This high quality Bordeaux is food-friendly at at an approachable price

Bordeaux is the largest wine-producing region of France and renowned for the quality of its red wines, which are typically blends based on the region’s native cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes. While Bordeaux’s finest wines were affordably priced just 50 years ago, with top wines selling in the U.S. for only $15 or $20 in the early 1970s, they are now blue-chip investments for an increasingly global elite, with the most sought after bottles commanding up to $2,000 upon release.

This windfall for a handful of top estates has led to a collapse in demand for the region’s other producers, leaving thousands of smaller family-owned producers at a disadvantage on the export market. This may be a crisis for middle-class French vintners but offers an opportunity for American wine lovers to access delightful, well-made wines like this one at decidedly approachable prices.

There are a number of terms on the label that indicate superior quality and the wine lives up to its promise. The honorific term Château indicates that this is an estate-bottled wine, where the vintner cultivates their own vineyards adjacent to the winery. Cru Bourgeois is a legal classification for wines of the middle tier, between the expensive crus classes and cheaper entry level offerings. Finally, the Médoc appellation indicates that this wine comes from the most respected of Bordeaux’s wine districts, the storied “Left Bank” of the Gironde estuary.

Made up of roughly two-thirds merlot to one-third cabernet sauvignon, this is a picture perfect example of the food-friendly style that made red Bordeaux so famous in the first place. Its appetizing aromas of fresh blackberries and shishito peppers along with its bone-dry, midweight palate make this a spectacular partner for everything from formal roasted meats to relaxed pepperoni pizza.

PLCB Item #3412

Sale price through Oct. 4 – regularly $21.99

Also available at:

Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville, NJ  - $20.99

Berkley Fine Wine & Spirits in Clarksboro, N.J. - $24.99

Kreston Wine & Spirits in Wilmington,, - $27.99

Total Wine & More in Claymont, Del.  - $27.99