For a Few Dollars More

Sharing a bottle of Domaine du Clos du Fief Juliénas '06, I was thinking about how delicious this Beaujolais is right now. It struck me that 90% of the time, I prefer drinking outstanding Cru Beaujolais, at somewhere between $15 and $25 per bottle, than I do drinking (what is ultimately) mediocre Pinot Noir and Burgundy at prices that start around $25 and get pricier pretty quickly. Cru Beaujolais can age for a few years if it is well made, and with a little time in the bottle, often shows many of the same qualities of very good Burgundy.

Obviously, there are exceptions to that statement - the Catherine & Claude Maréchal Cuvée Gravel '05 at $22 is a beautiful example of very good Burgundy at a reasonable price. But wines like Maréchal are relatively few and far between - consequently, Cru Beaujolais from a good producer makes sense much of the time.

This train of thought led me to think again about wine quality and value. We like to think that Guy du Vin offers great wine values to our customers. Good value can mean different things to different people, so value can come in just about every price range. While it is exciting to find tasty wines that we can sell for under $10, over the last few years it has become increasingly difficult to find well made wines in that price range. Clearly the decreasing value of the dollar versus the Euro has had a severe impact. Today, for every tasty but simple wine that we can find for under $10, there are probably ten wines in the $15 to $22 range that are outstanding, well made, and show real complexity.

By all means, you should continue to purchase and enjoy the $10 wines you like. But to really begin to experience interesting, individualistic, very well made wines you should treat yourself once or twice a month to something in that $15 to $22 range. Whether you buy from Guy du Vin or not isn't really the point (although we encourage you to buy ALL your wine from us). The question is really one of "bang for the buck" and deciding where to focus your wine dollars.

Go to someone you trust for wine advice whose taste in wine coincides with yours. There is a lot of mediocre wine out there these days and it is more mediocre than ever. If wine is something that you care about, it is worthwhile to take the time to learn to tell the difference between a wine that is just drinkable and a wine that is drinkable and well made. That difference is what makes wine interesting and challenging instead of something that you just gulp down. If you are going to spend money on wine, you might as well get something that has character and style. I don't believe anyone can "hand craft" a half million cases of wine - or a half million of anything for that matter.

Many producers charge more for their wines just because they can - not because their wines are better than someone else's. However, if you spend the time evaluating various examples of particular types of wine or seek out good advice, those extra few dollars that you spend really can translate into qualitatively much better wine, not just wines that are better marketed.