FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Very good, cheap wines?
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Old Sep 26, 2007 | 9:16 am
  #26  
Timfid
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 370
Originally Posted by Howie721
Let me re-phrase my question, I am looking for good bottles in the $15 range..not cheap cheap wine but obviously not overly expensive.
The question then becomes what you think is good quality for that price range.

If looking for good (to my taste) wines in that price range, the first thing I would do is avoid wines from France or Italy: quality is high but so are prices. (As for France, I've occasionally found red Rhone wines in this price range which were excellent, but they are few and far between. Many of the cheaper quality French wines in American stores are Pays d'Oc, but I've found them disappointing.)

I'd also avoid Swiss wines, which can be good but are usually expensive. Some Greek wines are now coming on the market in the U.S., but I've found the quality disappointing. The best quality Greek wines I've found are regional ones which have limited distribution even in Greece.

That still leaves quite a field for bargain hunting quality wines in the medium price ranges. I'd look for Washington and Oregon state wines, especially Washington, and wines from Germany, Austria, New Zealand, and Australia. (I've found that Australian wines from West Australia or South Australia are generally better, though harder to find, than the mre common wines labeled Southeast Australia.) In California, look for wines that are not from Napa, Sonoma, or Santa Cruz: the farther away from those regions the grapes are from, the more likely the wine is to be a bargain. A convenient map of the regions is here.
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