MARCH 3BOTTLES: BORDEAUX, $55

Bordeaux = Money. Everyone looks to get paid, but the Bordeaux trade is garishly capitalist in a way that unsettles me. I have a vague and silly notion about the product I sell, but it's how I feel so you all are stuck with my naivete. I find wine evocative of people and harmony with the nature they live in to be essentially worthwhile, and beautiful. It is hard to view Bordeaux using that romantic notion. The way that it is traded, and in many instances farmed (organic wine is a rarity in the region), the structure of Bordeaux estates, and the type of commerce they feed leaves a bad taste in my mouth. When I buy the (scant few) bottles of Francois Raveneau Chablis that I will purchase every vintage, I never discuss or even think about the future value of this wine, because I am going to drink it. Its quality lies in bringing an evening of happiness to me and my family, or even maybe friends, assuming one day I make some. By the way, it's easy to make friends with Francois Raveneau on your table.... With Bordeaux of a similar price, the wine is generally discussed in terms of future dollar value, a logical flaw which has led to the blast off from sanity of the prices of the top 150 or so Bordeaux wines. They are lost in the stratosphere of extravagant luxury, a bottle to sip in your penthouse, admiring your newly acquired Basquiat, considering the merits of various small Pacific islands to purchase as a location for your next vacation retreat. They have become hard to justify, and even more painfully, they have become inaccessible to much of the wine loving public.

But millions of bottles of good, decent Bordeaux at sound prices are made every year. Some of this wine is the result of proud men and women unwilling to abandon the traditional type of wine that was made in the region for generations. Occasionally, more natural farming practices are being employed. So there is hope: Bordeaux for the rest of us is being made, and we are dedicated to finding and drinking it with the many foods that it complements and improves.  

This month's set includes Lex's version of the recipe for Gigot de Sept Heures, or Seven-Hour Lamb.  Yum.

Call (919 968 8993) or email me (jmurrie@3cups.net) to reserve your set.