Good Drink July 11, 2008
By Craig Pinhey
I was in Alberta last week judging the Wine Access International Value Wine Awards (IVWA), and, although I can’t reveal any official results yet, I did get a chance to taste many wines that are available in our market. All were judged blind in sub-categories of like wines, so this makes the impression different than if someone just poured you a glass of wine and asked “What do you think?” Many wines in the $10-25 range are very good, and some grapes seem to be universally good (Malbec from Argentina & Spain’s Tempranillo, for example) but it is interesting how some wines show up as so much better than their peers when tasted in the blind format.
It is interesting to consider what value means to one person versus another. I used to say under $15, then it crept up to the teens, and now I’m not sure that under $20 is even high enough. Certainly some of my favourite value wines have crept over the $20 barrier. Has your salary grown fast enough to keep up with wine prices?
This said, there are still some under $15 wines that impress, and a handful of under $10 “steals.” Rather than talk strictly price it is good to measure wine quality, like at the IVWA, where scores are given by qualified judges. This enables us to attach a Quality/Price ratio to a given wine. If you score on the 100 point scale, most commercial wines score in the 80-90 range, which is actually misleading, because the 100 point scale has this major flaw: it is really only a 10 or perhaps a 15 point scale. Most magazines don’t bother mentioning wines scoring under 80 (who wants a B+ wine?) and judges seldom give wines above 90, and almost never above 95. This results in a tight scoring range, where 79 or under is wine I wouldn’t recommend, 80-81 is an uninteresting but drinkable wine, 82-83 is quite drinkable but plain, 84-85 is a nice little wine, 86 is pretty darn good, 87 is very good, 88 or 89 is borderline excellent, and 90+ is excellent.
This reveals a huge jump in perceived quality from 84 to 87, when in high school grading (where, let’s face it, all of us got to know the 100 point scoring system, and not just 10 points of it), 87 versus 84 is pretty much the same. Add in price, though, and the scoring system gains merit, although it needs some sort of sliding scale. If an 80 point wine costs $10, it is a good value. At $15 it is not. Similarly, an 85 point wine for $15 is pretty good value, whereas a $25 wine should really score higher than that. Continuing on this argument, any time you get an 88 point or higher scoring wine for under $20, it is fantastic value. And a 90+ wine for under $30 is certainly a great deal, even if not all consumers can take advantage of it.
Where’s the value these days? Well, Spain is a hot bed for value reds, and the Campo Viejo brands are perfect proof. The $14.79 Crianza (minimum 2 years aging, with a minimum of 12 months in wood) and Reserva (minimum of 3 years aging, with a minimum of 12 months in wood) mainly Tempranillo-based reds from Rioja are excellent value, even if the Reserva has crept over the $20 line to $20.49. I don’t normally score wines in my column, but, if I had to, I’d score these wines both quite high, somewhere in the 87-89 range. So that makes the Crianza excellent value and the Reserva very good value. Both have good minerality, lots of plummy fruit, and classic tobacco herbal notes, good body and firm tannins, as well as some aged complexity.
Perhaps the Reserva has more tannins and will age better, but the Crianza is drinking better for the price right now, and I’m all about the value.
Craig Pinhey is a writer and Sommelier, available for private tastings. Visit him at www.frogspad.ca <http://www.frogspad.ca> .
Çraig Pinhey
“Atlantic Canada’s Wine, Beer & Spirits Writer”
Sommelier, wine consultant and educator, booze & pop culture columnist
www.frogspad.ca
frogspad@nb.aibn.com
506 647 8466
