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Great for the price. Have you tried their M?
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I haven't had a chance, with so much bordeaux for me to drink, I keep going back to it
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Fair enough. I wouldn't touch it if I had a choice between it and some qulity Bordeauxs. I just had some at a tasting awhile back and was impressed (mostly because it's not typical Chile)
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IMO, Spain >>>>>>>> Australia. I really don't like Australia at all, and only have the Amon Ra that I mentioned earlier for monetary reasons. Spain, on the other hand, is outstanding and you don't feel like you just ate a jar of jam after enjoying a bottle.
For value reds, look at wines out of Monstant and Jumilla. If you find any '01 Riojas, buy them! Drinking beautifully right now. Great vintage!
White: I love Albarino out of Rias Baxias, such a great white and for the money, IMO, 10000x better than your average Chardonnay (especially if it's a Cali.. buttered toast anyone?). Also for whites: Viura varietal out of Rioja. Much like a cool climate sav blanc without the cat pee and bite. Very nice grape that, if people were willing to try something different, would be a huge success.
Other great value areas for reds: Languedoc (France), Rosso de Montalcino (Italy), Sicily (Italy).
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I don't neccessarily disagree, but, I just don't have enough experience with spain to really give out recs, so I will always let someone who has more experience give those out.
I do think though, for someone just getting into wine, australia is good because it's big and flashy, and the really good stuff has a lot of structure. If you like syrah and aren't that big of a fan of most aussies, you really should check out some of the higher end Clarendon Hills still. THey make it in more of a CDR style while still having some of the flash that aussie bombs are known for
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I agree Australia is a good place to start. Super approachable.
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Not saying this isn't a great deal (I personally haven't tried it) but really stay away from stuff like QPR... it's such ridiculousness. It's retarded.
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i'm not sure what you're saying here. QPRs are what make wines tons of fun, finding a really good wine for an affordable price.
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I personally think that things like QPR are ridiculous. Wine Dictator and Robert Parker have such a negative impact on the wine industry that anything that they say is taken for Gospel, and make those wine that they love such outrageous prices that they pretty much automatically increase in price no matter what. Also, how can the two largest wine critic mag's in the world have such a differnet range of opinion? For instance, one of the Phelps Backus vintages, I think the '04 but not sure off the top of my head, was rated a 96 by Parker... and a 85 by Dictator.. how is this possible that the two most recognized authorities on wine have such a different opinion on what a good wine is?
Read this to see the flaws of QPR:
QPR is absurd
I guess I shouldn't be mad about this, as it's these publications that basically pay my bills. But still.
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as far as cabernets go, if you are willing to spend up to about 50, you can get some sick stuff. I'm a big fan of
Don Melchor , and they make cabs that if they were produced in america would easily cost upwards of 100 a bottle.
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I know that everybody has their tastes and opinions, but Chile to me is the worst major wine producing country in the world. They do offer great values, but the style of wine they produce: sweet/residual, super fruit forward... blah. I can never get into it, and if i'm spending over 20 bucks, not worth it IMO. I had a bottle of the Don Melchor in question a couple of weeks back. For 50 bucks and Cab, i'd def go in a different direction... but again, that's just me. I think you should buy a couple of recommendations from different wine producing countries that are cheap and do a tasting. See what styles you like. That's the great thing about wine: No matter what anybody says, how many points here or there, it's all about your palatte.
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well, the 04 don melchor is far from a pop n pour affair, it needs a good 3-4 1/2 hours of decanting. The 04 is a bit more astringent then the flashy 04, but the 04 has some serious life on it. It's personal taste though, as I find the Don Melchor's to be done in a more St Estephe and Pauillac style that I generally prefer(and what a shocker, concha y toro is a division of mouton rothschild)
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It was at a trade tasting, and the people pouring it were the distributors so i'm guessing it was decanted for the proper amount of time. i just feel like when you get into serious wines, not wine's of value, that both Chile and Argentina just can't compare to other areas when you start spending more than 50 bucks a bottle. As E. Asimov of the NYT's said (paraphrase): The only two countries that I haven't found a wine that I have fallen in love with, are Chile and Argentina.
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KDawg:
Vosnee-Romanee's are sick. I haven't really got into the '03's, but maybe I should be. I can probably find some great deals in there, as nobody is going after them because of the 2002's and 2005's... any recommendations? what area have you found the best?
I LOVE WINE
Brunellos anyone?
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I have to get to class right now, and this answer is gonna be a long answer, so unfortunetly I won't be able to get into it just yet
as far as brunello, this world would be a happier place if more people drank quality brunello, that's just my opinion though [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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On the other hand, if everybody drank more quality Brunello, the world would also be a poorer place... look forward to some rec's on '03 Burgs.