What to drink under $50?

[Mike_Evans]

Where do you live? My tip is to look into auctions as a way to drink wines with age on them. It’s particularly effective if you live close to one of the big houses and can pick up your wines. People are reluctant to buy single bottles of relatively inexpensive wines that will cost another $20 to ship. Having the ability to pick up your bottles gives you a distinct advantage there

I live in New York City! Lucky me. From my very basic understanding of auctions, I see stuff purchased in lots. I didn’t know there was a single bottle option so I might explore that.

Get thee to Chambers Street, which has incredible variety and quality at the price points you are looking at.

[Robert.A.Jr]

I’d camp out at Chambers if I lived in NYC!

[M_Meer]

Once you find out what you like and become adept at finding them, you will be very happy drinking from $10-30 dollars on most occasions and sub $50 on special ones.

Best advice: taste, taste, taste vs. collect. There are very few wines that will present you with limited opportunities to experience. Once you buy, they become your problem, for better and worse, lol.

[Howard_Cooper]

There are plenty of excellent wines from virtually all regions in your price ranges. I am going to recommend something less in vogue these days than when I started drinking wine - get a grounding in the classic wine regions. That is Bordeaux, red and white Burgundy, German Riesling and Piedmont reds. Certainly, you can go from there to just about anywhere else, as others have suggested.

Robert got you started in a good direction on Bordeaux with Sociando Mallet. Another good place to start is Cantemerle. Or, you can try something less expensive like Patache d’Aux.

For white Burgundy, try Bernard Moreau Bourgogne Blanc or Chablis from Christian Moreau. Also, a big name producer, Lafon, makes wine in your price range from the Macon.

Try a Bourgogne Rouge from Hudelot Noellat or Chorey les Beaune from Dublere

German Riesling is a target rich environment. Maybe start wit JJ Prum, Zilliken and Selbach.

From the Piedmont, maybe start with Produttori Barbaresco.

[Robert.A.Jr]

Cantemerle is a wonderful recommendation. The very solid 2009 and 2010s are still available in NY for $40 and $58, respectively. The new releases, including the vintage I adore, 2014, for much less. I like Howard’s approach as classic never goes out of style.

[DanielP]

Re: Bordeaux, I happen to think that many young Bordeaux, including 2014 S-M, aren’t so exciting at this age. And since the OP says he doesn’t have storage, he’d be better served looking at more mature examples. If you do make it to Chambers St, they do have some lesser known Bordeaux producers (often organic) that may fit the bill for current drinking. One such example that I’ve enjoyed is the Massereau Cuvee K, though I haven’t tried the current vintage.

[Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r]

What might help first is knowing what types of wines you currently drink.

[JordanL]

What might help first is knowing what types of wines you currently drink.

I wanted to keep it kind of vague and open-ended on purpose because I don’t necessarily want to drink similar wines but want to open up my horizons, but I made a short list earlier of wines that I currently enjoy: Burgundy, Riesling with some age on it, Cru Beaujolais, and new world Pinot Noirs (quite like New Zealand). I also love sherry (Amontillado and Oloroso).

[ky1em1ttskus]

Best advice: taste, taste, taste vs. collect.

[Yao_C]

I wanted to keep it kind of vague and open-ended on purpose because I don’t necessarily want to drink similar wines but want to open up my horizons, but I made a short list earlier of wines that I currently enjoy: Burgundy, Riesling with some age on it, Cru Beaujolais, and new world Pinot Noirs (quite like New Zealand). I also love sherry (Amontillado and Oloroso).

I’m not an expert on the region but if you like lighter bodied reds you might want to give Jura a try. They’re pretty good value and I quite like Domaine du Pelican’s Trois Cepages myself…

[Gary_York]

I would also direct your attention to the 2015 Chianti Classico wines. Great vintage that is drinking well now. And most will be in the $22-28 range. Castello di Rampolla and Felsina are two good ones, but many others are available also.

[MChang]

There’s a lot of good tastings in nyc, many are free.

[Jim_Stewart]

There’s a lot of good tastings in nyc, many are free.

This! Tasting a wide range of wine with other people who are interested in wine and at different stages in their “wine life” is a great way to learn about wine and about what you like. Forget the $200 burgundies for now! There is so much really good wine to taste and enjoy in the price ballpark that you are in right now. -Jim

[Eric_Ifune]

Portugal, not so much the Douro, but the Alentejo, Bairrada, Tejo, Lisboa, Dao, Vinho Verde.

[C_Mc_Cart]

I’m with Kris up thread. Find a shop or two you like, have them put together some mixed case samplers as you go and when possible taste the initial part of a bottle while writing your impressions (may seem too serious, but having a written history of bottles helps), then drink the rest (or part) of the bottle with dinner/ lunch, so you see what it’s like with the foods you enjoy. Give yourself the time to really try all the different regions/ grapes and styles you can.
Some of the best finds you will ever have is when someone chooses something for you that you would NEVER had chosen yourself.

Store/ trade tastings are another great resource and if you’re in NYC, a breeze.