Drink

Here's a wine riddle for this era of recession drinking: How does a tasty Napa cabernet sell in the same marketplace for both $30 and $15?

Answer: When discount wine innovator Jonathan Newman gets involved with the phenomenon of private labels. The ex-PLCB chairman has helped create more than 20 "private labels," like this 2007 Kingsford Manor cabernet, as an outlet for wineries to sell surplus cases of a vintage without damaging the established value of their franchise brand.

In today's trade-down market, where $30 bottles languish on shelves, that means 4,000 cases, or about 25 percent of the cab inventory from this well-known (but confidentially unnamed) producer are now widely available throughout South Jersey and Delaware for about $15. I wouldn't pay $30 for this bottle, either. But with the discount, this cab is a genuine deal, a luscious sip of ripe Napa black-cherry fruit wrapped in just enough cedar spice, coffee, and tannins to give it life and length. It's impressively drinkable despite the young vintage - no matter what label it wears.

- Craig LaBan
The 2007 Kingsford Manor, about $15, is available in South Jersey at most of the various Canal's and Roger Wilco, and in Wilmington at Frank's Union Wine Mart. It is available in Pennsylvania by special order, no minimum, for $17.49 (code: 42169).