Looking to purchase a high quality bottle of Pinot Noir. What's the best brand around $50 or less? I know California grows a ton of the grape variety, so that's probably going to be a dime a dozen.
Any wine experts?
- Thread starter Quest4WS
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Not sure that I qualify as an ‘expert’ but here are my thoughts.
First, the price point for these wines is substantially higher than for other red wines. High-end Pinots (especially those from Burgundy) are very pricy indeed! Just check out DRC (Domaine Romanee Conti) for example. Top-tier Oregon and California Pinots are also pricy.
You can get great Cabs, Merlots, or blends in the under $50 category, but a good Pinot is much more of a challenge. Second, finding ‘bargain’ Pinots that rate highly in the wine press can be a challenge as there are many other folks competing for these wines.
For most folks the words ‘bargain’ and ‘Pinot’ should seldom be used in the same sentence.
In my house, we tend to drink what we consider the ‘sweet-spot’ in Burgundy, namely the 10 ‘Cru’ Beaujoulais wines made from Gamay Noir. Technically, these are also Bugundy wines that are often very high-quality in the $25-50 range. The best drink like other top-notch Burgundy wines IMO. These come from small producers and you will need a good wine-shop. A wine-person will be very impressed with your taste if you bring one of these to a party!
Hope this helps!
First, the price point for these wines is substantially higher than for other red wines. High-end Pinots (especially those from Burgundy) are very pricy indeed! Just check out DRC (Domaine Romanee Conti) for example. Top-tier Oregon and California Pinots are also pricy.
You can get great Cabs, Merlots, or blends in the under $50 category, but a good Pinot is much more of a challenge. Second, finding ‘bargain’ Pinots that rate highly in the wine press can be a challenge as there are many other folks competing for these wines.
For most folks the words ‘bargain’ and ‘Pinot’ should seldom be used in the same sentence.
In my house, we tend to drink what we consider the ‘sweet-spot’ in Burgundy, namely the 10 ‘Cru’ Beaujoulais wines made from Gamay Noir. Technically, these are also Bugundy wines that are often very high-quality in the $25-50 range. The best drink like other top-notch Burgundy wines IMO. These come from small producers and you will need a good wine-shop. A wine-person will be very impressed with your taste if you bring one of these to a party!
Hope this helps!
Some recent Pinots that I liked:
- ZD. Full bodied and rich. A little hard to find.
- Purple Hands. This is from Oregon. They have a number of excellent Pinots. The Latchkey is my favorite.
- Goldeneye. This is my wife's favorite. Medium bodies and good value.
Pinot noir is called "the heartbreak grape" for being notoriously hard to make good wine from consistently. So we can't just give you "oh, go get Chateau d'Ouch 2014" and leave it at that.
Realistically, your best bet is to find a reliable wine store with knowledgeable staff who can point you in the right direction in terms of the stock they have on hand. Oregon is well-known as a New World place that can make great Pinot Noir wines, but ... even more so than other types of wine, and other grapes, this is one area where it's not a good idea to just go by a "rule of thumb" just-get-X-and-you-are-set approach, be it a brand or a region or whatever. You need to talk to someone who has done his homework as to which vintage from which producer is "the stuff", and take his advice.
I’m an expert at consumption. Working on a nice bottle while watching the Astros whoop the Nats
I'm not expert on wine either. But I would suggest you stick with buying wine from the area that produces the best Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is what the grape is called in the US. But in France Pinot Noir is known as Burgundy. I would suggest buying wine that is made from grapes grown in either Willamette Valley, Oregon or Russian River Valley, California or buy a French Burgundy since it's the same grape. Good luck. Pinot Noir is nice. Part of the fun is trying different wines until you find one that you like.
I understand that any California wine from 2012 should be perfect right now.
www.winemag.com
This is a good Wine Chart that details wines by region and country and in best years, look for the green years in the table.
It is surprising how many wines older than 2005 are thought to be almost undrinkable. I always thought that good wines matured in the bottle over a long period of time, not so.
Hope this helps.
The Official 2019 Wine Vintage Chart
Has your Pinot peaked? Is that Barolo still a baby? Our annual wine vintage chart shows if it's time to open that prized Napa Cab, or wait for perfection.
This is a good Wine Chart that details wines by region and country and in best years, look for the green years in the table.
It is surprising how many wines older than 2005 are thought to be almost undrinkable. I always thought that good wines matured in the bottle over a long period of time, not so.
Hope this helps.
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