Each day should be a celebration. #FrenchWinophiles

French wines don't have to only be for holidays and special occasions.  You can get fabulous wines from France at great prices to enjoy each and every day.

Jason and Jill from L'Occasion has invited us to share our favorite French wine under $20.  Yep, that's right.  We are going to tell you all about some amazing wines that you can enjoy with dinner any time because after all........Each day should be a celebration!!

In this case, we were celebrating our first day home after being gone for a week on an Alaskan Cruise.  The cruise was amazing and we had a great time but we sure did miss our Little Angel Face.

So as soon as we got home, we invited her and Mama to join us for dinner.  We grilled some steaks and everyone knows that nothing goes better with beef than a nice bottle of Bordeaux.

I picked up this bottle at the recommendation of the owner of a wine store I visited while at Eastern Market down in the City.

I was not familiar with this winery so I conducted a little research when I got home.  Chateau Argadens is a new winery, especially by French standards, only opening in 2002.  The estate itself was founded in the 13th century by the noble Argadens family for which it is named.

The Sichel family, who bought the estate, worked extremely hard to "allow the quality of the terroir to be expressed to the full". They only have two wines a red and a white. You can learn all about the Chateau at their website by clicking on their name in the paragraph above.

While on our cruise we had many wonderful meals, including a Chef's Table with 7 courses and 7 wines matched to the courses.  It was an amazing experience that I will be sharing with you very soon.  I don't know if it was the wine, the home cooked meal, the comfort of being surrounded by family or being able to totally relax but this meal topped any of those that we enjoyed on the ship.

I served up the steak with a side of sweet and spicy redskin potatoes and a cauliflower gratin.  The redskin recipe will be shared tomorrow and you can link back to our Birthday Party for Julia Child for the cauliflower dish.

The wine is medium bodied and very smooth.  I think it is a great pour for the price and I intend to head back to the City and pick up some more as well as some of the white to see how that compares to my normal choice of Chardonnay.

Now let's go find some more amazing wine deals with the rest of the Winophiles.......

• An Affordable Red and Tapenade, Languedoc-Style by Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Navigating the Languedoc with Domaine Magellan by Lauren at The Swirling Dervish 
• 4 French Wine Finds $20 and under with Croque Monsieur and Monte Cristo from Gwen from Wine Predator 
• Each day should be a celebration by Wendy from A Day In the Life on the Farm 
• Surprisingly Affordable Wine Region: Bordeaux! by Jeff at FoodWineClick! 
• My Favorite Under $20 Pet Nat; Patrice Colin “Les Perles Gris” by Martin at ENOFLYZ 
• Affordable French Wines Paired with Simple Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner by Jane at Always Ravenous 
• Two Bargains from Bordeaux and Bergerac by Lynn at Savor the Harvest 
• Mapping France in Wine Bottles: Where to Get Affordable French Wine from Jason and Jill at L’occasion