Anyway, they had a couple of older Bordeaux at a reasonable price, and I picked up a bottle of 1991 Chateau Labegorce Margaux for a very reasonable price. In Googling, it appears that it was a reasonable price is that 1991 was an epic disaster of a year!
Yet, the Cellar Tracker posts on the specific wine were quite favorable. So anyway, lamb shank with creamy polenta and white sauce-a milder, preparation. And, the wine was lovely. Dark in color, with some bricking evident, but not too much. Lovely classic Bordeaux nose of cloves, earth, berry (just a whisper-not a wine for fruit seekers). Beautifully integrated tannins. Sleek but not over-polished. An elegant wine that complemented the lamb dish very well. Only slight flaw is the finish had a touch of sharpness-which to an acid hound like myself is not a major flaw, but it was the only element not in elegant balance in the middle aged beauty.
Like I told my friend Joe, one way to find good French wine is to take advantage of good importers. This was a direct K&L import, and I would buy more.
I should also note for Bay Area people that the Donkey and Goat Mendocino Rose of Grenache (Lilly's Cuvee) is lovely this year. They were patterning the wine after a Corsican rose, and it has that fantastic salmon skin color and subtle tang that I like in rose!