Last night Betsy made leg of lamb with a basil-anchovy sauce accompanied by roast parsnips and carrots. Wine was the 1998 Ch. de Carles (Fronsac). Pretty decent showing for a $10-12 Bordeaux. Seemed simple at first- just some blackberry fruit and tannins. Some air brought out more black fruit (both blackberry and cassis) and some notes of cedar and smoke. There's still a little vanilla/oak note, and the tannins still stick out just a bit, but I think this medium-bodied Merlot is probably best drunk now before the attractive fruit starts to fade - I don't mind some tannins with red meat. A good showing, just what I want in a satellite Bordeaux- no great depths of complexity,but a nice straightforward claret. B with B+ for value
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.