Wine
- Thread starter Brok85
- Start date
I’m partial to California cabs. But just to show I’m not a complete wine snob, our favorite everyday wine is Apothic Red, $7.99/bottle at Sam’s Club.
Agree, some of the Willamette Valley pinot is as good as it gets. Best I’ve had is from Ponzi Vineyards.
I've been to every major and most midmajor wine regions in the US and Canada from coast to coast, as well as several major ones in France, New Zealand and Australia. And I made muscadine wine from grapes at my grandfather's small Florida vineyard (two rows of 20 vines) on his diverse farm/ranch. So that's my bona fides.
So my personal favorites generically without getting into particular vineyards and vintages are in rough order:
1) Pinot Noir and especially blush forms of Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand. The blush form of Pinot Noir from CO tastes like strawberry juice and cream. The red takes on a darker blackberry flavor with some cherry, herbal and spicy notes. I love both versions but probably my favorite overall wine anywhere is a Pinot Noir blush from CO. I've bought other blush/pink Pinot Noirs from other AVAs like in France and California and they tend to taste like raspberries with limestone minerality and some Herby/grassy notes so good but nowhere near the strawberries and cream of the CO AVA. The red Pinots from CO top those from France and California by miles as they're drinkable both young and aged as they're not overly tannic despite being complex with a long finish and are my favorite reds.
2) Semillon from Hunter Valley, Australia. The botrytized version in particular is even better than Sauternes from France especially when they're aged a bit. But the straightforward Semillon's from this region only are my favorite whites. I prefer generic Sauvignon Blancs, dry Reislings, and Chardonnays to generic Semillons, but those from Hunter Valley are amazing, especially the premium bottlings you can only source from the wineries directly.
3) Dry red Zinfandel from the Sonoita and Verde Valley AVAs in Arizona. Other than Central Otago Pinot Noirs, they're my favorite red and far easier to get ahold of over here. Javelina Leap brand dry Zinfandels from the Verde Valley are my favorite old vine Zins. I do really like Zinfandel in general, so California and New Mexico Zins are also a really good bet as well, but for whatever reason Arizona Zins are the best imo.
4) Shiraz/Syrah from Eden Valley in particular or Barossa in general. They tend to beat out even the French Rhone AVAs as they're wonderfully complex with a well-balanced spice and like the CO Pinot Noirs are not overly tannic so they can be drunk young when you get more of a fruit forward taste. One thing that is incredibly common to find in Australia but is nearly impossible to find here are sparkling wines made from Shiraz. Basically every winery in Australia no matter where it is has a sparkling shiraz on its tasting menu, but over in the US you never see Red sparklers only white, blush and of course “blanc du noirs” or white sparklers made with red grapes. However in Australia they have sparkling wines made with red grapes left on their skins so they are blood red to even almost black.
5) Sour Cherry wines from the Outer Coastal AVA of New Jersey and Leelanau Peninsula AVA in Michigan. The dry sour cherry wines made by Renault just outside of Atlantic City barely tops those from Black Star and Chateau Fontaine as elite level fruit wines that could compete against the very best noble grape varieties.
6) Dry blackberry wines from anywhere. Although the dry sour cherry wines from New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania are very special fruit wines on par with the best reds anywhere, I’ve had Dry blackberry wines from all over (Florida, Canada, Missouri, Pennsylvania, California, etc...) and they’re universally good. The very best blackberry wine I’ve had came from a now closed winery in Panama City Florida and I’ve only got two bottles left so I’m holding on to them for a special occasion, but even poor blackberry wines if they’re finished dry or semi dry are as complex and delicious as the best noble grape red wine varieties. So while the very best sour cherry wines top the best blackberry wines I’ve had for best non-noble grape wines, the average and even well below average blackberry wines (if they’re dry or semi dry) top average sour cherry wines imo. But both are excellent.
7) Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough AVA in New Zealand. This is not really a surprise to anyone who knows me (and knows my fondness for all things Kiwi) or anyone who really knowdvwine in general. Not only do they make the best “Savvies” topping the (used to be, now not so much) more famous white Bourdeauxs and white Loires from French AVAs, but the area is amazing. The fishing village of Kaikoura is my favorite spot on the planet and it’s only half an hour or so from the Marlborough wine region and my favorite meal of all time was a lunch of Marlborough Savvy, Akaroa cheese, and butter poached Rock lobster and grilled blue cod and orange roughy filets we had caught overselves along the mile deep trench just off of Kaikoura while watching sperm whale surface after hunting colossal and giant squids. I tend to prefer Marlborough savvies that are more herby and minerally like Spy Valley rather than fruit forward varieties. And as a cost saving note, I will say that the Costco brand of Marlborough savvies is actually pretty good and not that much worse than what the Kiwis keep for themselves at the local wineries.
8) Pineapple wines from Florida and Hawaii are the best “white” or light tasting fruit wine. Mauiwine in Hawaii is the best iteration of pineapple wine and it goes great with the hamburgers made from the local beef (surprisingly for people who haven’t been there, the area of Maui where Mauiwine vineyards is located in is a very cattle ranch heavy area, just miles and miles of free range cattle driven by mainly imported Mexican and Brazilian cowboys. As a further side note, the Mexican cowboys brought in to raise the cattle are most responsible for the original spread of ukulele “Hawaiian” music). But the Florida Orange Grove Winery in St Pete has a really good sparkling pineapple wine and a semi dry still version that is pretty close. Other really good “white” fruit wines on par with white noble grape wines include the avocado (surprisingly, it doesn’t taste like fresh avocados as all you can taste is the fat, it’s more of a lemony and “grassy” herbal flavor similar to a lot of good dry savvies), carambola and lychee varietals from Schnebly Redlands winery in Homestead Florida and the peach wines from Hive Winery in Utah.
9) Niagara varietal lambusca grapes (so not the “noble” European grapes of the Vitis vinifera varietals) from Niagara-on-the-Lake and Beamsville Bench AVAs in the Ontario province of Canada are my favorite non-noble grape variety. Even though I grew up making muscadine wine in Florida and they can be quite good if taken down as dry as you can get them considering they have natural nonsugar sweeteners in them, Niagara varietal wines especially from the areas that made them famous is like drinking the proverbial “alcoholic grape juice”. I drank a lot of “white grape juice” as a kid as did many of you and that’s mostly juice from Niagara varietal grapes. So in the hands of a good winemaker, they make VERY easy to slug, light and fruity whites. There’s no complexity but sometimes that’s not what you’re looking for, these are straightforward super fruity alcoholic “grape juice”. And I prefer them even over true muscadine and muscadine/noble grape hybrids like the Chambourcin and Blanc DuBois varietals that have become popular in Missouri, the Midwest and all east of the Mississippi vineyards.
10) Viognier from the Texas Hill Country AVA. They tend to be a fruit forward (albeit nowhere near Niagara) white noble grape varietal that has a fair amount of complexity as you’ll see notes of peaches, citrus and some floral/honey notes.
Now that’s just my top ten, there’s a lot of varietals and styles I enjoy including the lightly effervescent (more like a big bubble soda than the explosive fine bubbled champagnes) Vinho Verdes from Portugal, Chardonnay from anywhere especially if they’re old school “buttery” chards which is technically a screwup in the fermentation process just like banana flavours in beer but can make for some great wines, dry Rieslings from anywhere but especially Washington State AVAs, Carmenere from Chile AVAs, Chenin Blanc from South Africa AVAs, and a lot of blends from Bourdeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone. And heck, if I'm eating Greek food I'm not against breaking out a pine resin infused Retsina from Greece.
So I love all wines, even non grape fruit wines, but those are my top 10.
I sell a lot of wines and you have a very interesting palate. It took me a couple of reads to make all the connections, but there are common elements. I was just talking New Zealand PN’s today with a customer.
ellI've been to every major and most midmajor wine regions in the US and Canada from coast to coast, as well as several major ones in France, New Zealand and Australia. And I made muscadine wine from grapes at my grandfather's small Florida vineyard (two rows of 20 vines) on his diverse farm/ranch. So that's my bona fides.
So my personal favorites generically without getting into particular vineyards and vintages are in rough order:
1) Pinot Noir and especially blush forms of Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand. The blush form of Pinot Noir from CO tastes like strawberry juice and cream. The red takes on a darker blackberry flavor with some cherry, herbal and spicy notes. I love both versions but probably my favorite overall wine anywhere is a Pinot Noir blush from CO. I've bought other blush/pink Pinot Noirs from other AVAs like in France and California and they tend to taste like raspberries with limestone minerality and some Herby/grassy notes so good but nowhere near the strawberries and cream of the CO AVA. The red Pinots from CO top those from France and California by miles as they're drinkable both young and aged as they're not overly tannic despite being complex with a long finish and are my favorite reds.
