Tag Archives: $10 Hall of Fame

2024 $10 Hall of Fame

woman drinking wine at dinner
“Thank you, WC, for another terrific $10 Hall of Fame.”

10 wines entered the Hall of Fame this year, while 5 dropped out

The blog’s final $10 Hall of Fame reflects all of wine’s troubles and travails over the past several years — supply chain woes, even more availability conundrums than usual, and the scourge that is premiumization.

Yes, 10 wines entered the hall, the most since 13 joined the Hall in 2018. But five dropped out, mostly for availability, and only a dozen or so merited consideration. That was down from the 18 I considered last year, and it’s only a third of the three dozen or so that were usually good enough to be considered in the blog’s pre-pandemic days.

The reason for the latter is simple: There are fewer and fewer quality wines that cost less than $15, as the wine business continues to ignore everyone who doesn’t consider $30 or $40 affordable and just the thing for a week night dinner. Nothing illustrates this more than the lack of decent rose for $15 or less — and that is actually available. That only one rose made the Hall this year is an affront to wine drinkers everywhere.

Nevertheless, the Hall is going out in style. The wines that earned selection demonstrate that it’s possible to make quality wine costing $10 or $12 — and that there is a market for such wines.

The 2024 inductees include:

• Six whites: Three French wines, including two picpouls — the Jadix and the La Chapelle du Bastion — and the Domaine Bel Air Muscadet; two Spanish whites, the Protocolo Blanco and the Marques Cacera verdejo; and South Africa’s Wolftrap white blend.

• Two reds: California’s Shannon Ridge Vineyard Wrangler Red and Wolftrap’s red blend.

• A sparkling: The Italian Jeio Bisol Prosecco Brut, a Prosecco.

• A rose: France’s Paul Mas Cote Mas Aurore — and in a 1-liter bottle, no less.

The dropouts: The French Le Petit Gueissard and the Chilean Tres Palacios roses, both for availability. The 1-liter Azul y Garanza tempranillo from Navarre in Spain and the French Little James Basket Press white blend for quality, prices increases, and because they’re  more difficult to find. The French Mont Gravet carignan is, apparently, no longer made.

The complete 2024 $10 Wine Hall of Fame is here. The Hall’s selection process and eligibility rules are here. Know that I considered wines that cost as much as $13 to $15 to take into account price creep and regional pricing differences.

Photo: “Kyla at dinner tonight at Cobre eating tacos and drinking Rose (not cougar juice)” by Chris Breikss is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

 

2023 $10 Wine Hall of Fame

two people drinking rose
“Oh no. … a shortage of rose in the Hall of Fame?”

Nine wines entered the Hall of Fame this year, while only three dropped out

Three years of supply chain woes and all that meant for availability finally caught up with the Hall of Fame. The 2023 version welcomes nine wines, while only three dropped out — a surprisingly refreshing development. But I had to leave six more wines out of the hall because (and even though I bought all of them), they weren’t generally available.

In other words, the shipping shortage finally snafu-ed quality cheap wine. And, what’s worse, I’m afraid we may see that happen again next year despite the various improvements we’ve noted on the blog in the world’s supply chain. I guess a quality $12 rose isn’t as important as computer chips.

Also depressing: For the second year in a row, I didn’t have many wines to choose from – maybe 18, down from a couple of dozen last year. Typically, I get three or four dozen in a good year.

Still, there is plenty to celebrate in 2023 – and, for the second year in a row, more to celebrate than I thought there would be. The inductees include:

• Five whites: the Badenhorst Curator white blend from South Africa; three French whites – the Chesnaie Muscadet, the Reine Juliette Picpoul, and the Bernier chardonnay; and California’s Rickshaw sauvignon blanc, a wine I really like.

• Two reds: the blog’s Turner Cheap Wine of the Year, California’s Matchbook cabernet sauvignon, and the Argentine Santa Julia Mountain Red.

• Two roses: The French Le Petit Gueissard and the Chilean Tres Palacios. Rose was especially hard hit by availability. I tasted at least a dozen that were worthy of consideration, but most were sold in only a handful of stores.

The dropouts: Two whites – an Austrian gruner veltliner from Wachau Loess and a French blend, La Graviere Blanc, both of which vanished from store shelves, and Portugal’s Faisao rose vinho verde, whose quality was nowhere near what it had been.

The complete 2023 $10 Wine Hall of Fame is here – only paid subscribers have access. The Hall’s selection process and eligibility rules are here. Know that I considered wines that cost as much as $13 or $14 to take into account price creep and regional pricing differences.

