New World Recommendations?

[Brian_Gilp]

A second on Cowan. Good stuff across the board including the Syrah you are asking about which should align with your preferences.

Also check out Hobo and Folk Machine. I find the Rockpile Zin, Grenache, and Chenin Blanc are especially good.

[Chris_Blum]

Arterberry maresh pinots from oregon

[Scott_Brunson]

another vote for Windgap.
Copain too.

[mike_pobega]

If you want to put your toe into New World, I would get on Myriad’s list and buy the 2013 Myriad Napa when offered ($50). Then get on Quivet’s list and try the Las Madres Syrah ($40ish). Good start.

[dave_kammerer]

When I lived in Carbondale there was a shop that had a very good wine selection, probably still some good sources there.

[Michae1_P0wers]

@E. Reimbold

Well I was brought up drinking a lot of red Southern Rhone and Provence. CDPs, CDRs, Bandols.
Lately, I have been experimenting with and enjoying the Syrah based stuff like Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph. I like how pronounced the kind of Olive/ non-fruit flavors are in them. I have been drinking them rather young though (2010-2012) and I know they tend to benefit a lot from aging. As for whites, I have had some Loire valley stuff I liked a lot, one in particular was a chenin blanc, François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Bournais. And lately have been digging some lower priced white burgundies, such as the Goisot Côtes d’Auxerre bottles. Haven’t had much from Germany, or Austria. I feel that Burgundy is largely unapproachable in my price range, although I have had a few decent bottles of Cru Beaujolais that are more in my range that I really liked for the simple, fresh and light profile.

Lots of good retailers in STL to work with. Wine and Cheese, Wine Merchant, and Randalls, while a bit more of a warehouse style, has a store in IL (Fairview Heights IIRC) so they can probably ship or you can pick up there.

That said, I’ll buck the trend here and say that your price range is more suited to old world. A lot of board darlings have entry offerings at under 50 but little else. A notable exception is Oregon Pinot, which should offer worlds of choices to an old world palate looking for new world choices. I recommend Evesham Wood, which is my personal choice and has excellent pinots and chards running about $17 to around $40. Eyrie, Patty Green Cellars, Arterberry Maresh, and Westry are also excellent producers. Tons that I don’t even know as well and several winemakers from the area post here.

Personally I think that St. Joseph, sometimes Cornas when on sale, and regional Cotes du Rhones from Northern Rhone producers (e.g. Faury and Voge (since the Gonon is really not a thing that can be easily had)) are going to serve you best if you enjoy the non-fruit flavors of Syrah. I find them in the better old world CA Syrah producers’ offerings, but never as pronounced due to riper fruit. There are some discussed here as being exceptions to that rule, but you’re unlikely to find them retail in the markets you’ve mentioned.

The Loire is an awesome source of quality and value if you like the style. Same with good Beaujolais. Good inexpensive Bordeaux is widely available if you avoid big names, shop sales, stick to good vintages ('05, '09, '10) or slightly better wines in slightly lesser vintages. Burgundy is famous as a value-averse minefield, yet I have pretty good luck. I won’t deny it takes some effort to find the deals though.

I don’t mean to discourage exploration but I do find that my palate has always leaned old world, and most of the times that I got the idea that I should explore more new world wines the results disappointed, even with board favorites. However, it has been educational and the caveat “most of the time” holds true, as there have been some successes.

Good luck.

[E_Reimbold]

@Mark B

Yo, Evan, what’s crackin? A few quick questions: What Old World regions do you like/drink outside of red Rhône and white Burgundy? Are you open to new grape varieties outside of what is grown in those two places? (not trying to steer you away from what you’re looking for, just trying to better understanding your palate)

Also, always trust your own palate. Have fun with it, and don’t listen to anyone who tells you what you “should and should not like”.

Mark-

Absolutely open to new varieties. Trying new stuff all the time. Within the last couple weeks I’ve had my first bottle of German Pinot, and just last night I tried my first Nebbiolo. Have to say I wasn’t crazy about the Nebbiolo, although I understand it was very young for that style (2011). I have a had a decent amount of inexpensive Bordeaux, as this is what my dad tends to prefer, and have enjoyed most of them. I had a bottle of Lopez de Heredia Rioja that I really enjoyed, and have had a couple Cab Francs from Loire. (One was 2002 Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Les Picasses, which didn’t cost a ton and was really cool to drink side by side with a 2011 Chinon). So definitely love to try new stuff, and this is why I’m wanting to delve more into the New World as well. My pops is pretty much an old world only drinker, which is why I started there and why my exposure to the new world stuff has been pretty limited.

[E_Reimbold]

@dave kammerer

When I lived in Carbondale there was a shop that had a very good wine selection, probably still some good sources there.

Sadly, the selections in Carbondale have really gone down hill. There are a some bottles I’ll pick up here and there, but I’m mostly ordering online at this point. The Old World selection around here is especially pitiful.

