Wine Squares
Let’s go!
We’re back, you know the rules, and if you don’t here they are:
- One box is voted on per day. The current box is bolded
- Please don’t be a fool and comment for a different box or future box, will not count
- Winner is top comment after 24 hours
- We then advance to the next!
Top 2 runner ups will be posted in the next post!
Runner ups:
Most Underrated Wine Region
– Greece
– Loire Valley, France
Most Overrated Wine Region
– Burgundy
– Provence
Most Underrated Wine
– Barbera d’Alba
– Txakoli
Most Overrated Wine
– Meiomi
– Prisoner
Best Grape Variety
– Riesling
– Nebbiolo
Worst Grape Variety
– Muscadine
– Pinotage
Best Wine Label
– Mouton Rothschild
– Emmerich Knoll: Riesling Ried Loibenberg Smaragd
Best Newbie Friendly Wine
– Beaujolais
– Vinho Verde
Best Value Play Wine
– G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo / Barbera d’Alba
– La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza / Vina Alberdi
Most Consistent Region
– Rioja
– Jerez
by AustraliaWineDude
24 Comments
Napa
Burgundy! There is some of the very best but also some absolute shit!
We all know it’s Burgundy.
It’s Burgundy and it’s not close
Texas
As a second non-Burgundy region option, I nominate the Okanagan Valley. There’s some wineries making really world class Burgundian style wines, but (ironically) just like Burgundy, there’s a lot of absolute shit mixed in as well, not helped by the fact that it seems to die to a cold snap every few years. Maybe not quite the same price differential on the shit wines as in Burgundy though.
Bordeaux, covers everything from transcendental to vinegar
Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
I’m guessing Burgundy will win (not totally undeserved), but there is WAY more inconsistency coming out of most of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Chateau Musar is the obvious example… when it’s good, it’s very good, but buying Musar is like navigating land mines. Even within the same case, you’ll find some bottles are absolutely fucked and others are totally fine.
Makes sense given all the political turmoil in these areas, and many of the top producers are hardcore on low intervention (which leads to some inconsistency but usually better terroir representation).
Alsace is up there
Stellenbosch
A total crapshoot unless you know what you are looking for.
Don’t some say global warming broke Burgundy in the sense that, overall, the alcohol percentage is higher than in the wines that made it famous, in particular the whites? (Not to mention all the premox from the early part of the century?) And then there are all the bad producers… Yikes.
Oof, this one’s hard – California, Rhone, Languedoc, Veneto, South Australia, Bordeaux, all deserve a shout.
But my vote’s on **Burgundy**
There’s probably two ways in which you can define consistency right? Does it taste similar year after year and do different producers in the appellation taste similar to one another.
Consider the reasoning why the others don’t count:
* South Australia is too freaking big, of course things vary a lot both between producers and between vintages when you’re talking about half a continent.
* California is also massive, and besides, it is home to some of the world’s most consistent wines. Say what you want about Caymus, it tastes the exact same year after year
* Rhone and Bordeaux both fall into the category of “the bottom half varies vastly between producers and between vintages”. But cheap Bordeaux and Cheap Rhone are all very very cheap, and shouldn’t be held to high standards. The top producers are still consistent in both quality and house style year after year.
* Languedoc is famous for producing oceans of cheap crap. Even the “top” producers (like say, the top 5%ile) are relatively cheap. So I’m willing to cut them a lot more slack than anywhere else
* Veneto, similar to Languedoc, is famous for oceans of cheap plonk. But the biggest producers play in the Pinot Grigio and Prosecco spaces, and they’re actually pretty consistent, if consistently boring. It’s like Budweiser – eternally consistently boring.
My votes on Burgundy. Why Burgundy?
* Burgundy is a relatively small “top level” appellation. You expect less variance in a smaller geographical area compared to say South Australia, California or Oregon.
* The main Bourgogne Rouge and Blanc (and their higher level sub appellations) both require primarily one grape variety (85%+ Pinot Noir for rouge, 85%+ Chardonnay for blanc), which you’d assume cuts down on the variance
* Two Burgundian producers making wine from the same grapes from the same climate could end up with wine that taste drastically different.
* The same Burgundian producer making wine from the same plot sometimes tastes drastically different. I’ve had chablis from a specific plot from the same producer that one year tastes acidic and zingy, while another year it tastes buttery and oaky.
* Finally, Burgundy is a pricy appellation, even the cheap bottom shelf stuff is “midpriced” by the standards of other appellations. In an era where basic ass Louis Jadot Pinot Noir is $20+ USD or $30+ CAD per bottle, you don’t get the “at least its cheap” defense.
Probably not going to win but I’m gonna say Washington. I’ve gotten amazingly good and amazingly bad form this region enough for me to avoid it altogether
Burgundy
Paso Robles
Provence!
Burgundy
Southern Rhone – they’ve seemingly forgotten what acidity is, nearly across the board, except for the best traditional producers.
I think Jura takes this one
I mean it has to be burgundy right?
Everyone who says Burgundy, has not dived into Piemonte. Period.
Ontario Canada
Washington, it’s been wildly inconsistent between fantastic and terrible
Napa. #1 Fires #2 winemakers who create over-oaked, over-extracted, inconsistent bullshit and charge a mortgage payment per case. Nuck Fapa.