In article . com>,
DaleW > wrote:
>
>'02 Chablis (Brocard, Moreau, or just about any good producer's
>straight Chablis AC, or for just under $20 the Brocard or Savary 1ers)


I am afraid to strongly disagree with two very knowledgeable posters, but
I find most Chablis to be quite awful, even at the premier cru level.
I have said this here before, but I pretty much only find the wines of
the more famous producers like Raveneau and Dauvissat drinkable.


>Sancerre, Pouilly-Fum=E9=AC=A0Menetou-Salon (Thomas-Labaille, Pelle,
>etc)


Sure, sauvignon blanc is a cheap grape. However, in the US we can also
get some very good sauvignon blancs for < $20. Australia and New Zealand
have also flooded the market with them. It's like saying that you can
find lots of good CA zinfandel cheaply. It's a cheap grape. Of course
you can.


>I personally enjoy Trimbach's base Riesling and Gewurz, but some find
>them too austere. Lots of other good Alsace producers.


I do not like this either (Trimbach).


>'02 Cru Beaujolais (Coudert/Roillete Fleurie rules! Plus Brun/Terres
>Dorres, Lapierre)


Not a big fan of most Beaujolais.


>As noted, there's a lot of plonk out there. Offhand, I can't think of
>any region in the world that isn't 50% plonk in the under-$20 range.
>But learning producers you like is the key.


Of course everyone has their own tastes. In general, I can assume without
tasting that a cheap French wine is plonk. In fact, my girlfriend made
up a whole section in my wine-tasting notebook which she labeled "French
Swill" since so much of it is. That is not to say that American plonk
of the sort like "Mondavi Coastal" is good wine. However, given a choice
between a California wine I've never had before and an unknown French wine
for $15 I'll always choose the American wine before tasting. I have
verified with blind tastings that my palette is just not tuned to like
French plonk. Perhaps it is because even cheap California wine has some
intense fruit in it, whereas lots of cheap French wine tastes overwatered.


High-end French producers like Ramonet score well alongside high-end
California producers like Peter Michael. However, when you start to
get into the lower price ranges I feel that more often than not the
American wine will be the better of its counterpart. A pinot like
Patricia Green for $18 cannot be bettered by its French counterpart
in the same price range, IMO. In fact, I usually don't even bother with
the village wines, because the premier cru wines are so much better for
just a bit more money. To me, the difference between most AOC village wine
(forget vin de pays entirely) and premier cru is staggering.


That is not to say that cheap French wine is all bad. Quite a lot of it
is good. However, I definitely find a lot of CA wine I like in the $15-30
range and not much French wine I like at all in that range. Once you go
over that $30 mark then the field changes significantly, because that's
when you start getting into the premier crus (in Burgundy) and the better
wines in places like the Rhone, Condrieu, Alsace, and even Champagne.
Champagne is a good example, actually, because I think California
sparkling producers completely destroy anything produced in France in the
$10-20 range but at that point and beyond the French wine is the only wine
worth buying.


Dimitri