I look at it more as a wine I am happy drinking myself any day of the week but when I have what I feel are non real wine drinking people over, it is something that saves me from opening more expensive bottles
ahhhhh got it. defends the bigger guns in the cellar from opening in the wrong company, but lets your non-wino friends feel like you’re still opening something nice for them.
I think Gloria fits this bill pretty well. also some of Chaves St Joseph offerings. I also really enjoy some of the Village and Bourgogne offerings from Drouhin. I love Villaine offerings too for this exact purpose because you can tell them the winemaker’s other wine sells for orders of magnitude more, and then they’re REALLY impressed.
Rosso di Montalcino especially Il Poggione, La Gerla, Ciacci piccolomini, costanti
Hahn 2016 SLH Pinot. Good for all time zones— non-geeks love it, there’s enough for geeks to get by. Decent food wine.
Under $30, I only have one.
Turley Juvenile.
I’m not partial to the term “cellar defenders”. What does this mean? It sounds like prosecuting a legal claim. You have a cellar, there is nothing to ‘defend’. Since a bottle lasts 2-4 days, I drink with whatever I want when I want at the time, and this will include a mix of new and old, cheap and more dear. Certain wines I will want to drink with people that like wines, some wines need age, but really no defensive posture is needed.
2014 Sociando Mallet is ready to enjoy?
Faury St Joseph is a terrific, early drinking wine <$30.
Tempted to “+1” Markus, but in the spirit of a more direct response:
Patience and critical mass are my dynamic duo cellar defenders.
Buy a case, enjoy one now, stick the rest away to start popping 10 years out.
Ar Pe Pe Rosso when you can find it in the $25 range
I’d be all over it if I could get it for that price. Usually it’s around $35. Where can you find it for $25?
I grabbed a case of the 1999 Lanessan that K&L brought in late last year for sub $25-it is drinking wonderfully right now. It won’t last as long as the 2000, I need to drink these in the next year or 2, but it is in a good place right now.
Unless you live in Texas, where it’s more like $44 (maybe $39 if you get lucky). This state sucks…Thus, the only wine I purchase in state is from Costco (where mark-ups seem to be consistently lower).
Turley Juvenile Zin, great value at $20
Guion Prestige
Produttori Langhe, Barbaresco
Gulfi Cerasuolo
Occhipinti SP68
'14 Lilian Ladouys
'15, '16 Lanessan, Senejac
Monsanto CCR
'15 Vajra Barbera
Evesham la Grieve Bleue
Baudry
Domaine de Tours Vaucluse
Any '14 Chablis I come across
Cameron Pinots and whites
Produttori Barbaresco (2014) is $33 by me. Maybe I’ll give it a whirl
If you like Nebbiolo, it is a very nice wine for the price.
Nobody has mentioned the entry level pinots from Siduri, Loring, and Pali. These are basically blends that didn’t make the cut for the single vineyard bottlings. Pali has been getting some good scores on theirs. Brian has an offer currently on Sta. Rita and Santa Lucia blends that come in six packs and mixed six packs with quantity discounts.
Just FYI I think these really need some time in bottle to show their stuff. Even the entry level “Langhe” bottling improves significantly with a few years.
Really no Vietti Perbacco or Senejac listed?