I drink a lot of different wines, from different countries and regions, but I collect only a few, and the wines of Chateauneuf du Pape in France’s Southern Rhone Valley are a favorite. Paul Autard is one of the premier winemakers in the Rhone region in part because, unlike many of France’s winemakers, he’s using modern techniques like new oak aging. Still, his wines end up staying true to tradition with fruit focused favors that made the region famous.

Outside of Bordeaux, Chateauneuf du Pape is arguably France’s most prestigious wine regions and that fact isn’t lost on the importers and wholesalers, which is to say, these wines aren’t cheap. Anything rated 90 points or above starts at $30 and goes all the way past the $500 mark. So when a potential 94 point CdP from a highly collectible label comes along for under $40, I pay attention.

Though Autard’s techniques are modern, his wines are classic CdP.  Oak only subtly influences the overall flavor which is dark and brooding, likely due to the 50% Syrah component – a higher percentage than most wines of this region.  Still the Grenache brightness, which focuses through the lengthy finish, adds lift to this age-worthy wine.

If you enjoy the wines of Southern Rhone, I would highly recommend this one.  Paul Autard’s wines are proven classics and at a price that’s nearly $5 lower than the next lowest price in the country (according to Wine Searcher), the deal is literally unbeatable!

Buy Here: 2009 Domaine Paul Autard Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee La Cote Ronde $39.95

Robert Parker 93 points

“Autard’s quasi-modern-styled offering is the dense plum/purple-colored 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee La Cote Ronde, a blend of equal parts Grenache and Syrah from relatively old vines (60 plus years) that sees some new oak barrels. However, the 2009 shows only subtle evidence of vanillin and toast. It is a seductive, full-bodied, opulent effort displaying notes of caramelized red and black fruits, herbs, licorice and a hint of ink. This full-bodied, rich 2009 is ideal for drinking over the next 12+ years.

The 2010s all reveal deeper colors, higher acids, and more focus and precision.”

Wine Spectator 93 points

“This is beautifully rendered, with sleek, polished layers of black- berry, cassis and boysenberry fruit inlaid with toasty spice and sweet anise notes. The long, ganache-coated finish glides along despite its heft, with a great roasted mesquite note that lingers on and on. Drink now through 2013.”

2009 (along with 2005 and 2010) is being touted as the Bordeaux vintage of the decade.  And as silly as that might sound, it’s really pretty awesome.  We all get to drink a bunch of great Bordeaux and we have three vintages to pick from!  The 2005 vintage is pretty much gone (though LA Wine Co has a few left) and with a four year gap between ’05 and ’09, Bordeaux lovers have been a little short on great values (though you can always buy expensive wine from any vintage).

This wine is 100% Merlot and tastes like a perfect mix of California richness and French finesse.  Winemaker Jeff Carrel crafted it in a modern style that makes it perfectly drinkable today, though it will likely drink great for the next 5-7 years.  This is a serious wine that I would be thrilled with as a daily drinker and any Bordeaux lover could confidently serve as a house wine.  I would put it right up there with the 91 point 2008 Chateau Tirepe la Cote I wrote up in July.

Hopefully this is an indication of the values that are soon to come from the 2009 Bordeaux vintage.  If so, I might just start my Bordeaux collection soon.  I’m guaranteed at least two collectible vintages, right?

Buy Here: 2009 Chateau de Bel Bordeaux $15.95

The wines of Southern Rhone’s Chateauneuf du Pape region are possibly the purest expression of fruit the wine world has to offer.  Mostly uninfluenced by oak, these wines are all about the soil in which they are grown and the vines that produce the grapes.

This wine, by world-renowned Domaine Pierre Usseglio, is defined by the finish, something oak barrels can’t produce.  A blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre and 5% Cinsault, it’s fantastically long with strong tannins that will likely integrate over the next few years to create a wine of spectacular balance and finesse.  This is a 2009 and, as such, is showing a little of its youth.  But after three hours of air, the wine started to blossom with the initially thin mid-palate filling out nicely and the nose blooming into a superb combination of strawberry and earth aromas. 2009 has been touted as a great year in Southern Rhone, and based on this wine I have no reason to doubt that statement.

