Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- It is a good sign when you walk into a tasting and can smell the wines even before you see them.

That was the case at a recent tasting of 2005 and 2006 Saint-Emilions held by the Wine Media Guild at New York’s Felidia restaurant. The air was perfumed with the fruit of merlot and cabernet franc (in Saint-Emilion called bouchet), emerging from bottles and glasses. Tasters ranged the room sampling 21 examples of two excellent vintages -- the brilliant 2005 and the almost as fine 2006.

With few exceptions the wines had irresistible fragrance, good balance, and a true taste of the terroir in this Right Bank Bordeaux region, often snubbed by oenophiles who consider the Medoc far superior.

There are some universally admired Saint-Emilion wines, like Chateau Ausone, Angelus, and Cheval Blanc, but the exasperating classification in the region doesn’t help the average consumer to zero in on consistently fine estates. The system includes Grand Cru, Grand Cru Classe, and Premier Grand Cru Classe -- whose estates may be reclassified every 10 years, most recently in 2006.

Still, Saint-Emilion seems a region right for its time: Its wines mature faster than Left Bank reds, which typically contain more tannic cabernet sauvignon, so they are ready to drink with pleasure within a few years of the vintage. Also, except for the most prestigious labels, they are very well priced, with plenty of wonderful bottlings under $50, many as low as $25. All the wines I tasted had an ideal alcohol level of 13 percent to 14 percent.

Here are some of my favorites.

Taste of Terroir

Chateau Cormeil-Figeac Grand Cru 2005 ($39) -- solidly knit and still evolving through its tannins, this has the good gravelly taste of the terroir.

Chateau La Bonnelle Grand Cru 2005 ($30) -- a great price for a terrific Saint-Emilion, revealing a wave of black pepper beneath a big splash of fruit and the smoothness of an 80 percent merlot, 20 percent cab franc blend.

Christian Moueix Saint-Emilion 2005 ($27) -- Moueix is famous for one of Bordeaux’s greatest, most expensive wines, Chateau Petrus in Pomerol, so it’s nice of him to provide us with a first-rate, inexpensive basic Saint-Emilion in a snazzy label. Lush, forward and ready to drink.

Chateau Fonplegade Grand Cru 2006 ($50) -- A rich, full-bodied example of how much power Saint-Emilion can muster, with 91 percent merlot, 7 percent cab franc, and a 2 percent dose of cab sauvignon. It needs time to achieve equilibrium but it’s a keeper.

Good Structure

Chateau Laforge Grand Cru 2006 ($45) -- a fine example of the 2006 vintage, which is only a notch below the effusively praised 2005. It is simply a tasty red wine with good structure and will be considerably better in a year or two.

Chateau Grand Destieu Grand Cru Classe 2006 ($40) -- A hugeness of fruit balanced with good acid makes this a wine to start drinking this autumn with roast beef and venison.

Chateau Le Carre Grand Cru 2006 ($100) -- This is pricey for a Saint-Emilion in the Grand Cru Classe, but it is pretty gorgeous and still youthful, and the tannins are still sleeping.

Present at the tasting was Olivier Nouet, president of Adams French Vineyards, owned since 1995 by Stephen Adams, a former U.S. banker. (Chateau Fonplegade, above, is his estate, among six.) Nouet reported that the 2007 vintage, initially derided as terrible, is showing some virtues in a few estates. The 2008 will be “a great vintage,” and he predicts 2009 will be “absolutely beautiful,” owing to perfect weather.

It’s delightful to see that the hype over the 2005 that promised high prices has been ameliorated by the global recession, so that these wines are ideal for drinking right now, or soon, at prices that get nearly into the bargain range. Let’s hope that holds true of those 2009s when they’re released.

(John Mariani writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: John Mariani at john@johnmariani.com.

Last Updated: October 19, 2009 00:01 EDT