I'm always on the lookout for good wines at a fair value. Ok so maybe cheap wines that taste expensive. Anyway, are there wines that you've had recently that you would consider a terrific value for the price? I personally enjoy the merlot and chardonnay from Clos du Bois which both cost about $14 in New Hampshire. To relax with a glass of either and listen to my music (classical and jazz) does make the early evening sit pleasingly well.
Cutodian, Unfortunatley Ch. Musar is quite expensive in the States, retailing for about $40 a bottle. Excellent wine though I agree. For something a bit cheaper they have a second lable called Hochar Pere et Fils that's about $19 a deselection of the first wine, more forward and a bit fruitier.
Yes, Ch. Musar is a little pricey. I've tried it and found it OK, but not outstanding. Usually goes in this area (Chicago) for $25-30 per bottle. On a scale of 0-100, I'd give most of it 83-85. For that price/score, I can find other wines. But that's the great thing about wine (and audio gear, music, etc)... there's something out there that delights everyone! Cheers.
highly rated 2002 debouef beaujolais village.about 7$ a bottle.if you don't mind spending 12$ they're fleurie beaujolais is the best out of france that year.both are generally available and outstanding values.
Plan on buying Mad Dish Shiraz 2001 and Casa Lapostolle 1999 Cuvee Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon for diner party tonight. Both are under 20 and are this monthÂ’s flavor. Usually get ideas from wine.com. Mix it up every month.
I've been drinking one lately - Wild Horse Pinot Noir from the Central Coast - not cheap about $20 but with really good Cab's priced out o sight it's a bargain - and good!
Casa Lapostolle Cuvee Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon or the more voluptuous Cuvee Alexandre Merlot are great wines ! I also enjoyed the Morning Star Chardonnay produced by Chain of Ponds from Adelaide Hills, South Australia - a burgundian (Puligny Montratchet) chard clone at a saner price.
Here's an incredible deal on a 2000 Bordeaux (one of the best vintages in a long time):
Château La Grange Clinet (Premières Côtes de Bordeaux) 2000
This is a spectacular wine and will cellar nicely for 5-10 years. I bought it after tasting it at my wine shop for.... only $8 a bottle! Bought two cases, naturally. After I got home, I checked Wine Spectator. Not that I go by their thinking or ratings, but James Suckling gave it a score of 88.
Try Talomas from California. Its a collaboration between Rosemount of Australia and Robert Mondavi. The Cab/Merlot and Shiraz / Cab blends are both excellent. Can be found for about $13/bottle.
"On the crisp side, with pretty honeysuckle and spice notes around a nice core of pear and citrus flavors, finishing bright." - 88 Points Wine Spectator May 15, 2003"
Not particularly good at making comments myself, but was struck by how unique this tasted - assertive notes up front, w/a body that stands up to Asian cuisine. Definitely a tropical delight to pair with summer fare (although tasted in winter).
About $9 on sale at NH liquor stores - probably $10-12.
Bigest surprise I have had in years at a recent "wine tasting" were a Chardonay by a small Nevada County (Calif) winery called Indian Springs. Light (for a Chardonay) very fruity, little after taste, moderately priced at $9. However THE BIG SURPRISE (I liked it much more than 2 different l986 Cabs I brought!), was an imported Spanish red wine, a 2001 Rioja by Castillo Labastida. Full bodied - no harshness whatsoever - fruity. At $6 a bottle! I went to the market and bought two cases. Served it over the hollidays - every one loved it.
How many use inexpensive glasses for inexpensive wine, or have you made the plunge for Riedel?! Amazon just had a great 2-for-1 deal on Spiegelau (I got 6 Magnum Bordeaux and 6 Magnum Burgundy glasses for $45!).
Here's another great cheapo wine: Artazuri Navarre 2001 (Grenache). I don't give a damn about Robt. Parker, but I agree with him that this is a "grenache whore!" 92pts from him, and under $10!
If you like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, you will like this.
Hey Cpdunn99... I thoght we were the only people who break out the cheap glasses for cheap wine (under $75) and use the Riedel Sommelier's for the good stuff!
