Top Twelve Wines for Under $10

I had a fellow call me from France a couple of days ago. He wanted to have a case of wine delivered to an old friend who lives nearby. I asked him what his budget was and he said that he wanted to spend $100. I started to ask him some general questions about what this person's taste in wine was, trying to get a feel for what types of wine to include in the case and was then handed over to "The Wife" who, he mumbled, knows more about wine. After asking just a few basic questions of her she sighed and said  "you seem to know quite a bit about this" and "why don't you just pick out something nice". The quick math on this is that twelve bottles of wine costing $8.99 a bottle would yield a case of wine costing just over $97.

After selecting four red wines, putting in three bottles of each, I began to see this as something that people all over, at least Massachusetts, would do. Especially those folks packing up their car for a Cape Cod getaway. The problem is that I think most folks would think the task of finding really good tasting, more than just palatable wines for under $10 would be impossible. It's not. The fact is that there have always been great wines to be discovered in this "price-challenged" category. For the past 32 years, as long as I have been tasting, buying and helping customers select wines, I have been able to find very nice, if not damn tasty,  wines in this price category:

So for the current, up-to-date recommendations on
the very best wines that you can find for well under $10:

Some Whites!

Castillo de Jumilla Blanco

Pacifico Sur Sauvignon Blanc

Ponte Vinho Verde

Oracle Chardonnay

Ca Stella Pinot Grigio

Norton Torrontes


Some Reds!


Santa Ema Carmenere

De Bortoli Petite Sirah

Minini Cabernet Sauvignon

Protocolo

Chat en Ouf

La Fiera Montepulciano d'Abruzzo


Assort any twelve bottles and most stores will discount the case by at least 10%
You'll have twelve nice, dependable, easy drinking wines to serve even the fussiest
guests who may pop in.