new California chapter for a Paso Cabernet
Big Red began as a Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon. Three of a Kind Wine & Spirits Co. now stewards it, and the current bottling carries a California designation from Lodi. The tech sheet calls the style generous and dark-fruited, made for the table.
The label is a barn in crimson, with the house mark set in a square. Joseph J.D. Franzia's family owns the portfolio. The bottle says the rest in one line: this is big country that promises and delivers big red wines.
California
Non-vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, 750 ml, 13.8% alcohol.
Lodi
Vinted and bottled by Three of a Kind Wine & Spirits Co. LLC.
The turn
An earlier Paso Robles Cabernet, now a California bottling.
The table
Grilled steak, charred chiles, and herb chimichurri.
Blackberry, cassis, and a lively close
The tech sheet opens on blackberry, cassis, plum, vanilla, and cedar. The palate follows with black cherry and berry fruit, earth, and sage. The finish is fresh fruit, and they call the close lively.
The back label puts the same glass in plainer words: ripe plum, black cherry, and berry fruit, a note of loamy earth, vanilla and sage, fresh fruit at the end. No critic score is printed for this bottling, so none is claimed here.
Stainless, then six months with oak
Fermentation is in stainless steel. Aging is six months with oak. Alcohol is 13.8% by volume. The bottle is 750 ml and contains sulfites. It is a non-vintage California Cabernet Sauvignon.
Three of a Kind Wine & Spirits Co. LLC, in Lodi, vints and bottles it. The back label also prints DRINKBIGREDWINES.com. The producer has said the consumer site is not up yet, so this page does not send you there.
A Franzia family portfolio, bottled for the table
Three of a Kind prints itself as a Joseph J.D. Franzia family-owned portfolio, and the house stationery calls the line a family tradition since 1893. Big Red is one brand in that book, not a century-old single vineyard.
The wine's own story is shorter and more specific. It comes forward from a Paso Robles Cabernet into this California bottling, made dark-fruited and ready for dinner. The people on the page are the family that owns it, and the place on the label is Lodi.
You do not need a score, a cult mailing list, or a long speech. You need a steak, the chimichurri, and a glass that tastes like the name. The bottle is $25.
Steak, charred chile, chimichurri
The tech sheet sends this Cabernet to grilled steak, charred chiles, peppers and onions, and an herb-forward chimichurri.
Two plates from their own table note. Open the bottle and pour. They do not ask you to wait on a decant.
750 ml, 13.8% alcohol. One bottle is available on this listing.
Grilled steak with chimichurri
A seared steak, sliced, with a green herb sauce across the top. This is the plate the tech sheet names first.
Why it works: The wine's black cherry and sage sit next to char and parsley, and the lively finish keeps the meat from feeling heavy.
View Recipe for grilled steak with chimichurri (opens in a new tab)
Charred chiles, peppers, and onion
Blistered peppers and sweet onion, the second plate on their sheet, the one that brings a little heat to the glass.
Why it works: Char and chile pick up the cedar and the plum, and the fresh finish of the wine answers the sweetness of the onion.
View Recipe for charred chile and onion (opens in a new tab)Open it with the steak.
A California Cabernet from a Franzia family house, bottled in Lodi, priced at the $25 suggested retail.
If you want the glass they named Big Red, add the bottle.