2) Semillon from Hunter Valley, Australia. The botrytized version in particular is even better than Sauternes from France especially when they're aged a bit. But the straightforward Semillon's from this region only are my favorite whites. I prefer generic Sauvignon Blancs, dry Reislings, and Chardonnays to generic Semillons, but those from Hunter Valley are amazing, especially the premium bottlings you can only source from the wineries directly.
3) Dry red Zinfandel from the Sonoita and Verde Valley AVAs in Arizona. Other than Central Otago Pinot Noirs, they're my favorite red and far easier to get ahold of over here. Javelina Leap brand dry Zinfandels from the Verde Valley are my favorite old vine Zins. I do really like Zinfandel in general, so California and New Mexico Zins are also a really good bet as well, but for whatever reason Arizona Zins are the best imo.
4) Shiraz/Syrah from Eden Valley in particular or Barossa in general. They tend to beat out even the French Rhone AVAs as they're wonderfully complex with a well-balanced spice and like the CO Pinot Noirs are not overly tannic so they can be drunk young when you get more of a fruit forward taste. One thing that is incredibly common to find in Australia but is nearly impossible to find here are sparkling wines made from Shiraz. Basically every winery in Australia no matter where it is has a sparkling shiraz on its tasting menu, but over in the US you never see Red sparklers only white, blush and of course “blanc du noirs” or white sparklers made with red grapes. However in Australia they have sparkling wines made with red grapes left on their skins so they are blood red to even almost black.
5) Sour Cherry wines from the Outer Coastal AVA of New Jersey and Leelanau Peninsula AVA in Michigan. The dry sour cherry wines made by Renault just outside of Atlantic City barely tops those from Black Star and Chateau Fontaine as elite level fruit wines that could compete against the very best noble grape varieties.
6) Dry blackberry wines from anywhere. Although the dry sour cherry wines from New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania are very special fruit wines on par with the best reds anywhere, I’ve had Dry blackberry wines from all over (Florida, Canada, Missouri, Pennsylvania, California, etc...) and they’re universally good. The very best blackberry wine I’ve had came from a now closed winery in Panama City Florida and I’ve only got two bottles left so I’m holding on to them for a special occasion, but even poor blackberry wines if they’re finished dry or semi dry are as complex and delicious as the best noble grape red wine varieties. So while the very best sour cherry wines top the best blackberry wines I’ve had for best non-noble grape wines, the average and even well below average blackberry wines (if they’re dry or semi dry) top average sour cherry wines imo. But both are excellent.
7) Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough AVA in New Zealand. This is not really a surprise to anyone who knows me (and knows my fondness for all things Kiwi) or anyone who really knowdvwine in general. Not only do they make the best “Savvies” topping the (used to be, now not so much) more famous white Bourdeauxs and white Loires from French AVAs, but the area is amazing. The fishing village of Kaikoura is my favorite spot on the planet and it’s only half an hour or so from the Marlborough wine region and my favorite meal of all time was a lunch of Marlborough Savvy, Akaroa cheese, and butter poached Rock lobster and grilled blue cod and orange roughy filets we had caught overselves along the mile deep trench just off of Kaikoura while watching sperm whale surface after hunting colossal and giant squids. I tend to prefer Marlborough savvies that are more herby and minerally like Spy Valley rather than fruit forward varieties. And as a cost saving note, I will say that the Costco brand of Marlborough savvies is actually pretty good and not that much worse than what the Kiwis keep for themselves at the local wineries.
8) Pineapple wines from Florida and Hawaii are the best “white” or light tasting fruit wine. Mauiwine in Hawaii is the best iteration of pineapple wine and it goes great with the hamburgers made from the local beef (surprisingly for people who haven’t been there, the area of Maui where Mauiwine vineyards is located in is a very cattle ranch heavy area, just miles and miles of free range cattle driven by mainly imported Mexican and Brazilian cowboys. As a further side note, the Mexican cowboys brought in to raise the cattle are most responsible for the original spread of ukulele “Hawaiian” music). But the Florida Orange Grove Winery in St Pete has a really good sparkling pineapple wine and a semi dry still version that is pretty close. Other really good “white” fruit wines on par with white noble grape wines include the avocado (surprisingly, it doesn’t taste like fresh avocados as all you can taste is the fat, it’s more of a lemony and “grassy” herbal flavor similar to a lot of good dry savvies), carambola and lychee varietals from Schnebly Redlands winery in Homestead Florida and the peach wines from Hive Winery in Utah.
