Wine Spectator Annual 2020 Wine Tasting Statistical Summary
I always find this synopsis of their wine tastings for the year fascinating.(Jan 31 - Feb 28 Edition)
They tasted over 11,000 wines and 53% of them scored 90 and above. The average price of a wine rated 90 or above was $90 which is up from $84 in 2019. The average might be deceiving as they review some very expensive wines. I have also found that the prices that they use are like MSRP for autos -- over stated. For example, I recently bought a wine that they list at $75 for $60.
The average price of a California Cabernet Sauvignon rated 90 and above was $166 and 71% of them scored 90 and above.
81% of Syrahs from California rated 90 and above with an average price of $64. I really enjoy Syrahs and the California versions are some of my favorites. If you are a California cab drinker check out Syrahs.
New Zealand ($38), Spain($47), Washington($57), Oregon($63)and South Africa($58) all have less expensive 90 and above wines. New York is your best bet for low cost quality wines as 90 and above wines averaged $27 although only 17% of their wines tasted rated 90 and above.
Finding a reasonably price good wine.
Many people ask me to recommend reasonably priced wines. What exactly is a reasonably priced wine? In the same issue as their annual summary the Wine Spectator's lead story was "Smart Buys" and they define Smart Buys as $25 and under. As I have previously stated, buying wine by a price point is not a good strategy. It is great to have a limit on how much you want to spend but the price of each wine varies dramatically from store to store just like everything we buy today. For example a wine for $25 in one store could be as low as $10 in another store. You need to know your store's pricing policy and a good price point for a wine that you like.
There are many tools available to find out the price of wine. Wine-searcher is available through Cellar Tracker and many wine sites such as Vinous and the Wine Advocate have pricing info available. Use the internet to your advantage when purchasing wine. In fact some stores have lower internet prices than the price in the store. In these stores you need to mention the internet price when you are in the store at check-out.
The price of good wine has increased over the last few years. A good wine to me means wine made by smaller wineries that use ingredients that you expect to be in wine to make their wines. It is the difference between Olive Garden and your local Italian restaurant. It isn't as easy as it should be to determine a decent wine. Many big companies have lots of nice sounding wine brands with catchy names. Remember that wine is one of the few foods that does not have to have a list of ingredients on the label.
Next time I will provide some wines that I believe you will enjoy drinking and that will not cost a fortune. You can find good wines for $10 to $15. Borsao, the best value on the planet is still $7 at some stores. I will also provide some methods such as label information to determine if a wine is worth trying At the end of the day a good wine is whatever you enjoy drinking.
Enjoy!
