Best Value
Some deals are just too good to pass up. Our Best Value category digests that rarest of breeds: Top-rated products at prices that are incredibly appealing. We include products across the board in this section.
Top Best Value Posts:
Top 10 Bourbons Under $20
Wines of Lula Cellars, 2018 Releases
Jim Beam Distiller’s Cut
Two new autumn releases from Italy’s Famiglia Pasqua — well known in these parts for its dazzling Amarone — have hit our desk. Let’s give ’em a try. 2019 Famiglia Pasqua PassioneSentimento Veneto Rosso IGT – A dense blend of corvina and croatina, with some merlot in the mix, this is a hearty wine thick…
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Louis Jadot makes some reasonably high-end Burgundy wines, but it is best known for extremely approachable bottlings like these — so affordable they often have the grape varietal on the label — chardonnay, pinot noir, etc., a real rarity in France. Today we look at a pair of entry-level Jadots, a white and a red.…
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Raeburn can be found in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, where it’s turning out unique, interesting, and affordable wines. Let’s look at a pair from the new 2021 vintage and a 2020 chardonnay. 2021 Raeburn Rose Russian River Valley – Extremely pale in color, you could be easily forgiven for assuming this was a standard white…
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Our friends at Nashville’s Nelson’s Green Brier, brothers Charles and Andy Nelson, are best known for their Belle Meade whiskey lineup, which we’ve reviewed here thoroughly. That brand has remained the flagship for the distillery, even after the somewhat quiet release of its first house-made whiskey way back in 2019. Recently, however, the talented duo…
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This white Bordeaux wine leans heavily on the sauvignon blanc (60%) in its blend (semillon and muscadelle make up the rest), showcasing bright acidity and a steely, grassy quality that dominates the experience. Gentle florals and a touch of cookie dough perk up on a finish that is tight and a little acidic, some potpourri…
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The label of this wine does its very best to inform customers that this Domaine Bousquet offering is a bottle for celebrating, with numerous toasts and well-wishes from around the world in a handwritten font and lively colors. “A La Vida,” when translated, bears a resemblance to the Hebrew toast “L’chayim,” which means “to life!,”…
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Skyy Vodka made a huge splash when it arrived on the scene in 1992, a high-end vodka made in San Francisco (and in an iconic blue bottle) at a time when it was thought that the only good vodkas came from Europe or beyond. Now owned by Campari, Skyy recently underwent a reformulation, likely in…
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Knotty Vines is an unabashed budget brand from Rodney Strong, standing as the third (or maybe fourth) label in its arsenal. We recently tasted a collection of four wines from the brand, the full lineup of its offerings. 2019 Knotty Vines Chardonnay California – Here’s a real surprise to kick things off: This chardonnay has had…
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Prosecco may often come across like an entry-level experience, but if you dive a bit deeper you’ll see that this essential sparkler comes in a variety of different styles, each representing a different level of sweetness, much like Champagne. As with Champagne, the categories are confusing and unintuitive. From dryest to sweetest, the categories go:…
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Behold, three wines from exceptionally affordable Italian producer Gancia, which has been producing wine for 170 years. 2019 Gancia Prosecco Rose – Rose Proseccos aren’t overly common, particularly at this price level. Gancia’s expression is creamy and lightly dusted with notes of strawberry and baking spice, hints of cinnamon giving a lift to a core that…
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