Maid Of Honor

A couple months ago, I recommended an unlikely wine, the Colonia Las Liebres Bonarda. An inexpensive wine made from an uncommon Italian grape by an Argentinean winery. As if this wine was not weird enough, it has two hopping bunnies that appear hypnotized on the label. This wine practically screams: “Do not try me!”

Nevertheless, it was killer. More than two dozen of you wrote to thank me for uncovering such stealthily delicious wine.

Well, here I go again.

I recently received a box of wine containing standard issue chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc. The wines have a fantasy cartoon on the labels of a long-legged woman clad in fishnet stockings, wearing a short maid’s dress with a plunging neckline and holding a wine glass. It’s called French Maid and it is “made” (get it, made/maid?) in France’s Pays d’Oc, the massive region that produces monumental amounts of wine, most of it fair to below average.

There was no way I was trying this wine. That is, until a friend asked me if I had heard of French Maid. He was crazy about the merlot. I relented and opened them all and what do you know? I liked them.

I liked the pinot noir the best, but the rest was much better than merely fair. In fact, the chardonnay probably came in second place for me, which says a lot since I’m an admittedly jaded chardonnay drinker.

This wine may strike the wrong chord for feminists (and marketing gurus), but it goes to show you can’t judge a wine by its label.

2007 French Maid Pinot Noir, Pays d’Oc, France

• $13

• Two Thumbs Up

• Aromas of black cherry, earth and smoke. A full-bodied wine with earthy flavors of fresh, dark and red berry fruit, a touch of smokiness and just enough tannin for structure.