Les Rocs de Plaisance 2005

By Caleb Cronk

This is a cheeky little simple Red Bordeaux that is earthy, light, and with a long finish. 100 percent Merlot grapes and coming from “old world” terrior gives you “stony” flavors in the front, light fruit in the middle, and finishes long with a “cassis” flavor. This is a polite wine with higher tannins and lower acid is a great compliment to cuts of beef, tomato sauces, and is even light enough to compliment robust cuts of pork and gamier meats. At about $15 a bottle this is a great French wine that has versatile applications.

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LesTuileries Rouge 2005

Most wine drinkers see Bordeaux as a great black hole made up of wine speak, unimaginably high prices, and an incredibly complex system of chateaux and classifications.

Which makes this wine (about $15) all the more welcome. It's a merlot and cabernet sauvignon blend in the classic Bordeaux style, but without any of the pretensions noted above. Classic means it's not a fruit forward popsicle, full of blueberry and cola, like most inexpensive Californa merlots. Rather, it has less fruit, more earthiness, and tastes more interesting. I stumbled on this when I was looking for a red Bordeaux to use for my Cordon Bleu class tastings, and it more than filled the bill.

Serve it with most beef (hamburgers on the grill wouldn't be bad at all) and even some meatier vegetable dishes.

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