Comments on: The dearth of recommendable California wines under $12

By: bob rohden

bob rohden — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:42:04 +0000

I’ve been in the wine biz for about a generation now, and just read the WS story on Tim Mondavi.
There he talked about his new vineyard Continuum and how he bought two small vineyards – 1 for 12 million and 1 for 14 million. Of course the family had the cash, they had sold the farm, so to speak, for $1.3 billion.
Back when I first began buying wine in the late 70s, most top ranked Cal wines were just at or slightly over $20 retail. And Mondavi’s discount for wholesale was $1.50 a case!

Our CA glass wine prices rarely got as high as $10, which is a normal beginning for most anything on offer these days.
Price is a big problem with California wines today. Especially in the wine bar / restaurant biz.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:35:30 +0000

Agree with Miguel that Avalon Napa Valley Cab is certainly decent for the price, and widely available. That said, more often than not I’ll reach for Montepulciano D’Abruzzo priced around $11-12 if given the choice.

By: jason carey

jason carey — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:14:24 +0000

I think that greed and industrial wine making together combine for crappy under 12 dollar wines from the USA..
I don’t buy the land price issue..

By: John Skupny

John Skupny — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:16:43 +0000

DrV.
I would concur with you-I can find them but I live in California. I used the term ‘season’ as a reference to the linear parallel of the exchange rate, Dollar vs Euro, and the amount of imports that come into the USA – dollar strong more imports – dollar weak less imports. In regards to California’s ‘ Dearth’ Michael Steinberger has also covered the subject a couple times, most so it seems there is a dearth of material to take in on this matter.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2010/02/the_great_california_wine_mystery.html
I still stand on my opin of the NYT piece ‘who could out geek whom & how did the moderator ask the question?’ but I really liked Pascaline’s feisty American selection, not only daring but gutsy from someone who comes from the Loire Valley!

By: Discount Liquor Store

Discount Liquor Store — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:36:22 +0000

Thanks for posting! Herzog is one of my favorite wines. Sometimes it can be hard to find it, so it’s useful to order wine online when you’re looking for something like that.

By: A Year in Wine: Wine Playoffs Are Here, Cheap Division

A Year in Wine: Wine Playoffs Are Here, Cheap Division — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:54:15 +0000

[...] was from Germany, New York, Oregon and Greece. These results prompted wine-writer Tyler Colman to explain in his blog Dr. Vino that California wines didn't show up in the chart because "precious little" [...]

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:14:10 +0000

One more thing about the list: yes, there may have been selection bias among the interviewees, but just because it ran in the NYT doesn’t make it an East Coast/West Coast thing per se. Seven of the 18 respondents were from California, two from Portland, and three from overseas.

By: Donn Rutkoff

Donn Rutkoff — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:38:05 +0000

Criminy. Gads. Or in the words of Janis Joplin, Try, A Little Bit Harder. There ain’t no dearth of drinkable Calif. wine under $12 NY costs, if you come out to Calif. and shop here. Maybe it all gets consumed here in Calif. There are about 30 wineries in Paso Robles and 30 in the Shenandoah that fit the bill in a wink. Another 25 in Lake County and the Boontlin burbs near smoketown. I am probably way low on my numbers.

By: Robin C

Robin C — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:14:07 +0000

I’m turning to whites for everyday wines; it’s easier to get a quality white for a reasonable price than it is to get a red for a reasonable price. I don’t expect to find a good cheap red. Cheap Spanish wines are among the worst I’ve ever tasted.

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:24:48 +0000

Lew- Sorry to hear of your travails in this category. But I guess by pulling all those corks, you are doing your part to keep wine “consumption” up!

Steve Heimoff – Yes there is bad wine made in California and there is bad wine made in France (to choose but one other wine-producing area). But the point of this discussion is that there quite a few good, recommendable wines for under $12 made in France (or other places as the list indicates). But naming one from California as a favorite wine under $12 is quite difficult, for both the interviewees in the story.

And, as Dave Erickson points out, even the suggestions on this thread are for solid if not standout choices.

Tom Powers- Yes, I spoke with Bobby Kacher a couple of years ago about this comparison and he had some insightful comments. I included a link in the posting but here it is again.

You can also see Patrick Campbell’s comments on the subject.

Dave – yes, part of it was land values.

John Skupny- Thanks for the comment. But this is not actually a seasonal issue; I think it is a constant one. As the links indicate above, we were talking about it a couple of years ago and things haven’t improved much. There are clearly some structural issues that we got into in the previous posts. But I think that how to make a tasty wine under $12 is something the industry would really benefit from discussing, rather than ignoring or denying–there’s certainly a real market gap for it.

By: John Skupny

John Skupny — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:42:05 +0000

Like all cycles it is that time of season to bash California pricing – also consider the source of the article – from author to respondents.. 13 restaurateurs? Not implying that they don’t understand value but I believe that they have a different approach to value wines.

Also, it looks like were are talking fringe – good fringe but it seemed like “ who can out geek whom!”
I like the Husch suggestion – just did a world Chenin survey [12 wines] Husch topped the tasting in type and reasonable price!…Randy Mason’s Pomelo SB and Three Pears Pinot Grigio deserve a mention too!

By: uff the fluff

uff the fluff — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:13:54 +0000

Spanish wine is practically free, if you’re into it.

California is an outlier in terms of price – must be all the reverse osmosis.

By: Big J

Big J — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:39:12 +0000

What the hell is “dearth”

By: Dave Erickson

Dave Erickson — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:15:48 +0000

So. 18 responses and what do we have: unqualified positive recommendations for Concannon and Bogle PS, a “pretty happy” for Avalon, and mentions of wines available at big-box retailers. Based on this unscientific response, I’d say the question answers itself.

Of course, there’s also the business of costs. As is often said, “The key to success in the Napa Valley is to make sure your grandparents bought the land.” Although this may have to be updated to “great-grandparents.”

By: Tom Powers

Tom Powers — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:58:46 +0000

Robert Kacher has been importing wines from Nimes and Gascony for years, most of which are under $15 and some of which are under $10. They are beautiful. Jorge Ordonez has a plethora of wines from Spain with similar price points. Domestically, it would be hard to find more accessible , more consistent wines than Charles Smith’s wines.