Best Wines: Under $200, Under $100, Under $50, Under $25?

thase13

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Feb 22, 2018
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I think wine preferences open up a bigger can of worms than audio preferences. The sheer number of wines dwarfs anything audio and IMO far more subjective.
Depends on how complicated I make it... If I stop at "I like how this tastes!", then I tend to be just fine.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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That may be so but many great wines share attributes that result in a more easily classifiable "house sound". There are characteristics or signatures that can often be traceable (sometimes, even across continents). ...

First focus on the people involved and you might find it easier to make heads or tails of the wine. From the sound of it John Duval and Peter Gago are good places to start.

Interesting...had not realized. Thanks!
 

metaphacts

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Feb 1, 2011
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So, where does Amarrone from Italy fit in here?

Quite nicely. Think Quintarelli and Dal Forno - unfortunately well beyond the <$200 range.

Masi, well under $100 is often one of the hidden deals on restaurant wine lists, often showing up for 1.5 - 2 times retail
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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Quite nicely. Think Quintarelli and Dal Forno - unfortunately well beyond the <$200 range.

Masi, well under $100 is often one of the hidden deals on restaurant wine lists, often showing up for 1.5 - 2 times retail

We went to Quintarelli for a wine tasting session in Verona last month
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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I think we have had this one...i f so, agree.

There are some excellent red wines from Argentina, and for less than $25 a bottle, even for $15.
_____

Wines are like audiophiles, they come in wide variety of taste, prices and regions.
But the best wines are from France.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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There are some excellent red wines from Argentina, and for less than $25 a bottle, even for $15.
_____

Wines are like audiophiles, they come in wide variety of taste, prices and regions.
But the best wines are from France.

Interesting...I have never gotten on well with French wines. as incredible as that sounds. You see from my list maybe one? A lot of respect for Chateau Neuf du Pape, and the Rothschilds wines which i have truly admired...but just never my choice in the end when compared to similarly priced Barolos, some of the choice Californians or the Australians. And yes, some AMAZINGLY good Argentinian wines...Mendoza etc.

I can do Penfolds any time.
 

LL21

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If you want to splurge, Bodega Catena Cab Sauv and Malbec from the high altitude Adrianna Vineyard for < $100.

Nice one! Look at my very last sub-$15...Catena Zapata Merlot...same vineyard...and agree...amazingly good stuff...this bottle for less than 10! From there, have not found anything we would drink before we get to Penfolds 8 which is around 20-25/bottle. And from there it is Penfolds 389 which is about 45-50/bottle if you get it at a decent price and slightly more at retail.

will definitely try your suggestion! thanks!
 

astrotoy

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Typically vintage dependent but these houses put out first class product year in, and year out. Again, YMMV.

Great Wines < $100 – Germany (Kabinett, Spatlese, and Auslese)

Donnhoff Dellchen Grosses Gewachs
Donnhoff Felsenberg Grosses Gewachs
Donnhoff Hermannshohle Grosses Gewachs
Donnhoff Nieder. Hermannshohle
Muller-Catoir Burgergarten Breumel
Muller-Catoir Burgergarten Haardt
Muller-Catoir Herrenletten
Muller-Catoir Mandelgarten
J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr
J.J. Prum Graacher Himmelreich
Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst
Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich

Thanks for the mention of the German wines. I started drinking those, particularly Mosel-Saar-Ruwer back in the late '60's. Extremely low alcohol compared with other wines. Really enjoyed over the years. Great wine for a pleasant sunny afternoon on the porch. Just the wine, no food. In some ways quite hard to keep track of the multiple owners of the different vineyards, sort of like many great wines of Burgundy. So your identification of owners is very helpful. On our first (and only) trip to Mosel a few years ago, we spent a delightful couple of hours visiting Mr. Studer (not of the tape recorder company), but one of the Prum family (Studer-Prum) and his Wehlener Sonnenuhr property. We were the only ones there and he opened up his tasting room when we knocked on his door.

Like Sauternes and Barsacs, the great spatleses and ausleses were great bargains compared to the great reds of France. Unfortunately I can't drink alcohol anymore, but I still have the memories.

Larry
 

NorthStar

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Interesting...I have never gotten on well with French wines. as incredible as that sounds. You see from my list maybe one? A lot of respect for Chateau Neuf du Pape, and the Rothschilds wines which i have truly admired...but just never my choice in the end when compared to similarly priced Barolos, some of the choice Californians or the Australians. And yes, some AMAZINGLY good Argentinian wines...Mendoza etc.

I can do Penfolds any time.

