Chazeaux Des Beuchottes

In warmer spots in the southern region of Languedoc-Roussillon, Pinot Noir can prosper but only in the cooler sites. With Chazeaux des Beuchottes, these cooler sites help produce complex, bright and fresh Pinot Noir. At this price, we dare you to find better Pinot Value!

Colline Grenache

Colline’s Grenache vines are baked in the sun around the town of Cébazon in eastern Languedoc, and still enjoy enough of the Mediterranean breezes to retain some acidity. The winemaking is more traditional than modern (cold soaking the grapes for two days is still new thinking) but otherwise the grapes stay on the skins in vats for at least a month; then see long aging in cement cubes. The old guys would be proud

Daou Cabernet

Georges and Daniel Daou didn’t just buy land in Paso Robles, they bought the old Hoffman Mountain Ranch and its famed barn as well. Founded by Dr. Stanley Hoffman in 1964, this was the site of some legendary wines. I can go on about the 1976 and 1977 HMR Cabernet, but then that would be rude. Let’s just say that Daou wines have an excellent and established pedigree. Their Cabernet is solely from estate fruit; powerful and plump.

Darley Alexander Valley Red

Darley is 100% single vineyard Cabernet from a famed vineyard in Alexander Valley. One that currently produces some $75 Cabernet, a $200+ Malbec (what?!?!?), and an $85 Sauvignon Blanc among other craziness. 93% Cabernet, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec and 1% Merlot showcases intense black fruits with lengthy velvety tannins.

Don Ramon Red Blend

The Campo de Borja region of Spain churns out some of the best value wine in the world, and this little beauty is a perfect example!

Dutcher Crossing Cabernet 'Proprietor's Reserve'

En Numeros Vermells Carinyena 1945

Don’t get crazy here; we are not offering a wine from the 1945 vintage. This is a wine from a very old Carignan (or more properly, Carinyena) vineyard, planted in 1945. Why is Carinyena the more appropriate name for the grape? Because it’s not a French vine but a Spanish one, and since we’re talking Catalunya, we might as well spell it that way. It’s much like Garnacha ought to be the proper name for the Grenache grape; it too originates in Spain. But Carinyena's finest expression across the globe is here in Priorat; and Silvia Puig, the young but already famed winemaker, has made her reputation on old Carinyena vines.

En Numeros Vermells Classic

When Silvia Puig started this project to draw from some smaller scale vineyards, she gave it a name that essentially means, “in the red”, since she knew she would never make money at it. That’s why she consults with other better known producers in Spain’s Priorat region: she can pay the bills, and focus upon this lovely, handmade wine, comprised of Garnacha Peluda (a rare variety) along with Syrah and Cariñena.

Escorlada

Spanish wine is a bargain, right? It’s been that way for decades, though it’s only been in the last ten or fifteen years that the wider world has dropped some in their gullets and said, wait, this costs how much? Certainly, less than it should. It doesn't take geniuses to notice it, so we’re not making any claims to our own brilliance. In the case of this Garnacha Tintorera, we’re pretty sure we’ve found what may be the best sub $20 wine we have ever tasted. Spain has done it again!

Flor de Rejon

100% Tempranillo, this is from Bodegas Tridente in Castilla y Leon, and they’ve been producing remarkable values for the last couple of decades. This is their top wine, however, so it ain’t going for cheap. Most of the vines were planted in the 19th century, so yields are minimal and the flavors are both complex and concentrated. It spends 20 months in oak barrels, and you needn’t be in a hurry to drink it.

Grandes Arenes Rouge

Syrah and Grenache is more or less in equal proportions here, and this exhibits what makes Costieres de Nimes an increasingly popular and important sub-region of the Rhone Valley. It benefits from the same Mediterranean sun and breezes, and the same limestone soils, as any other southern Rhone appellation. Maybe best of all, unlike so much Chateauneuf-duPape, this stuff is affordable!

Granicus Red

We like to shop in the Languedoc-Roussillon; it’s a place in Mediterranean France that has been important for more than a century but, despite the noise about inexpensive Bordeaux wines, remains the place to shop for value. When they are growing on chalky-clay terroirs, and when they apply Bordeaux techniques to it (fancy stainless steel, new French oak, minute temperature control and the like), they make a fascinating wine.