The year's best wine values - wineloverspage.com

Another year has passed into history, another vintage has been harvested, and we've tasted a lot more wine since my last annual New Year's report.

As I do every year at this time, I've processed all my wine-tasting reports of the past 12 months, sorting out the best wines and, more important, the best values - the wines at all levels of price that show exceptional value for their price tag, that elusive characteristic that online wine enthusiasts often call "Quality-Price Ratio" or, for short, "QPR."

It's also a time to pull back for a broader view over the world of wine and look for developing trends and issues. Some of those issues have been thoroughly covered in the wine-news media, including here: Grape "gluts," supply-and-demand issues and changing social norms that see high-end wine prices rising under affluent buyer demand at one end of the spectrum; while at the other end, industry authorities fret over declining wine enthusiasm among younger people, raising the spectre of an aging and eventually declining market.

Two more emerging developments have received less media attention:

The U.S. Supreme Court's May 2005 decision on wine-shipping to consumers, initially hailed as opening up broader American markets by removing a bar to consumers buying directly from wineries, is turning out to be more complicated than the general media, at least, had anticipated. As each of the 50 states revised its beverage-control laws to meet the new standard, many of them - under lobbying pressure from the wine and liquor wholesale industry - are responding by making it more difficult for consumers to purchase wine by mail-order and online. While shipping remains easy in a few states with strong wine industries - California and now New York among them - many legislatures have responded, to the wholesalers' glee, by barring most or all direct sales, protecting the so-called "three-tier" system and the wholesaler monopoly that it fosters. Even the group of states that had formerly declared wine-shipping "reciprocity" among themselves had to alter their laws - often against consumer choice - to comply with the court ruling.

Thanks to a gift from nature - two relatively "normal" vintages in Europe in 2004 and 2005 following the bizarre hot vintage of 2003 with its massive, overripe wines from much of the Continent - it appears that at least some wine enthusiasts are becoming increasingly skeptical of ratings from the major U.S> wine publications. After Robert M. Parker Jr.'s Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator praised the 2003 "blockbusters" as great wines, a non-trivial share of wine lovers who admire earth and subtlety and complexity in favor of overripe fruit and very high alcohol began to question the value of the usual suspects' ratings. Judging from your E-mail and discussions on our forums, this corps of skeptics includes quite a few of you.

Now, let's take a quick look at my top QPR wines of 2006. I've queried my tasting-notes databases for the 60 wines that I rated most highly for value at all price points. As it turns out, five of them sold for more than $20, with 25 in the mid-range of $12 to $20, and - good news for bargain-hunters, 30 for $12 or less, of which 16 sold for $10 or below.

Broken down by country or region of origin, my list includes 21 wines from France and 15 from Italy, followed by a tie between Austria and the U.S. with 7 each (5 of the U.S. wines were from California and 1 each from Oregon and New York); 5 from Spain, perhaps the best source of low-end wines of value; 3 dry wines from Portugal, and 1 each from Chile and South Africa.

Somewhat surprisingly, considering my avowed preference for red wines, my list this year was almost evenly balanced, with 28 reds and 25 whites, plus 6 sparkling or frizzante wines and 1 dessert wine. Only 1 true Champagne made the list, and no Ports or Sauternes: These are tremendously enjoyable wines but not contenders in the QPR sweepstakes. For similar reasons, no wines from Australia or New Zealand made my QPR list this year. This is no slam on these fine wines other than to note that, among the wines easily available to me, I'm more inclined to look to Europe and then the U.S. when cherry-picking for value. Germany didn't make this year's list, partly because of rising prices and partly, I fear, because the noble Riesling grape is a bit of a blind spot for me. I'll have to work on that.

Here are the best-value wines that I tasted during 2006, ranked in order of the actual retail price that I paid. You may click each link to view a more detailed tasting note in our standard "shelf-hanger" format. In most instances, I purchased these wines from retail shops in and around Louisville, Ky.; a few were hand-carried back from New York City, many from the excellent Chambers Street Wines. For your shopping convenience, I have added specific links for each wine to the databases at Wine-Searcher.com to help you compare prices and check availability at selected vendors online.

Wines retailing for more than $20

Champagne H. Billiot Fils NV Brut Rosé (France), $52. (Find it on Wine-Searcher.com)
Anselmi 2003 "I Capitelli" Veneto Passito Bianco (Italy), $29.99. (Find it on Wine-Searcher.com)
Pertimali 2004 Rosso di Montalcino (Italy), $26.99. (Find it on Wine-Searcher.com)
Angelini 2001 "TreRose" Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (Italy), $23. (Find it on Wine-Searcher.com)
Domaine des Baumard 1997 Savennières (France), $21.99. (Find it on Wine-Searcher.com)

Wines retailing for $12 to $20

Wines retailing for $12 or less

To submit your personal QPR favorites, post them as a tasting note on our online WineLovers Discussion Group.

Robin Garr's best value wines of 2006

Robin Garr's best value wines of 2005

Robin Garr's best value wines of 2004

Robin Garr's best value wines of 2003

Robin Garr's best value wines of 2002

Best value wines of 2001

Best wines over $12 of 2001

QPR picks for 2000