Wine&Spirits Magazine

There are two kinds of wine drinkers. One who's out to impress –when paying more may, in fact, be part of the deal (for a date... a gift for a boss... a present for an old friend...). Then there are those, who, no matter how low the dollar falls, will never pay more than $10 a bottle for wine ("never" used to be set at $5).
     Somewhere in the middle, there's a third way. It's the path to wine nirvana, to the $12 bottle that's so great, your boss will want to give you a raise for turning her on to it.
     If you're lighting out for the third way, we've got three guides from a year's worth of W&S tastings to help you along.
     The 100 Best Values of the Year, our selection of wines for $15 or less that impressed us most for their quality at the price.
     The 45 Value Brands of the Year, each with a range of wines priced $18 or less, names we track when we're out wine hunting.
     And our Critics' Picks, with more than 90 of our personal favorites, the bottles you'd be most likely to find on our own tables. They're also the bottles you'll find at our Hot Picks tasting events in Los Angeles (this May) and Seattle (in June), along with some of the top young sommeliers and retailers in both cities. We gathered those Critics' Picks at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles and invited a team of guest tasters– all of whom will be at the events– to comment on the wines. Nicole Drummer flew out from our New York office to lead the tasting, with an assist from Wolfgang Weber and Patrick Comiskey. They captured some of the banter about the wines, and give a different perspective than you might find in our regular tasting notes. They also provide some great comments on the time or place or food for each of the wines.

     Our Hot Picks events raise money and awareness for groups that work to protect water resources. In Los Angeles, we work with Surfrider; in Seattle, with the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. Wine is 80 percent water, so in a sense, concern for water purity and conservation is just self-preservation for wine drinkers.
     With water in mind, we've begun to pay more attention to the growing debate about irrigation. In parts of Europe, such as Spain, where vines have relied on winter rain and ground water for millennia, irrigation is fast becoming accepted practice. Over the past 30 years, it's become accepted practice in California as well, especially where dry-farmed vineyards that have survived for more than a century have been planted over to trendier varieties that need a bit more water to cool their roots. Irrigation in California allows growers to keep the plants working through the hottest days of the year, extending the growing season and fostering the contemporary style of superripe wines.
     There's a countertrend, however, among growers who believe that dry-farmed vines produce more distinctive, less homogeneous wine. David Darlington stepped into the center of this debate, one that is only growing more heated with the uncertainties of climate change. In the years to come, a grower's decision to irrigate or dry farm– or how to irrigate or dry farm– may well become one of the most significant choices affecting the flavor and style of the wines we drink.