First off, I’m not quite sure how the owner of A1A Fine Wine and Spirits does it. Free wine tastings happen, but they’re not that common.

And a free tasting with Darioush? Shut. Up.

I’ve been to A1A’s tastings before and have always enjoyed the high-quality of wine poured as well as the chatty, personable regulars. Those “regulars” would sooner die than miss one of her tastings. And I can totally see why.

Owner and A1A sweetheart Vanessa Patel just returned from a trip to Napa and was excited to share her finds. In addition to a hefty amount of Rombauer and an interesting potpourri of chards, shiraz and the vino zaco rioja, she poured the Darioush cab, the pinot and the caravan, a delicious red blend. The heavy-hitting Darioush wines were kept behind the counter for her most faithful customers – or persistent – but the less-expensive Darioush wines were available for all, which is still pretty great.

I’ve never tried Darioush before – something a Napa-loving girl should be well-versed in! Of course, I was very fond of the 2006 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon. It had a delicious smell of cola, cherry and chocolate and was smooth, but not gripped with too-strong tannins. It will definitely age well and is a complex, impressive wine. It sells for about $80 online. To some, I’m sure it’s worth a lot more. It’s out of my price range though.

The 2007 Darioush Pinot Noir had a beautiful color and a very gentle aroma that I had to sniff out. It smelled of cherries and earth. It was extremely smooth and well-balanced with the pinot silkiness I would expect from a pinot.

But my favorite Darioush of the night was the 2007 Estate Caravan. This blend is composed of 78 percent cab, 14 percent merlot and four percent each of petit verdot and malbec. It also had a beautiful dark ruby color and had a smell of cherries and cinnamon – and a lot of red fruit packed in there. It was very, very smooth, mellow and easy-drinking. It made great company. It goes for $45. This is definitely a wine I would buy if it only cost $30 and under. It was delicious!

Since all these wines were unfortunately out of my wine budget and I didn’t want to leave empty-handed, I was thrilled to discover a great value in the Wente Cabernet Sauvignon. It was on sale for $10 and was very pleasant and easy-drinking. I couldn’t believe what a great price it was: I had found my value wine!