VWSI Is Flat; Oakley Five Reds Isn’t

The VIX continued its range-bound trading this week, closing the week at 12.45, up 0.38 from the previous week. In spite of some noteworthy divergence between the VIX and SPX earlier in the week, the persistent theme of post-2/27 subsidence in volatility now has the VIX Weekly Sentiment Indicator (VWSI) back to an even zero once again.

(Note that in the above temperature gauge, the "bullish" and "bearish" labels apply to the VIX, not to the broader markets, which are usually negatively correlated with the VIX.)

Wine pairing: I have yet to encounter a California red blend for under $10 that I prefer to the 2003 Cline Cellars’ Oakley Five Reds. The 2003 vintage is a blend of 41% syrah, 27% zinfandel, 22% petite sirah, 10% alicante bouschet, and 1% mourvedre. These are five powerhouse varietals and the resulting blend can stand up to – and improve upon – just about any culinary match you wish to put it up against. If you want some more detailed tasting notes, check out what others have to say about this wine on CellarTracker. Regarding some of the other wines produced by Cline, I have had mixed results, though they do an excellent job of providing a range of choices at affordable price points.

As a side note, a previous mass market red blend, Red Truck, was sold by Cline to an investor group in late 2005. Cline is a minority investor in the new Red Truck venture and will continue to the supply the syrah, cabernet franc and mourvedre grapes for the Red Truck blend. Go ahead and try Red Truck too, but my recommendation is to check out the Oakley Five Reds first.

Previous inexpensive Rhone blend recommendations include Robert Hall’s Rhone de Robles and Tablas Creek’s Cote de Tablas Blanc, as well the contrarian favorite, Wrongo Dongo.