I grew up with wine connoisseurs. I've always been surrounded by vineyards.
Some of my best friends are . . . Wine and Music players.

French red wines, some are the best in the world.

There are good wines from California, from the Okanagan Valley where I lived for twenty years, from Italy, from Vancouver Island right here where I live for the last tweny-five years, from Argentina, from Portugal, ...but the best wines are from France.

Argentina and French wines are the ones I usually shop for.
I like red, and dry.
 

NorthStar

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I think I posted pictures here in the past from Quebec City, from one of the most famous wine caves, in Quebec, Canada. I went there couple times, they have a very nice restaurant upstairs.

I'll see if I can relocate them...the photographs I took during my visits.
If not no problemo they are somewhere in my computer.
This wine thread is perfect, the best for that.

With love from Vancouver Island,
 

Sablon Audio

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At the cheaper end of the range, I would look to Portugal as they make some great reds at bargain prices relative to France and Italy.
 

NorthStar

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Francisco is from Portugal.

Bobvin is a winemaker, from California I believe.

The guy next door to me has a vineyard. Other folks within just few miles are winemakers with their own vineyards. There is as much wines as there are music players where I live. I am completely surrounded.
 

astrotoy

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On of the advantages of getting old (like Steve) is that we have memories. For me that includes buying wines starting when I was in grad school in the Bay Area.

Wine prices, especially great French wines, have increased much more than inflation over the years. I started buying French wines (and some California wines, being in California) in the late 1960's. I just checked and $1 at that time is currently worth about $6. So here are some of the wines I bought (and eventually drank) during that time. Multiply by 6 to get the current price with inflation.

Ch. Haut-Brion 1966 $6
Chambertin Clos de Beze 1964 $5
Latrecieres Chambertin 1964 or 1966 $3.50
Corton Charlemagne 1966 $15 at a restaurant

Lots of Second Growth Bordeaux - Leoville Las Cases, Cos D'Estournel, Montrose, Pichon Comtesse, Pichon Baron, La Gaffliere, Brane-Cantenac 1966 and some 1964 and 1962 $3-3.50
Ch. Margaux 1961 (most expensive wine I bought then) $8.95 (didn't buy a Lafite 1961 for $14.95, too expensive)
Vintage Port - Dow 1927 $35 (8 of us chipped in to share one bottle)

When we got married in December 1970, my grad school roommates chipped in and bought a case (12 bottles) of Ch. Latour futures for $140 for the case - still have four bottles.
My college roommates splurged and bought us 1 bottle of Ch. Lafite 1959 (the wine of the century at that time) for $50

Somewhere around that time, I stumbled upon an old bottle in a local wine store - 1948 Ch. Petrus - it was around $10.

When my wife began her first paying job as an intern in 1973, she used part of her paycheck to buy gifts for her parents and me. I picked out two bottles of wine, La Tache 1967 (not a great year, but it was La Tache) $15 each.

As I mentioned in a previous post, health problems don't allow me to drink alcohol these days, but I do have great memories.

Larry
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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thase13

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Feb 22, 2018
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Las Vegas, NV
Thanks for the mention of the German wines. I started drinking those, particularly Mosel-Saar-Ruwer back in the late '60's. Extremely low alcohol compared with other wines. Really enjoyed over the years. Great wine for a pleasant sunny afternoon on the porch. Just the wine, no food. In some ways quite hard to keep track of the multiple owners of the different vineyards, sort of like many great wines of Burgundy. So your identification of owners is very helpful. On our first (and only) trip to Mosel a few years ago, we spent a delightful couple of hours visiting Mr. Studer (not of the tape recorder company), but one of the Prum family (Studer-Prum) and his Wehlener Sonnenuhr property. We were the only ones there and he opened up his tasting room when we knocked on his door.

Like Sauternes and Barsacs, the great spatleses and ausleses were great bargains compared to the great reds of France. Unfortunately I can't drink alcohol anymore, but I still have the memories.

Larry
German wines are the perfect wines for the hot, summer months and pair extraordinarily well with Chinese and Thai food. Based on the current market scarcity, German Rieslings seem to be making huge strides in popularity despite the lack of recent "great" vintages. Still it's easy to understand given the affordability along with all of the wonderful attributes you so clearly enumerated. Sadly, German weather hasn't been very cooperative this decade and even when weather was decent, yields were low.

That sounds like an extraordinary generous visit and one that you obviously still recall fondly. I would have guessed that all German Rieslings, from Kabinett to TBAs would be discussed more vigorously in this thread given the number of people who make the annual pilgrimage to Munich audio show.
 

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