2003 Mas de Guiot Grenache-Syrah

All over Southern California you can catch the scent of barbecues firing up. It’s time to lay in some bold reds inexpensive enough to pour with abandon. The 2003 Mas de Guiot Grenache-Syrah would qualify in spades.

Importer Robert Kacher brings it in from the Languedoc region in southern France. A rich, deep red in color, this Grenache-Syrah blend is dry and peppery, bright with fruit. And it has enough of the garrigue in it, that landscape of wild sun-baked herbs, that it tastes as if it comes from somewhere. That’s hard to find in a wine that costs well under $10.

This wine goes down easy, and it doesn’t hurt to pay for it. Think in terms of a case.

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Quick swirl

Region: Languedoc (Pays du Gard)

Price: About $8

Style: Dry and peppery

Food it goes with: Barbecue, barbecue, barbecue.

Where you find it: Available at fine wine retailers.