You can get German made high quality knock-offs of the Riedel wine glasses at Fortunoff's here in the NY-NJ area for $5 -$7 a piece. I have a friend who has both. He says the knock-offs are virtually indistinguishable from the Riedel's. I agree.
While listening to his Martin-Logan's, we drank a nice 2000 Cousino-Macul Antiguas Reserva and found both glasses to be excellent.
Galeriehughie--- wish I could afford those Riedel sommeliers! They are damn nice, but the Spiegelau are not too shabby, either.
Theduke: hey, what's the name of those knock-offs? Not Spiegelau? Amazing what a fine combination of wine, glassware, and audio can do! Sounds like a great evening... :-)
Hey cpdunn, they were alot but wine is sort of our hobby. So we finally sprang for a pair. They rip apart bad wine even more than the normal riedels.
Hey Duke, Your in NY? We go to Zachys for most of our first growths. Susan goes to Morrels in the city because its close to work for her. She hates Sherry Lehmann because they were rude.
And the real poetry is in the company, the wine and the music....
Here's another vote for Charles Shaw. I had some sort of red wine from them--I cannot remember exactly what, unfortunately--which was amazingly good. Apparently, "Two Buck Chuck" has become quite popular in some circles.
Galeriehughie..... yes, Riedels can do that, can't they?! I mean, "expose" a poor wine. I don't pretend that my Spiegelaus are as good, but they come close. It's amazing how much better a good wine is with the right glasses. After all, a lot of "taste" is actually sense of smell.
I'd like to talk about 1st growths with you Galeriehughie, but this is an "inexpensive wine" thread. So, yesterday I picked up a couple of bottles of a Spanish red: 2001 Las Rocas de San Alejandro(Vinas Viejas Garnacha). This cost me $8.99 each and is amazing! If you're a grenache fan (or if you like Chateauneuf-du-Pape), this one's for you. It got better by the hour. I agree with Robert Parker (finally!) on this one... he gave it 93 pts. I don't know what the 2002 is like, but the 2001 is great, and will improve over the next 5-10yrs.
To: Cpdunn99 The Riedel knock-offs that I purchased at Fortunoff's are Zwiesel Glas. It's imprinted in tiny letters on the base. I think the model is called "Fitzgerald".
Hogue Cellars Late Harvest Reisling. The 1999 and 2002 are both outstanding wines for the price. Some of my favorite Reisling, and I've had some good ones at 4x the price. Can be had for $10-14, depending on location. I have to special order here in PA, but have a shop to buy the 2002 at when I'm on Cape Cod, so I always stock up. ;)
I guess I wasn't clear, Jhos... I know Hogue is the winery! I should have said, what style of Reisling does Hogut make? I've had some of their reds in the past. I'll look out for the late harvest. Thanks for the tip.
Incognito (Red) is pretty amazing at $15ish/bottle. Also from the same winemakers is 7 Deadly Zins at about $15, a very good zin. Even better zin is Joel Gott 2002 $16 or the Estate bottle of same for about $26--it doesn't get much better than this! Hahn meritage (2001) is darned astounding at $12ish. Anyone tried these?
If anyone is local to the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a wine from Anderson Valley (a bit to the west and a lot to the north of Napa) that is worth checking out. Its a Viognier from Hawley Vineyard, and is just fantastic for $18/bottle.
I just went to Beltramo's liquor in Menlo Park, and they do not carry it, so I'm not sure where to get it outside of Anderson Valley....
Douglikesaudio: I've had the Incognito. Not bad, but not my style. I thought the 7 Deadly Zins was very fruity, overly oaked, but to each his own. It's great, though, that there are so many quality choices for so many tastes! It's been a while since I tried Hahn...I liked it.. thanks for the reminder...
Niravp: I like some viognier.. will look out for the one you mention.
Cpdunn99, I don't often run into people who've had this group of wines. And I agree with your 7 Deadly assessment. Although, I do really enjoy it. The Hahn being my sub $15 reference, I'd like to hear what you prefer. Do you have some suggestions for a meritage in the same range?
