The Under $20 A Bottle Wine Thread:

[TheRiddick]

Kevin knows each and every wine. Try some whites as well, some are really good. Splurge (less than $30?) on a bottle of Toro Albala Pedro Ximenez and have some next time you light up, let me know what think.

[cherrybomb]

To sum up four pages of disagreements, one should find a reviewer that best suites their style and palate and use them as a frame of referrence. Old bob, for example likes really overextracted glycerin driven wines right now, if that is what you like then listen to his ratings.

Seangar:
You should try oregon chards if you like more acid and fruit driven chards. I had some 91 arglye vineyards and 91 eyrie pinot noirs that drank beautifully this spring. Pretty darn exceptional for oregon fruit. Btw oregon is on the same 45th parallell as burgundy

Chile:
Marques de casa concha cabernet
Spain: Tinto pesquera
Oregon: Anne amie pinot gris or lacchini pinot gris, evolution by sokol blosser

[cherrybomb]

I agree totally with sen gar +1 for the gotim Bru.
Also Vino Sin Ley G2 and G5 from spain are great buys hitting the 9.99 and 13.99 pricepoints

[JohnnyFlake]

Here is what sounds like an interesting red from Spain. I have not tried this, so this is not a recommendation, it is simply an awareness post. I would like to see more awareness post in this thread! It's not necessary to have tried a wine to post it as a awareness post. It's just letting others know of another possibly good, under $20 a bottle wine, that they may not have seen any advertising on!

2007 Celler El Masroig Sola Fred

The red wines begin with the 2007 Sola Fred, a non-oaked cuvee of 90% Carinena and 10% Garnacha. Dark ruby-colored, it has an excellent nose of violets, black cherry, and earth notes. Supple and forward on the palate, it has serious depth of flavor, excellent balance, and a long, fruity finish. This hedonistic effort is a great value for drinking over the next 2-3 years. There are up to 8000 cases available for the USA market."

90 points, Jay Miller
from Robert Parker, Jr.'s, Wine Advocate

$8.99 per 750ml bottle!

[HK3-]

For cheap wine I like this- http://www.salutewinemarket.com/stor...rois-Red-2007/

It can be found at most grocery stores.

I have never bought a bottle of wine for more than $55. That was for a limited release Pinot which was very good. I think a lot of wine is targeted at the 15 to 25 dollar range and there are so many good ones.
I like most of the wines I have tasted from Trinitas winery in Napa and they are mostly under $20. One of the few club shipments I get.

[mosesbotbol]

Check out the bin ends for the best values in the $20 range.

[JohnnyFlake]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Check out the bin ends for the best values in the $20 range.

Could you explain in more detail what is meant by "Bin ends"? For some reason it's not clicking with me.

Thanks

[TheRiddick]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlake

Could you explain in more detail what is meant by "Bin ends"? For some reason it's not clicking with me.

Usually a bottle or two here and there, when a shop is down to almost no wine (out of a case or more they had), they clear up shelf space to place another wine there and what's left of the wine that used to be there is placed in a "end bin" area, usually with a marked down price to make it move. "End bin" is named for an "end" of a particular wine on the shelf.

I would only make sure that storage was not an issue, I've seen some shops place poorly stored wine in end bins.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlake

Could you explain in more detail what is meant by "Bin ends"? For some reason it's not clicking with me.

Thanks

Wines like Riddick mentioned. It's best to go to a good wine store as they have better wine to start off with more likely better storage. Wines with stained labels, end of cases, close out's... There's several reasons wine can end up on the clearence rack.

The stores I frequent, the bin is the first place I look.

I return "bad" bottles all the time.

[JohnnyFlake]

Thanks guys, I understand about the "end bin" now. The only real liquor stores to go to in my area, are the Lee's Liquor Outlets, there are 10 of them in the Las Vegas Valley. Two of the biggest ones are in my area. They have all their close outs spread out over several tables in an area near the check out registers. I've look through them several times and I have picked up a few interesting wines at very reasonable prices a few times.

[TheRiddick]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

The stores I frequent, the bin is the first place I look.

Martignetti's? Marty's and Blanchard's were also the places I looked, in fact I found a whole bunch of older Baumards (QdC) at crazy low prices on one occasion at Marty's.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Martignetti's? Marty's and Blanchard's were also the places I looked, in fact I found a whole bunch of older Baumards (QdC) at crazy low prices on one occasion at Marty's.

The Holy Trinity... Go to all three regularly. Brookline Liquor Mart as well.

[TheRiddick]

Gott, both Zin and Cab. Zin should be $12 or so, Cab a few dollars more. Old timers in the wine game, although still not well known. Well made wines.

Franciscan Cab. Can be found for $20. A touch on the oaky side for my palate, but should be really fine for most.

Dancing Bull Zin, should be $12 or so. Great wine all around, maybe better than Gott Zin above, although I like smaller wineries and would still pick Gott for that reason alone.

La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot, I see it for $20 all over the place in CA, by far the best Pinot in this price range and the only one I would spend my own money on. Drinks better than many Pinots at (up to) double the price.

Save for Dancing Bull Zin, I have no idea if these wines are available in other states, although Franciscan should be. Price wise, I've seen some wines sell at better prices in other states, FL and NJ, than they are here.

[TheRiddick]

BLM went downhill I thought? Their storage conditions were sub-par, but they did bring in a lot of great wine.

Very few shops on this coast have end bins, sadly.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

BLM went downhill I thought? Their storage conditions were sub-par, but they did bring in a lot of great wine.

Very few shops on this coast have end bins, sadly.

I can't say that is the case in my recent memory. The sell storage, and I know their higher end stuff is in walk-in's. They were the importer for Guigal for a while. BLM's regular prices are just... regular. The do offer 20% off on most stuff. Lower Falls Wine in on the Newton Wellesley has a good boutique offering of wine. Hard to find a bad wine in the store, but the selection of standards is not as huge.

I was in a store that had a huge wine selection and instead of end bins they tagged the end lots with 50% off tags. The clerk explained it to me the same as TheRiddick's end bin explanation above. It was in SoCal and I can't even remember the store but I remember to look for these deals. Mostly I do my buying at wineries after tasting. I look for below 25$ and if below $20 I may buy a case. I experiment with wines at Costco too. Sometimes they get some good deals on good wine and sometimes they are selling undrinkable crap. They have a "Kirkland" brand wine I haven't tried and while I was in Napa I saw a Kirkland vineyard. Soon everything will be Kirkland! Bwahahahaha!

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

I experiment with wines at Costco too. Sometimes they get some good deals on good wine and sometimes they are selling undrinkable crap. They have a "Kirkland" brand wine I haven't tried and while.

I buy a lot of wine at Costco, and they actually have a well thought out selection of wines. Personally, I would prefer more French wines in the line up, but that is me... I have bought plenty of cases from them. The have an Italian Super Tuscan called Giordano (I think) that comes in OWC for like $12 a bottle that is fantastic.

Kirkland's Champagne, CdP are both great offerings. Missed out on their Margaux

[TheRiddick]

Costco Kirkland and (Napa) Kirkland are two separate companies and have nothing in common. Costco simply has a trade name and then contracts other wineries to make products for them, I see Kirkland Vodka now as well, IIRC its made in France.

In SoCal, you must have been to one of the big boys, either Hi Time, Wine House or some such, they do have great selections. Next time make a stop at 20/20 Wines, near here 405 and 10 cross, best wine shop I have ever seen, its a wine museum.

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Costco Kirkland and (Napa) Kirkland are two separate companies and have nothing in common.

I thought that might be the case but I hadn't researched it.