i think you've got it figured out there wilfie. i stay away from heavily oaked wines, as they produce some nasty reductions. although, i don't have those wines in my home to begin with. the inexpensive cotes du rhone that i drink as an every day wine usually doesn't cut it for a slow and long cooked wine based dish, like braised short ribs. i actually use a, *gasp*, zin for that. i think the fruit and sugar add a lot. at the end of the day, you're going for flavor, which is coming from fruit and sugar for the most part. methinks.