9) Niagara varietal lambusca grapes (so not the “noble” European grapes of the Vitis vinifera varietals) from Niagara-on-the-Lake and Beamsville Bench AVAs in the Ontario province of Canada are my favorite non-noble grape variety. Even though I grew up making muscadine wine in Florida and they can be quite good if taken down as dry as you can get them considering they have natural nonsugar sweeteners in them, Niagara varietal wines especially from the areas that made them famous is like drinking the proverbial “alcoholic grape juice”. I drank a lot of “white grape juice” as a kid as did many of you and that’s mostly juice from Niagara varietal grapes. So in the hands of a good winemaker, they make VERY easy to slug, light and fruity whites. There’s no complexity but sometimes that’s not what you’re looking for, these are straightforward super fruity alcoholic “grape juice”. And I prefer them even over true muscadine and muscadine/noble grape hybrids like the Chambourcin and Blanc DuBois varietals that have become popular in Missouri, the Midwest and all east of the Mississippi vineyards.
10) Viognier from the Texas Hill Country AVA. They tend to be a fruit forward (albeit nowhere near Niagara) white noble grape varietal that has a fair amount of complexity as you’ll see notes of peaches, citrus and some floral/honey notes.
Now that’s just my top ten, there’s a lot of varietals and styles I enjoy including the lightly effervescent (more like a big bubble soda than the explosive fine bubbled champagnes) Vinho Verdes from Portugal, Chardonnay from anywhere especially if they’re old school “buttery” chards which is technically a screwup in the fermentation process just like banana flavours in beer but can make for some great wines, dry Rieslings from anywhere but especially Washington State AVAs, Carmenere from Chile AVAs, Chenin Blanc from South Africa AVAs, and a lot of blends from Bourdeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone. And heck, if I'm eating Greek food I'm not against breaking out a pine resin infused Retsina from Greece.
So I love all wines, even non grape fruit wines, but those are my top 10.
Give me a Super Tuscan. Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Tignanello, etc. I bought a bottle of Tignanello at a HyVee in West Des Moines for $5 because the bar code wasn't in the system.
South African wines are very good and a great value. If you like whites, Chenin Blanc is tasty.
I’m with ya here. But my friends that are actual snobs consider me to be a novice (in that big, earthy cabs are too easy to appreciate). I get it. That’s fine - if I drank more wine, I’d try to learn more about all of the more subtle varieties. Just don’t have time (and wine is still second to beer in my world).
I do recommend getting the Vivino (or similar) app so you can remember what wines you do end up liking. I could never remember and now I take a pic of label with the app and its always there.
Good call. I don’t do those beer logging apps, but a wine one might be more useful to me.
The strawberry wine I make in my basement. All the rest is gross.
have you guys heard of this dude? i have a friend that uses this service to access a bunch of great wines and cut prices, and access to stuff you just don't get through normal retail (at least in my area). cool concept:
http://garagiste.com/
http://garagiste.com/
Are you a sommelier or just really into wines? Retirement hobby?I've been to every major and most midmajor wine regions in the US and Canada from coast to coast, as well as several major ones in France, New Zealand and Australia. And I made muscadine wine from grapes at my grandfather's small Florida vineyard (two rows of 20 vines) on his diverse farm/ranch. So that's my bona fides.
So my personal favorites generically without getting into particular vineyards and vintages are in rough order:
1) Pinot Noir and especially blush forms of Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand. The blush form of Pinot Noir from CO tastes like strawberry juice and cream. The red takes on a darker blackberry flavor with some cherry, herbal and spicy notes. I love both versions but probably my favorite overall wine anywhere is a Pinot Noir blush from CO. I've bought other blush/pink Pinot Noirs from other AVAs like in France and California and they tend to taste like raspberries with limestone minerality and some Herby/grassy notes so good but nowhere near the strawberries and cream of the CO AVA. The red Pinots from CO top those from France and California by miles as they're drinkable both young and aged as they're not overly tannic despite being complex with a long finish and are my favorite reds.
