First time poster... Comments and perhaps a question...

[TheEngineer]

Welcome to the board and I'm sure others will chime in as well. There are definitely a few Bordeauxs that are very solid and wont break the bank.

I would also look for the vintage. If you see anything from 2000 and 2001 then go for those. 2004 is okay and 2003 is atypical (warm season saw wines that were very...overly ripe...out of balance). 2005's are good and slowly starting to come out.

so at the $10 to $15 mark

Trois Croix is around the $10 mark and generally is good.
2005 Haut Sociondo, Cotes de Blaye is around $10 and is good.
2004 Bonnet is also around $11
2004 Bernadotte, Haut-Médoc is closer to $15

Plenty to try...I'll look for more examples later... Brunellow at that price might be much much much much much harder...I think the cheapest I've seen is $20 at Trader Joes....