Aren’t their Syrahs more underappreciated? I’ve had some decent Felton Road and Rippon Pinots (one just on Saturday) but their pricing is not particularly competitive. I do tend to like some of the Kumeu Chards.
Nice call on the Lagrein Keith.
RT
Good call on Jura! ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
Also going with Loire
Wines from the Savoy region (like Jacquere)
Ghemme
Tokaji
Sherry
+1
I keep hearing about awesome Pinots from there but most seem fairly pedestrian to me. Good wine but with a very few exceptions nothing worth moving off the normal Pinot regions for.
I think New Zealand does a great job making pinots as good as village-level or premier cru Burgundy, at competitive prices to boot. Maybe more important than the quality level is the style: they are more consistently Burgundian than any other pinot region outside France. But at least in my experience the problem is that NZ hasn’t ascended to the next level yet and produced something of Grand Cru sophistication. That’s only a problem in the $40-and-up category, though, and I think NZ deserves its reputation as one of the best New World pinot noir regions. Hopefully Grand Cru sites will be discovered.
Keith, I think there are plenty of competent NZ Pinots if you’re not a wine dork. I think they can offer better value in some cases than CA Pinots. I’ve had a lot of the proclaimed great wines, I’ve had a lot of the smaller producers, I’ve had a lot of the bigger producers, and I’ve never gotten excited about a single one or drawn comparisons to Burgundy. Maybe it’s just me. It wouldn’t be the only Pinot region that is kind of a head scratcher for me though 
I don’t know that I would go quite as far as Keith, but I can say that in discussions with wine journalists and importers whose palates I respect (even if I frequently disagree with, e.g., Bettane) and IMO, the opinion is unanimous that NZ is the most promising area in the New World at the present.
To my taste, Crus from Beaujolais are so underrated. Whites from St. Veran in Maconnais deliver excellent quality for the price, my favorite everyday wine. I love New Zealand Bordeaux varietals, actually I prefer them to anything that comes from Bordeaux this days, again for the fraction. I had few nice Pinots from NZ too but they lack the finesse and complexity of Burgundy but I like them more then Cali.
Australian Semillon & Rieslings
Banana wine from the Congo.
Most of the NZ Pinots I’ve had have been closer to Californian, but I don’t doubt that there are more Burgundian examples. Although a relatively small group in total, there are Oregon Pinots that are very tough to differentiate from Burgundy in blind tastings.
RT
Arbois
Madiran
Jurancon
Cahors
Alsace
Of course much of these appellations’ wine which does get improrted is also rated (& overrated) & overpriced, but there is still a lot produced there which is exciting and true to itself and undiscovered.
Agreed.
Josh - out of curiosity, exactly which wines from Ribera Sacra are underrated? And if you’re referring to the region, again, which wines would you recommend?
There are some people, or maybe one person, who’s banging that drum over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, but are there really that many outstanding wines that you have had and that are unsung?
Veronica - nobody who knows it underrated Tokaj. Sweet, dry, or in-between, there’s little to underrate these days. It’s just underl-known.
I’d have to agree that Beaujolais is under-rated though. Eveyrone knows it and so many people dismiss it. That’s the definition of under-rated.
Josh - out of curiosity, exactly which wines from Ribera Sacra are underrated? And if you’re referring to the region, again, which wines would you recommend?
Try the wines from D Ventura or Guimaro. If you’re worried that they are overripe, high alcohol, over oaked, they aren’t. Galicia is a fairly cool part of Spain, and the Ventura and at least one of the Guimaro reds see no oak, and the barrica Guimaro has the oak in pretty decent balance. I think most of them are 12-13% abv. As far as whites, I don’t think I’ve had one from Ribeira Sacra, but I don’t recall an overblown, unbalanced white from the nearby regions of Valdeorras, Ribeiro, or Monterrei. Try the wines from Godeval, Guitan, Coroa, Vina Mein, or Benaza. I’ve tried a number of Galician wines over the past few months and have intended to write up some notes, but haven’t gotten to it. I don’t know that I would call them underrated as much as under-exposed, since the local varieties (Mencia, Godello, Treixadura, Dona Blanca) aren’t very well known. They also aren’t made in a big, point-chasing style, just delicious and well-balanced wines you can enjoy on a regular basis. With one exception (the higher end Guimaro), they sell locally for something like $12-$24.
-Al
I agree w Josh Becks post. Loire and itLian white wines are great bargains
Greg,
To be honest, I can’t think of an “outstanding” wine from the region, in an absolute judgement manner, but what I can say is that every wine I’ve had from Ribera Sacra has been an excellent value and an infinitely drinkable, enjoyable, honest, straightforward wine with character. I’m sure there are dogs out there but so far I’ve had a lot of winners. For me things like Verdejo from Rueda, Albarino, Mencia from Ribera Sacra and Bierzo (with the exception of the disappointingly modern Petalos from Palacios), Cesanese del Piglio represent wines that have largely escaped being modernized and are regions where you can just get good, honest, not oaky, characterful wines that represent true value. Kind of like lesser known versions of the Loire or Beaujolais.
dry Portuguese reds
Lagrein
German Riesling
Tokaji
Loire
Partly I agree with you, but still I think for the dessert style of this wine and among people who know it, that it gets passed over all the time in favor of Sauternes (which I think is a little overrated). But that is just my personal taste. I started drinking Tokaji long before I ever had a Sauternes, so I’m probably more dialed-in to it.
Cheers
Well, Humboldt for sure. JK, except for one.
After travelling through New Zealand a couple of years ago my favorite (under rated)wines were the bordeaux varitals from the island of Waiheke near Auckland. They were complex and very tasty. I was quite impressed. And of course the chards from Kumeu.