No contest, For me the is the Producturi Barbaresco form italy at about $22 ive never tased anything like it. if fact i thnk the only wine i have tasted that i prefer was a bruenello that was about $150 talk about pricy
Wolf Blass - either the Cabernet or Shiraz - fine Australian wines, the Shiraz is full bodied without the 'sweetness' that you find in the cheaper versions. Tastes like a $40 wine for $12.00
Doug... been inactive for a while. Lost my job. Ummm... meritage... well, interesting that you ask, as that's a varietal that I've long been meaning to explore! I'll turn your question around, and ask you for suggestions! Found some good Portuguese values recently.
Most of the the wines I am into lately are, in fact, meritages. Meritage being a made up word to denote a blend, generally a Bordeaux-style blending, as opposed to a standard varietal. If you want to check a good one out, I'd refer back to the previously mentioned Hahn Meritage 2001 (now 2002?) for about $12.
The meritages I am into tend to favor a blend of cab franc, malbec and petit verdot. All rich and jammy, not unlike the Incognito we talked about before.
California, in particular central CA, has some astoundingly good wineries and grape production is so strong that prices are low. Good for us!
Let me know if you try the Hahn and what you think.
I've seen quite a few blended red's these days, some very nice. It's usually a Cabernet-Merlot, but sometimes a Can-Syrah-Merlot or something similar. Would you consider these (technically) a Meritage? They certainly are not marketed with that name on them.
Bob, yes, I believe those would count as a meritage. As the term is made up, I think the bottler could slap the name on any blend. It's supposedly a term created by blending the words merit + heritage, but I find it a stretch to apply those terms more than any other. I think they just liked the "Frenchness" sound of the term the marketing folks came up with!
2000 Bordeau Christian Mouiex Merlot $5.95 at Costco. Absolute steal. Complex with hints of currants and blackberries. Nice finish. The 2001 is not bad either. Christian is the owner/winemaker at Chateau Petrus. This stuff can even be cellared for probably up to 4-5 years, but drinkable now. This is our everyday wine now, with Chateau Potensac 2000 Medoc our Saturday night wine at $19.95 per bottle and our once a month special wine being 1990 Lynch Bages, and our aniversary wine the Mouton 1982
Thanks for the tip, Schubertmaniac. I have a cellar full of "B2K", but nothing that can be drank now, so I'll pick up some of the Mouiex.. have seen it, but not tried it.
Doug: Besides Port, I've developed a taste for Duoros. Two that I've had recently and REALLY like are:
2000 Quinta do Vallado Duoro 2000 Quinta do Crasto Duoro Reserva
[being out of work, at least for a few months, ain't such a bad thing...getting caught up on wines, audio, friends, etc.!]
Santa Rita (Chile) Medalla Real Cabernet Sauvignon from 1999 (2000 is ok, too). A year ago it was available on Wine.com for about $14/bottle. Have surprised a few wine enthusiast friends who thought it would be in the ~$30 range...
Red diamond Merlot from Oregon Coast...on the best merlots around for $10 per bottle...served at Goodfellas...one of the best restaurants in Minneapolis...a real sleeper...
2001 Yangarra Park Shiraz Appelation Series McLaren from McLaren Valley. Best bang for the buck if you can find it. Highly recommended by Wine Spectator. Under $15 and better than most $30 wine.
I'd don't know if "meritage" refers specifically to Bordeaux style blends from California, or if it can refer also to Aussie ones... but Peter Lehmann makes a very nice Barossa Valley one called "Clancy's." Am drinking it now and it is really a winner. Needs an hour in the decanter to open up.
Whatever good import in your collection (thus available) that you bought before the dollar became worthless and the Californians took advantage of the pent up demand for the 2001s. The term Meritage is now applied randomly to virtually any blend of varietals from countries that previously used straight varietal names instead of apellations. Since it's Summer any Portuguese Vihno Verde (white) is still a bargain. Its low alcohol and sometimes has a light bottled secondary (tertiary technically) fermentation giving it a cremant style fizz. For heavy reds, I stay with hunting for the last of the 2000 Cru Burgeoise and Superier Bordaeux. Since the availability varies by region I can make only a NJ recommendation Ch. Moulin Rouge (no joke its excellent).
I second the smoking Loon's Merlots @ may be around $10.00. Another one I recently discovered that slightly surpasses the smking loon is the Ironstone Vineyards Merlots @ $8.99
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