[wine] Southern France, S. Italy at Muffeletta

We've got an invitation to Muffuletta. Not sure if the chef will still have any morels on the menu. Warren's Wine Wish is for labels from Southern France and Southern Italy. Perhaps it was to chase away the cold from the wet and windy Memorial Day weekend. Muffuletta Cafe St. Anth. Park 2260 Como St. Paul, 55108 651-644-9116 Best WAG at the guest list: Lori Bob Betsy Warren and Ruth Jim Nikolai Here's some info on "150 best buys" from the Speculator. There are several French and Italian producers on the list of 50. I've included the article. Follow the link to the lists. Cheers, Jim Editors' Picks: Smart Buys An insider's guide to uncovering terrific wines at reasonable prices all around the globe Posted: Monday, March 08, 2004 By Kim Marcus Winery profiles: Editors' Picks: A - D Editors' Picks: D - O Editors' Picks: O - Z Also: View the full list of wines in PDF format The wine world today is an expanding universe, filled with tens of thousands of wines, accelerating in quality and diverging in style. Wine lovers have never before enjoyed such abundance and diversity. Want a crisp white? Try a South African Sauvignon Blanc. Looking for distinctive, full-flavored reds? Explore Argentina, with its Malbecs. Seeking Europe's next up-and-coming wine region? Venture to Campania, near the toe of the Italian boot. While the wide range of wines on the market today is a boon to enjoyment, it also presents challenges in separating the good from the bad (and sometimes, the ugly). Fortunately, you don't have to use all your spare time ferreting through the thousands of bottlings available from the five major winemaking continents. That's where Wine Spectator editors come in. Among them, the eight editors who taste wine on a regular basis have accumulated more than a century of tasting experience. In addition, they regularly travel the globe in search of exciting wines and are constantly probing the frontiers to see what's new and notable. It's not a search without a budget, however. Quality and price are inextricably linked; while it's our goal to find out where you can get the most bang for the buck, the buck is still up to you. Faced with the cornucopia of quality wines available, wine buyers break down into three general groups. The first group will pay any price for quality. These lucky few have the resources, and the desire, to buy the best of the best; their cellars are full of outstanding and classic wines. The second group, because of budgetary constraints or undemanding palates, will only pay up to a certain amount for a bottle of wine. Their limit may be $5 or $10 or slightly more; their goal is to find the best they can for the price. In between these two falls the third, and most demanding, group. These consumers have Champagne tastes and Budweiser pocketbooks. They may not be able to afford the world's greatest wines, but they won't settle for plonk to save a dollar or two. Their dream is to find very good to outstanding wines at reasonable prices. Call them the Smart Buyers. This report is for them. Of course, few of us are wedded to a single group: People move constantly from one to another. It may be that you shift into different buying strategies depending on the occasion. For big parties, you stick with budget wines, but when the in-laws come to dinner, you spring for prestige bottles. Or, you may collect Napa Cabernets and be willing to pay top dollar to cellar the best, but want to spend less for the wines you drink every day. If you are a Smart Buyer, however, you will accept nothing less than first-class quality, but you won't take out a second mortgage to pay for it. When exploring new regions in Italy or Spain, you set a limit on prices in order to reduce your risk. In more established wine categories, you search out experienced producers who provide distinctive wines at honest price levels. "People expect value," declares California winemaker Jed Steele, who has worked at wine companies large and small and now runs his own show at Steele Wines. "It's not that I envision making wines for the masses, but I've always felt wines should be reasonably priced." With this in mind, Wine Spectator editors set out to search the world for Smart Buys and the vintners who make them. They were given general quality- and price-parameters with which to target the Smart Buys: scores of 88 to 92 points (very good to outstanding) on Wine Spectator's 100-point scale; prices mostly in the $15 to $25 range. This search uncovered 50 producers who are at the forefront of making high quality wines at the best possible prices. The highest-rated wines top out at 94 points; the lowest-scoring wines clock in at 86 points. All but three of the 150 wines we've listed cost $30 or less per bottle; the average score is 89 points and the average price is $19. In addition, the wines we selected are made in generous quantities, and most of the producers we recommend should be represented in major U.S. wine markets. The Smart Buy terrain is most fertile where winemaking is pursued with passionate precision and an efficiency spurred by the balance sheet. More often than not, its ranks are filled with visionary vintners and winemakers who are committed to making memorable wines with unique flavors. Thus, this report avoids large corporate wineries that produce whole ranges of wines, even those that indeed offer wines meeting our criteria. (This includes producers such as Gallo in California, Rosemount in Australia, E. Guigal