Part of this is subjective, but I have had some very important wine experiences over the past couple of days. I have often had the philosophy of buying a lower wine from the best producer possible. The past couple of days have reminded me why.
The first experience is with the Australian vintner Two Hands. They make some great shiraz, and one of them was a favorite from a tasting that I had a with a former wine club. Their prestige (ARES) wine runs around $130, and the "standard" stuff is between $35-$50. I haven't tried the big dog yet, but the others have been consistently good. It turns out that they have started producing a reasonably priced wine under the brand "A Lucky Country" They have two reds at our local market, one a GSM (Grenache/Shiraz/Mouvadre) and the other a cab/shiraz blend. Both are outstanding and priced well under $20. Good intensity of flavor, excellent balance, and easy to drink right now. They are everything that they should be, and I have been converted.
The bad experience comes from a new producer. They are known as Margerum, and the wines would appear to be classy, high end productions. Each bottle is individually numbered and the labels are very uncluttered. The bottles are thick, and the wine is priced at a reasonable premium. As far as the merchandising and marketing would go, this is very well done. What isn't well done is the wine inside. Both versions that I have tried were flabby, low quality affairs. They were quite out of balance, with very little backbone, and lots of alcohol. In many ways they tasted like the premium boxed wine that is growing in popularity, but without the bottom barrel pricing. Just a reminder that the answers to the quality of the wine are IN the bottle, not anywhere on the outside. Maybe they will get better, but as of right now I was highly disappointed.
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