I also enjoy French wines like Cote du Rhone, Beaujolais and Pinot Noir. But more so in the summer and nothing I’m currently excited about recommending. But I’m willing to entertains suggestions.
I agree with Coppola Claret. I love the Ruggero also, but my local Trader Joe’s just had 1 shipment and I am down to my last case. I really like White Horse Pinot Nior
I’ll make my pitch for virtually any of Gruet Winery’s sparkling wines. They punch way above their weight class, and most can be had for around $15/bottle, and virtually all of their non-vintage stuff is under $20. Back when woot.com had a wine section, every 4 months or so there’d be a mixed case of Gruet for a ridiculously low price.
I’m in the process of getting some proper wine schooling, and one of our instructors was discussing doing a blind tasting where they had to tell the French champagnes from the American sparkling wines. They were all proud of their skills until their instructor told them that he’d tricked them - they were all Gruet offerings.
It’s our “house” sparkling wine. Unfortunately, I’m starting to run low and woot doesn’t do wine anymore. Going to have to find another source. :-/
Yeah, Gruet’s a fine sparkling producer…and from New Mexico, no less!
Back when I used to drink, I had some go-to favorites:
Catena Malbec-utterly delicious and well produced Argentinian red wine.
Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel-been a favorite of mine for years, starting to get a bit pricey.
Cline Syrah (or almost Cline anything, really)-well made Syrah that’s more Rhone than new world.
Oliver Gewurtztraminer: yes, it’s an Indiana winery. Don’t know if it’s sold outside the Cincinnati/Indianapolis area, but man this is a good wine for the money.
German Rieslings from Donnhoff, Selbach-Oester, Merkelbach, Theo Minges
There are many others, but that’s just off the top of my head.
Surprised the Beringer PR isn’t heading over the hill at 24. Unlike, for example, Monte Bello or Montelena, it’s not one that I think of as a particularly long-lived Cali Cab, though it’s great at about 10 years or so. Good storage helps, of course, and a lot of the notes at cellartracker mention that it’s at peak, not over it, but still. Glad you had a good bottle.
I like the quality/price ratio for things like Nero. Just a nice jammy rich wine for typical red wine fare, and nothing too complex or geeky. Beaujolais’s a lot like that, of course. I’m not a big fan of Duboeuf’s offerings, but I’ve liked various Villages stuff that, say Kermit Lynch or Robert Kacher’ve have imported. Brouilly, Morgon, that sort of thing. Just the wine for a nice picnic.
There are quite a few Loire Cab. Francs like Bourgueil and Chinon, that go great with other picnic food like cold roast chicken, salad, and the like. Herbal reds, so if you’re looking for jammy fruit, go elsewhere, but very interesting, inexpensive drinks. I like Charles Joguet and Catherine/Pierre Breton—there are plenty of others.
Gruet is about my favorite inexpensive US sparkling wine. Scharffenberger/Pacific Echo/Scharffenberger isn’t bad either. If you can get onto Navarro’s mailing list, they are amazing, inexpensive wines made from Alsatian varieties, including a quite good Pinot Noir. Plus probably the tastiest dessert wine in the US, though I’ve not tried the cluster select Riesling that Ernest Loosen makes with Chateau Ste Michelle. Better to me than Dolce, anyway, though I know the very sweet Riesling/Gewurzs at Navarro are made in a different style than the Sauternes that Dolce emulates.
Cline makes good wines from Rhone-varieties. I don’t think you’ll mistake them for Cotes du Rhone, CdP, Bandol, or Cote Rotie, but they’re quite tasty and usually varietally correct for all that. I prefer some of the stuff from Tablas Creek for a faux-French feel, but they are usually pricier than the wines from Cline.
I share FGIE’s love for German Riesling, but the prices aren’t as affordable as they used to be, IME. Kurt Darting is a Pfalz producer though who makes good German wines, including Gewurz and Scheurebe, with good value. Pfalz, so they’re not going to be as racy and elegant as the best from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but they also aren’t going to go for what, e.g., Willi Schaefer is asking for his Graachers Kabinetts.
Honestly, I’ve been going for beer lately, much more so than wine. Just jaded, I guess.