2016 Bodegas Muga Rioja Selección Especial - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja (2/10/2022)
Day 1: Excellent. Spices, raspberries, cherry, tobacco, cedar, rose petals and mineral streak. This drinks wonderful out of the bottle. One of the better values for $35 in a while. 93 points
Day 2: Cigar, wood, raspberries, cherry, dried leaves, rose petals, minerals and gravel. This is an outstanding effort and one that will drink well for another 15 plus years. 93 points
Day 3: More integrated and smooth. Cherry, dust, minerals, cigar, spice, gravel, earth and raspberries. Medium plus finish and good overall acidity. Drink until 2035. 93 points
Recommendation: This is a great wine for under $40. Buy! (93 points)
$35 on a local sale with tax. Hard to beat!
Yep. There are so many. Quality and ageability of a very long list of sub-$50 wines are on par of most of the great wines of the '70s, which were easily the price equivalent of sub-$50 wines of the time. Most of the price increase out of that range is a feedback loop of real estate value and prestige.
Baudry. Olga Raffault. Pepiere. Arterberry Maresh and Cameron entry levels. The list is endless.
Tried the 19 Details by Sinegal recently and though though obviously drinking it a little young i thought it was excellent and a screaming deal at under $40. For me, better to materially better than Myriad Napa or Caterwaul Napa (which are solid wines at a higher price point)
im not saying there aren’t threads devoted to individual wines. what I wanna do here is provide a place to show that I think the majority of wines drank by the group as a whole probably fall in this range, not just the individual bottle we occasionally open thats worth significant note. so I plan to kind of post here each time I open a wine in this range to show a cross section of what I drink
Extradimensional Wine Co YEAH! Chendawg Yeah! 2019
This wine is delicious. It kept changing in the glass as we drank it, starting out like drinking the liquid version of a cream puff filled with vanilla custard, then picking up menthol notes as it went and getting more complex. it was more at cellar temp than chilled, and I think it was better that way. if this is a sign of what to expect from EWCY, then we are in for great things!
I do think there is indeed a risk that this group is seen as overly focused on the ‘prestigious wines from the prestigious regions’. It can result in something of an echo chamber, where (e.g.) it appears the only wines worth drinking from Rioja are LdH or LRA.
I’ve also seen the trend in recent years, that I’m certain we play our part in, of certain wineries having a cachet, that grows beyond the original respect, leading to wines that were good and good value, still being good, but now pretty awful value. I have 3 bottles of Burlotto’s Monvigliero from a couple of years before Galloni ‘anointed’ it with 100 of his points. I was happy buying them when I did, and very much enjoyed our visit there, but secondary market prices for it now are completely doolally. There are plenty more wineries like this, where the echo chamber amplifies the reputation (and in turn the price) past the point of fair value, into the realms of ‘luxury goods’.
There is wonderful joy in sniffing out an under the radar producer and especially when that discovery was via a visit to the winery. On visits to Italy, we’ve learnt to mix in the known with the unknown, with the latter impressing far more often than a cross-section of critics would have you believe. Most striking for us was (literally) two back to back producers near Stazione Montepulciano. Poliziano were a big name, but barring one of their new Maremma wines, we felt underwhelmed. Across their ‘back yard’ sat Casale Daviddi, I think they had one mention in an Italian wine guide, but otherwise completely blanked by wine critics. The wines were significantly more interesting and they also had an older vintage available that was phenomenal value and wonderfully complex. I’ve only seen their wines once since that trip, in an enoteca in Torino (so we bought a couple of bottles to bring back, including one with good age on it).
It comes back to that old adage, of buying wines we like, not what other people like (be they critics or forumites here).
Welcome to social media and those damn Instagram influencer accounts (which include a number of famous folks here adding their fuel to the fire). ![[soap.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7ea1fffd3ef237e8f19d17a83270ad8452218ca.gif "soap"){kind=small}
I do think there is indeed a risk that this group is seen as overly focused on the ‘prestigious wines from the prestigious regions’. It can result in something of an echo chamber, where (e.g.) it appears the only wines worth drinking from Rioja are LdH or LRA.
I will take Muga over both right now. I do like LRA but never really loved LdH wines as they probably take forever to show themselves. Maybe 30 years or so.
