Best Buys $10 And Under

Organic

Jeb Dunnuck on a previous vintage:
A richer styled wine (I've compared this cuvée to a Chardonnay from Mark Aubert), the 2020 Novellum has a medium gold hue as well as a rich, powerful bouquet of caramelized lemon, honeyed almonds, candle wax, and toasted bread. Rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, and balanced, this is another no brainer purchase.

Review is on the previous vintage.
94 pts Jeb Dunnuck
All Chardonnay brought up in used demi-muids, the 2019 La Colline Aux Fossiles sports a medium gold hue to go with terrific stone fruits, caramelized citrus, white flowers, and honeysuckle-like aroma and flavors as well as a beautiful sense of minerality that emerges with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully textured, with a layered mouthfeel and a great finish, it’s another knockout Chardonnay from the team of Eric Solomon and Jean-Marc Lafage.

Organic

This is the most important wine of the estate, a serious red vinified to reflect its capacity to age. The grapes are harvested at a point of slight surmaturité which captures the profound scents and flavors of the surrounding hillside garrigue. The cuvaison continues for at least a month; then, the wine is racked into tank for aging. The wine is bottled twenty to twenty-four months after harvest. As the wine ages in bottle, it develops enticing notes of juniper, rosemary and thyme as well as the savory flavors of wild berries and a hint of the "animal" all in all, one of the more compelling values in all of France.

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.

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

Organic / Biodynamic

90 points Jeb Dunnuck
Based on 70% Syrah and 30% Grenache, the 2020 Syrah La Touge has a pretty, juicy, up-front, and medium-bodied style as well as classic Minervois elegance. With complex notes of mulberries, new leather, peppery garrigue, and dried flowers, it's drinking nicely today yet should easily evolve for 4-6 years. It's a hidden little gem of a Syrah from the Languedoc

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."

The first thing you will notice about this wine is the playful and yet confusing label, which does not get easier to decipher after a few glasses. Well, the winery is stronger in winemaking than marketing for this is a delicious daily drinker. A subtle floral bouquet (violets) graces the senses while the body of the wine is brimming with ripe blackberries and a pepper note. Although this wine is generous on the palate it is also soft texturally and very easy to drink. The tannins are subtle, no oak barrels used here, and the alcohol is mild at 12.5% abv. This extremely pleasurable red is less power and more finesse which is not easy to achieve in the Languedoc-Roussillon.

80% Grenache and 20% Syrah fermented in temperature controlled tanks with a cuvaison up to one month. Aged for 4 months in tank.

"Le Loup dans la Bergerie" loosely translates as "The wolf in the hen house".

Organic / Biodynamic

90 points John Gilman
The Terres d’Argence bottling from Château Mourgues de Grès is their old vine cuvée, with all of the vineyards that go into this blend at least forty-five years of age. The blend in 2018 is seventy percent syrah and fifteen percent each of grenache and mourvèdre. The vineyards are planted on marl and limestone soils, with a surface strata of galets roules just like in Châteauneuf du Pape. The wine is fermented with native yeasts and raised in a combination of cement, foudres and five percent small barrels. The 2018 version is again ripe in this warm summer, tipping the scales at 14.5 percent alcohol and offering up a fine bouquet of cassis, woodsmoke, hung game, stony soil tones, lovely spice tones and just a whisper of oak from the small barrels. On the palate the wine is deep, focused and full-bodied, with a superb core of fruit, excellent mineral undertow, ripe tannins and fine balance on the long and complex finish. The old vines here really give the wine fine mid-palate stuffing. This is most impressive and also a touch cooler in the mouth than the 2020 Galets Rouges bottling. 2028-2045. View From The Cellar

This wine is predominantly (70%) Syrah based from vines that are over 45 years old, complemented by old-vine Grenache (15%) and 15% Mourvedre. The vineyard has a perfectly full southern exposure, with a subsoil of marl and calcareous limestone and a substantial surface layer of galet stones provides exceptional ripening conditions for these vines year in and year out.

After a gentle maceration for 3-5 weeks, the wine is aged in concrete vats (65%), wooden vats (35%), and, for the fruit from the most-structured plots, barrel (5%). No yeasts or sulfur are used during vinification or aging. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.wine.

Distinctive, with blood orange, tangerine and wet hay notes forming the core, while light herbs and a faint echo of tamarind weave through the finish. Alluring, creamy mouthfeel. Tibouren and Grenache.

90 Points James Suckling
Pleasant nose with peaches, sweet apricots and mild spices. Medium body with a flavorful, vibrant mid-palate and a succulent finish. Drink now. Screw cap

A direct and considerable freshness - the density and richness of the fruit mingle with the superb acid vitality giving a wine with a frisson and a magnificent persistency. Stunningly balanced, this is an extremely appetent wine! Ideal as an aperitif.

Beneath the pure dark fruit, the intense depth of flavor, the energy, and the enticing Provençal aromatics lurk a wildness—perhaps owing to the large percentage of Mourvèdre—that is never tamed. Or as importer Kermit wrote, "there is always something wild and unpredictable about it, spirited, shall we say, yet it is honest and impeccable, full of warmth and finesse."

Pas de Problème is an easygoing Pinot Noir sourced from near the village of Béziers. It's fruity, juicy, unoaked, and aromatic, with notes of mocha, thyme, and rosemary. Aromatic notes of raspberry, redcurrant, and wild strawberry are complemented by mocha, thyme, and rosemary. This Pinot Noir is fruit-forward, light, and juicy, with no oak added.

Organic

A delicious French Rose in a can! My prayers have been answered! Light, refreshing and crisp. Perfect for picnics in the park or backyard BBQs.

Organic / Biodynamic / Natural

Malbec, Muscat de Hambourg, Merlot, Colombard, Grenache Noire, Muscat d’Alexandrie
Whole bunch maceration, fermentation in concrete vats and aged. No fining no filtering.

Friends and winemakers, Benjamin Taillandier and Fabien Jouves collaborated on this fresh bistro red. 12.5% abv

Organic

Located in the appellation of Jurançon in south-west France, Domaine Coustarret's 5 hectares of vineyards have been passed down for seven generations. Today, Sebastien Coustarret tends the vines and makes the wine. The vines sit on the slopes of the foothills of the Pyrenees at an altitude of 400 meters, facing south on soils of limestone and clay with large pebbles. The domaine practices organic farming and is in conversion to certification.

The Cuveé Renaissacne Jurançon Sec is made from 80% Petit Manseng, 10% Courbu and 10% Camaralet from vines that average 20 years of age. The grapes are fermented with native yeasts and aged in stainless steel tanks. Vibrant flavors of tropical fruits are buoyed by a fresh, tangy acidity.

Organic / Natural / No Added Sulfites

Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot from L'Ardeche. 10 day carbonic maceration in cement tanks and aged in fiberglass and stainless steel. A full-bodied, lush red that is seamlessly put together. This is super clean for a natural wine, especially as a sans soufre wine.