It's as much the hunt as it is the taste.

Every bottle, a mystery. I am the Nancy Drew of tipplers. Today we search for the maker of a wine found on the shelves at Trader Joe's. If French winemakers, as their American counterparts often do, put production notes on the web we would have no fun. What is known - from the bottle:

Chateau Saint-Poly
2001
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Controlee
Grand Vin de Bordeaux
Mis en Bouteille au Chateau
Htiers LMB, Proprietaires a Saint-Hippolyte
33330 Saint-Emilion, France
Produce of France
13% Alcohol

No hits on Saint-Poly and the distributor in the US, Americal Beverage Group (San Clemente, CA) has no website. Surely a Grand Cru Chateau would have a presence somewhere on the web if only on the list of a wine-seller. But no. Then, in a news group, a comment that some Grand Cru Chateau bottle a second tier wine under a different name eg. Chateau Ferrand calls it's second tier wine Saint-Poly. (all this "Saint" stuff instead of "St" makes me suspicious...)

A trip to the Chateau Ferrand website (nice house) finds that the address of the business end of things is the same as that on the label, in Saint Hippolyte. But no mention of the second tier wine and no apparent releases of the first tier as late as 2001. By the way, the property was bought in 1978 by one Baron Bich the inventor or the bic pen!)

Assuming this is correct, this is a wine produced by a Grand Cru Chateau in St. Emilion from grapes grown on the estate. But they didn't think so highly of it and it lands in Trader Joe's in Hillcrest for $10.99. Next is the question of it's Grand Cru status. Well! In St. Emilion the status of chateaux is reevaluated every 10 years or so. They didn't have a classification system until 1954, unlike the Medoc and other areas of France which began classification in 1855. It is the only appelation in France which does re-classify on a regular basis. Which could be good. Or bad. Depending on what gets passed under the table.

Grand Cru means translates as "great growth". According to Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson in "The World Atlas of Wine" this terms indicates, in Burgundy, the finest vineyards but in St. Emilion, nothing special.

So tonight we are tasting a bottle of bordeaux that is a second tier wine of a nothing special vineyard from St. Emilion. Looks promising!

Curiously paired with thin, lightly fried potatoes, sauted cabbage and onions, and red snapper napped (in french this means tablecloth) with a creamy sauce of shallots and reduced wine and sherry vinegar a la Joel Robuchon, it was actually very good. Big surprise!

The color wasn't deep but it was a clear ruby red clearing toward the edge of the glass. There were big fat tears running down the glass - sad that it was merely second tier or nothing special? The nose was weak but touched my olfactory brain with the idea of plums. It was spicy with a little funkiness, a micro whiff of raw red meat. That went away quickly, though.

In the mouth it was full, but not overpowering, not silky but smooth, nice acid, a little tannin, nothing disagreeable.

The finish was not terribly long but enough to enjoy the plum again and the walnut-like tannins. Paul thought of emmenthal cheese.

Most wines of this appellation are blends of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This one didn't have the dust I associate with Cab Franc and without the super smooth and somewhat sweet qualities of merlot (but perhaps I am thinking of California).

We liked it. (I'm still confused as to why it is called a Grand Cru wine if it is a lowly 2nd rank wine - is it simply because the grapes originate on the property?) We would have liked it even better if it was under the $10 threshold, bargain hunters that we are. Perhaps we will try it again with another wine from the same year from St. Emilion that is less mysterious. But that would be no fun!