J. Calvet Reserve 2005 Medoc

*Bottle #45: J. Calvert Reserve De L'Estey 2005 Medoc

*Price Tag: $7

*Running Tab: $537

One thing: Trader frickin' Joe's. Bargain after bargain, I've shopped their aisles, grabbing $2 packages of gnocchi, single portion baby bokchoy and organic goodness of multiple splendors. 

I have always been a good girl with self control and stayed away from the fully stocked shelves of wine. But this week's trip, I decided to indulge in value wine.

Perusing the wines at first seemed a chore but a very young stocker/possible wine steward was kind enough to help me narrow done some uber cheap and desirable choices. When faced with $8 Bordeauxs and $10 Burgundys, it's easy to get a little ahead of yourself considering these typically are not inexpensive purchases.

I don't know if it's the French translation and my piss-poor attempt at trying to Internet the heck out of it so I can comprehend all eight names used to identify this wine, but it seems as if the wine has the astute ability to be in two places at once... Let me explain. This particular Bordeaux blend from producer J. Calvet, a long-time mass-producing winery in the Saint-Emilion area of the Bordeaux region, happens to be made from the grapes of Medoc, another area of the Bordeaux region.

Still too much? This is how I dumbed it down for myself. A Napa located winery bought grapes from a Sonoma located vineyard, thus producing a Sonoma Valley wine. 

It just sounds so much more exhaustive and convoluted in French. 

The wine, however, is rather the contrast. J. Calvet's 2005 Medoc Reserve Red - blend unknown but presumptively Cab/Merlot/Cab Franc - lets lose some quiet aromas of black cherries, black currants, strawberry rhubarb and distinct oak. Some soft spice tones come later with vanilla. 

Let me say here and I hope I have not contradicted myself in the past but I hate strawberry rhubarb in wine. What an awkward "fruit," what a horrible pie and artificially fruit leathers tend to ruin most flavors anyway. 

That being said, I don't think the nose was half bad for a 7 Buck Chuck. Neither was the palate. The wine sweetly enters and dries out in the mid-palate and finish. Easy cherries and berries with delicate nutmeg sprinkled on top. 

And yet, the cons. If you build a cheap house, it's likely you use cheap materials to hold up the structure and foundation of this overall cheap product. The house might look and feel fine at first but chances are, those materials will refuse to hold and the house will fall down. Just like this wine: fresh and bright up front and after 20 minutes, it's crumbled to the ground with a lack of structure, tannins and acidity. 

But what you can you expect? Spend this little money on a wine and I hope you drink it fast and share it with people who don't care what they're putting down. Speaking from experience, I can thank Katie, Erin, Leann and Jason, ABC's new bachelor. No, he didn't drink it with us but we drank it for him.

Score: 6.