It’s the most common question I get about wine. Everybody loves a bargain. And the challenge with wine is that you often don’t know what it tastes like until you buy it, bring it home, and uncork it. So wine lovers are always swapping notes on bargains they have found.
But bargains are hard to quantify. Sometimes a $2 wine is a waste of money. Sometimes a $50 bottle of wine is worth every penny.
With that in mind, I’ve classified bargains by price range. There are bargains in all categories and each of these wines are enjoyable in the right setting. Also, I’ve only listed wines from the USA. Those are the most easily found, and they tend to have similar tastes so it makes it easier to compare.
So here goes ….
The “open it with pizza and drink without guilt” bargains under $10:
– Cellar #8 Zinfandel is consistently good.
– Challis Lane Cabernet Sauvignon is a remarkable wine for the price.
– Hahn Estates produces some really great wines, especially their reds.
– Pear Valley Vineyardsis our latest find, and I love their wines so much I joined their wine club.
The “I want something really good but not crazy expensive” bargains between $10 and $20:
– Elena is one of my favorite “everyday” wines.
– Many of the Trader Joe’s label wines are first rate. The chardonnay is exceptional.
– The Wente Riva Ranch Chardonnay is consistently good.
The “let’s get something nice to drink” or perhaps the “I need a gift to impress the boss” bargains between $20 and $35:
– Decoy Wines are always good for the price.
– Seghesio Zinfandels have been major award winners.
– Green and Red Zinfandel is amazing year in and year out. I’ve heard of very high end restaurants rebottling this and using it as their house wine.
The “we might never splurge like this again so let’s go for it” bargains over $35:
– Tofanelli Zinfandel and Charbono age for decades and taste fantastic.
– Mi Sueno wines are so good we have had Italian friends asking us to send it to them.
– Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. A classic. A legend. Consistently great.
By the way, I don’t think there is such a thing as a $100 bargain wine. There are amazing wines in the high priced categories (I recently sampled Araujo Cabernet Sauvignon that sells for $300 a bottle and it was unbelievable). But the difference between a great $75 bottle (Caymus, for instance) and the outrageous Screaming Eagle ($1200 per bottle or more) is simply not wide enough to justify the cost.
So those are my bargain choices. And yours? Tell me what you think is a great bargain!