This is a longer version of an article also published in the Financial Times.
The more wines I taste from all over the world, the more convinced I am that never before have mid-priced wines been such good value.
Perversely, mid-priced wines are the most difficult to sell. The great mass market indicates that what it is most interested in is wine at its cheapest. Now that even the least expensive wine reaches a certain technically competent, if often boring, minimum standard, and the big retailers and big producers have encouraged consumers to expect a constant diet of special offers and discounts, it is difficult to wean the casual wine buyer on to spending a little more to secure something much more exciting.
On the other hand, at the top end of the scale, it is the most expensive, trophy wines that are easiest to sell – as witness the 2005 bordeaux futures campaign in which first growths and their like, released at record-breaking prices of hundreds of pounds a bottle, sold in a flash while many third, fourth and fifth growths that are on any objective basis far better value, hung around, as unwanted as an Easter egg at Halloween.
This is all a bit bizarre because, although the difference in price between the top and bottom ends of the wine market is wider than it has ever been, the difference in quality is arguably narrower. Yes, great wine is made with more attention to detail than ever, but so is wine at its most basic. It is hard to argue that the vineyards that yield the world’s trophy wines have increased in quality by anything like the same factor as the prices. The difference is in the number of people in the world who are interested in wine and are prepared to pay for what is conventionally agreed to be the best and is, an important factor this, easily tradable. The gap between the blue chip investment wines and the rest is widening all the time.
But the wines I would particularly like to draw to your attention as being staggeringly good value today are those that have no long history nor the commercial crutch of an official, if ancient, classification such as the famous 1855 Bordeaux one. Very, very roughly the price bracket I would argue represents the best value today is about £8-15, or $15-30, a bottle. Into this bracket fall typically the finest wines produced by the least celebrated producers. They lack the reputation that allows them to ask for higher prices but the price reflects distinctly superior grapes, often grown at deliberately restricted yields in vineyards that have recently been planted or upgraded using very similar techniques to those used for far more expensive wines.
France, particularly the less glamorous communes of Bordeaux and also virtually all French regions with the possible exception of Burgundy, is awash with these sort of wines. But there is arguably nothing novel about finding quality-orientated, talented ambition in France. What is new is that practically every other wine producing country I can think of nowadays is also reaping the benefits of a new, enthusiastic, well-travelled, well-trained and totally committed generation of wine producers determined to make the best wine they possibly can.
If the worldwide passion for wine is reflected in a swelling band of well-heeled collectors of trophy wines, it is also reflected in an army of dedicated, typically quite youthful, wine producers – many of whom have close contacts with their counterparts, and sometimes even wine operations of their own, in other countries. Fortunately for us all, they seem un-cowed by the harsh economic realities of today’s wine market, dogged by a serious grape glut which is having a dampening effect on prices – to the detriment of producers and to the benefit of us consumers. To survive in the world of wine, smaller producers, who have no recourse to playing games with promotions and the big retailers, have to raise their game every single vintage and a heartening number of them seem so far to be doing so.
On the basis of the wines I have tasted recently it is quite clear that, for a start, the wine industries of Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Bulgaria are making more and better mid-priced wines than ever before, thanks to the energy generated by ambitious young wine producers. As I say, I see strong evidence that the same is the case in France but this is hardly new, and Italy surely had its big leap upwards in quality some time ago.
Two big blind tastings of Australian and South American reds in the last few weeks suggested to me that quality here is higher and more consistent than I have ever known it. Whereas similar tastings two or three years ago would have included a certain proportion of carelessly made or seriously unbalanced wines, these were nowhere to be seen. Similarly, the recent annual generic tasting of South African wines in London recently showed increasing subtlety in the reds and more of what it does best in whites. In Iberia, old vines of local varieties are increasingly revered (Cabernet and Chardonnay now less so) and are harnessed to produce wines of real character and individuality – even if the most lauded tend to carry silly price tags thanks to enthusiastic domestic wine buyers. The examples in the box are just some of hundreds I could cite.
Readers in the US will note that I have not mentioned American wines in this context. Once they reach Europe, most American wines still tend, for various reasons. to look seriously overpriced compared to their counterparts from elsewhere. On the other hand, nowhere has benefited from more determination to make the best wine possible than California, Oregon and Washington. I hope to be investigating mid priced American wine value in New York as you read this.
For thousands of tasting notes and scores see purple pages of www.jancisrobinson.com
SOME STELLAR VALUE
Argentina – El Malbec de Ricardo Santos, La Madras Vineyard 2005 Mendoza £8.49 Majestic
Ricardo’s California-trained son has fashioned something rich but not OTT from Argentina’s signature grape.
Australia – Duncan McGillivray, Yakka Shiraz 2005 Adelaide Hills £9.99 Majestic
Perfect example of a quality upgrade from the man who dreamt up Two Dogs alcopop.
Chile – Viña Tabalí Reserva Shiraz 2005 Limarí £9.99 Averys
From a brand new wine region, semi-desert but reliably cooled by Pacific fogs.
France – L’Orangerie de Carignan 2003 Premieres Côtes de Bordeaux £7.75 Adnams, £7.93 Corney & Barrow
Second wine of a property trying very much harder than average in an outlying appellation.
South Africa – TMV White 2005 Western Cape £11.75 Andrew Chapman Fine Wines www.surf4wine.co.uk
Resourceful winemaking using (mainly) the Cape’s trump card, Chenin Blanc.