Chateau Roc de Breuil, 2009, Cotes de Bourg AOC, Bordeaux

Every once in a while you smell something in a glass of wine and it sends you reeling back into the strange dream that was your childhood.  This right bank baby sure did that from me.  I remember going to stay with my grandma back in the late 70's at her shag carpet covered apartment in Skokie, Illinois,  a city full of single Jewish grandmothers.  I remember sitting at her little kitchen table watching "Murder She Wrote" and her going out on the patio for a smoke during a commercial break.  She would come back pop a Certs in her mouth and offer one up to me.

And BOOM, that's exactly what this wine smells like!  Smoke and Certs!  Oh yeah, I also pick up red pepper flakes, strawberry jam, and tart candy.  This Merlot-driven blend from the northern region of the right bank of Bordeaux is light-to-medium bodied and hazy crimson in color.  The flavor is dominated by raspberry with lively light spice and resiny notes.  It's got good acid, not much length, and tough but not too bitter tannins.  The Roc de Breuil reminds me of a slightly brawnier Beaujolais Villages.  Maybe it's all psychosomatic, but after some recent disappointing bottles this wine has an authenticity and realness that I can appreciate.  12 bucks at Costco and oh I wonder how this would pair with some tako poke!