Best Value Wine Region for Great Wine?

[Thomas_Keim]

1. Languedoc
2. Languedoc
3. Languedoc
4. Languedoc
5. Languedoc

[Chris_C_a_r_y]

In my head, there is a distinction between regions that produce many very good, very delicious wines for a very reasonable price, and regions where truly great, world class, can-compete-with-the-very best, wines can still priced amazingly well.

That’s why I stand behind Germany (and yes, I realize it’s a country, not a region - for whatever reason it tends to get treated as one region when questions like this come up), though there are a couple of others for which a case can be made. While regions like WA state, Etna and CA syrah do produce some high quality and delicious wines at good prices, I don’t personally believe they are making wines I can consider truly great.

+1 When I read this thread I see a lot of support for Good wines, but not many cases for GREAT wines at a value. As a Washington resident/drinker we have lots of really good wines that are values compared to some other regions, but the GREAT wines, and I think they exist in Washington led by Cayuse, Quilceda Creek, some others, still end up being priced to what the market will bare, $100-150+, which means they then don’t meet definition of “value”, at least not for me.

To me GREAT means a 95+ score on a wine consistently and value means $50, maybe even $75 or less (when it meets that GREAT target). So that criteria may not even exist.

[Howard_Cooper]

1. Germany (and by a large margin as others have said). I would say esp. the MSR. Truly great producers like Prum, von Schubert, Zilliken, etc., etc., etc., sell wines from top vineyards at less than Bourgogne prices. There is an exception for a lot of overpriced wines in Germany labeled GG but for the most part if you did not say Germany first, you are just wrong.

2. Loire. There are now a few higher priced wines from the Loire, but for the most part these are fabulous values.

3. Côte Chalonnaise. I keep telling myself I should drink more wines from this region but somehow I never do. But, I bet if you put some of the best pinots and chardonnays from this region against top ones from California and Oregon wines from the Chalonnaise would do very well on both quality and value. I give William Kelley huge props for often touting producers from this region on wine threads here.

Note that I agree that there are great value wines from places like Sicily, the Languedoc, etc., but the OP asked about values in “Great Wine”, not good very wine.

[larry_schaffer]

I know that this may sound like a biased opinion, but I truly believe the Santa Barbara County area continues to excel at QPR wines in general. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but compared to other regions near us and much further north of us, you get more for your money here - and the quality level, in general, is quite high.

Cheers

[Rodrigo_B]

I know that this may sound like a biased opinion, but I truly believe the Santa Barbara County area continues to excel at QPR wines in general. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but compared to other regions near us and much further north of us, you get more for your money here - and the quality level, in general, is quite high.

Cheers

I will say this, SBC produces some really varied QPR wines. From Jim Clendenen’s Pinots and Chards to you and several other producers making rhone varietals, SBC produces some really varied QPR wines that are worth exploring. Not least because of the sheer variety fo wines that the region is able to put out

[MSemler]

1. Languedoc
2. Languedoc
3. Languedoc
4. Languedoc
5. Languedoc

Any recommendations in particular?

[Howard_Cooper]

I know that this may sound like a biased opinion, but I truly believe the Santa Barbara County area continues to excel at QPR wines in general. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but compared to other regions near us and much further north of us, you get more for your money here - and the quality level, in general, is quite high.

Cheers

And some really horribly overpriced wines that show some of the worst of bigger is better, esp. some wines from Rhone varieties.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

German GGs…some say overpriced, others say among the greatest white wines in the world and still mostly, and amazingly, under $100.

[larry_schaffer]

I know that this may sound like a biased opinion, but I truly believe the Santa Barbara County area continues to excel at QPR wines in general. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but compared to other regions near us and much further north of us, you get more for your money here - and the quality level, in general, is quite high.

Cheers

And some really horribly overpriced wines that show some of the worst of bigger is better, esp. some wines from Rhone varieties.

Interested to hear examples please. And you know, the same can be said for the Rhone itself

Cheers

[Otto_Forsberg]

1. Languedoc
2. Languedoc
3. Languedoc
4. Languedoc
5. Languedoc

Any recommendations in particular?

Mas de Daumas Gassac, for sure.

Léon Barral and Maxime Magnon make some terrific wines from the more old-school end, while Domaine de l’Aigulière makes great wines in a more modern style. Wines of Domaine de l’Hortus fall somewhere in-between. Both the reds and whites develop wonderfully and often require some years in a cellar before showing their best.

[Jorg_G]

I‘m surprised how many of you are voting for Germany. But I‘m also some kind of happy because I have a lot of german Riesling in my cellar.

