Start A Wine Collection With These Amazing And Affordable Wines

You don’t need a wine cellar and a collecting habit to drink well—the wine world is a grand and fabulous place abundant with delicious deals. Wines that taste world-class, are suited to aging and in some cases boast a noble pedigree are within reach, one just needs to ask the right questions. I look to sommeliers and smaller owner-operated wine retailers for their intel on wines that are overlooked or have great fruit but are not the showy first label bottlings—and I always ask about what they have stashed at home. You’ll love these suggestions below as much for their taste as for their price. Below are my top eight so far this year.

Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, Oregon, 2016: Director of Special Projects for Acker Wines, Lily Mirabelle Freedman, loves this Oregon wine made by a legendary Burgundian family for its value and refinement. “The 2016 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir is made by the esteemed Burgundian Drouhin family who has produced wines in Oregon for 30 years. This is a benchmark wine for the category, with beautiful savory aromatics and elegant yet restrained fruit on the palate.” $44.99

Grant Grenache Santa Ynez Valley, 2017: The kid-glove treatment, from foot treading to partial whole cluster fermentation with native yeast, lends this 100% estate grown Grenache a lacy, delicate mouthfeel that belies its complex fruitiness. A light touch of Syrah gives even more depth to the final wine. Proprietors Kim and Andy Busch take pride in making small-batch, organic and sustainably farmed low-sulfite wines. (And yes, Andy is that Busch— son of August A. Busch Jr, former chairman and chief executive of Anheuser-Busch) At $38 this wine is a delicious, expressive steal that you can open now or hold for several years.  Find it here.

Macari Cabernet Franc Reserve, North Fork Long Island, NY, 2015: North Fork Long Island has long been crafting elegant, tasty red wines and this Cabernet Franc from the Macari family is no exception. The family originally planted this to play a supporting role as a blending grape but quickly realized its potential as an individual bottling. With a recent Gold medal at the TexSom competition and 90 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate the $30-ish price lets you taste the ethereal beauty of what Cab Franc can be when left to its own devices.  Find it here.  

Melville Anna’s Block Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills, 2018: Lilting and refined, this pretty wine is made with select fruit from California’s Santa Rita Hills. Ripe with sour cherry notes, topped with roses and a teaser of black tea in the background, the wine delivers the elegance and polish of a finely made Burgundy—for $60—which, in today’s world, is a dang good deal in the world-class Pinot Noir space. Find it here.

Minus Tide Pinot Noir, Mariah Vineyard, 2017: A lovely, elegant pinot noir grown in Mendocino—a less showy wine region with loads of potential. Suffused with notes of sour cherry, spice and earth this wine showcases the magic that can be achieved from cool climate viticulture. It’s the passion project of Kyle Jeffrey, Brad Jonas, and Miriam Pitt,—whose shared goal is to “make wines we love to drink and that pair well with food, so they tend to be high in acid and low in alcohol.” The work exclusively with sustainable and organic vineyards, most of which are also dry farmed. You’ll get world-class purity of expression and the vibrancy of a cool climate wine for $42…deal.

OO VGW Chardonnay, Oregon, 2017: The 00 wines deliver Old-World, hands-on, small batch winemaking. They practice a Black Chardonnay method, a technique used 60-80 years ago in Burgundy. The result is a savory and complex American-made chardonnay with maximum tannins extracted from the grape skins. This one offers succulent stone fruit notes with a vibrant wire of citrus holding things together. Critics were impressed too, with a Judge’s Selection medal at TEXSOM International Wine Awards and a raft of 94+ scores from the bigwigs. It’s a world-class Burgundian style wine for $75—and you can actually find it online.

Penfold’s Bin 389 Cabernet-Shiraz, 2017: This Penfold’s classic is the most collected wine in Australia. Nicknamed ‘Baby Grange’ in part because the components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange, and also because many consider it a JV version of the world-class Grange. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz with beautiful architecture, freshness, and supple richness—laced with juicy dark fruit, cedar and forest floor. Drink it now, or age through 2046. Find it at Total Wine $57.47

Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon WA, 2016: Napa’s legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff coached his nephew Alexander Golitzin on how to make world-class wines and the result was Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon—the first American wine outside of California to earn a 100-point score from the legendary Robert Parker. In fact Parker went even further, comparing the wines of Quilceda Creek to iconic winemaking estates such as Châteaux Lafite, Latour and Pétrus. A string of consecutive 100-point scores from critics, and a swelling mailing list of interested wine lovers have made these wine into icons. Fortunately, because of Washington State’s lesser popularity relative to Napa, the wines are available and not yet in the upper atmosphere of pricing. $120