Photo: “Boyfriend and girlfriend drinking wine. Pink colors for Valentine day” by shixart1985 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Blog holiday update, plus the 2021 $10 Hall of Fame schedule

scheduleYour holiday blog schedule, plus when the 2021 Cheap Wine of the Year and $10 Hall of Fame will appear

• The blog’s Christmas and New Year’s wine suggestions will appear on Dec. 21 and Dec. 28. The December mini-reviews will appear on Dec. 24 because of the holiday. The blog will be off Christmas and New Year’s Day, though Dec. 25 will feature our annual Bruce Springsteen “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” video.

• The always popular Do it Yourself wine resolutions is set for Jan. 4.

• The 2021 Cheap Wine of the Year will post on Jan. 7, with the $10 Hall of Fame making its 14th annual appearance on Jan. 8. As always, you can email me with suggestions for either, or you can leave them in the comments. Check out out the eligibility rules here. Keep in mind the wine should cost less than $12 or $13, should be generally available, and can’t be a private label sold exclusively by one retailer.

Picture courtesy of University of Florida, using a Creative Commons license

The WC needs your help in choosing the 2019 $10 Hall of Fame

Hall of FameSend me your suggestions for the 2019 $10 Hall of Fame, so we can show the wine business we want quality cheap wine and not the plonk they want us to drink

The 2019 $10 Hall of Fame will appear in one moth – Jan. 4, 2019. And I truly need your help to find wines worthy of induction this year.

I always ask for – and appreciate – suggestions when I compile the best cheap wines of the previous year. But I’m asking earlier this year because prospects for the 2019 Hall are not good. As I wrote last year, the warning signs for 2019 appeared in 2018, and the situation has deteriorated since.

This was easily the worst year for cheap wine since I started the $10 Hall at the turn of the century for a Dallas magazine. Prices are up, quality is down, and added sugar seems to be everywhere. Too many producers don’t want to sell us wine, but alcoholic fruit juice. Even the Pine Ridge chenin blanc viognier blend, once a Hall of Fame staple, has been tarted up with residual sugar.

What makes a $10 Hall of Fame wine?

• Price, of course. The wine should not cost more than $12 or $13; I’ve increased the limit over the past couple of years because of price creep.

• They should be varietally correct and without obvious flaws. In addition, they should be balanced and interesting enough to buy again. In other words, honest wines. I can’t emphasize this enough. Chardonnay should taste like chardonnay, French wine should taste like French wine, and so forth. Otherwise, what’s the point?

• A wine is not worthy of induction because it’s cheap; there’s a difference between quality cheap wine and wine that is made cheaply. We’re seeing entirely too much of the latter these days.

• Availability. No wines sold by just one retailer, like Two-buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s. My term is generally available – you should be able to buy the wine at a quality retailer in a medium-sized U.S. city.

Leave your suggestion in the comments to this post or click this link to send me an email. I start working on the Hall during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, so keep that in mind if you have wines to recommend. And thanks for your help and continued support – we’ll get through this bad patch and make the wine business understand they can’t continue to foist this plonk on us.

July Fourth blog schedule changes 2018

The blog is off for the July Fourth holiday next Wednesday, and there are couple of other changes in our schedule next week:

• The wine of the week, which usually runs on Wednesday, will run on Monday. That way, you can buy it to enjoy on the Fourth.

• Our regular features return on Thursday, including Friday’s post discussing the continuing divide between what we buy and what the Winestream Media tells us we should drink.

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2014 $10 Hall of Fame coming Monday

$10halloffameThe 2014 $10 Hall of Fame will post on Monday, with several major surprises — including a $5 wine and a longtime favorite that dropped out because, sadly, it wasn’t very good.

Nevertheless, this looks to the strongest group of cheap wine ever, even more impressive than last year, which was perhaps the best Hall class in history. The Golden Age of cheap wine, where we’re drinking not only better made wine, but there are more wines of higher quality than ever before, continues with no end in sight.

This is amazing for at least two reasons: First, because the wine business is becoming increasingly desperate to raise prices, but cab;t because consumers aren’t willing to pay more (and more on that later this month). Second, because consolidation seems to dumb down wine quality, and consolidation — more bigger companies owning more brands — continues to increase.

Holiday blog schedule changes 2013

Christmas and New Year ?s Day fall on a Wednesday this season, so I ?ve had to make some adjustments to the the blog ?s schedule:

? The blog will be off Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 for the holiday. On Christmas, the annual Bruce Springsteen ?Santa Claus is Coming to Town ? video will post, while I ?ll run a wine tasting video — wine humor ! — on New Year ?s Day.

? The wine notes that usually run on Tuesday will appear on a Monday, Dec. 23 and Dec. 30.

? The wine of the week, which usually runs on Wednesday, will run on a Tuesday, Dec. 24, and Dec. 31.

? The 2014 $10 Hall of Fame will appear on Jan. 6. If you have any suggestions for the Hall, send me an email or use the link at the top of the page.