Definitely try Can Blau from Montsant. Sells for $9-12, beautiful ripe grenache fruit shaded with graphite and finishing with good acids, ripe without being goopy or sugary, impressive looking bottle with a beautiful label. Not hard to find, but exotic and offbeat enough that her friends won’t know it’s such a bargain; they’ll guess it cost twice as much or more than it does.
Vintages 2006-2013 all get 87-89 points on CT.
Seven Falls Cabernet, Wahluke slope. $15/bottle or $153/case. I don’t think you’ll find it in stores, you’d have to buy it from their website (and pay for shipping).
I haven’t seen any Nebbiolo yet, but Vallana Spanna is sub $15 and tasty. It does benefit from additional bottle age, but it will drink well young with a long decant.
EDIT: Didn’t see that this was a 3 year old thread
2009 Cantalupo Colline Novaresi Agamium is great Nebbiolo option for $13. The 2012 Càntele Salice Salentino Riserva is crowd favorite at $9.50. This is more full-flavored with ripe dark fruit with great acidity that keep everything fresh and balanced.
[quote=“Nick Ellis”]I haven’t seen any Nebbiolo yet, but Vallana Spanna is sub $15 and tasty. It does benefit from additional bottle age, but it will drink well young with a long decant.]
Fully agree with this.
This and Guion’s Domaine and Prestige Bourgueil are great values, but cab franc from the Loire can be a hard sell for casual wine drinkers, even the friendlier Baudry. That said 14/15 are riper vintages and it could work.
Cheapest red I’ve bought in the past year is Lucchetti’s Lacrima di Morra. It was very inexpensive and I remember enjoying a previous vintage, but the first bottle (of 4) was rather anonymous. I’m still hopeful it will settle in and be a decent pizza wine. But again, an unusual wine to suggest for a casual drinker.
Vajra’s Langhe Rosso (the blend, not the Nebbiolo) is a great value with more universal appeal, could even be described as fruity when young.
Following on this, some years later, I had a bottle of the 2015 Chapoutier Bila Haut ‘les Vignes’ [Cotes du Roussillon], over two nights. Although similar to the vintage mentioned above, my general recollection is that the 2010 was better, deeper. 2015 tastes like a nice fleshy unoaked Cotes du Rhone and is still very good. Nice peppery flavor here, good an iron skillet full of half a roast chicken + chopped up potatoes in its fat. I’d give this a B in my ledger.
+1
Segura Viudas Rose Cava only $8.
Or Can Blau or Solanera, also in the $9-15 range. Good fruit, some character, great value. Plus they don’t look or taste like just another bulk supermarket wine.
Decent under $15 I have come across
Joel Gott stuff
Sebastiani Cab
Vajra’s 2018 Langhe Rosso, drunk the other night with pizza and salad and then repurchased x 3 this morning And available at calvert woodley (or macarthurs) for under $15 with tax, is totally delicious and highly recommended.
Davenport Cellars Mr. B. This tastes like a $50 Napa Blend.
Davenport under $15?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the answer is no.
It’s been some time since I’ve had anything from this producer, and I had not tried this lower level bottling, but the 2019 Sportoletti ‘Rosso’ [DOP Assisi] was serviceable over a couple nights. Label states 14% abv, and it’s a blend of half sangiovese and half Bordeaux varietals. Not that I buy their wines often, but their Villa Fidelia bottling is the one I’m more familiar with – it’s a glossy modern Umbrian Bordeaux clone that (to me) tastes like a plump St Emilion. When Parker and consultant Cotarella had more sway over the wine press, I’d buy these…and although I greatly enjoyed them I can grant that they do not taste particularly ‘Italian’ to me. This base rosso is same way - it’s solid as a wine but nothing memorable, distinctive, or typicial. Maybe it’s the merlot/cabernet components, but it’s darker and ‘thicker’ than expected. On my card I’d give it a lukewarm B or so, but would not repurchase. Agglomerated cork, scant notes on CT.
This is a fun thread to revisit to see how drinking mores and QPRs have fallen out of style, or stood the test of time.
LOL, you just liked my post from 2013 
Oh wow. I’m the Op so getting email notifications
Sadly the sub $15 burgundy I seek is now sub $1500 
With inflation of the past few years, this question of a good sub $15 wine is even more interesting! I’d be hard pressed to find a wine in that zone that could beat some of the larger production Washington wines……
My sub 10€ favorites, not sure on US pricing tho
Chateau Marjosse 2020 for a nice Red Bordeaux
Sieur d‘Argues Cuvee 1531 Cremant de Limoux
Salwey Grauburgunder & Weissburgunder Whites
