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Best wine for under $40

This is the contents of the case we got shipped home from Montalcino. Free shipping! All Brunellos. We’re splitting with my sister and BIL. That first one was simply incredible, according to the guy got 100 points. We also brought home a couple other Brunellos and 2 Rosso di Montalcinos we did at another tasting.

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Wakeforest22890 said:
il poggione is wonderful. What a haul!
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yeah. we got one of the 2015 Renieris, but otherwise the first 3 went to my sister at their request. the ones below were ones we had on the tasting. the Canapaccia he said was the last ever vintage from that winery as they were bought by a much bigger winery so he speculated that one would become a big cult wine.

When we mentioned some of the wines we were looking for the guy kept bringing out glasses so we ended up getting about 12-15 to try vs the initial 8 on our combined tasting. And then he comped the tastings plus gifted us a bottle of white dessert wine that he also poured us a taste of. So we probably made out with about $100 in freebies plus the free shipping.
 
My wife gets to steward a handful of bottles a month for basically wholesale cost from the restaurant she's working. She's sending the list over today to add on a couple more for the holiday weekend to our pile. The restaurant has a backlog of like 250+ different wines from their previous iteration that's been in a private cellar but the wholesale price remains what it was from when they bought it five+ years ago.

Gonna go to town on this list.
 
For those of you in Winston, City Beverage has a Pre-Thanksgiving wine tasting/sale from 3-6 today. No cost for the tasting.
 
Top hits I see from the wife's wine list:

Billecart-Salmon NV Rose - $80 (I just can't find this wine in the area that much and retail has gone over $100 lately. One of my favorite Rose Champagnes period regardless of the price. Love this producer)

Bollinger NV Special Cuvee - $65

Olga Raffault "Les Picasses" Cab Franc 2017 - $24 maybe the best Cab Franc producer in the Central Loire from arguably the best vineyard. No doubt this is a banger.

Lincourt Pinot Noir 2017 - $16 - I've posted about this before, we sell a ton of it, it's delicious for sub $30 retail pinot and I'm sure the 2017 is holding up with red/black cherry and baking spice.

Lemelson Vineyards 2021 Thea's Selection - $21 - also posted about this before, ripe fruit, higher end from this producer in Oregon...so much fresh red fruit.

They have the 2020 Ridge for a pretty good price but I've seen so many "smoke" comments online about this vintage from the Vineyard (and expressed disappointment for them even putting out a wine for the vintage) that I think it's worth skipping even at a solid discount
 
Brought this back from Mendoza in 2020 and opened it up tonight!

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DeacWatcher said:
From a tourist stand point how does Mendoza and Argentina wine country in general stack up vs Napa/Sonoma, Wash/Oregon or Italy?
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I know this is an old post but just got back from there. Honestly the best thing about Mendoza is the price of everything. Argentina's economy, to put it lightly, is in the shitter and the dollar goes extremely far there. Like a steak dinner for two at a nice parilla with appetizers plus a bottle of a nice Malbec would cost around $80 USD.

I've only been to Napa so can only compare it to that. Napa's wineries are definitely more built up and more crowded. Also Napa wineries have more diversity in grapes than Mendoza wineries imo. Main red grape is obviously Malbec, main white grape is Torrontes. Bonarda is probably the second most popular red grape and Cabernet Franc is growing in popularity there. For whites, it seems like more of a mixed bag. Saw some Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.

Mendoza is kind of a pain the ass to get to since there's no direct flight from the US but I definitely recommend it and would go again.
 
Awesome! We stayed at Casa De Uco on our last visit. 10/10 - would recommend!
 
What did everybody else have for the holidays or upcoming for the weekend?

Had a couple fun wines the last day and one pending for tonight.

Had the 2012 Conti Costanti Brunello last night with some prime rib. Definitely leaning into some tertiary characteristics with balsamic notes and tobacco plus baking spice and a good amount of earthy notes. Black cherry, blueberry as far as fruit goes and a solid floral presence overall (violets maybe?). It was out of a magnum so we had a little bit left to take home from the MILs and finished it off today. Better day two (even with a decant yesterday) and the fruit really came out more balanced by the balsamic notes. This is either drinking at peak right now or starting to decline a bit but it was wonderful especially after a few hours and day two.

