Inexpensive Pinot Noir Recommendations?

Under $10 PN is rarely good, my top contenders would be the Rex Goliath

47-lb rooster and the various Castle Rock bottlings.

I'll second both of Dale's recommendations. I've had more Rex Goliath than Castle Rock, but the examples I've had of both have been well-made and recognizable as Pinot Noir.

Mark Lipton

As DaleW states, the RG PN is a good value. As for the Sanford, I do like the Bien Nacido bottleing, and, if he does it, the Sanford/Benedict is also nice, though both a bit above the Gallo price. I'm a big fan of the Acacia Central Coast bottleings. I do not think that the Beckstoffer ~US$50 is quite up to the price. With the normal Acacia, I like to cellar at least 1 yr. though it is nice upon release, and goes for ~US$25 at Costco. Below that, most others are a crap-shoot. Sometimes you get a good one, but not too often.

From OR, Firesteed often comes in good, and is ~1/2 the price, same for several other OR PN's. Benton-Lane comes to mind, as does the non-Reserve Argyle. Along those lines, I have yet to taste a Duckpond (note "pond" not " horn"), that didn't taste like it was served in an oaken cup.

Being tough to grow, and then to produce, cheap PN's are a real needle-n-a- haystack.

Hunt

I'm new to the whole wine thing (2 weeks now) but I tried Mark West

2004 Pinot last week and really like it. Rich fruit taste that lingers and not to tannic. I pay $10 + a bottle. I only have 1-2 glasses (4 oz.) each evening.

For ~$15 - 20 try the Steele Carneros 2003, very nice full of fruit.

You want something cheaper than $9 that's good?

You cannot be serious....

beernuts wrote:

Of course not (well, not necessarily). I said "What else is goo that isn't so $$ (expensive)?" I usually do not like spending more than $20 on any bottle of wine due to personal budgets. I do sometimes splurge. I thought the Gallo Pinot was surprisingly good enough for the price, and wonder how many other rare neeldes in the Pinot Noir haystack there may be.

Redhawk's Grateful Red stacks up well against higher priced contenders. It's very good -- and especially so given the price (about $10 a bottle). It's hard to track down outside of the winery, so:

Standard disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Redhawk or Avalon.com; I'm just a long-time satisfied customer of the winery. But seriously, we make a point to go to Redhawk once or twice a year and always come home with a case (or more) of their Grateful Red plus a smattering of their other (generally more expensive) reds.

Redhawk recently changed hands, so I'm waiting to see what the future will bring. When we were there over Thanksgiving, though, the wines they were selling were made by the previous owner. I met the new owners, and the winery seems to be in good hands.

beeswing

That's NOT expensive!

Nor do I, but I do. Get over it.

So do I.

Decent wine starts at about $10-15 for the most part. UNDER $9 is asking too much. Ain't gonna happen.

Disagree

I see the confusion, yes... "not" would have been the correct choice here.

Get over it? Get over a budget? LOL, ok...

I guess it depends how you define "decent". To me, the critical question is "would I buy this again?". There are more than a few wines under $10 I would (and have) bought several times. One good everyday drinking wine in this category would be (IMO) "Big House Red", just to name one red.

Drink better wine less often. I'd rather spend $15 on a bottle every two weeks than $6 twice a week.

I can't stand crap.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

In the US, decent wine starts at $10 in many states due to pricing and distribution regulations. It's almost impossible to find wine of any kind under $10 in Ohio, and I would not drink it anyway.

That's a good point. Although, I guess I drink more often than this ratio would allow for - a glass or two with dinner is typical, so stretching out the more $$ stuff is a challenge, but I will go for it occasionally. I have a few bottles of $20-$30 wine (I know, wooo, big deal) on my "A Shelf", some good stuff actually, that I'm saving up for.

Let me give you a sample of what I've had lately that is less than or not much more than $10:

Ca 'Del Solo Big House Red (about $9) McWilliams S.E. Australian Cab 2004 ($9.99) Bearboat Pinot Noir (2005) (a little over $10, don't recall exactly) Coopers Creak Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough N.Z. (about $10) Montes Cab Sauvignon (Chile 2004) (about $10) Renwood 2003 Zin (Sierra Series) (about $10)

I would say none of the above is crap, some of it actually pretty good, esp the Coopers Creek.

I can say with 100% certainty that my state is not one of these. There is a whole swath of wines here, places like Bottle King, Garys, etc, from places like Chile and S. Africa, up near the $10 range, plus or minus a little bit. Some are very respectable.

Dear Mike,

You're mistaken.

Dana

Most people think CA is much more expensive to live in than OH, but apparently us folks in the Golden State not only have better weather, we have better wine for less money, too.

You get what you pay for, but sometimes you have to think holistically.

Dana

Your math seems flawed.

Given the objective evidence, my tolerance for crap is lower than yours. As Samuel Kinnison once alluded to, "Move to where the WINE is!".

Dana

Stop feeding trolls, please!

M.