But one question: do you mean only the Riesling or also the Pinot Noir / Spätburgunder?

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I‘m surprised how many of you are voting for Germany. But I‘m also some kind of happy because I have a lot of german Riesling in my cellar.

But one question: do you mean only the Riesling or also the Pinot Noir / Spätburgunder?

Speaking for myself only, I mean Riesling. I love some German spatburgunder, as well as sylvaner and scheurebe and other varieties, and think there are many very good, very good value wines being made; but I do not think these compete on the level of great wine the way German Riesling does.

[Thomas_Keim]

1. Languedoc
2. Languedoc
3. Languedoc
4. Languedoc
5. Languedoc

Any recommendations in particular?

Pic Saint Loup, Corbieres and Minervois to start for reds (all are Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre/Cinsault blends ala Cotes du Rhone) - Dozens of great producers - look for Kermit Lynch, Neal Rosenthal, Louis Dressner and other top importers on the back labels. $15.00 gets you a great bottle of wine - how many other regions mentioned on this thread can say that?

And for bubbly, Blanquet de Limoux, which is Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ala Champagne. The better bottlings compare with lesser Champagnes.

[Otto_Forsberg]

And for bubbly, Blanquet de Limoux, which is Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ala Champagne.

That’s Cremant de Limoux.

Blanquette is minimum 90% Mauzac.

[Thomas_Keim]

And for bubbly, Blanquet de Limoux, which is Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ala Champagne.

That’s Cremant de Limoux.

Blanquette is minimum 90% Mauzac.

That’s right - thanks Otto -

[Peter_Chiu]

My vote goes to Mendoza region in Argentina for chardonnay and c.s. base wines.

[Peter_Chiu]

How specific are we talking for “region?” Germany isn’t a “region” in my mind, it’s many different ones. Same thing for Spain, Portugal, or any other country. And in my mind, value is under $25 US. If you want true regions, then I would say Piedmont (even that is pretty large), Friuli, Alto-Adige, and Tuscany (except big name stuff). In France, there’s some areas of the Loire, Beaujolais, non-hot Rhone areas, and some Languedoc/Provence areas. Some producers in the US work, but I think that’s often more producer-specific than region specific, really.

Yes - Germany is not a region !

[Rich_K0rz_nk0]

1. Languedoc
2. Languedoc
3. Languedoc
4. Languedoc
5. Languedoc

Any recommendations in particular?

Mas de Daumas Gassac, for sure.

Léon Barral and Maxime Magnon make some terrific wines from the more old-school end, while Domaine de l’Aigulière makes great wines in a more modern style. Wines of Domaine de l’Hortus fall somewhere in-between. Both the reds and whites develop wonderfully and often require some years in a cellar before showing their best.

Big fan of Barral, great call.

[Brandon_R]

I think CA does Syrah perhaps the best in the world and at reasonable prices.

Wines that can challenge those $25-30 Saint Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and Cornas wines in both value and quality?

Otto, until the post right at the bottom of page one, the quoted here was your third (and there is another here on page two, totaling four) posts from you in opposition to what someone else posted without you posting your opinion at any point earlier.

To the question at hand, I think there is such a wide variety of very inexpensive great wines (red and white) in Tuscany that I’ll throw my money there.

[Howard_Cooper]

I know that this may sound like a biased opinion, but I truly believe the Santa Barbara County area continues to excel at QPR wines in general. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but compared to other regions near us and much further north of us, you get more for your money here - and the quality level, in general, is quite high.

Cheers

And some really horribly overpriced wines that show some of the worst of bigger is better, esp. some wines from Rhone varieties.

Interested to hear examples please. And you know, the same can be said for the Rhone itself

Cheers

I was in the Santa Barbara area for a couple of days several years ago. I enjoyed some wines I had there a great deal like Sanford and have really liked Au Bon Climat a good bit on other occasions when I have had it. But, we also went to a couple of tasting rooms (one in a town and one in a wine store near Los Olivos) and much of what I tasted seemed really over the top. I really do not remember all of the names of the Rhone style wines I did not like but I think one of the wineries was named Beckman or something like that. I really also actively disliked Pinots either on that trip or around that time from wineries like Loring and Sea Smoke and another one that was big at the time. Frankly, I have pretty much avoided wines from the area unless they are ABC or Sanford so I don’t have more recent examples.

I agree with you on the wines from the Rhone, esp. the Southern Rhone. While there are some great ones like Rayas, I am not a big fan of a lot of them. By contrast, I am a much bigger fan of southern French wines from Bandol, in particular Chateau Pradeaux, Pibarnon and Tempier.