You could certainly throw in a youngish white burg, plenty of excellent 1er crus from recent years in that price range. 2011 Lafon Charmes was great somewhat recently. Otherwise it’s a crapshoot on the premox-era white burgs, and it’s gotten very hard to find older ones at good prices.
10-15 year GG rieslings could fit the bill, have had great 09s from Emrich Schonleber and Schafer Frohlich.
01 prum ws auslese.
Older chave blanc an option but white rhone is probably near the end of the priority list.
Thank you for the suggestions. Just a red case, which I failed to mention up front!
This is what I put together with an expanded budget, across mainly 2 retailers:
I think Greg made a good call for 2004 VCC. It’s a very good wine and more ready than 2006.
2008 is a pretty young Conterno. Can you find white label Giacosa for your price range? Like 98 or 00 Falletto? (I’m guessing the 96 and 99 are too expensive.)
On Burg, if you are looking for archetypes, I’d swap out that Griotte and look for older Lafarge or D’Angerville per suggestions above.
Instead of young Jamet, look for older Gonon or Faurie or Sorrel Greal maybe to stay in price range?
I would go for a lesser year that’s more mature. Of all the wines I collect, Chave is the one I enjoy most in off years. 2002 is beautiful and well within the budget. Other possibilities are 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997. Of course if bigger years fall into the budget they could be great options as well.
This is a good call. I figured it would be too expensive but maybe not. I haven’t had the first 3 in many years, but now is definitely a sweet spot for well stored 94, 96, 97. Especially the latter 2 IMO.
I like taking credit for things, but this was not me I don’t drink enough right bank to have such an opinion, but I think 2004s have been drinking great for a while, and they can be had relatively cheap. 89s are certainly better, but they’re going to be vastly more expensive and there’s another 15 years of worry about provenance. Even I have 2004s I bough on release, and I’m not that old.
I generally think looking for either the most famous possible grand cru (Beze!!) or the best year (82! 89!) is a mistake; it’s the wrong way to approach it. I’d much rather have a great 1er cru Vosne/Chambolle from 2002 than a Bouchard Beze; a wine I’ve had a number of times and find utterly uninteresting. When I started drinking I did a bit of the same thing and kept wondering why “grand cru” Jadots didn’t do much for me.
1994 is drinking very well - had one couple of months ago. Was barely within the price range from Sommpicks when I bought it (no affiliation on my part)
Would also recommend 2002 and 2008 as possibilities