The year's best wine values

If you're even halfway seriously interested in wine, then you probably find it as difficult as I do to get along without a simple wine-tasting accessory: A notepad and pen, or the digital equivalent.

I've been recording wine notes for many years, on media ranging from steno pads to desktop computers to palm-size PDAs, and I've never been sorry. I find that jotting down even brief, casual impressions about a wine helps me remember it, and that's useful the next time I taste a wine from the same or related region, grape or style and reflect on the similarities and differences.

In the past year or so, I've started using a database system to record my wine notes and prepare them for online publication. And now, at the start of the New Year, I'm delighted to see how easy this makes my annual custom of looking back over the best-value wines of the year - the wines that, as online wine enthusiasts say, offer the best "Quality-Price Ratio" or "QPR."

A simple command or two, a mouse-click, and bam! All my tasting reports come back, organized in order with the wines that I liked best and considered the best value at the head of the line.

Wine statisticians will be interested to note that wines from France dominated the list with 17 of 37 entries, trailed by Spain with 5 and the United States and Australia with 4 each. Italy and Portugal each placed 2 wines on my best-value list, and there was 1 each from Greece, Argentina and South Africa.

If you're budget-conscious, though, it's worth noting that the wines of Spain were disproportionately represented in the under-$10 group, while many of the top-ranked French wines I tasted fell into the $10-and-over category. This suggests that the modest wines of Spain are excellent performers in the quest for both quality and value. On the other side of the coin, although both the United States and Italy produce excellent wines that I enjoy, few of those I tasted during the past year can be ranked as bargains, at least by the standard of retail pricing and availability where I live.

Without further ado, let's cut to the chase. Here are the three dozen-plus best-value wines I tasted during 2003. The wines on this list all ranked in the top 10 percent of my tastings based on quality, and appear in order of increasing retail price.

Wines retailing for $10 or less

Protocolo 2000 Vino de la Tierra de Manchuela (Spain), $5.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Domaine de Pouy 2001 Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne (France), $6.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
La Vieille Ferme 1999 Cotes du Luberon Blanc (France), $7.59. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Hugues Beaulieu 2001 Coteaux du Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet (France), $7.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Casa Castillo 2001 Jumilla Monastrell (Spain), $7.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Chateau Saint-Yves 2000 Premières Côtes de Bordeaux (France), $7.99. (Not available at Wine-Searcher.com)
Ironstone Vineyards 2001 "Obsession" California Symphony (U.S.), $7.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Carchelo 2000 Jumilla (Spain), $7.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Viña Alarba 2001 Calatayud (Spain), $7.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Achaia Clauss "Imperial" Mavrodaphne of Patras (Greece), $8.79. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Pasqua & Fazio "Mezzo Giorno" 1999 Nero d'Avola (Italy), $8.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Tatachilla 2000 Breakneck Creek Shiraz (Australia), $8.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Louis Jadot 2002 Beaujolais-Villages (France), $8.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Altos Las Hormigas 2001 Mendoza Malbec (Argentina), $9.49. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Chateau Labory 2000 Fronsac (France), $9.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Domaine Manoir du Carra 2001 Beaujolais-Villages (France), $9.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Mas de Gourgonnier 2001 Les Baux de Provence (France), $9.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Bonny Doon 2002 "Ca' del Solo" California Big House White (U.S.), $9.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Chateau du Donjon 2001 "Grand Tradition" Minervois (France), $9.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Wirra Wirra 2001 "Hand Picked" Fleurieu Riesling (Australia), $10. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Saint-Hilaire 2000 Blanquette de Limoux (France), $10. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)

Wines retailing for more than $10

Guelbenzu 2000 "Azul" Ribera del Queiles (Spain), $10.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Terlan 2001 Alto Adige Terlano Classico (Italy), $10.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie 2000 "Cuvée Beauvais" Bourgueil (France), $12.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Charles Back 2001 Western Cape "Goat Rotí" (South Africa), $13.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
M. Chapoutier 1999 Mount Benson Shiraz (Australia), $14. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Foreau 2000 Vouvray Sec (France), $14.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Marquis Philips 2002 Shiraz (Australia), $15. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Michel Frères 1997 Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé Cuvée Brut (France), $15.59. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Chateau Cambon la Pelouse 2000 Haut-Medoc (France), $15.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Chateau Lyonnat 2000 Lussac-Saint-Emilion (France), $16.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Noval non-vintage "LB" Porto (Portugal), $16.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Domaine Vincent Girardin 1999 Santenay "Le Saint Jean" (France), $17.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Roger Lassarat 2001 Pouilly-Fuissé "Clos de la Grange Murgets" Vieilles Vignes (France), $20. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Edmunds St. John 2001 Rocks and Gravel California Red Wine (U.S.), $20.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Gould Campbell 2000 Vintage Porto (France), $22.99. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)
Rocca Family Vineyards 2000 Yountville Napa Valley Syrah (U.S.), $38. (Find it at Wine-Searcher.com)

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