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The Best Inexpensive Wines Available Now

I'm always on the lookout for good wines at a fair value. Ok so maybe cheap wines that taste expensive. Anyway, are there wines that you've had recently that you would consider a terrific value for the price? I personally enjoy the merlot and chardonnay from Clos du Bois which both cost about $14 in New Hampshire. To relax with a glass of either and listen to my music (classical and jazz) does make the early evening sit pleasingly well.
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cpdunn99's avatar
cpdunn99
639 posts
 
Doug... been inactive for a while. Lost my job. Ummm... meritage... well, interesting that you ask, as that's a varietal that I've long been meaning to explore! I'll turn your question around, and ask you for suggestions! Found some good Portuguese values recently.
douglikesaudio
118 posts
 
Cpdunn99, sorry to hear about your job loss.

Most of the the wines I am into lately are, in fact, meritages. Meritage being a made up word to denote a blend, generally a Bordeaux-style blending, as opposed to a standard varietal. If you want to check a good one out, I'd refer back to the previously mentioned Hahn Meritage 2001 (now 2002?) for about $12.

The meritages I am into tend to favor a blend of cab franc, malbec and petit verdot. All rich and jammy, not unlike the Incognito we talked about before.

California, in particular central CA, has some astoundingly good wineries and grape production is so strong that prices are low. Good for us!

Let me know if you try the Hahn and what you think.

What do you like in Portugese wines?
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I've seen quite a few blended red's these days, some very nice. It's usually a Cabernet-Merlot, but sometimes a Can-Syrah-Merlot or something similar. Would you consider these (technically) a Meritage? They certainly are not marketed with that name on them.

Thanks,
Bob
douglikesaudio
118 posts
 
Bob, yes, I believe those would count as a meritage. As the term is made up, I think the bottler could slap the name on any blend. It's supposedly a term created by blending the words merit + heritage, but I find it a stretch to apply those terms more than any other. I think they just liked the "Frenchness" sound of the term the marketing folks came up with!
shubertmaniac
350 posts
 
2000 Bordeau Christian Mouiex Merlot $5.95 at Costco. Absolute steal. Complex with hints of currants and blackberries. Nice finish. The 2001 is not bad either. Christian is the owner/winemaker at Chateau Petrus. This stuff can even be cellared for probably up to 4-5 years, but drinkable now. This is our everyday wine now, with Chateau Potensac 2000 Medoc our Saturday night wine at $19.95 per bottle and our once a month special wine being 1990 Lynch Bages, and our aniversary wine the Mouton 1982
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