in France.) Smart Buyers are generally already familiar with these wines. Instead, we concentrated on smaller, lesser-known wineries that focus their portfolios on this sweet spot of price and quality. We also wanted a broad diversity of regions, grape varieties and wine styles. Our 50 Smart Buy producers hail from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, France, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and the United States. Each makes at least three wines that meet the criteria and has a consistent track record. Barring disastrous vintages, this ensures that these producers can be relied upon to deliver notable wines year in and year out -- not only those we highlight in this report. In Europe, you can chose from grapes that are familiar, or ones you've never heard of. Indeed, European bureau chief James Suckling's selections include a mix of producers -- some striving in traditional regions, some setting the pace in emerging ones. In Bordeaux, for example, Suckling has selected three lesser ch�teaus owned by vintners with interests in leading estates; you get the experience and standards of the best, but from areas that can't command top prices. One of the best examples is Ch�teau Puygueraud in the backwater C�tes de Francs appellation near St.-Emilion. The Thienpoint family, who also make great Pomerol at Vieux-Ch�teau-Certan, offer two Puygueraud wines from the 2000 vintage, a reserve (91 points) and a regular bottling (89) that each cost less than $20. Both wines are Bordeaux blends based mostly on Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. All of Suckling's Italian picks are from the southern part of the nation, which he believes will be the next source of great Italian values. One of the most intriguing wines from this region is Falanghina Irpinia 2002 made by Terredora in Campania. The 2002 (90, $14) is a refined rendition of this obscure grape. The Iberian Peninsula is a hotbed for path-breaking wines. According to the results of tastings by executive editor Thomas Matthews, Spain is leading the charge with rich, ripe red wines from the Toro region, such as J. & F. Lurton Toro El Albar Barricas 2000 (89, $15). Spanish whites, long a weak link, are scoring highly as well, including Bodegas Godeval Valdeorras Vi�as Godeval 2001 (89, $14), a vibrant wine made from the Godello grape in the province of Galicia. Then there is Portugal, my area of expertise, which is in the midst of a quality revolution that is transforming its formerly lackluster red table wines. At their best, Portuguese reds are reminiscent of the robust and meaty-tasting wines of France's Rh�ne Valley, especially with the likes of Quinta do Vallado Douro 2001 (90, $14). Elsewhere in Europe, look to Germany for refined and pure-tasting whites. Its value appeal, like that of many other Smart Buy regions, is propelled by a lack of cachet in the market, which you can profit from. Outstanding quality Rieslings are widely available for $20 or less a bottle. Senior editor Bruce Sanderson makes the case with vineyard-designated wines by Meulenhof, including its Riesling Sp�tlese Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2002 (93, $20). If you fancy white Burgundy, you will have to pay a premium, but Smart Buys do exist. Senior editor Per-Henrik Mansson recommends looking outside the expensive terroir of the C�te d'Or to surrounding appellations. Thus, one of his top wines comes from southern Burgundy near M�con, the J.-A. Ferret Pouilly-Fuiss� Les Sc�l�s Cuv�e Sp�ciale 2001 (88, $28). Some of the most exciting ground for Smart Buys lies in the Southern Hemisphere. South Africa, for example, has shaken both the stigma of apartheid and the sloth of governmental regulation to produce wines worthy of recognition. Among senior editor James Molesworth's favorites is Buitenverwachting Sauvignon Blanc Constantia 2003 (90, $15). If you are looking for hearty, full-flavored reds, it may be time to check out Argentina. There, Molesworth has been following the rise of the formerly obscure Malbec grape. The Dominio del Plata Malbec Mendoza BenMarco 2002 (91, $20) is one of the best, with a perfumed aroma and ripe and meaty flavors. Australia also remains a center for quality reds with its fruit-driven Shirazes, Grenaches and Cabernets. One of editor at large Harvey Steiman's leading Smart Buy producers is Bleasdale in the Langhorne Creek district of South Australia. It has been able to benefit from the region's lack of notoriety and the high quality of the grapes it grows to make supple and generous Shirazes and Cabernets in the $12 to $20 range. Finally, there is California. While its reputation for values has suffered of late because of a plethora of $100-a-bottle Cabernet Sauvignons, it can still put forward plenty of Smart Buys. Just don't expect Napa Cabernets. Instead, it's best to explore farther afield. One of senior editor James Laube's highest-scoring Smart Buy reds is the Rosenblum Zinfandel San Francisco Bay Carla's Vineyard 2001 (92, $23), a wine made in the bayside city of Alameda, in a rented space, from an appellation -- San Francisco Bay -- that didn't exist 10 years ago. These are just a few of the wines made by our 50 Smart Buy producers. In the pages that follow, you will be able to read their stories, learn about their winemaking techniques and zero in on their best wines. It's the inside scoop on how to buy the smartest wines for your money in the world today. -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *