Is a WINE 3x the Price, 3x as GOOD???

12 Comments

1. 

   @Matt_Bykowski 3 weeks ago

   Trying to find great, affordable wine is largely why I watch your channel. Thanks!

2. 

   @petemccutchen3266 3 weeks ago

   I’ve had good luck with Esprit de Pavie, a second wine from Chateau Pavie. Maybe not something I’d cellar for ten years, but not bad for something like a tenth of the price

3. 

   @fabiod.1554 3 weeks ago

   Wow, my whole life I’ve been on holiday in Tuscany, camping at the beach, and only last year I discovered the winery Castello del Terriccio just a few minutes away from our place and visited it with my father (who had also never been there, despite spending 30+ years of holidays in the area!). It’s a super cool location, basically an old village turned into one single winery, with huge lands surrounding it, plus a nice restaurant and a villa for guests. From up on the hill you overlook the entire estate, down into the valley, with the ocean in the distance…
   
   We tasted the Con Vento 2024 (Viognier & Sauvignon blend, super delicious!), the Tassinaia 202, I gave it 91P, and the Castello del Terriccio (positioned somewhere between the Tassinaia and Lupicaia at around 60€, but with Syrah), which was amazing; I gave it 94P. We also had the Lupicaia 2015, which was great as well (it had a very strong eucalyptus note, which was super interesting and delicious to smell), but at two or three times the price of the Tassinaia or Castello del Terriccio, I personally wouldn’t buy it. Still, 94P for me on that day.

4. 

   @dusanmal 3 weeks ago

   Important to underline – there are outliers. One of them I encountered early made me focus on "value wines" and I find them regularly. In 90s we lived in NYC area and regularly visited one French restaurant. They had incredible table burgundy-like wine. Eventually we heard that they are closing and asked the owner who we knew well by this time – what is their table wine. It turned out to be French no-name-no-region "table wine" on the label distributed for restaurants. We asked our local wine store and they found it, only by multiple cases but at insane price of 5$/bottle! After we moved other wine shops failed to locate it and I don't know is it still out there… Easily, objectively 95pts. And, it made me enjoy searching for other such gems be it that it is very hard to find them below 15$ though, there are gems between 15-25$.

5. 

   @kleptomaniac1444 3 weeks ago

   As a new student of wine its good to know that some cheaper wines can stand up to some of the pricier wines. QPR is very important, especially for me as I am drinking so much wine now to find my preferences and it can be costly. I've been only drinking Italian wines for a few months now and I have been loving it!!

6. 

   @pintag3369 3 weeks ago

   Thanks for the interesting video. Suggestion: I think, for a true comparison in this type of tasting, all of the wines should be from the same vintage. Vintage differences and varying bottle age are important distinctions that affect the wine character.

7. 

   @daniellovett6213 3 weeks ago

   Sorry Matthew but Douro is one of the hardest areas to farm and harvest but Portugal is one of the best value countries! It's always the well known producers that charge to much.

8. 

   @cliffpeebles9705 3 weeks ago

   That's good advice to taste a lot of wine to figure out what you like, but it is a moving target because what you like will evolve over time.

9. 

   @welshtoro3256 3 weeks ago

   Very good explanation regarding higher value wine. Many casual drinkers will have no idea why certain wines cost a lot of money and simply assume what's in the bottle must be better without understanding why. Despite my advocacy of Spanish wine I've told you in the past that I'm very much a fan of Italian wine too, especially Tuscany and Umbria. As you say, the more you know the more likely you are of discovering good value. I'm actually at the point in my wine journey where I want to try wine that's a bit quirky and left field. I can't imagine anything more boring than buying cases of the same wine. Besides, it's open knowledge that great wineries nearly always have good wine at different price points. I'm quite lucky because I buy most of my Italian wine from a Master of Wine, specialising in Italian wine, who has his own wine shop. He sells some top stuff but is always on the lookout for great value wine. His website has all the different regions of Italy with information about styles. Often, many of the really interesting wines can be in short supply but that's okay. You experience it and move on. That means I often take a punt on certain wine makers without wine scores or any prior experience of them.

   You have said that that a lot of Italian wine needs food and I agree. I have had Sagrantino wines that need are so tannic that most people would find unpleasant and who wants to wait thirty years to open bottles any more. However those wines are great with steak or strong Italian tomato based sauces. There are so many variables that impact on how we interpret our experience with any wine. Your coffee scenario was a perfect example. When I'm having a cheap and tasty meal in Italy or Spain I'm going to have decent, modestly priced, bottle of wine which is fine in the circumstances. (That scenario is impossible in a UK restaurant where wine mark up is off the scale.) Drinking wine that costs four times the price of your food is just stupid unless you want to show off your wealth. Fine wine with curry? I mean, what's the point?

   We kind of know what we're getting with expensive wine. It's good stuff but the wines that are mid priced are far more interesting in their variability. I think wine geeks appreciate that but we're an odd bunch. I recently watched Jancis Robinson do a great breakdown about all of the above and it was great to see her saying that expensive wine is not always a good choice. I have some excellent Montalcino, which is already 15 years old, but I can't touch it for another ten years just to be sure. These days I like my young, ready to go, Montalcino. By the way, Tom Gilbey just released a vey amusing but informative video about cheaper, youngish, Barolo (around £20) which is well worth a watch.

   Final thoughts: Petit Verdot? There are artisan, natural wine, producers in Murcia and Andalusia who are making great wine with Petit Verdod. Sometimes 100% Petit Verdot and they tell me that Petit Verdot in that climate is so much better suited than France. I've drunk them and they are fantastic – $15 -$25 euros and wine that is perfect for wine geeks.

   Excellent episode Matt. You're evolving and we're all evolving on our wine journey I hope. WT

10. 

    @burtonic2641 3 weeks ago

    Thanks!

11. 

    @John-wx2ce 3 weeks ago

    You hit it on the head! Flavor profile is to individual taste. And there is definitely the concept of diminishing return as prices go up. I have had very good to great wines in most price points. But when you have cat-piss at over $100 it hurts!

    I love Villa Antinori (under $20) and ok Bruciato ($35+/-) while my Tigs are maturing.

12. 

    @AllanPaone 3 weeks ago

    If it's made in China, it's made in a Chinese concentration camp.