Undervalued wine regions
Who is not looking for undervalued wines? I know I am. There is one thing in common to all wine lovers - we love to explore. To engage in haystack-needle game, and try to find a diamond amongst bunch of good & overpriced or just plain bad wines.
Wines from Saint-Émilion or Ribera del Duero are overpriced, yet everyone (or at least I) have few in portfolio. They're brand. You want the own one - pay the price. But they're not for everyday drinking. For around 20 EUR you can drink top notch wine, an absolute diamond. But not Ribera del Duero. Or Medoc. Or Barolo.
If you find yourself in Bordeaux, and particularly in heaven on Earth - Saint-Émilion, here's a little tip: go a bit west, to Fronsac commune bordering with it. Exactly same terroir, same Merlot-based blends, yet not even closely priced as "celebrities" from St-Emilion. Try "Le Horse" Château Coustolle, priced 25 EUR - same wine with St-Émilion Grand Cru label would cost at least two times more...
So, this is the deal, here's what you actually want to do. You want to find regions that have good wines, so when you find a bottle and pay 20-25 EUR for it - you have pretty good chances of hitting bulls eye. What are we looking for? We need a region that is:
- not so "popular" with strong marketing
- mainly populated with small, "family" producers (opposite to large corporate producers who usually buy at least 50% of grapes and just label them)
And that is the trick. Small producers compete with quality, not branding, and you get what you pay for (and usually much more). Sure, there's lots of small family estates even in regions like Piemonte (personal favorite - Alfiero Boffa) or Côtes du Rhône. But the problem is - you need to know the label before you buy it. Otherwise, your chances of paying lot for poor wine increase dramatically. And when you give 30 EUR for Châteauneuf-du-Pape you never heard of, there's a good chance you'll end up a little bit disappointed, trust me.
So, now you know everything, let's see who the winners are :)
#1 Portugal (without Douro)
Portuguese wines are highly valued and honored, and everyone will tell you they had lovely Portuguese wine at least once. Yet typical wine lover, although knowledgeable about "fine wines from Douro", is absolutely unfamiliar with any particular label or producer. Try naming five producers from Portugal. Or labels. See my point? :) Douro produces some of the best known Portuguese wines, however other regions - Alentejo or Bairrada are literally filled with small and unknown, yet high quality estates producing 5-10 thousand bottles per year of exceptional quality. Trust me, if I gave you 25 EUR bottle of Campolargo Calda Bordaleza 2006 on blind taste - you'd price it at 40 EUR.
#2 Toro: Spain unexplored
You can't expect cheap wine from Ribera del Duero. I mean, if someone is first neighbor to Peter Sisseck, look ahead to price two times higher just on account of that :) Rioja is so vast and broad with hundreds of millions bottles produced every year it makes absolutely impossible to spot a good wine without knowing what you buy. Valdepeñas is not a place you'd try to find exceptional wine at all :) But Toro... Toro is still an undiscovered diamond in Spain. Try to find a bottle in 20-30 eur range from Toro... And feel free to post a comment below afterwards :)
#3 South Italy
Italians are excellent wine makers, no doubt to that, and even better in marketing. Brunelo di Montalcino and Barolo are well known worldwide brands. Anyone tried decent Brunelo below 40 Eur? I know I didn't... Now, the good thing about Italians is their south is totally unknown and power of marketing didn't even touch it. For 15-20 eur, you can find supreme wines from Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily... Nero d'Avola, Negro Amaro, Primitivo - varieties not famous and potent as Nebiolo and Sangiovese, yet with great character and in hands of experienced winemakers worth every cent.
Oh, in case you wonder why Chile or Barossa aren't inside the list - I actually wanted to refer only to regions where vintage actually matters ;)