Scout's Honor Red

As consumers look for less expensive offerings, Cali producers have been scrambling to try and show they can produce high quality wine at affordable prices. Venge Estate makes several top notch reds in the $50 plus range and are well known for their high quality wines. For those who think you need to spend a fortune to get a great red wine, this may change your mind.

Snowvale Cabernet

It's no surprise that I love Snowvale Cabernet. It's classic California; ripe fruit, full-bodied, hints of spice, firm tannins, and an intense yet balanced finish. The surprise is that it's only $13. This is one to buy by the case. Just don't tell your friends how much you paid.

Snowvale Sierra Foothills

Since the 2012 vintage we have been partnering with Banshee Wines to select some insane high end left over barrels from prestigious wineries and bottle them under their Snowvale and Willowlake labels. The results have been pretty eye opening. We’ve seen wine from Dominus, Hidden Ridge, maybe or maybe not Dunn and some other crazy names.

Sombrero Cabernet Sauvignon

Over four generations of winemaking, the Vellas family have slowly assembled a strong group of properties in Languedoc and Roussillon. In beautiful sites like Mas du Pont they have created not only a vast set of vineyards but also farmlands, bull breeding, equestrian centers, olive groves and more. With Cabernet spread out across these sunny and Mediterranean climes, ripeness and aromatics are both in strong supply.

Sonoma Cutrer

It's Sonoma Cutrer Russian River Ranches - what more do we really need to say? Oak, Vanilla, butter - all that you expect from a great California Chard and then a little extra thrown in for good measure...

Swimbad Rose

Rosé is the tipple of the tempting whether we are in Touraine, Tempe, Tuscaloosa, Tuscany or Saint-Tropez. Provence, the archetypal French vacationland, is the poster child for what modern rosé ought to be. Pale, quenching, lip-smacking.

T. Solomon

I am willing to put my professional reputation on the line here and tell you that this may be the best sub $40 Pinot Noir you are ever going to try. Ever.

Tate Spring Street Cabernet

Tatiana Guillot Beaujolais

Most Americans have no idea how great the Beaujolais region has become. The last two decades have seen it grow, crafting some of the most intriguing AND affordable wines of France. It’s important to understand not all Beaujolais is the same, if you think Beaujolais Nouveau represents the character of Beaujolais, you’re dead wrong. Like the best Beaujolais, Julienas is firm, intense, tannic and nothing at all like the simple fruity wine from past.

Tatiana Guillot Macon Villages

Macon Villages was once a bigger deal, or at least it was once a wine that absolutely every restaurant had to pour by the glass. In the climate change era, Macon seems to be morphing from light and slightly generic to richer and even slightly buttery. But only slightly. Remember that Chardonnay in France is almost always more about the minerals than the butter; Macon is clean and crisp. We’re not quite to California richness yet, but who knows?