Winebits 147: Drink local, wine awards, "value" wines

• Michigan wine passes critic test: Elin McCoy, who is about as first-tier as wine writers get, spent her vacation in Michigan drinking Michigan wine -- and she loved what she tasted. "A lot of [local] wines are pretty good and, as with the best bottles in Michigan, many cost under $25. Reasons, in my book, to become a locapour." And thanks for the shoutout to DrinkLocalWine.com, Elin.

• Decanter wine awards: And there are surprises from the British wine magazine among its 28 top wines (and a tip o' the Curmudgeon's fedora to Tom Johnson at Louisville Juice for finding this). How about best chardonnay, £10 and under, coming from Australia? Or Napa's Clos du Val being named best red Bordeaux blend, £10 and more?

• Wine Spectator looks for values: Because, after all, it couldn't say it was recommending cheap wine. What would its readers think? The survey accompanying the story found that only two percent of Specatator readers said they're looking for wines that cost less than $8, about 30 percent picked the $15-and-under category for value, and 29 percent said the $15 to $20 range held the most value. For comparison (and because, after all, I am the Wine Curmudgeon), wine sales in the U.S. bear no relation to whgat Spectator readers drink. About half of the wine sold in the U.S. costs $8 or less and only 9 percent costs $15 or more. That's truly an amazing contradiction, given the power and prestige that the Spectator has. And though I have always suspected that Spectator readers weren't part of the wine mainstream, I didn't realize they were that far out of it.

regional wine, Michigan wine, Elin McCoy, Decanter, wine awards, Wine Spectator, value wines

Comments

[Jeff]

The Wine Spectator fails the "value test" based on the magazine cost alone. Wine drinkers who seek out under $15 wine won't buy a magazine that regularly looks down their nose at them.

99.9% of what they rate is either a) out of my price range or b) not available to me in Maryland (no out of state shipping). That rare 0.1% that is available to me falls into their "it can't be good because it's mass produced" category.

Perhaps if they did blind tasting.................

[Thomas Matthews]

Wine Spectator doesn't disdain anyone who loves wine; our goal is to give them information and advice to help them understand wine better, and enjoy it more.

All of our reviews of new releases result from blind tastings; price has no bearing on a wine's score. We are very happy to discover inexpensive wines of high quality.

I'm not exactly sure where the "wine mainstream" is located, but independent research estimates Wine Spectator's readership at 2.8 million wine lovers. We are pleased to be part of such a large and passionate community.

Thomas Matthews
Executive editor
Wine Spectator