What about $20 and under? ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
We spend a lot of time on WB discussing blue chip wines. Naturally, they are the ones we are most excited to come post about when we open, drink, and share them. But, for me, that creates a pattern that skews what it appears I drink towards significantly more expensive than what is actually true. The social media effect of wine, you could say.
Honestly I don’t see that many blue chip tasting notes on this site. 75% of notes are wines under $50.00 unless it is an offline event.
Approx 1600 bottles in the cellar and over half were < $50 at purchase. I’ve always skewed “cheap” with buying habits. Sadly, most of the QPRs of yesteryear are not the value they were. The good news is that there’s a huge variety of tasty options < $50 with quality improving everywhere if you spend the time to search and taste.
RT
Lots of great whites from Alsace. Domaine Weinbach and Marcel Deiss are two favorites. We’ve been enjoying the declassified 2019 Weinbach Riesling (vin d’Aslace) lately because our local wine shop has it at $33 (before 15% six pack discounts). Delicious with bright and high stone and citrus fruit notes, a dash of minerality and nice length.
yeah if all you influencers could kindly refrain from telling anyone about the wines we talk about in this thread, that’d be great.
also please dont tell everyone about Aligote. I would like that to stay cheap please.
Now if you said $25 and less, then I could see it more.
Well, here are three under $25 that could compete in the under $50 category for best in show. I won’t include the legendary Joh Jos Prum Rieslings from 2007 for $7 a bottle years ago since it was too long ago and it was in a closeout bin (would not want to offend anyone that they were out of a closeout bin next to some blue bottle German wine).
2019 Sea Slopes Fort Ross Winery Pinot Noir - USA, California, Sonoma County, Fort Ross - Seaview (2/9/2022)
Day 1: Very nice wine for under $30. Earth, minerals, strawberry, cherry, mild spice and floral notes. Super complex wine and medium plus finish. This is one of the top Pinots under $30. (Screw Cap) 92 points
Day 2: Continues to exceed the price point. Strawberry, spice, minerals, dust, earth and mushrooms. 13.5% alcohol. Medium plus finish. Like the style as it has fruit but not jammy like some California higher end Pinots. 92 points
Recommendation: This did not make it to day 3 so it is amazing. (92 points)
Well this was a little over $25 but I know the owner and he gave me 5% more off! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
2020 Tensley Syrah - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (2/6/2022)
Day 1: For sure under $25 wine of the year candidate. Super amazing wine with dark berries, spice, blueberries, minerals, menthol and crushed rock. Medium to long finish. No heat and balanced wine. 92 points
Day 2: Wonderful with bright fruit featuring blueberries, blackberries and cherry. Spice, minerals, menthol and crushed rock. Just vibrant in nature but not sweet or hot. Excellent value. 93 points (93 points)
2018 Cristom Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (2/5/2022)
Day 2: Much better than day one and this is a long term ager. Cranberry, ripe strawberries, floral, dust, minerals and spice. Very complex offering for the price point. Good acidity. (Natural cork) 92 points
Day 3: This is even better. Truly exceptional value. Ripe strawberry, cranberry, minerals, spice, floral and and iron. Medium plus finish and good acidity. Really hard to find a better value at $25.00. 93 points
Recommendation: Buy and this will age nicely for five to ten years. Decant 4 hours if you are looking to consume on day 1. (93 points)
i would second Tensley and Cristom for lower priced high delivery wines for sure. i am always a fan of both of these. havent had a chance to try the Fort Ross. but i will say Cristom also ages very nicely, especially for the sub $30 price point.
Endless variety—I think my cellar is more like 95% sub $50 and I want for almost nothing. (Okay, I do want more champagne.)
The Fort Ross Sea Slopes 14 was on sale for $20 at a local shop 3 years ago and was amazed at the quality of this Pinot for the price. I have tried 19, 16 and 14 and all exceed the price point by a wide margin.
Thanks for putting the under $50 thread for us working stiffs that don’t spend over a $100 often!!!
We went up to Ridge in Healdsburg today. They were pouring the '21 Lytton Assemblage, as well as the '19 and '14 Lytton Springs. All good! The 2020 Geyserville comes out next month and is retailing for $50 there. Now at the top of $50 and under. Unfortunately, they were not pouring it, but the 2019 Ridge Lytton was very good. Maybe not quite as good as the 2018 we had a few weeks ago!
dang the Geyserville has seen some price increases. its been a couple years since I bought it on release I didnt realize it had crept up quite that high.