Most newcomers believe the subject of wine is fraught with peril because, as one novice told me years ago, “You never know what you’re gonna get,” and he added something about finding good values.
It was true then and it still is. Wine is made in many places, from many different grapes, and much of it is hard to fathom. And what constitutes a good value to you could be another person’s splurge.
Since wine companies often view most wine consumers as novices, most of the wines we see have familiar varietal names. Obscurity is a hard sell. It’s easier to sell (and pronounce) Chardonnay than is Vernaccia.
About 15 years ago, a reader e-mailed me asking for a few modestly priced, widely available red and white wines. I created a list and wrote a column answering him. Days later he wrote back asking why my list had so many of what he called obscure wines.
The list was, indeed, oriented toward imports partly because that’s where most of the best values in wine may be found. And many the best-value imports are hard to understand. (People who think a Dolcetto will be sweet are in for a shock!)
I have long believed that too many California wines are priced too high. The late wine historian/promoter Leon Adams, who died in 1995, once said, “Since wine is a food, it ought to be as cheap as milk.”
And in England, Spain, Italy and especially Portugal, a lot of wine is that cheap. European markets we’ve been in carry oodles of simple regional blends that sell for the equivalent of less than $10 – usually a lot less. (In Spain we bought a liter of wine in a box for 1 euro. No, it wasn’t very good, but for 5 euros, the wines were pretty good.)
I’m not suggesting Napa Cabernet should sell for $10. Making Cabernet here is expensive. Start with the cost of the land… But why don’t we see more tasty, dry “everyday” domestic wines we can enjoy without pretense at $7 or $9?
Not long ago I was in a discount food market, part of a chain. The wine section had dozens of wines I had never heard of. Most were either created just for that chain, were one-off items made from bulk wine, or were wines that had sold for more when they were younger, but now were fading.
Over many weeks I tried about 20 such wines. I found a few good values, but rarely anything exceptional. One Sonoma County Pinot Noir I suspected once sold for about $20 was just $7.99. At that price it was a decent quaff – but I realized that it wasn’t worth more than $7.99. No wonder it was being closed out. It was no bargain, just a red of no particular character.
The best wine of my test was a superb Cabernet Franc from Washington that was originally $35. It was being closed out for $9.99, a terrific value. It was stunning. I bought four more; a week later it was sold out.
I also loved a New Zealand Riesling ($4.99), a Chianti-type red from Italy ($5.99), and a 2018 Provence rosé ($3.99). The best bargains, I realized, usually were imports. Most sold for $7 to $9 a bottle. Most of the $5.99 stuff was usually poor.
In Europe, bargain hunters also can benefit from so-called cleanskin wines. Roughly 20 years ago, Australian and New Zealand producers often made more wine than they likely could sell under their own brand, so they sold the excess without brands. Retailers agreed to keep brands secret.
Prices generally were lower than for the primary brand by 30% or more.
The more buyers of any goods know about what they’re considering (cars, carpeting, furniture, wine…) the more likely they are to find bargains. Example: Quality Barolo is normally $60 to $80 a bottle. The best are a lot higher. So I was shocked to see one for $19.99 recently.
I bought it and served it blind to an Italian wine expert. We agreed that it probably was worth about $35 – not a great example of Barolo, but a good wine and decent value at $20. An online search found a few bottles still selling for $50 to $60.
Some of the better wines I have found at deep discounters were in extremely short supply and most were sold out within two weeks, often sooner.
And that’s the main reason I so rarely say anything about what I discover: the best values sell fast to knowledgeable buyers. If I put together a list similar to the one I did 15 years ago, it would be time-sensitive; some wines would be sold out before my readers could get them.
(At a wine course I teach, I told students about an excellent dry rosé that a discounter had at $5. I said I’d buy more. As soon as the class ended that morning, I drove back to the store. In the checkout line was one of my students – with the last bottles of that rosé!)
Domestic varietals seem to cost more than European generics here. When a wine has a European place name that’s obscure, it’s usually lower in price than its quality indicates.
For example, a red wine from “California” often is ordinary; a wine carrying the French appellation Bourg is likely a reasonably priced Merlot-based red and often a good value.
This is part of an odd U.S. wine culture dating back to before Prohibition, when the majority of imports came from France and Italy, and when California wine wasn’t widely available in most of the country.
Today, good (and great) wines are sold nationally here from Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Sicily -- and we’re also beginning to see greatness from at least nine states other than those on the west coast.
The vast vineyards of the south of France today make better wines than ever before. Cooperative wineries that once put out lots of ordinary generic wine today are making wines of real quality.
To create a list of reliable bargain reds and whites today would be difficult – and it’s a task that probably ought to be updated often. No one can keep up with the shifting targets.
When I look for bargains, I prefer the Loire Valley for dry white wines; Vinho Verde from Portugal for lighter styles; German Riesling (flowery aromas and crisp acids); medium-weight reds from Côtes du Rhône, Spain, Portugal, and Italy; Spanish Cava and Italian Prosecco for inexpensive, reliable bubbly.
And about 50 more!
One important note: 30 years ago, roughly 15% of all wines in the world had technical flaws, thus accounting for many wines’ low prices. Today, winemaking has become so skilled around the world that flaws have been reduced to perhaps 3% of all wines.
A final note: even if you don’t like a wine, at the very least you can always pour it into the pasta sauce or beef stew.
Wine of the Week: 2019 Le Colombier Vacqueyras ($22): This delightful medium-bodied, fruit-driven red wine is similar in style to a youthful Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Gigondas, with its 80% Grenache leading the way aromatically (grenadine/cherry aromas) and lush, bright mid-palate fruit. If this mainly red-wine district of the Rhône Valley were better respected, this wine would be $30.
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Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, where he publishes "Vintage Experiences," a subscription-only wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com. He is also co-host of California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon on KSRO Radio, 1350 AM.
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October 21, 2020 at 04:13AM
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Dan Berger On WIne: Bargain Wines - Napa Valley Register
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