2) Semillon from Hunter Valley, Australia. The botrytized version in particular is even better than Sauternes from France especially when they're aged a bit. But the straightforward Semillon's from this region only are my favorite whites. I prefer generic Sauvignon Blancs, dry Reislings, and Chardonnays to generic Semillons, but those from Hunter Valley are amazing, especially the premium bottlings you can only source from the wineries directly.
3) Dry red Zinfandel from the Sonoita and Verde Valley AVAs in Arizona. Other than Central Otago Pinot Noirs, they're my favorite red and far easier to get ahold of over here. Javelina Leap brand dry Zinfandels from the Verde Valley are my favorite old vine Zins. I do really like Zinfandel in general, so California and New Mexico Zins are also a really good bet as well, but for whatever reason Arizona Zins are the best imo.
4) Shiraz/Syrah from Eden Valley in particular or Barossa in general. They tend to beat out even the French Rhone AVAs as they're wonderfully complex with a well-balanced spice and like the CO Pinot Noirs are not overly tannic so they can be drunk young when you get more of a fruit forward taste. One thing that is incredibly common to find in Australia but is nearly impossible to find here are sparkling wines made from Shiraz. Basically every winery in Australia no matter where it is has a sparkling shiraz on its tasting menu, but over in the US you never see Red sparklers only white, blush and of course “blanc du noirs” or white sparklers made with red grapes. However in Australia they have sparkling wines made with red grapes left on their skins so they are blood red to even almost black.
5) Sour Cherry wines from the Outer Coastal AVA of New Jersey and Leelanau Peninsula AVA in Michigan. The dry sour cherry wines made by Renault just outside of Atlantic City barely tops those from Black Star and Chateau Fontaine as elite level fruit wines that could compete against the very best noble grape varieties.
6) Dry blackberry wines from anywhere. Although the dry sour cherry wines from New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania are very special fruit wines on par with the best reds anywhere, I’ve had Dry blackberry wines from all over (Florida, Canada, Missouri, Pennsylvania, California, etc...) and they’re universally good. The very best blackberry wine I’ve had came from a now closed winery in Panama City Florida and I’ve only got two bottles left so I’m holding on to them for a special occasion, but even poor blackberry wines if they’re finished dry or semi dry are as complex and delicious as the best noble grape red wine varieties. So while the very best sour cherry wines top the best blackberry wines I’ve had for best non-noble grape wines, the average and even well below average blackberry wines (if they’re dry or semi dry) top average sour cherry wines imo. But both are excellent.
7) Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough AVA in New Zealand. This is not really a surprise to anyone who knows me (and knows my fondness for all things Kiwi) or anyone who really knowdvwine in general. Not only do they make the best “Savvies” topping the (used to be, now not so much) more famous white Bourdeauxs and white Loires from French AVAs, but the area is amazing. The fishing village of Kaikoura is my favorite spot on the planet and it’s only half an hour or so from the Marlborough wine region and my favorite meal of all time was a lunch of Marlborough Savvy, Akaroa cheese, and butter poached Rock lobster and grilled blue cod and orange roughy filets we had caught overselves along the mile deep trench just off of Kaikoura while watching sperm whale surface after hunting colossal and giant squids. I tend to prefer Marlborough savvies that are more herby and minerally like Spy Valley rather than fruit forward varieties. And as a cost saving note, I will say that the Costco brand of Marlborough savvies is actually pretty good and not that much worse than what the Kiwis keep for themselves at the local wineries.
8) Pineapple wines from Florida and Hawaii are the best “white” or light tasting fruit wine. Mauiwine in Hawaii is the best iteration of pineapple wine and it goes great with the hamburgers made from the local beef (surprisingly for people who haven’t been there, the area of Maui where Mauiwine vineyards is located in is a very cattle ranch heavy area, just miles and miles of free range cattle driven by mainly imported Mexican and Brazilian cowboys. As a further side note, the Mexican cowboys brought in to raise the cattle are most responsible for the original spread of ukulele “Hawaiian” music). But the Florida Orange Grove Winery in St Pete has a really good sparkling pineapple wine and a semi dry still version that is pretty close. Other really good “white” fruit wines on par with white noble grape wines include the avocado (surprisingly, it doesn’t taste like fresh avocados as all you can taste is the fat, it’s more of a lemony and “grassy” herbal flavor similar to a lot of good dry savvies), carambola and lychee varietals from Schnebly Redlands winery in Homestead Florida and the peach wines from Hive Winery in Utah.
