good and affordable French Red

This evening Lisa and I ate late.  We had one of our favorite casual "dishes" -- round focaccia bread loaf with tomato and olive oil, and stuffed with artichokes, spinash, garlic and (light) cheese.  Baked it open-faced in the oven for ten minutes, then another ten with the top slice on.  Awesome! 

With it we savored Petite Ruche a delicious French red shirah from M. Chapoutier, a winemaker in the Rhine Valley.  It's called , 2008 vintage.

It's under US$20 it appears (I don't know whether you can order single bottles...), and has an awesome aroma, sharp edges, and lingering flavor and warmth.  We have a cellar in the basement, but we had forgotten about this wine for months as it was left upstairs among "the empties."  Lisa got it as part of a wine-of-the-month selection from our local wine-and-cheese restaurant (map).  Alas, the wine buyer Lisa so enjoyed dealing with is leaving soon, and Lisa will be discontinuing her membership.  It's been a wonderful experience.
-- Stephan