The wine: R.H. Phillips Night Harvest Merlot

We paid: $8.99

About the wine: This wine is made from grapes harvested at night when the air is coolest in California. “This inviting Merlot offers bing cherry, sweet cedar, and raspberry aromas that precede rich plum and black cherry flavors. The finish is mellow and delicate with a hint of oak.”

The food: A recipe from canyoustayfordinner.com for Petite Lasagnas. We adapted the recipe slightly by using red, green and yellow bell peppers in the sauce instead of ground turkey. Jared put mini pepperoni in his lasagnas and Nicole’s were vegetarian.

The verdict: The Petite Lasagnas were absolutely delicious and painfully simple and inexpensive to make. It was even kind of fun stuffing all the cheese and sauce inside the little wonton wrappers. It took only twenty minutes of prep and cooking.

Jared: This wine had a rich berry flavor with the familiar dryness of a merlot. There’s very little aftertaste, without the “burny” wine taste.  Being new to the wine scene, the dryness of merlots hadn’t appealed to me, but since I finally found myself liking a merlot I give it a B+

Nicole: I liked the spicyness of the oak and cedar flavors. It has a really light and dry taste, and it was easy to drink. I enjoy merlot, and this one was good, especially for the price and I give it a B-