Some people say that the best wine in the world is the wine you enjoy the most that costs the least. By this metric, it has never been a better time to drink wine, considering the relative bargains you can find today. We understand that rare, fine wines that garner some of the highest ratings at JamesSuckling.com can cost a fortune, but we also taste literally thousands of wines costing $35 or less that can taste like a $100-plus bottle. That’s the sweet spot for finding great wines at great prices.
This report covers wines from all over the world that we rated highly and sell at that price point. Each wine on this list is widely available in most major wine markets, according to Wine Searcher. Prices can vary depending on what country you’re in, transport costs, taxes and retailer markups, among other factors. While we can’t guarantee that these wines are available at a reputable wine merchant near you for $35 or less, each meets a high standard of availability at a low cost.
The Top 100 Value Wines of 2021 is one of our most inclusive yet, with 15 different countries represented, all producing wine at a level and price that can’t be beat. Italy repeated from last year as the top source of value wines, giving 19 to this list. Next came Spain and the U.S., at a dozen each, while 10 came from each of Argentina, Chile and France, six from South Africa, five from New Zealand, four from Germany, three from Australia and Austria, two from Israel and Portugal and one from Uruguay and Hungary.
What we didn’t expect is that five of the top 10 and eight of the top 25 wines on this list would be Beaujolais Crus. These picks, though, did fit in with our tastes: at JamesSuckling.com, we all love good Beaujolais for its bright berry and cherry fruit, mineral freshness and elegant tannins. It’s also really exciting to follow the rapid progress of the leading group of winemakers in turning the unique granite and volcanic terroirs of the Beaujolais Cru into great wines.
Even more astonishing, four of the five Bojo Crus in the top 10 are Morgon wines – two each from Michel Guignier and Jean-Marc Burgaud. This is a terrific achievement for both winemakers and for a single Beaujolais Cru. If you like elegant reds and don’t already know these wines, we feel pretty sure they will be a big discovery for you!
Our Top 100 Value list is otherwise dominated by red wines, with 58, but white wines are well represented with 40, and there’s also one sparkling and one fortified wine. If you prefer white over red or vice versa, this list has you well covered, with fantastic options in both departments. We have commonplace varieties like pinot noir and chardonnay, and less standard options like blaufrankisch and petit manseng. If you want to try something new without dropping a load of cash, this list is an excellent guide.
As our top source of value wines, Italy offers a wide variety of different styles and varietals at affordable prices, from down south in Sicily all the way up to Veneto and everywhere in between. The top Italian wine on our value list is the Foradori Manzoni Bianco Vigneti delle Dolomiti Fontanasanta 2020, which came in at No. 4. It’s a Demeter-certified biodynamic wine that Senior Editor Stuart Pigott described as “maybe the greatest natural white wine I have ever tasted.” And it only costs from $25 to $35 at any reputable wine merchant.
It was Australia’s Eden Valley, though, that gave us our No. 1 value wine for the second year in a row with another one of its great-quality rieslings: the Pewsey Vale Riesling Eden Valley 2021. We found this wine to be so fresh and exhilarating, with intense and balanced flavors of lemon and stone fruit. Besides being delicious, the best thing about it is that it’s priced at an average of $16 and is available just about everywhere! Australian riesling is one of the best deals in the market today, and this Pewsey Vale is leading the charge in terms of price, quantity and quality.
READ MORE: TOP 100 VALUE WINES OF 2020
WASHINGTON’S BEST: K Vintners of Washington State is a prime example of producers outside of California offering fantastic wines at prices that are hard to argue with. Its Syrah Wahluke Slope The Deal 2018 is No. 17 on our value list.
SPANISH CHARGE: In this video from September, James talks with Isaac, Eduardo and Manuel Muga of La Rioja winery Bodegas Muga, about their latest releases. The Muga Rioja Riserva 2018 was one of a dozen Spanish wines on our Top 100 Value Wines list.
RIESLING SCORES AGAIN
In fact, riesling is the most featured white grape variety on this list. You know we love great riesling whether it’s from the best vineyard sites of Germany, Austria and Australia or from lesser known wineries in New York or Alto Adige. But for this list we run the gamut with rieslings from such storied German wineries like Donnhoff, which produced our German Wine of the Year in 2021, to Moric in Hungary, which made a boundary-pushing riesling-furmint blend that tastes so balanced and effortless you’ll wonder why the two grape varieties aren’t blended more often.
Cabernet sauvignon led the way for Great Value reds this year with eight single-varietal bottlings making it onto our list, not including all of the blends it’s in. While cabernet sauvignon is perhaps most famous for growing in high-profile regions such as Bordeaux and Napa Valley, it can also be produced to very high standards in places like Mendoza, Argentina, and Central Valley, Chile, where it’s also available at a fraction of the price of the more popular wine regions.
As far as the other countries, the U.S. made the greatest leap upward this year, tying with Spain for the second-highest number of wines on our list. The U.S. has a lot of great value options, particularly outside of California, with states like Washington, Oregon, New York and Virginia all offering fantastic wines at prices that are hard to argue with. Producers like K Vintners in Washington and Early Mountain in Virginia were included on the list of Top 100 Wines of the USA report that we published last month and also appear on this list with fantastic offerings under $35.
And Spain is often a key player on our Top 100 Great Value Wines list, but this year it really shines. Many of its wines come from premiere producers like Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri, Muga and Artadi. Often when speaking with producers, they describe how their entry-level wines are sometimes the hardest to make because they must speak to who the producers are as individuals and what their house style is while remaining accessible to a wide audience. These wines are thoughtfully composed with incredibly high standards and precision. They are not afterthoughts for winemakers, but serious forays into wine.
There are also many Great Value wines from countries we love but don’t give quite as much coverage to as we would like, such as Israel, Uruguay, South Africa, Hungary and Portugal. Each of these countries is producing better and better wines each year, and these Great Value Wines are an excellent entry point into winemaking regions that perhaps the general consumer has not gotten the chance to try yet.
Diversity in style and accessibility through price and availability are allowing for so much good wine to be enjoyed by so many people in today’s market. More and more people can drink the wines they like at prices they can afford. The average wine consumer can drink better today than they ever could before thanks to modern techniques and knowledge among those crafting these wines. These stories are at the center of what we do at Jamessuckling.com, and we will continue to extensively cover them in 2022. Enjoy.
– Nathan Slone, Associate Editor
An earlier version of this report listed Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Clairmore Vineyard 2017 as the No. 62 Value Wine. The wine name should have been Sterling Vineyards Chardonnay Napa Valley Heritage Collection 2018.
