White: Semillon Chardonnay. Pungent but once you sample it, its like, that's it?

Red: Beuojalais. Made the mistake of buying a case of it, had to gift the last 6 away just to put myself out of the misery.

Any red from Cakebread. As good as their whites are...their reds have always left something to be desired IMO.

There are oodles and oodles of wine out there and too many are way overpriced and overrated. My limit for 750 ml is $20 retail and $30 for champagne with occasional slight exceptions. The same vineyard quality varies widely by years. IMO paying more is 99% hype and ego.

MisterNice

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. I lusted after it for years when it was impossible to find in my market. Then I tried it at around $27 a bottle. It was nice, but was definitely a "is that it?" moment. To my mind, today's wine market is a buyer's market. There are many good producers in the sub-$15 range. Particulary for whites.

I agree here. I've been trying every type of Sauvignon Blanc from NZ I can find, and there are bottles for half the price that are twice as good. I found that the Cloudy Bay Chard is more enjoyable and a bit less expensive.

A GREAT alternative for Sauvignon Blanc fans is the King Shag SB from Marlborough. You can get it at Trader Joe's for $7.99 - beats the Cloudy Bay and even the Kim Crawford SBs.

The Red Wine of Lynch Bages. My god for the price you're paying for, it doesn't taste that much different from what you can get for $10 at your local grocery store.

Opus One

I think that there are so many wineries within sight of that place that put out a much better product often for a fraction of the cost.

Sure, there are many wines that are overpriced and overrated, and there is a fair amount of hype as well. However, in general, I've found that more expensive wines ARE typically better than low priced wines. The quality variance seems much smaller as price increases. At $50/bottle there are few terrible wines; at less than $10/bottle terrible wines are plentiful. But these are only generalities and say nothing about a comparison of two specific bottles of wine.

Wine preferences, like food, are of course very much dependent on one's tastes. Ratings/reviews from Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, etc. are interesting to look at and can provide useful information, but they are no substitute for the individual's palate.

IMO the are marketing tools and nothing more. I doubt if the authors ever taste the majority of wines rated or converse with people who did.

MisterNice

If you can find a good wine shop which conducts tastings, make it a habit to go very often and buy a case of what impresses you.

It's amazing what you will learn about your own tastes and how this can change over time. Of course it helps to have some food with the wine, so try to go out with other people who enjoy wine and bring a good bottle each. ^


Doing the above the only times I've been disappointed was when a wine was corked.

Someone's taste buds shot off in the war?

I cannot agree more. I really don't know why Cloudy Bay is so highly regarded - but they are easily (IMHO) the most overrated producer in NZ.

In addition to their SB, I also found there Pelorus sparking wine to be quite overrated. Both Nautilus and Huia have better bubblies for more than $10 less.

All this being said, I am rather fond of Cloudy Bay's Te Koko (oaked SB). Unfortunately, it's impossible to find in the States.

-FlyerBeek

Nautilus Marlborough SB is one of my picks of the region; I've not tried oaked SB and will look out for the Cloudy Bay, Crawford-family brands and some others. Have you seen this SB variety from other prominent Kiwi makers?

Margaret River Sav Blanc is often as good as (if not better than) the NZ offering.

Particularly the Plantagenet Omrah lable. Mind you, in the absence of food I can't take more than one glass of this variety - it's just too much.

Massively over-rated would have to include:

- Penfolds Grange
- Penfolds RWT

Barossa Shiraz in general, really.

I agree with you on the Nautilis SB. My other favorite NZ SBs are Hunter's (both their regular and their Kaho Roa), Huia (an excellent place all-around, nice Pinot as well and a stellar Krug-esque sparking wine), and Mount Nelson (actually owned by Lodovico Antinori).

I used to be a big Crawford fan, but I've noticed a certain decrease in both quality and value over the last two years.

The only other oaked SB I've tasted that's similar to Te Koko is Dog Point's Section 94 - though, it's not as good.

Well, whatever one's tastes are - it's certain that NZ in general, and Marlborough in particular, are certainly producing some stellar wines.

-FlyerBeek