[E_Reimbold]

@Michael Powers

@E. Reimbold

Well I was brought up drinking a lot of red Southern Rhone and Provence. CDPs, CDRs, Bandols.
Lately, I have been experimenting with and enjoying the Syrah based stuff like Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph. I like how pronounced the kind of Olive/ non-fruit flavors are in them. I have been drinking them rather young though (2010-2012) and I know they tend to benefit a lot from aging. As for whites, I have had some Loire valley stuff I liked a lot, one in particular was a chenin blanc, François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Bournais. And lately have been digging some lower priced white burgundies, such as the Goisot Côtes d’Auxerre bottles. Haven’t had much from Germany, or Austria. I feel that Burgundy is largely unapproachable in my price range, although I have had a few decent bottles of Cru Beaujolais that are more in my range that I really liked for the simple, fresh and light profile.

Lots of good retailers in STL to work with. Wine and Cheese, Wine Merchant, and Randalls, while a bit more of a warehouse style, has a store in IL (Fairview Heights IIRC) so they can probably ship or you can pick up there.

That said, I’ll buck the trend here and say that your price range is more suited to old world. A lot of board darlings have entry offerings at under 50 but little else. A notable exception is Oregon Pinot, which should offer worlds of choices to an old world palate looking for new world choices. I recommend Evesham Wood, which is my personal choice and has excellent pinots and chards running about $17 to around $40. Eyrie, Patty Green Cellars, Arterberry Maresh, and Westry are also excellent producers. Tons that I don’t even know as well and several winemakers from the area post here.

Personally I think that St. Joseph, sometimes Cornas when on sale, and regional Cotes du Rhones from Northern Rhone producers (e.g. Faury and Voge (since the Gonon is really not a thing that can be easily had)) are going to serve you best if you enjoy the non-fruit flavors of Syrah. I find them in the better old world CA Syrah producers’ offerings, but never as pronounced due to riper fruit. There are some discussed here as being exceptions to that rule, but you’re unlikely to find them retail in the markets you’ve mentioned.

The Loire is an awesome source of quality and value if you like the style. Same with good Beaujolais. Good inexpensive Bordeaux is widely available if you avoid big names, shop sales, stick to good vintages ('05, '09, '10) or slightly better wines in slightly lesser vintages. Burgundy is famous as a value-averse minefield, yet I have pretty good luck. I won’t deny it takes some effort to find the deals though.

I don’t mean to discourage exploration but I do find that my palate has always leaned old world, and most of the times that I got the idea that I should explore more new world wines the results disappointed, even with board favorites. However, it has been educational and the caveat “most of the time” holds true, as there have been some successes.

Good luck.

Michael-

Definitely not discouraged, but yeah, from everything I understand Old World is much more approachable in my range. (and hopefully this range will increase at some point!) And thanks for the STL are recommendations as well, I will have to check them out next time I’m there. Speaking of STL, is there any sort of wineberserker STL group at all?

[E_Reimbold]

By the way, thanks again to everyone who has chimed in with suggestions. The responses have been great! I already have added plenty to my list, and look forward to trying some new stuff!

[Dave_McCloskey]

Evan -

This is about as wide open a topic as one could imagine. There’s great wine being made all over the new world. A couple of years ago I was in Dublin Ireland eating a Michelin star restaurant being served by a Frenchman. I asked him to make a French wine recommendation that paired with our main course and he pointed us to a South African wine instead. It was incredible! There’s wonderful wine being produced in Willamette Oregon and Washington state and all over California, Chile, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.

There’s an interesting current thread here on the Paso Robles wine region with great recommendations. The Santa Barbara area is also producing fantastic wines. Explore and enjoy, the New World rocks!

[Brian_Zamkotowicz]

I know someone already mentioned Bedrock, but if you can find their North Coast Syrah I think its a great start. Should be under $30 and has lots of olive flavors.

[Mark_B]

I don’t have much to offer in the way of new world recs, but if you’re drinking a fair amount of white Burg, I’d suggest picking up a bottle of Ridge’s 2012 Estate Chardonnay. The great minerals and bracing acid demand that the wine warms up a bit before it starts to reveal its nice fruit.

[craig_v]

Mount Eden Vineyard - great value and depth from these olds school Chards, PNs & Cabs from old vines high up in the Santa Cruz Mts. One of California’s first cult producers in the 40s. Priced from $30 -$60 and all drink above the price you’ll pay. Can’t say enough about this soulful winery under the “hands off” approach of Jeffrey Patterson since around 1981. Originally started by the famous CA wine pioneer Martin Ray in the 40s. http://www.mounteden.com/ Every wine geek needs to drink these wines at least once.

[Andrew_Demaree]

Good call, Craig.

[R_Frankel]

You’ve got plenty of great ideas here already, but I’ll add to the pile – have a look at Cabot Vineyards. Some nice Rhone-ish styles from California, you can order directly from them and they are at the right price point.

And thumbs up on HDH in Chicago. I live in San Francisco and they’re probably my favorite wine store. They have monster auctions in which you can bid online if you want to experiment with something aged and credit card destroying!

[Jay_Miller]

There is a lot of great stuff coming out of CA these days but as must tries I’ll repeat two recs made above - Mt Eden and Edmunds sT. John

They’ve been mainstays for balanced pinot, chard, Syrah and Grenache for years, including when many others pursued greater and greater ripeness.