The 2012 Le Parisian Bordeaux Red is a $4.99 ALDI’s import exclusive. In Europe, ALDI’s has a fairly decent reputation for selling good quality, inexpensive Bordeaux wines, while in the US their wine selection is scaled down. The general rule of thumb with buying cheap Bordeaux wines is, in an excellent vintage everyone in Bordeaux produces good wines, so finding quality inexpensive wine isn’t hard. In an off vintage, only the best producers make good wines, the rest of the Bordeaux wines are hit or miss. The 2012, along with the 2011 vintage in Bordeaux were problematic vintages. So a cheap 2012 Bordeaux Red is a bit of a gamble, but then again, you are only gambling $4.99. This wine was produced for ALDI’s by the Oenoalliance, which is owned by the Castel Group, the largest wine producer in France. They produce 640,000,000 bottles of French wine a year. This is classified an AOP (used to be AOC) wine, not Vin de Pays or table wine. The alcohol content is 13%.
The color is dark, opaque black cherry red. The nose is ripe plum, cold coffee and a slap of spice. The mouth feel has good weight to it and this is a very dry Red wine. It tastes of plums and black cherries, along with herbal tea. I swear I taste some oak spice, but at $4.99 a bottle how can that be? The mid palate adds a little sweet blueberry and orange zest. The tannins don’t bite and the acidity is balanced. The finish is full and long, but it includes a very dry sensation, so I wouldn’t call it tasty.
Well, I was expecting nothing from the Le Parisian Bordeaux and it actually gave me a little something. It is not a bad, little 5 buck Bordeaux Red. If anything, the tannins or oak (?) are a little out of whack, there is a dryness that you just do not expect is a $4.99 wine. But with that said, if you drink this with blue cheese burgers or pot roast, that dry sensation will disappear. As a backyard deck sipper, it drinks ok, just a little too dry, as a food wine, it is pretty solid, pair it with Culver’s Double Cheese burger or Popeye’s spicy chicken.
