Good article by Mike Steinberger of Slate, appropriate for Bastille day:
slate.com
Two Cheers for France
"It continues to churn out most of the planet's truly great wines. Sure, that's a subjective claim, and might even be taken as fighting words in Napa and Sonoma, but I don't think there are many wine geeks who would dispute it. Chave, Guigal, Raveneau, Dauvissat, Romanée-Conti, Leroy, Coche-Dury, Pétrus, Lafleur, Latour, Haut-Brion, Margaux, Yquem, Krug, Salon, Beaucastel, Huet, Trimbach—these are the most venerated names in all of winedom, and all are French. Exceptional wines are made elsewhere, including the United States, but no other place comes close to matching France for sheer number of bench-mark wines."
I would add that it is also a great source for outstanding wines that meet the cutoff for this thread. Just picking a few recent highlights that I've had in the past few weeks, all in the mid teens:
2008 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon No. 2
2007 Clos Roche Blanche Gamay Touraine
2007 Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie
2007 Les Chemins de Bassac Pinot Noir Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue
Then there's Baudry, Texier, Binner, and countless other top quality producers who have bottlings in this price range.. For me, France is the king of QPR right now. |
