The original question was “Is a value still a value if you don’t want to drink it in the first place?”. And the original premise was to get a case of cheaper wine that doesn’t have anything to do with larger-name macro wine empires and see if it’s worth it. So what did we have? The lowdown:
Three Winds 2007 Syrah Vin de Pays d’Oc France, $8.95. Quality? Good. Value? Yes.
Caleo 2005 Primitivo Salento, Puglia, Italy, $9.95. Quality? Decent. Value? Kinda.
Altos las Hormigas 2007 Malbec, Menzoza, Argentina, $9.95. Quality? Decent. Value? Kinda.
Domaine Paul Autard 2006 Cotes du Rhone, France, $10.95. Quality? Very Good. Value? Yes.
Foppiano NV Lot 96 California, $9.95. Quality? Good. Value? Kinda.
Garnacha del Fuego 2007 Old Vines, Calatayud, Spain, $8.95. Quality? Very good. Value? Yes.
Henry’s Drive 2007 Pillar Box Red, South Australia, $10.95. Quality? Good. Value? Yes.
Daniel Belda Fonsalet NV Monastrell Jove, Valencia, Spain, $8.95. Quality? Fair. Value? Kinda.
Vallescoro 2006 Prieto Picudo & Tempranillo, Castille y Leon, Spain, $8.95. Quality? Good. Value? Yes.
Feudo Arancio 2006 Nero d’Avola, Sicily, Italy, $8.95. Quality? Very good. Value? Yes.
Garofoli Farnio 2007 Rosso Piceno, Marches, Italy, $10.95. Quality? Fair. Value? No.
Terra Andina 2007 Carmenere, Valle Central, Chile, $9.50. Quality? Very good. Value? Yes.
- Case cost total: $116.95
- After Case Discount: $105.26
- Average cost per bottle: $8.77
- Number of “Value? Yes.” bottles: 7
- Number of “Value? No.” bottles: 1
- Number of “Value? Kinda.” bottles: 4
I suppose you can draw your conclusions from the numbers here, as they are also just one person’s opinion. But if these numbers mean anything in the vast ocean of wine out there, it’s entirely possible to fill a cheap case with winners, or with duds. This was a mix of the two. But to answer the question of whether or not values really are values, I think the benefit of the experiment is in the question, not necessarily in the conclusion.
But to draw a bottom line, I think the jury is still out on this one, given the mixed results. More research needed. Hurrah!