Washington Post: 08/13/08 The NV Stone Cellars by Beringer California Cabernet Sauvignon ($8; $5 at Total Wine) is a light-to-medium-bodied berry bomb with a chocolate finish and just enough tannin to remind you it's a cabernet.

and the rating given...A bottle of wine needn't be expensive to be good. A nice slight touch of oak with supple tannins lead to a delicate but lingering finish in the mouth. A perfect wine for your summertime steaks by the pool or burgers with the neighbors.

We'd had the Stone Cellars Chardonnay, which is quite good - we bought it for a cookout in July and were very pleasantly surprised. Now, Consumer Reports rates it a great value. So a couple of weeks back, I picked up a bottle of the Stone Cellars Cabernet, just to see how it compared, quality-wise, with the Chardonnay. It's equally as good - very inexpensive, and needs to breathe for a bit before drinking, but I could decant this and serve it for a nice dinner and I believe everyone would be very pleased with it. It's amazing that a $6 bottle of wine is this good. I rated it 4 stars - if I were comparing it to a bottle of Stag's Leap, Kathryn Kennedy, or Opus One, it'd probably rate a 3, but it's still quite drinkable, and able to prove itself - I rated it a 4 just because it's so affordable.