Wine of the week: Domaine du Tariquet Classic 2011

My mom enjoys a glass of wine now and then, and I ?d like to think that I ?ve helped her with that. She reads the blog, and is better informed when she walks into a liquor store to buy a bottle.

Which is one of the reasons why the Tariquet ($10, purchased, 11.5%) is the wine of the week with Mother ?s Day coming up. Yes, I ?ve praised this wine many times before, and it has been in the $10 Hall of Fame since 2009. But its great strength ? and I don ?t know that I ?ve emphasized this enough ? is that it ?s table wine the way it should be but isn ?t often enough in this country. You don ?t need to be a wine geek to enjoy it. You don ?t need to have piles of money. You don ?t need to read the Wine Magazines or to parse scores.

All you need is $10. Good wine shouldn ?t be more difficult than that, should it?

This vintage of the Tariquet isn ?t as grapey, which is one of the things I always enjoyed about it. Look for more citrus, probably because this year ?s blend has sauvignon blanc in addition to ugni blanc and colombard, the classic grapes of Gascony. But the wine is still balanced, clean and fresh — very well made and not only among the best cheap wines in France, but in the world. Highly recommended. Drink a toast to mom with it on Sunday; I know I will.