Gil Kulers’ wine pick

Aromas of violets, black licorice and a strong note of dark chocolate. Definitely a quaffable wine, it still offered intriguing flavors of tart red cherry, dry cherry and a touch of cranberry with a zesty black spice.

Even in the best of times, who doesn’t like finding a bargain wine? And when rising unemployment, home foreclosures and dwindling investment portfolios rule the day’s news, discovering an inexpensive salve for our woes is especially gratifying.

For last week’s column, I tasted 39 wines from Chianti. I was impressed by the overall quality of the wines, but their value also was striking. The average price for those wines was $20.11. When you factor out the higher-end riservas and the Chianti Classico wines, which contained several bottles over $30, many delicious chiantis are within reach of most every budget.

The value winner from the most recent tasting had to be the 2005 Placido. At 10 bucks, it was not the least expensive, but it easily compared to wines costing two and three times as much. So grab a bottle, pour a glass and make a toast to better times ahead.