This is yet another offshoot of the Bottom Feeder thread. This is the last disputed category on that thread.
It is to pick the cheapest wine you’d be happy to drink from the major variety/blend from Europe’s top regions.
Muscadet. Best value white wine on the planet? Top examples go for less than most basic Bourgognes from the Cote d’Or. Surely something has gone wrong somewhere. Shouldn’t complain, though. Simply back up the truck if you find something you like.
I’ll wait a while before putting up the poll, but from the main thread we only have two contenders:
Pepiere Sur Lie
Jo Landron Muscadet (Domaine de la Louvetrie Muscadet de Sevre-Et-Maine Sur Lie I presume)
Any other good choices?
Remember, under $20 and it’s not which one you prefer, but which is the best value.
This won’t sound quite right, but I’d be more interested in best Muscadet over $20… Ch Thebaud wines have opened my eyes (a bit under $30 Can) so I wonder what’s in the next tier up.
I would generally say the Pepiere sur lie at under $15, but the Landron is very close. I don’t think it’s the same as the Louvetrie but could be mistaken. He released with new labels a few years back and I am not sure I understand all the different bottlings now. His les Houx is about the same price and also very good.
I assume you mean Pepiere Thebaud. If so, I’m not sure how much higher the ceiling goes at this point. For me the Thebaud or the similarly priced Clisson are about as good as Muscadet gets. The ‘17 Thebaud is just stellar. As good as Pepiere is the wines seem to be improving, so the future looks bright. The only downside is that I really don’t care for Muscadet in warmer vintages, and those seem to be increasingly the norm.
Actually it was 2009 Jardin d’Edouard and then 2012 and 2014 which came through the KGBO the last couple of years. I have been looking out for the other cuvees and also for other producers.
In that case I highly recommend the Pepiere. Not sure of the availability in Canada. Also just realized I mentioned the ‘17 earlier, but it was actually the ‘14. I expect the ‘17 will also be great as those two are my favorites among the more recent vintages.
And, any other recommended producers in $15 - $40 US range? Melon is a grape that I have essentially ignored (well, since I was in my twenties), doing a little catch up.
That makes sense to me. If you deduct the cost of glass, corks, tax, importing, labelling etc IIRC a 20 USD bottle leaves about 5 or 6 USD for the wine itself. And that is before 25% tariffs… this is not easily reconcilable with high quality farming or really interesting winemaking.
The point of these threads leans towards finding daily drinkers, thus the $20 (or $15) price cap. While I’d love to drink $25-30+ bottles daily, it’s just not economically viable. Frankly, I think you could make that argument for most of the wines that have been reviewed. I do always wonder how imported wine can cost under $15…
Cotes du Rhone is the one that gets me, especially the Guigal. It’s not great, but it’s $11 on the shelf, and for that they deserve a round of applause. Economies of scale in play here I guess.