The more wine I drink, the more I’m starting to believe that Rhone varietals, especially Grenache, are the best grapes in the world.  Spain, the U.S., Australia and of course France, excel at Rhone style wines and their versatility and value are, in my opinion, unmatched.  Rhone varietal wines can range from light to incredibly dense and work well with or without oak.  Most importantly, these wines are great with food.  My cellar is getting more and more of these wines every day.

Buy Here: 2009 Pierre Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf-du-Pape $41.95

Robert Parker 90-92 points

“The 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape (80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre and 5% Cinsault) is another top-notch effort. The wine is aged in tank (60%), foudre (30%) and 1- to 4-year-old small barrels (10%). Sweet raspberry, black currant, and cherry fruit intermixed with licorice, lavender and tobacco leaf jump from the glass of this perfumed 2009. With outstanding ripeness, a plush, evolved mouthfeel and sweet tannins, this beauty is already complex and delicious. It should age well for 7-8 years.

One of my favorite stops on my trips to the southern Rhone is at Domaine Pierre Usseglio where brothers Jean-Pierre and Thierry Usseglio have accomplished special things. A new state-of-the-art tasting room has been added, somewhat unusual in Chateauneuf du Pape where little has changed in the three decades I have been tasting there. However, the small, discrete Usseglio tasting room would never be compared with tasting rooms that exist in Bordeaux and California.”

International Wine Cellar 89 points

“Ruby-red. Subdued aromas of blackberry, cherry and licorice accented by white pepper. Sweet and round on entry, displaying dark fruit flavors given definition by firm acidity and complicated by slowly emerging suggestions of bitter cherry and candied anise. The firmly tannic finish features enticing floral lift and echoes the licorice note. Showing a serious side right now.”

All I can say to myself as I’m drinking this wine is “wow”.  This is an incredibly good wine and it’s under $10 a bottle.  As I drink more and more wine, it becomes harder to be impressed by a given wine.  That’s what makes this wine an absolutely staggering value.

This wine comes from the largest and least prestigious Bordeaux appellation called Bordeaux Superieur.  But, especially in Bordeaux, lack of appellation prestige means lack of appellation pricing.  Put a Pomerol designation on this label and watch the price multiply by 10x. Minimum.  Savvy wine buyers the world over know to look outside the famous and thus, price inflated appellations, for the real values.

Blackberry and bing cherry dominate the nose and palate of this wine, with a hint of toasty oak bringing everything together.  This wine’s texture is silky and downright impressive with a density characteristic of a wine 5x the price.  A high percentage of Cabernet Franc results in a medium length finish that rounds out a polished wine.

2009 is the third Bordeaux vintage of the decade (along with 2000 and 2005), and whether you believe the hype or not, you will be missing out if you don’t give this early release a try.  It drinks great now and has the tannin structure to improve for another year or two so don’t be shy.

Buy Here: 2009 Chateau de Macard $9.95

Wine Spectator 90 points

“Ripe and dense, but fresh, with silky-textured plum, blackberry and blueberry fruit carried by sweet spice and maduro tobacco notes. The fleshy finish shows nice drive. Should open up more with brief cellaring. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2011. 5,000 cases made.”

You pay a tax to drink Champagne.  Plain and simple.  The best sparkling wines come from Champagne but if you are looking for low prices they just can’t be found.  I literally can’t remember a Champagne for under $20 (half bottles don’t count).

So if you are looking for a special sparkling wine for Valentine’s Day with out the special price, look to other regions of France, Spain, Italy and ‘Merica.  This Cremant, a term the French developed for sparkling wine made outside of Champagne, is from the Languedoc region in Southeastern France, where the climate is such that they can produce vintage sparkling wine every year (this one is a 2007).  See, the climate in Champagne is not conducive to grape growing, so most years the Champagne houses produce non-vintage wines which are actually a mix of good and not-so-good vintages, with the goal of consistency.  Vintage wine, or wine labeled with a year, is only produced in the best years, maybe 2-4 per decade.  Well, in southern France, the climate is great for grape growing, so they can make vintage wines every year.

Michel Olivier’s Blanc de Blancs Brut is bright, vibrant and delicious, and at $10 makes a strong argument for drinking sparkling wine at least once a week.  Apple and lemon flavors are complemented by a round, creamy mouthfeel with a little toasty oak- everything you would expect from a nice Champagne, for 1/3 of the price.

