This stuff isn’t bad. Not great, not bad. I dug it up at Trader Joe’s for $4.99. It quaffs OK. It’s french. It’s maybe a little sharp, with hardly any tannins. This is a very drinkable light French table wine– or that’s what I’d use it for. A blend of Grenache and Syrah, it benefits a bit from contact with the air: I thought, after the first glass, “Mmm.. not too bad.” The second glass brought out “Damn, that’s kind of nice.” There’s a little alcoholic sharpness that I’ve come to associate with french wines that unfortunately overpowers some of the subtler flavors.
How does it go with food? I ate some leftover green curried lamb with the second “kind of nice” glass. Now, this food is kind of an unfair pair with the wine: It’s bold and spicy. It goes well with a sharp lager like Tsingtao or Cobra. The wine stood up, helped by its sharpness, and did a decent job. It slithered over the spice burn and cooled it.
It didn’t enhance the curry itself, just held its own, but when I had it with a few spicy bites of lamb it shone through. They got together and did a little dance in my mouth, accentuating the alcoholic sharpness.
Overall, this wasn’t bad. At $5, you really can’t beat it.