Appreciate the suggestion, we don’t see these locally and have looked out for them for years, so I just had these sent. It’s been a long while since anything I like without reservation has been below $30.
BTW on the Faury VV, I’ve been drinking those for a long time and have decided I prefer them on release for a few years vs. extended aging.
I do not have much experience yet with other appellations in the Northern Rhone, but by Livingstone-Learmonth’s account it seems like Cornas, Cote-Rotie, and Hermitage made out all right. I bought most of my favorites and will see what happens!
I love Barge and have a ton of the wines so I am biased. If it’s a good deal, I’d go for it and buy one to try.
I am drinking a 2021 Dumien-Serrette Cornas “Patou” right now and it is very nice, cool and streamlined, very elegant with nice palate presence and some herbaceous notes. It’s clean and very much on its dark raspberry fruit. This is not a blockbuster but juicy and delicious. Pretty solid for $46.
Guillaume Gilles Vin de France Les Peyrouses all day long. Truly old old vines. Syrah in sandy soil. Don’t let VdF label deter you. Such a value play. Silky and yummy wines.
From Rosenthal site:
Hailing from the flats just to the east of the Cornas appellation, “Les Peyrouses” Rouge is a remarkable and unique wine: pure Syrah planted in the 1870s, during phylloxera’s initial outbreak, and in fact comprising the very first grafted vines in the area. The soil in this vineyard is a mix of sand and clay, with loads of large limestone pudding-stones, and the wine Guillaume coaxes from these astonishingly old vines is so powerful in its fruit that he gives it 12 months élevage instead of the 18 months he gives to his Cornas.
I really like Barge.
The few wines I have tasted by Julien Barge’s hands has been really good. Syrah of real lightness and elegance without losing its classic touch. I am sure they will age well, but can also be enjoyed young.
Where in the world are you based Jakob?
Might be a touch over $50, but Jean-Luc Colombo Cornas Les Terras Brulees (and all their Cornas for that matter) would be my vote for best QPR in the region.
Continuing the discussion from Good Northern Rhone under $50?:
Gouye……
I bought a six pack of the 2020 VV solely based on JLL’s review. I should probably crack one 
.
Had the chance to try a couple of NR syrahs recently to help further broaden my horizon, which contrasted nicely. The first was Dom. des Pierres Seches’ (Sylvaun Gauthier) 2021 Saint Joseph. It was very much on the softer, fruit-driven side, with nice pure syrah fruit notes. I didn’t perceive it as meager, despite the vintage. A little nondescript perhaps but pleasant. Next up I tried Balthazar’s 2018 Cornas Casimir, which helped me understand what Cornas is about (I have very little experience with that appellation). It was a much more peppery, masculine expression, with far more assertive, grainy tannins, still with beautiful and typical blue syrah fruit. Overall it was clearly the more intense and complex bottle. But hard to get hold of here, and outside of the desired price range.
Nice, sounds good. I am based in Norway.
Ah okay. With that name you might have been based in Copenhagen, and then I could more easily have helped out 
I love Balthazar’s wines. Remember that 2018 is a rather hot year and that 2021 is more an outlier these days with colder weather. So hard to compare the vintages.
But from my perspective Balthazar makes great wines in all vintages.
Apologies if this has been mentioned already. A bottle I recently enjoyed at a cool $36 was the 2020 Aurelien Chatagnier, Saint-Joseph, La Sybarite. A producer I will be seeking out again. Winemaker cut his teeth with Jamet if I recall correctly. I know the original poster is in Europe, but for what its worth I picked this up at Thatcher’s.
As for the 2021 vintage, the year my kiddo joined the world, I have happily procured some of my favorites. Though drinking on the earlier side, and deliciously so, have been the wines of Faury. Mentioned above and I highly second that. The 2021 Faury Les Ribaudes in particular. $39
I’ve had several wines from Aurélien and I buy them when I see them.
Proving Josh correct - on just this point - I’ve been loving a solar 2015 Ferraton Pere et Fils ‘Les Picheres’ [Crozes Hermitage] the last three days. It even had the price tag on it, so perhaps an astute shopper might get two under the price cap, with some crafty couponing. My example is a French tax stamped grey market import, that was brought over by sadly departed Merrick at AiW, well known to many my region’s Franco-oenophiles. It’s 100% syrah, 13.5% abv, from limestone soils with a remarkably dark robe for age 10. A classic example of a grippy, earthy sunny vintage, with full body. It has a raspberry element, a touch of olive, and structure. I loved it all three days, perhaps the most on the last glass, so don’t be scared to let it sleep some years. I don’t see any mention of this lieu dit in JLL’s book on the Northern Rhone, but it’s great. Maybe it’s atypical for what fans might expect from the AOC, but I loved it, and assign it a solid A.
One of the nights I had it with truffle stuffed gnocchi with crushed hazelnuts and other garnishes, which was awesome. Probably did not need the Calabrian pepper hit at the top…but hard to argue with those.
