The $25 wine challange

I’m posting this publicly in hopes it will help me stick to it.

We just had a baby girl a few days ago and my paternal instincts are making me feel like we should build a bigger savings account balance. In order to help facilitate this I am going to make a rule for myself that for four months every wine I buy is going to be $25 and less.

Depending on what wines you like to drink this may sound like a severe limitation, but Im lucky enough that my palate preference gives me lots of options for delicious wines in that price range:

• Beaujolais
• White Burgs (Before you laugh try something like Drouhin Rully)
• German Riesling
• Loire Wines

These are wines I want much more of in my cellar anyway.

Wish me luck. If anyone wants to join me for their own reasons, join in!

Congratulations on the addition of a new daughter.

I have to say that the vast majority of wines I drink are in this range. I love reading about the best vintage ever of DRC, but I know if I’m very lucky one day I still won’t be able to afford it, so to me it’s really just reading for fun. Where I have found great values are Spanish Reds, Washington Reds, Pinot Gris from Willamette, and the occasional Aussie Shiraz, but these are usually pushing my price limit. I love Pinot Noir and have been lucky enough to try some great ones, but for the most part they tend to get very expensive very fast… If anybody has any suggestions I’m all ears

One word: Portugal! Serious, complex, food friendly wines for well under your limit.

For reds you can find lots of great deals under $25 in Southern Rhone, Spain, and Southern Italy (think Nero d’Avola).

Congrats on the new addition.

x2.

I’ll add Languedoc & Roussillon–some great great bottles available, and is IMO covered well by David Schildeknecht.

South America can be helpful to the budget as well, but I often find inconsistency there. As a relatively recent college grad, most of my early/current wine drinking happens well under your budget. Best of luck sticking to the goal, sounds like you have great motivation

I had a few bottles of Toluca Lane Pinot Noir a couple of vintages ago that I very much enjoyed for inexpensive pinot. If memory serves me correctly it was in the $20-25 range.

It’s going for about $30 now, but with a 20% discount on 2 cases…
http://www.tolucalane.com/order.php

Congratulations! Almost all of what I buy is sub $25, and I’ll +1 the Portugal suggestion, and between that and your original suggestions, I don’t think you’ll suffer while sticking to it.

Not at all. We are awash in fantastic wines at this price-point.

Some of my “house” wines this year have been:

Ridge Lytton Springs 2007 - $18.99 BTC (a huge bargain for a killer wine)
Ridge Geyserville 2007 - $22.99 BTC (ditto)
Ch. St. Cosme CDR Les Deux Albion - +/- $15.00
Anything NZ Sav. Blanc

Picked up some tasty, allbeit a tad one-dimensional Chappellet Mountain Cuvee 2005 for $22.

Lots of bargains out there, especially in Southern Rhone and Languedoc.

Congratulations, Berry.

I’ve found that although you may pay less per bottle, I found that I drink more as a parent

winebid

ha, me too (especially with a toddler and a 9 month old)!

BTC?

i second this. if you check the site diligently you can find some great deals on unique wine.

add in pretty much any white wine brought in by Jon-David Headrick… (mostly Loire)

The old world regions listed are spot on for me. South America can pick up the slack from the new world end. In fact, you really only exclude a few regions by setting the $25 price point limit. You have to pay more to get wines that consistently age well, but most wines are better young, so it’s not worth losing too much sleep over IMO.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but where is the Ridge available BTC for those prices? I’ll back up the mini-van

Thanks

+1

Berry,

You probably know this already, but in the $10 - $18 range, there are TONS of Muscadet that will out perform almost all White Burgundy in that price range. AND, no PreMox:)

And I know this is not on the list of regions, but I had a bottle of Janasse Viognier for $18 that was all that I would want and more from Viognier, and all in a price range that I find impossible to find. '09 Janasse Viognier (Vin De Pays) - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers