La Ferme Julien 2006 Blanc

*Bottle #87: La Ferme Julien Blanc 2006 Côtes du Lubéron
*Price Tag: $7
*Running Tab: $1,204
*Retailer: Trader Joe’s, Seattle (Queen Anne location)

Simplicity is utterly and unworthily underrated. And I state of mind I rarely venture into considering my written verbosity. However, I do respect it. Simplicity is a big, warm blanket or a predictable TV show or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Or your “neighborhood grocery store” where the employees are dressed in floral island print shirts and are boxed in a tiki atmosphere with faux bamboo-boarded walls. Simplicity is Trader Joe’s.

With somewhere just under 300 stores nationwide in over half of the states of this supply-and-demand driven nation of ours, Trader Joe’s is the singleman-pocket-pincher’s safe haven. Many pre-made meals and pre-packaged portions are sized for 1-2 people, the term “organic” shows up frequently without its typically matching high pricetag and the majority of the wine selection skims under $8.

At $6.99, simplicity couldn’t be sweeter, or cheaper and therefore, extremely satisfying even if it’s shit in a bottle.

La Ferme Julien Blanc, as a matter of fact, was not shit. It was pretty tasty and basking in its own simplicity. The name means “The Julien Farm.” Pure, French rednecking simplicity.

The Blanc, along with its sister wines – Rouge and Rose, is under TJ’s private cellar selection label of the La Vieille Ferme brand. One of several private brands. The store’s a mogul for under-priced, over-produced wines that need homes.

To mine it went, with the intention to parallel last week’s red Côtes du Luberon that nearly quadrupled this guy’s monetary damage.

The blend has about 10% Roussanne in it and is three parts unfamiliar varietals. Explanation is necessary.

30% Grenache Blanc: Known for low acid, citrus fruits and herbaceaous crispness.

30% Bourboulenc: A late-ripening grape that has good acid, body, citrus aromas with some natural smoke tones.

30% Ugni Blanc: aka White Shiraz in the land of Oz and Trebbiano in Italy, the grape has high acidity, is fleshy, fresh and fruit.

The juice spent its time in stainless steel vats for 90% of the fermentation then moved to new oak barrels for the remainder of the process.

The nose was warming with toast, pineapple and red apple immediately up front. Honey lemon tart and crushed hazelnuts mounted the rim with some air and acidic green grapes were tart in the back.

Bright, juicy and fleshy fruit charged onto the palate with a crisp minerality you can attribute to the Mediterrean climate and clay-like soils of the Luberon. Tropical stone fruits were backed by sparks of simple acidity and an overall easy-drinking mentality behind the bottle with the blue goat on the label.

Guilt-free, painless and thoughtless drinking, the La Ferme Julien Blanc is to wine what Paris Hilton is to the paparazzi. An effortless, drinking target.