Crafted from grapes grown in both the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys, Liar’s Dice Zinfandel offers the juicy, jammy side of Zin with a full-bodied palate and ripe aromas of blackberry, currants and black cherry. The winery suggests pairing Liar’s Dice with sweet and spicy meats like baby-back ribs or pulled-pork sandwiches. Liar’s Dice is a bluffing game made famous by Capt. Jack Sparrow in the Pirate’s of the Caribbean movies, arrrrgh!

A soft, simple but pretty wine, with slightly sweet, pie-filling cherry, raspberry, Dr. Pepper cola and baking spice flavors. Drink now.

Liar's Dice Zin blends wines from both Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley, the combination offering ripe black raspberry, currants, cherry and blackberry jam. Try this rich and fruity red for your final backyard cookout of the season. By the way, matey, Liar's Dice is the game played in Pirate's of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest where Will Turner plays the ghost for his soul. No such dire consequences await the wine drinker, although there is a variant of the game involving drinking when you lose...

Fresh, with aromas of dark fruit, earth and plenty of oak.

A blend of Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley fruit results in jamminess and well-rounded, soft tannins.

A tasty zin with aromas and flavors of raspberry, dried cherry, vanilla and spice. Approachable. Balanced.

Big, juicy, jammy red's full potential will be realized with rustic foods. Our wine of the week, Murphy-Goode 2007 Liar's Dice Zinfandel is big, juicy and jammy, with a warm sweetness buoyed by the heat and fat of nearly 15 percent alcohol. The wine's all black fruit and topsoil, with veins of black licorice and tannins that are broad and smooth in the middle and just a tad rough on the outermost edges of the palate. The wine's full potential will be reached with rustic foods, from a classic hamburger, meatloaf and spaghetti with meatballs to grilled pizzas and all manner of sausage, provided there is no chicken involved.

Purply red, with a spicy cinnamon nose, this wine has a sweet cherry flavor spiked with a sprig of mint. Not a lot of tannins, but the structure is there.

Sweet, jammy fruit redolent of blackberries and raspberries, rich texture and easy tannins. A great wine to serve with hamburgers, pulled pork, sausage and other grilled meats.

A vibrant version, with lively raspberry and pepper aromas and soft, supple black cherry and toasty vanilla flavors.

One reason why zinfandel is my favorite wine is that it's quite versatile with food (and especially compliments the barbecue and grilled foods popular this time of year). My tasting was dominated by Sonoma County 2006 Murphy-Goode Liar's Dice.

A jammy zinfandel. Notes of black cherry, herbs and spice. Snappy.

Smoky, ripe and juicy!

One reason why zinfandel is my favorite wine is that it's quite versatile with food (and especially compliments the barbecue and grilled foods popular this time of year). My tasting was dominated by Sonoma County 2005 Murphy-Goode Snake Eyes Ellis Ranch.

A zesty Zin, aromatic and vibrant with great tannin and structure. Nice fruit flavors, with notes of dill and toasty oak spice. Long finish.

An elegant Zin true to its varietal. lovely, ripe, jammy raspberry fruit. herbal note. Slightly short on the finish.

In a tasting of American Zinfandel between $20 and $50 from recent vintages, these were our favorites. 2003 Liars's Dice Zinfandel What a surprise; a real good food zin. All the right tastes with blueberries, pepper and earth, but a great deal of restraint and vibrant, food-friendly acidity. VERY GOOD

Andrew was enamored of the light body, the hint of orange peel and soft, grassy notes of the 2007 Murphy-Goode The Fumé, whose mere three months on French oak gave it the slightest toastiness.

Rich, ripe and complex, with tropical fruit; tart finish.

2003 Fume Blanc And here is a wonderfully scrubbed, lightly grassy, floral and very quietly oaky wine. It earns its spurs for energy, for its absolute purity of spirits and for its perfectly measured seasoning of grassy varietal character. Its priceworthiness is also to be noted.

2002 RESERVE FUME As this effort amply demonstrates, there are advantages to a bit of maturity....It's a lot of wine for the money.

2001 Reserve Fume Pears, Melons and light, fresh smells of grassy meadows start this wine off in the right direction, and its fruity, direct, slightly green-edged flavors follow right in suit.....

Cool off with a glass of sauvignon blanc I found a number of good everyday values that tend to be lighter with the focus on varietal fruit... 2016 Murphy-Goode The Fumé tangy, smooth.

Wine of the Week Despite the weird recurrences of winterish (for Florida) weather we’ve had lately, we know the hot weather is coming. Time to stock the wine racks with that summer staple, sauvignon blanc. One delicious and versatile candidate is Murphy Goode 2016 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc, widely available at about $13 per bottle. Made by Murphy Goode, founded in Sonoma County in 1985, this wine is 94 percent North Coast sauvignon blanc grapes, with a little kiss of semillon. Its pale straw color alone has a cooling effect, and its aroma conjures a bright salad of citrus and melon. Take a mouthful for even more of that fruit yumminess: cantaloupe, pineapple, tangerine, lime and peaches. There’s just a hint of herb, but no gooseberry funk — this is a California-style sauvignon blanc, not the New Zealand school. (I love them both, but they’re very different.) The Murphy Goode finishes crisply, with a chilly mineral edge under all that fruit. It’s a splendid aperitif, and it was born to wash down raw oysters. Or try it with a plate of linguine with fresh asparagus, zesty lemon and nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano.