Best Buys $10 And Under

#38 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2025

93 points Wine Spectator
A graceful Champagne, with a fine, raw silk–like mousse carrying well-meshed flavors of poached quince and pear, Marcona almond, oyster shell and white blossoms. Fresh and focused, with savory hints of mineral and herbs on the finish. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Disgorged October 2024. Drink now through 2035.

Ployez-Jacquemart blends wines while respecting the typicality of each grape harvest. Our Extra Quality Brut Champagne can be tasted following ageing of a minimum of three years. Our Extra Quality Brut is a blend of Premier and Grand Crus with a majority of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes (usually 60% black grapes and 40% white grapes). Our black grapes provide greater richness, complexity and roundness. We only use pure Cuvees (first pressings) and the make-up of this blend only exceptionally uses reserve wines when the grape harvest quality is too low.

Ployez-Jacquemart is a family House created in 1930 by Marcel Ployez and his wife Yvonne Jacquemart.

The whole essence of Ployez-Jacquemart rests in our continual search for excellence and our remarkable abilities to make truly fine wines. These skills have been passed down through three generations. Deep-seated pride in our product and heritage are the cornerstones of our traditional approach to champagne production

Organic

The Guilhem is airy and breezy, with the grace that makes it a real charmer. This pale-colored, beautifully textured Rosé is impeccable in its balance. Pretty floral notes fill out the mid-palate effortlessly. Despite its light color, the 2022 offers plenty of depth and tons of stylish appeal.

35% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 30% Carignan

Some of the vines here are over 70 years old. Even with a reticent, understated nose one can sense the energy and precision in this wine. There’s a lovely, creamy texture on the palate, with bright citrus notes and a long, lingering, savoury, mineral finish. A very fine example of Chablis which would compete very effectively against many a premier cru.

Derived from 100% Pinot Noir from the limestone/clay soils of Sancerre. This wine was vinified in stainless steel and rested on the lees for six months; this adds depth and complexity. This Rose is pale pink in color and is electric on the palate with an almost tonic quality that quenches the thirst and keeps you coming back for more. Aromatically vibrant with elegant notes of wild strawberry and citrus, this is an unbeatable summer sipper.

Organic / Biodynamic

Mas des Capitelles’ workhorse Vieilles Vignes is built on the backs of Mourvèdre (50%) and Carignan (25%) from vines up to 80 years old, with Syrah (25%) completing the blend. After a 30-day maceration with a small proportion of semi-carbonic whole clusters in the fermentation, one-fifth of the cuvée was aged in oak and four-fifths in fiberglass and enamel vats, with bottling taking place after 14 months. An exuberant nose of blueberries, violets, and warm dust evokes the sun-scorched slopes of the appellation in visceral fashion, and the palate sizzles with an almost spiky minerality, framed by rich but firm blue and black fruits. The balance of refinement and wildness here is extraordinary, with neither trait calling too much attention to itself.

Mas des Capitelles began in 1999, when ninth-generation vigneron Jean Laugé began bottling his own wine after a lengthy stint at the local co-operative, where his father's a driving force in the creation of the Faugères appellation in the early 1980's had served as president.

91 points Wine Spectator
A well-balanced Champagne, with a vibrant backbone of acidity and a creamy mousse, this offers spice and tea rose accents to the crushed white cherry, toasty and candied lemon zest flavors. Clean-cut finish.

A blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 25% Pinot Meunier and 25% Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs; about half of the juice comes from 1er Cru and Grand Cru vineyards.

The Marie Weiss label is produced by the superb, small Champagne house of Ployez-Jacquemart, which is located in the small village of Ludes on the Montagne de Reims. The Marie Weiss bottling is produced entirely from purchased grapes or must, and the new release was quite a lovely bottle. The refined and complex nose wafts from the glass in a blend of apple, white peach, brioche, a nice touch of fresh nutmeg and a lovely base of chalky soil tones. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, crisp and wide open, with good mid-palate depth, lovely focus and complexity, elegant mousse and lovely balance on the long and classy finish. This is not quite as structured out of the blocks as the Ployez-Jacquemart Brut NV, which really is built to age long and gracefully, and the Marie Weiss is a lovely counterpoint from the Ployez family for those who really want to drink their bubbly right after it is purchased.

Cremant d’Alsace Brut CATTIN is a dry and fruity sparkling wine with delicate bubbles. It’s the perfect drink for celebrations!

Appearance: bright pale gold; fine bubbles.
Nose: fresh; green apple and white flowers.
Palate: fresh and dry palate; lively acidity balanced with fruitiness of green apple and lemon; fine and creamy bubbles.

A single-vineyard wine made by the winemaking team of Margaux estate Ch??teau Siran, this wine has structure, dense tannins and layer upon layer of black fruits. 2019 was an excellent vintage in Bordeaux.

80% Merlot, 10.5% Petit Verdot, and 9.5% Cabernet Sauvignon. From an eleven hectare single-vineyard plot on the Margaux border. 25 year-old vines planted in a sandy gravel subsoil with clay topsoil. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for twelve months in French oak, with two rackings.

"This outstanding property in Labarde in the southern part of the Margaux appellation is making consistently delicious, fragrant, deeply colored wines that are in quality on a par with the best Grands Bourgeois Exceptionnels." - Robert Parker, Bordeaux: The Definitive Guide For The Wines Produced Since 1961

Chateau Siran is a highly regarded Bordeaux producer vinifying wine in Margaux. We have had a vintage or two of their Margaux over the years, but we didn?????t know they produce a second wine named Saint Jaques De Siran. And it is this wine that recently knocked our socks off while tasting through an assortment of French wines. Saint Jacques de Siran is a throwback to the Bordeaux of yesteryear with its oak-influenced characteristics. This is not a new-aged, acid-driven Bordeaux all about upfront juicy fruit. No, this has all those classic notes that made Bordeaux popular in the first place, like cedar, saddle leather, tobacco leaf, and dried fruits. I had a flashback while tasting this that it was the early 2000s and I had Bordeau from the nineties in my glass!

Chateau Siran has long been recognized as one of the top estates in Margaux. The property has been in the Miailhe family for six generations????? a total of 160 years. Today, the property covers 88 hectares, with 38 hectares planted to vines. The other fifty hectares are left as woods and meadows, for their beauty and to promote biodiversity, a priority of the Siran team.

The majority of Chateau Siran?????s vines are planted in the commune of Margaux, but they also have a very special 11 hectare parcel on the border, which is classified as Bordeaux Superieur and bottled as ?????Saint-Jacques de Siran?????. The terroir here has clay topsoil over the famous Bordeaux sandy gravel subsoil. The vines are planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare and average 25 years old. The Miailhe family has practiced sustainable agriculture since 2000 and the vineyards have been certified sustainable, HVE3 since 2018. Only organic fertilizers are used and they work with grass cover and plowing to control weeds

93 pts Wine Spectator
This vibrant version shows a range of toasted brioche, baked cherry, crystalized honey, grated ginger and coconut flavors, remaining light-footed and lively throughout. Beautifully balanced, with a lasting, mouthwatering finish

One of Southern France's great values year in year out. A typical Méditerranéen blend : 40% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 30% Carignan. A soft approachable style that is driven by more earthy elements than a ripe fruitiness. Fermented in stainless steel giving the wine a freshness that is hard to deny.

Dry

Winemaker Notes:
"An intense nose, dominated by red fruit, with spices and some oak notes; a round and supple wine with well knit tannins on the palate."

Vinified from 100% Pinot Noir of fifteen year old vines. Direct pressing of the grapes and cold settled for 24-48 hours, fermented in stainless steel using indigenous yeast. Aged on the lees in stainless steel and bottled the Spring following harvest. The wine displays a gorgeous cherry hue, red fruit and white blossom aromatics, and a medium-bodied texture on the palate. This dry Rose is the perfect aperitif!

93 points Wine Enthusiast
This Chenas does its job even in a cooler vintage. Red raspberry, black tea, black plum, blackberry and strawberry open on the nose. On the palate concentrated fruit combines with dried field grass and reveals layers of flavor imparting depth. This is an elegant, layered wine.

Stephane Aviron strives for a style that is elegant and fine in the Chenas without too much concentration. The wine is very drinkable. With his subtle approach to winemaking, the terroir is able to express itself very clearly and precisely.

Organic / Biodynamic / Natural

60% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Vermentino.

"This seems drier than its stablemate, the famous Yellow Label, and is the better for it. There is an urgent freshness here, driven by red currants and tight plum skin flavors. It is lively but full in the mouth, and shows just the right bottle age." 91pts WE

Made using 50 to 60 different crus, the cuvee is based on Brut Yellow Label's traditional blend: 50 to 55% Pinot Noir, 15 to 20% Pinot Meunier, and 28 to 33% Chardonnay.

Organic

91 points Vinous
Ripe raspberry, pressed violets, licorice and dried herbs compose the multifaceted aromatic profile of the 2022 Cotes du Rhone Coudoulet de Beaucastel. Shaped gently by soft tannins, this refined red contains solid substance and caps off with persistence on the classic finish. Give it another two years to start revealing its full potential.

Winemaker Notes:
"More than a century before champagne, the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire in the Southern foothills of Limoux had created France's Very First Sparkling Wine. The Blanquette Brut predominantly uses a local grape variety, the Mauzac. Up to 10 percent of Chenin and Chardonnay are permitted. Fresh, Lively, Crisp and Dry."

This cuvee is sourced from vines the age of which is between 45 and 70 years. A wine of exceptional concentration for a village level appellation, this wine is always a true expression of the kimmeridgian soils that make Chablis so distinctive. Aged for thirty months before release, Defaix?????s old vines Chablis is richly dense with a classic "pierre a fusil" bouquet and long mineral-infused finish.

92 points Vinous
The NV Brut Ultradition is the same base wine as the Extra Brut Ultradition. Here the higher dosage seems to give the wine greater fleshiness and immediacy, while changing the wine's shape. Some of the mid-palate creaminess seems to have been achieved at the expense of a bit of persistence. Disgorged: November 2016. Dosage is 6-8 grams per liter. - Antonio Galloni

92+ John Gilman
The current release of Laherte Frres non-vintage Ultradition Brut is composed from an atypical and highly attractive cpages of sixty percent pinot meunier, thirty percent chardonnay and ten percent pinot noir and was finished with a dosage of six to eight grams per liter. This is from the base year of 2012 and the wine is outstanding, offering up a very refined, meunier dominated constellation of white peach, loads of spring flowers, chalky soil tones, gentle smokiness and a dollop of brioche in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, fullbodied and extremely elegant, with a fine core, superb soil signature, refined mousse and a very long, complex and dancing finish. This is a beautiful bottle of non-vintage Brut!

Base 2020.

Organic / Natural

60% Syrah, 40% Grenache. Fresh and pure, with a solid core of raspberry and plum fruit lined with white pepper, savory, rosemary and violet notes. The fresh finish lets the fruit and minerality linger while adding some floral lift. The grapes for this wine are sourced from three hectares next to Vinsobres dans la Drome, which will now be Franck's and is farmed organically. The winemaking occurs in stainless steel, fermentation with wild yeasts, no filtration and little SO2.

An amazing chance to feature one of the stars of Cornas at an entry level price point. Very persistent, but fine-grained tannins make this one a serous wine, but still very easy to drink right now!

Brilliant topaz tones with amber hues. Pleasant orange notes on the nose with hints of candied peel, light aroma of vanilla fragrance from the cognac. Fragrant orange flavors enhanced by the cognac with nuances of orange essence and hazelnuts. Lingering and harmonious finish.

92pts Wine Advocate:
Straw yellow and with a golden hue in color, the Pol Roger NV Reserve Brut displays a brilliant, perfectly ripe but also fresh, highly elegant and refined fruit aroma on the nose; think of cooked pip fruits like pears and apples, but also quince-confiture and yellow stone fruits, such as apricots and peaches intermixed with vanilla, brioche (pain aux raisins), some nutty flavors and also some white floral notes. On the palate, this medium-bodied Brut is as round (if not pretty sweet) and fruit-driven as it is delicate, pure and very elegant. The mousse is deliciously fine and leads this charming and perfectly balanced fizz to a long, aromatic, stunningly dry and slightly mineral, impressively long finish. This is extremely well done Champagne from equal parts of Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay sourced in 30 different crus. This Reserve includes 25% of reserve wines and was dosed with nine grams per liter.

The "White Foil" is sourced from top quality vineyards in Montagne de Reims (Pinot Noir), Vallee de al Marne and Petite Valle d'Epernay (Pinot Meunier) and the Cote des Blancs (Chardonnay). Pol Roger "White Foil" is traditionally a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir (body and depth), Pinot Meunier (freshness and vigorous fruit) and Chardonnay (elegance and finesse) and is sourced exclusively from juice from the "cuvee" (first pressing). Each final blend contains a minimum of two vintages with the youngest components being a minimum of three years old. Average dosage for the "White Label" is 8g per liter.

The Pol Roger family takes extreme pride in more than 160 years producing some of world?????s finest Champagne. Founded in 1849, Pol Roger is one of only a few Grande Marque Champagne houses that remains family owned and operated. Pol Roger owns close to 50% of the vineyards used for their Champagne production, a true rarity in this region of large firms. Using strict guidelines, grapes are sourced exclusively from 1er and Grand Cru vineyards that rate at an average of 95 points on the Echelle des Crus classification system. (In each vintage, the Echelle des Crus system, or ladder of growths, operates on a percentile basis to fix grape prices of each cru, or delimited vineyard area in the Champagne appellation; Pol Roger?????s vineyards, therefore, rank close to the highest quality possible among the Grande Marque Champagne houses.) Prior to final blending each lot is aged on its own, separated by village, vineyard, grower and grape variety. Once blended, each bottle of Champagne Pol Roger is hand riddled in the cellars deep below the Epernay chateau. In effect, each bottle of Cuvee Champagne is hand-made. Pol Roger Champagnes are the marriage of power and elegance. "Pol Roger is the 'gentlemen's' Champagne", as Jean-Paul Kauffman wrote in 'Voyage en Champagne'. "It is not surprising, therefore, that Winston Churchill, and even the British royal family should have made it their favorite over the years. This refinement reflects a whole lifestyle. It is also a source of infinite pleasure. Pol Roger Champagne has a soul, created by the union of a family's spirit and the character of a vineyard".

Fun Fact: Champagne Pol Roger is delighted that their Brut Reserve Non Vintage, has been chosen to be served at the reception following the marriage of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales to Miss Catherine Middleton on 29th April 2011.

For classic rose Champagne elegance, it is hard to top Ruinart. From the first glance at its rounded bottle, to its strawberry tinted bubbles that dance up the from the bottom of the flute, nothing says "tonight is the night" more than this delightful fizz. Typical baguette notes merge with pinot-noirish aromas and flavors of cranberries and honeysuckle. The top shelf of rose sparklers. - PJ

This 100% Sauvignon Blanc is a spectacular alternative to Sancerre. The Vignes de Berge is a 3.5 hectare parcel on kimmeridgian marne soils with a high proportion of stones known in the appellation as terres blanches. The vines here are in excess of 45 years of age. This wine is the most generous and earthy of the Fumes produced at the estate. 12.5% abv

Organic

96 points James Suckling
So expressive and so precise, this is a great modern Cornas. Haunting nose of black forest berries with notes of dry forest floor and wild herbs. Then comes the wonderful combination of restrained richness and youthful freshness on the vertical, medium-bodied palate. And just as the coolness of evening follows the heat of the day, the mineral vibrancy of the finish follows the succulence of the mid-palate.

93 points Vinous
The 2022 Cornas Granit 30 was made from fully destemmed grapes. It exhales prominent black fruit aromatics paired with pencil shavings, iodine and an underlying rusticity. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and concentrated, theres plenty of old-world savoriness in this classic 2022 Cornas...Vincent Paris produced a solid set of wines in 2021 but really excelled in 2022. These are distinctively savory Cornas expressions, but they neatly capture balance and freshness. Neither truly modern nor fully traditional, the Paris style sits somewhere in between, perhaps leaning a bit more toward the latter.