All wines reviewed are available throughout the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. We select wines because of their high quality to price ratio. Check out our top 10 wine shops.
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Final Cut Montage Shiraz, South Australia
A full bore fruit bomb, and exactly what you’d expect for an Aussie shiraz. It makes this list because it pulls out some complexity with an undercurrent of black tea and smoked paprika—an excellent buy.
Coopers Creek Pinot Noir, Hawkes Bay New Zealand
Delicious Pinot for under $15. Nice aroma of earth and strawberries, plus bright and easy cherry notes on the palate. Lean grainy tannins smooth out into cinnamon and flowers on the finish.
‘Ecole Merlot, Columbia Valley
Merlot for grownups. A reductive style, with tar and smoke notes. The fruit goes to dark berry, which does not materialize without aggressive decanting: this vintage is aggressively tannic, which hides much of the fruit at first.
Could use a year in the bottle to even out. A remarkably good wine.
Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi, Campania
Aglianico is known as one of the greats in the trade, on par with Cabernet and Syrah. This is a great example.
It possesses deep fruit that segues into caramel, slate, and burnt sage. The wine shows modern winemaking prowess (the huge tannins soften and melt in the mouth) but retains enough acidity to keep the structure taut and linear. Impressive.
Turnbull Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
This is the corporate-expense account style of Napa Cab –the kind you expect to see on the Capitol Grille wine list for $160. Rare to have this style of wine at a reasonable price point.
The wine itself? It’s cocoa and plum over a creamy, lush structure ridged with cinnamon and graphite. The finish is mostly black cherry and menthol. A very well-made wine, but in the mold of luxury generic wines that is too common these days.