Question of the Month: Underrated Wine Regions

April 20th, 2008 · 3 Comments

This month’s question:

What is the most underrated wine region (judging by wine value) anywhere in the world?

We’ve talked a lot in the past couple weeks about the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, which has fast become one of our favorite jewel-in-the-rough wine regions. There are just so many wineries in the SCM crafting exquisite Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, and at the level of quality that we’ve been seeing, we’ve become convinced that the area is producing the best Burgundy look-alikes available in California.

Try Hallcrest Vineyards’ 2006 Belle Farms Pinot Noir, Heart O’ The Mountain’s Pinot Noir, Windy Oaks’ 2006 Estate Wild Yeast, and Mount Eden’s 2004 Estate Bottled Chardonnay if you’d really like to get a sense of what we mean. Note that you can order these wines at the respective wineries’ web sites, subject to your state of residence. And as a reminder, we tell you where you can purchase the wines only so that you know where to find them. There’s nothing in it for us!

Know of a better underdog region?? Share with everyone by posting a comment below.

3 responses so far ↓

1 Eric Hundin // Apr 20, 2008 at 9:32 am

I found your blog on MSN Search. Nice writing. I will check back to read more.

Eric Hundin
2 Ryan // Apr 21, 2008 at 8:25 am

The Finger Lakes region of New York is sorely overlooked, not necessarily for the wines that they produce, but for the wines that they could produce. Dr. Konstantin Frank realized that the climate and soil was similar to that of southern Germany and that he could produce world class Rieslings and Gewurztraminers. Unfortunately, in recent years the Finger Lakes vineyards have been playing to the middle ground and producing a lot of mediocre chardonnay. Here’s hoping that they get back to Riesling and Gewurztraminer and maybe try their hand at Pinot Noir or Teraldego.
3 Wine Rabbi // Apr 21, 2008 at 9:26 am

Eric — Thanks for your note. Do come back and visit, and always feel welcome to share your thoughts. We love the feedback.

Ryan — Great comment. We’ve found it quite difficult to find Finger Lakes wines (including, Dr. Frank’s Riesling) in CA, which is unfortunate. We’re hoping that will change sometime soon, because there really is a lot to be excited about in that region. Producing great Riesling — which is, at least in our opinion, one of the world’s finest white varietals — is certainly a boon to any wine growing area.