Today had the 1991 Donhoff Oberhauser Leistenburg Riesling with some pimento cheese dip and goat cheese/caramelized onion puff pastries for appetizers. A birth year wine for my wife. Came in at 9.5% ABV but there was no labeling indicating if this was dry, off dry, or sweet. I mean we can use context clues with ABV and the body that it had some residual sugar, but I'd probably put this at the Spatlese level (later harvest in general and more must weight - so higher sugar level at harvest).

On the nose, honey and honeysuckle, dried apricot, almost thinking a dessert style wine at this stage without tasting - I've had Sauternes from Bordeaux that had similar notes. Plenty of fruit, but still certainly floral. On the palate, pretty similar, light to medium body, it clearly has some sugar in it contributing to the body but the acidity was still medium to high (mouth was watering). The rest of the notes largely matched the nose; dried fruit, a ton of honey, maybe a slightly oxidative note with VERY light nuttiness but certainly no flaws with the cork or anything. This is one of, if not the, best wine I've had this year.

With duck tonight just decanted a 2009 Arpepe single vineyard Nebbiolo from Valtellina and looking forward to tracking how it opens up. First notes are that it's going to be delicious tonight but it's got a long life ahead of it and I'll wait a few years to open the second bottle we got online.
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
The (Unofficial) Thanksgiving Wine Post. More to come

If you're going to do a turkey when your in-laws are over and you're looking to pair something reasonably well with your feast you've got a handful of "classic" pairings. Your beaujolais, your pinot noirs, your GSM blends, your champagnes, your sauvignon blancs. I am a firm believer that since you're going to stuff your fat fuckin piggy faces with food that you're erring on the side of lighter wines. That said, anything that has a little earthiness/spice is gonna be pretty slutty with fall flavors that traditionally accompany the turkey.

Random producers/regions to look for that are going to satisfy this requirement (this is not an all inclusive list):

Yann Bertrand (Fleurie or Saint Amour) $30-$50 range. His Fleurie is one of the best gamays I've had period. AF Gros Moulin-a-Vent, Lapierre Morgon, Foillard Cote du Py (Morgon)...you can stick with the traditional stuff here and go Cru Beaujolais and stay well under $100. Bargain. Banger. Bring to your table.

Any Willamette Valley/Sonoma Coast Pinot (not you entry level La Crema, do better wine drinkers - go Decoy if you're in this price point): Ken Wright (more normal), Lemelson, Citation, Soter, Williams Selyem, Gary Farrell, etc. - not Sonoma Coast but Au Bon Climat doesn't miss. These prices are all over the map but plenty sub-$100.

Alain Voge (entry level multi-vineyard Syrah, high end is Cornas) - this can be $25 up to like $200 depending on vintage.

Champagne: I mean just skip the Veuve and find either better wide production stuff or go with grower: Billecart-Salmon, Lahertes Frere, hell Dom/Krug/whatever (don't mix it with orange juice you heathens). This is gonna be $50+ for the most part - champagne prices go up.

OR be trendy and hip and cool and go with Franciacorta - Champagne method from Lombardy. There's the entry level which can be delicious in its own right and then there's a higher DOCG classification for Saten - must be estate grown, must be 50% Chardonnay, 24 months in the cellar before release (regular requirements are 18). If you tossed some of the $50-75 Saten Franciacorta in as a ringer in a Champagne tasting you're not going to find the Franciacorta. Best I've had this year is from 1701 (producer, not the year..come on now) 100% Chardonnay, this is sourdough, this is brioche, this is fresh fruit, this is probably going to be what I'm drinking while I watch Santa ho ho hoing his way down 5th Avenue.

Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc...doesn't have to be Sancerre...central Loire produces plenty of solid stuff that doens't have the Sancerre surcharge. Menetou-Salon and Quincy for appelations are going to give you the same thing at a lower price.

We will be back sometime with more out-of-the-box pairings. But these are the wines you're going to want to stick to if you have folks over who want you to play the hits. If you have to because you have a dad/uncle/brother/father figure in your life who demands Napa Cab...I guess find one and fire that shit into the sun too.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. Gobble gobble motherfuckers
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Fuck off. I only do all inclusive...lists... ish

Great post.
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
Aging wine on the lees (dead yeast) and stirring it as it sits in barrels (batonnage) gives wine autolytic characteristics (sourdough, brioche, creamy notes). Some champagne, Chardonnay, etc on the nose smells like you just walked into a French bakery. It produces some of my favorite styles of wine
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Pshaaah rookie
 
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