Some Fine Wines for $10 and Under
It's known in Europe as the wine lake: a vast reservoir of nearly a billion excess bottles, so much that if they were all emptied, they could fill 300 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Some are so marginal that instead of being consumed, the wine–made mostly from French and Italian grapes–is instead distilled into alcohol fuel. Much, however, is good, even delicious, and so cheap that even with exchange rates that have depressed the U.S. dollar's buying power by 40 percent in recent years, you can still pick up an excellent bottle of Spanish Rioja, French Côtes du Rhone, or sparkling Italian rosé for $10 or less.
Little wonder, then, that when we asked wine buyers at a dozen leading retailers which wine they would choose for that bargain price, they overwhelmingly picked vintages from France, Spain, and Italy as offering some of the best values–and flavors–around.
A survey of top wine writers yielded similarly Old World picks, such as Vinography.com Editor Alder Yarrow's choice of a $6 Spanish Borsao: "It is difficult to comprehend how it's possible to make wine this good that costs so little."
Here are their 10 top choices:
2005 Les Vignes Retrouvées, Côtes de Saint-Mont Blanc
Gascony, France. $10
From Gascony, home of the Musketeers, foie gras, and Armagnac, this unique white wine "sells like wild in France," says Bill St. John, wine educator at Sam's Wines Spirits in Chicago. The "Vignes Retrouvées" refers to the "rediscovered" vines of three white grape varieties you've probably never heard of: 40 percent Gros Manseng, 30 percent Petit Courbu, 30 percent Arrufiac.
Together, they not only make a "fruity, aromatic, and deliciously crisp" cocktail but are also a welcome departure from standard whites like sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. Even better, St. John says the Les Vignes Retrouvées is "deal city."
www.samswine.com
2004 Artazuri Garnacha
Navarra, Spain. $10
Talk about wine from the Old Country! This Grenache is made of grapes harvested from 80-year-old vines, which help give it "great, velvety tannins ... with a lot of juicy raspberry on the nose," says Andrew McMurray, wine buyer at Zachys Wine & Liquor in Scarsdale, N.Y.
He's a big fan of Grenache-based wines produced near Spain's northern border with France. "They have more acidity and lift than some of the more modern style of Spanish wines," he says. "And the Artazuri is an amazing value."
www.zachys.com
Rotari Rosé NV
Trento, Italy. $9
This spumante (that's "sparkling" in Italian) is made from 25 percent chardonnay and 75 percent pinot nero, which provide its characteristic pink color, notes Clyde Beffa Jr., co-owner of K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City, Calif. Rotari hails from the Adige Valley, near the Austrian border, where its producers use the "metodo classico," meaning that it's bottle fermented for two full years.
Ideal with seafood or as an aperitif, it features a seemingly odd combination of cranberry and fresh-baked bread flavors (at least that's what Wine Enthusiast reviewers, who gave it an 88 rating, think). But to Beffa Jr., it's simply "great tasting, and look at the price!"
www.klwine.com
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