The best part: the label is French and looks really classy so, guys, your girlfriend or wife isn’t going to know the difference between this and a $50 bottle of Champagne.  Stop in at LA Wine Co and pick up a bottle for Valentine’s day or order a case online for any occasion (such as celebrating 5 o’clock).  This will keep for a number of years so don’t be shy.  The 1999 vintage is still drinking great!

Buy Here: 2007 Michel Olivier’s Blanc de Blancs Brut $9.95

How much do I like Champagne?  A lot.  How much do I like Champagne’s pink version?  A lot plus a little more.  Unfortunately, the rosé version usually costs between 2 and 5 times more than the standard version, so it’s a very rare occasion that I get to drink the real deal.  Legally, only grapes grown in the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne (with the exception of a few U.S. sparkling wines that were grandfathered in).  And much like the “Napa Valley Effect” Champagne demands a much higher price than it’s less prestigious, though sometimes just as tasty, counterparts in different regions of France and elsewhere.

In this case the grapes come from Alsace in eastern France near the German border.  Lucien Albrecht’s brut rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes whose skins impart the beautiful pink color in this wine.  A perfect alternative to Champagne, this wine is fruity and creamy on the palate, with the Pinot grape coming through on the finish with nice mineral flavors and a little bitterness that reminds you this is a rosé, not a run of the mill sparkling wine.

At $14.95 you really can’t go wrong giving this a try, especially if you are in search of an alternative to Champagne which starts at $25.

Buy Here: Lucien Albrecht Cremant d-Alsace Brut Rosé $14.95

Wine Advocate 87 points

“While Albrecht’s Pinot Blanc Cremant d-Alsace (a genre Lucien Albrecht was prominent in legally codifying) is delicious, it is a bit simple to count as a top value at $24, whereas their non-vintage Cremant d-Alsace Brut Rose – a pure Pinot Noir – is more intriguing and distinctive. Along with strawberry and red raspberry fruit suggestions that are enhanced by the wine’s discreet hint of sweetness, there are saline, meaty, and herbal notes to add interest to both the nose and a lush palate, and the hints of salinity and bitterness in the finish make for an invigorating complement to the wine’s prominent fruit. This comes in a light-sensitive clear bottle, and I could identify no lot number, so make sure that whoever sells you a bottle will take responsibility for freshness and proper storage.

As a group, Albrecht’s wines were delightfully user-friendly, although some of them – like so many wines of Alsace nowadays -lacked the concentration or distinctiveness to render them excellent values, given starting prices of close to $20.”

Robert Parker called the 2007 vintage in Southern Rhone “the greatest vintage I have tasted in my 30 years working in that region… Moreover, the vintage is remarkably consistent from top to bottom”.  That quality and consistency might be perfectly expressed in the 2007 Font du Vent Cotes du Rhone-Villages Notre Passion Signor, which is the best Rhone value I’ve tasted all year.  This wine would probably be good in an average vintage, but in an historic vintage like 2007, it’s incredible.  This $11 Cotes-du-Rhone Villages tastes like a pretty good Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  That’s really saying something.

Everything about this wine is well put together, fresh and elegant.  Like most wines of this style, it’s not influenced by a lot of oak, though half of it does see some time in barrels.  The bouquet of strawberry and honey leads into a firm attack that has a perfect balance of fruit and mineral flavors on the palate.  I literally can’t understand how someone can grow, ferment, blend, bottle and ship a wine of this quality for $11, but I’m really glad they did.

I can’t think of a better daily drinker red than this awesome Rhone.  Buy a case of this and the 2007 Sean Minor “Four Bears” Cabernet we wrote up in July, and you will have 24 evenings of daily drinking pleasure.  I can’t overstate the value of either of these wines.  I taste hundreds of different wines a year, and these are at the top of the heap in terms of value.

Buy Here: 2007 Font du Vent Cotes du Rhone-Villages Notre Passion Signor

Wine Spectator 88 points

“A nice pure beam of raspberry and red cherry fruit is supported by cocoa powder and graphite notes. The fresh, stylish finish has good underlying grip. Drink now through 2010. 3,100 cases made.”

