I'm Ed Deitch at the NBC Wine Tasting. When it comes to ordering wine in restaurants, I'm a real cheapskate. I know that wine is an important profit center for restaurants, but I just can't get used to the idea of those huge markups, three to four times the price I would pay for retail. So my little secret is I'll scan the wine list to see everything that's offered, but I will almost always go back to the first wine on the list which often isn't too well-known, but is usually the cheapest. I did this the other night, and I found a terrific cheap red wine.

Here it is, from Southern France the 2004 Saint-Chinian Grand Reserve from Maisn L'Aiglon. Now Saint-Chinian is named after the town of the same name in the L'Aiglon Region. I paid $28 for this one in a bistro at my neighborhood. They were selling it for 875 a glass. So it's an example of the bottle price almost always being cheaper if you are in your day and you are going to have a couple of glasses of wine yourself. But here's the astonishing thing. When I got home and started looking on the Internet, I found that the wine goes for as little as $6 to $7 a bottle if you buy it in a store. Now at that price, it's a real bargain.

The wine is a blend of three grapes common in southern France, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan. It has pretty aromas and tastes including blueberry, raspberry and touches of pepper and herbs. It's got nice complexity for the price. We had it with steak and leg of lamb; it will also match well with roast chicken and pork. I scrolled it around in an ice bucket for a few minutes; bringing the temperature down a bit to make it more refreshing. Ultimately we had a very good dinner with excellent food and a satisfying bottle of wine that I will be buying again. Only this time to enjoy at home at well under $10 a bottle.

For more on this wine and many other reviews, go to my weekly column at wine.msnbc.com. Question your comment; you can email me at edwarddeitch@hotmail.com. For now, I'm Ed Deitch. I'll see you at our next NBC Wine Tasting.