9) Niagara varietal lambusca grapes (so not the “noble” European grapes of the Vitis vinifera varietals) from Niagara-on-the-Lake and Beamsville Bench AVAs in the Ontario province of Canada are my favorite non-noble grape variety. Even though I grew up making muscadine wine in Florida and they can be quite good if taken down as dry as you can get them considering they have natural nonsugar sweeteners in them, Niagara varietal wines especially from the areas that made them famous is like drinking the proverbial “alcoholic grape juice”. I drank a lot of “white grape juice” as a kid as did many of you and that’s mostly juice from Niagara varietal grapes. So in the hands of a good winemaker, they make VERY easy to slug, light and fruity whites. There’s no complexity but sometimes that’s not what you’re looking for, these are straightforward super fruity alcoholic “grape juice”. And I prefer them even over true muscadine and muscadine/noble grape hybrids like the Chambourcin and Blanc DuBois varietals that have become popular in Missouri, the Midwest and all east of the Mississippi vineyards.
10) Viognier from the Texas Hill Country AVA. They tend to be a fruit forward (albeit nowhere near Niagara) white noble grape varietal that has a fair amount of complexity as you’ll see notes of peaches, citrus and some floral/honey notes.
Now that’s just my top ten, there’s a lot of varietals and styles I enjoy including the lightly effervescent (more like a big bubble soda than the explosive fine bubbled champagnes) Vinho Verdes from Portugal, Chardonnay from anywhere especially if they’re old school “buttery” chards which is technically a screwup in the fermentation process just like banana flavours in beer but can make for some great wines, dry Rieslings from anywhere but especially Washington State AVAs, Carmenere from Chile AVAs, Chenin Blanc from South Africa AVAs, and a lot of blends from Bourdeaux, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone. And heck, if I'm eating Greek food I'm not against breaking out a pine resin infused Retsina from Greece.
So I love all wines, even non grape fruit wines, but those are my top 10.
Where did you see this? It’s owned by Constellation now and being mass produced, last I heard.
I still have a bottle from when it was an Orin Swift wine — “The Prisoner” has been sold twice since then.
It's less that I'm into wines and more that I'm into all aspects of travel and that's part of it.
My wife and I are both into travel and purposefully have postponed having rugrats so we can selfishly tour the country with a smattering of international trips as well. And when we travel in addition to doing all the typical things like museums, natural features/hikes, theme parks, bars/nightlife, and cultural icons of the area; we like to go to the local wineries, breweries and distilleries (a business partner of mine is doing a professionally shot and edited tv series for YouTube where he goes to craft whiskey makers to see their process and taste their liquor and then competes in a wing making competition to pair with the local whiskey and all of the locations were basically stolen from my Facebook feed. I was thinking to myself...you could have asked for input ahat.). So it’s not just wineries, but cideries, meaderies, distilleries and breweries I research and have personally been to as well.
And for wine there’s some surprisingly good winemaking areas scattered around the country not just the “usual suspects” like Napa and Sonoma. I found a lot of the famous regions like Napa, Bourdeaux, Burgundy, Texas Hill Country and Sonoma were underwhelming compared to their reputations over the average AVA and conversely I found some like Marlborough and Barossa to be even better than advertised.
Conversely, I’d say the good surprises that stand out in my mind or AVAs that you don’t hear people talk about frequently that have as good or better wine as the more famous areas are Central Otago, Lompoc/“Wine Ghetto” of Santa Barbara (CA), Sonoita (AZ), Verde Valley (AZ), Santa Ynez Valley (CA), Dahlonega Plateau (GA), Monterey (CA), Beamsville Bench (Ontario), Mesilla Valley (NM), Santa Maria (CA), Woodinville (WA), Monterey (CA), and the unofficial AVA in the Piedmont area of NC between Charlotte and Asheville especially in and around Shelby NC.
And of course even in bad or mediocre AVAs you can get some gems because I was unimpressed with PA and NJ wines, but Renault and Va La Vineyards are two of the best wineries I’ve been to and they’re in pretty terrible AVAs.
I wonder if the PA and NJ wines weren't good because it's too wet and too hot. Many don't realize that grapes originally come from the Middle East in very dry climates.
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