I’ve been on a major Champagne kick lately and it seems like anything with the word “Heidsieck” on the label is really good.  In the last month, I’ve had Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck and Heidsieck & Co, all in the $25-30 range and all fantastic values.  This got me thinking about about how three different Champagne houses could have the same name, so I did some research on the Interweb’s #1 source of sometimes accurate information (Wikipedia), and here’s what I came up with:

Charles Heidsieck (of Charles Heidsieck) was the son of Charles-Henri Heidsieck (a Champagne merchant) who was the nephew of Florens-Louis Heidsieck (of Piper-Heidsieck) and the cousin of Pierre Auguste Heidsieck (of Heidsieck & Co Monopole).  Got it?

Now that you know who founded Heidsieck & Co., you’re probably wondering how it tastes.  It tastes exactly as Champagne should; dry, slightly woody, with nice citrus notes.  What make this special is the texture, which is particularly creamy, making this Champagne more comparable to those in the $50 price range.  Of all the Champagne I’ve enjoyed recently, this is probably my favorite under $30, though you really can’t go wrong with any of the Heidsiecks.

You don’t need a reason to drink Champagne any more than other fizz-free wines, so buy it up and enjoy!  You can bet I am.

Buy Here: Heidsieck & Co. Monopole Blue Top $26.95

Wine Spectator 90 points

“Delicate in style, with fine bubbles and apple, wheat beer and mineral flavors. Precise and intense, this is balanced, with a lingering aftertaste of chalk. Drink now through 2012. 12,714 cases imported.”

The Bordeaux marketing machine heralded the 2005 vintage as the best since ’82, and with good reason.  The wines are historically concentrated, highly age-worthy and balanced despite their high alcohol levels.  Many of the best 2005 Bordeaux values are long since sold out, but some values remain for the savvy shopper.  Case in point, the 2005 Chateau Domaine de Courteillac which is drinkable now, likely to improve with age, and, most importantly, is a great value.

This wine pours a deep, nearly opaque red.  The nose is still somewhat closed but its potential shows in the mouth where this Bordeaux is particularly silky with firm, but approachable tannins and a middle length finish.  Some of the 25% new oak shows through, making it clear that this is a serious Bordeaux.

I have a good bit of 2005 Bordeaux in my cellar, but haven’t drunk much because it needs so much time to become drinkable.  So it’s nice to taste a 2005 that’s approachable at the ‘young’ age of 5.  Many Americans (sometimes myself included) don’t have the patience, or the storage facilities to wait for Bordeaux to mature.  If you’ve been waiting to buy 2005 Bordeaux or you have a bunch that isn’t ready to drink, pick up a few bottles of this great example.  It received 90 points from Wine Spectator and 87 from Robert Parker.  In lesser vintages, wines like this would be going for double the price.  Easily.

Buy Here: 2005 Chateau Domaine de Courteillac Bordeaux $17.95

Wine Spectator 90 points

“Dark in color, exhibiting beautiful aromas of blackberry, coffee and milk chocolate. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a light toasty oak and citrus fruit aftertaste. Balanced and pretty. Best after 2013. 10,830 cases made.”

If you’ve been holding off on buying 2005 Bordeaux, first of all where have you been?  But more importantly, now is your chance to buy a highly rated ’05 for under $30.  I bought this wine as a future for around $40 on the recommendation of a friend who is a big Bordeaux collector.  I felt good about that price given the 93 point Robert Parker rating, but at under $30 I would have bought much more.  There is not much 2005 Bordeaux left on the market and with 2009 looking like the next “all star” vintage, buy up on this great value to drink for the four years you’ll have to wait for the 2009 to mature.  I’ll open my first in three or four years.

Robert Parker 93 points

“La Vieille Cure’s amazing 2005 is even better than their terrific 2003 and 2000. The 2005 boasts an inky/ruby color as well as a gorgeously sweet perfume of charcoal, black cherries, black currants, and spring flowers as well as an underlying mineral component. Superb concentration, full-bodied power, wonderful symmetry, purity, and texture, and a multidimensional mouthfeel are all found in this fabulous sleeper of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020+”

Chateau La Vielle Cure $29.95