Dave Hatfield

Can't add anything too specific as I live in France and can't buy most of the wines on this thread, but I did want to add a couple of general tips on French wines to watch for. Check out anything from the "pays d'Oc" region. You may also see this as Languedoc Russilion. They put a lot of effort into quality over the past ten years & are producing some nice stuff - cheaply. These were just coming ito Rhode Island 3 years ago before we moved here. I' currently drinking a lightly oaked Chard which I but for about $4.00 a bottle even at today's silly exchange rate. Also check out wines from the Gaillac region if you can find them, I know that Domain de Chandon export to the states & make good reds that should sell for under $10. A big trend here by the way is to put good decent wines into boxes! The vintners say that at $ 3-4 per bottle the packaging cost is too high a percentage of their total cost so putting the winr into 5 or 10 or even 20 liter boxes is much cheaper. The wine keeps well. Think about it. My wife was agast when I actually bought a box of St Emillion in St Emillion not to long ago.

Why not just have an apples to oranges competition? Comparing French to American to Australian to Chilean to ... doesn't make a lot of sense. Different grapes, different terroir, different methods, different wine makers. Its great fun to stir up everybody, but not very practical. My 2 cents anyway.