No, not Bordeaux.
The most quality for the bucks imho is to be found in Languedoc/Cotes-du-Rhone - for 10 € or even less you can get really fine wines, and 20-30 will buy you almost everything except the top 1%
In Bordeaux close to all below 10€ is crap ( when a 7.50 Bordeaux tastes like 7.50 it s a success) - for 12 to 20 you can find ( well selected) good wines, and from 25 to 60 it s getting interesting.
Also Austrian reds ( Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt) from 10 to 20 € are usually better than most Bordeaux in that range. (prices in Germany)
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Such empirical statements usually make me cringe, especially when you look at what Italy is doing now: Barolo for $26, Langhe Nebbiolo of an amazing quality for or under $20 and ‘Not Your Father’s Dolcetto’ for $15-$18
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Each to their own on this one. Which colour, which price bracket, which category of wines? Anyone reading Otto’s TNs will know that good and bad value exist in every region.
I’ve had lots of great value red Bordeaux, but equally I’ve had great Loire reds that offer, in their price bracket, as good if not better value. Rhone, Languedoc, Beaujolais - just in France - offer just as good value, depending on which style of wine you like. And that’s wilfully ignoring what you can pick up in Spain, Portugal or Italy, for example.
Even in Bordeaux, are we talking about the Left or the Right Bank? For me the former is much better value than the latter.
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For those who agree that Bordeaux offers excellent QPR, can you name the appellation(s) that, in your opinion, best exemplify these QPR?
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read the thread. Lots of suggestions
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I can read some Châteaux names, but not appellations, except Lussac.
Many professionals here in Bordeaux consider one appellation as a true hidden gem…I was just wondering if you gonna quote it…
For me, it’s all over the map. Not sure any one appellation tops the other on QPRs. Would need to think more about it. Pomerol is probably the toughest one, but it’s also an amazing appellation!
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Sociando-Mallet
Ferriere
Poujeaux
Le Prieure
Bellefont-Belcier
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Certainly up there!
I’d go further: the entire country of Italy provides the best and greatest number of QPR wines in the world right now from northernmost Trentino-Alto Adige to southernmost Sicily.
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Disagree simply because so many of those wines are heavy and ‘big’ compared to comparatively priced Bdx. To paraphrase Hugh Johnson, one of Bordeaux’s best qualities is that it goes down like water. It’s hard to think of another region that produces wines that are full bodied yet also light at the same time. IFKYK.
Obviously this is also a matter of personal taste.
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What is WDC? thx
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Adding Latour-Martillac to the already long list.
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red Burgundy?
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There are examples in each appellation. But, if I had to choose just one, it would be a tough call between St. Julien and Pessac-Leognan.
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Bingo. Very frustrating experience ordering wine at restaurants especially here is Dallas
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Pessac-Leognan is very, very hard to beat in the sub-$50 category. So many great producers making excellent wines for really great prices. Latour-Martillac, Malartic Lagraviere, Larrivet Haut-Brion (have only had the blanc but it was great), Olivier, etc. etc. And for not much more than $50, DDC is a world-class Bordeaux that stands toe-to-toe with anything from the Medoc.
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An even more specific example sub 50$ that is widely available across major online retailers and is drinking well now with a decant is the 2016 Cantemerle. I also think it’s a fair, classical, representation of Bordeaux.
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While I won’t argue that Bordeaux is the king of QPR. I feel like Rioja needs at least an honorable mention…
There are some pretty compelling wines in the 30-50$ range, with age.
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Uchi. Uchi all day long. Awesome sushi and BYOB.