“These are both good enough that I wouldn’t mind paying
a little more for each if I had to…”

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It has occurred to me more than once that most of the wines reviewed in this blog over the past year have been from Europe, especially France and Italy. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it’s a simple matter of availability, and second, my primary focus is on QPR selections that fall into the $10-20 range. These days, it’s getting harder and harder to find good values in domestic wines, but that’s not to say they can’t still be had.

Not long ago, an old friend and colleague of ours who now resides in Oregon sent my wife Kim some bottles of his favorite everyday drinkers from his adopted state. He purchased said wines online at Total Wine, and I picked them up at our nearby Sterling Heights location. I got a taste of some of them, and two in particular stood out for me, one white and one red.

2022 Elk Cove Pinot Gris Estate Willamette Valley, 13% alc., $14.99: Clean and intense, with a solid core of lime and green apple flavors shaded with just the right amount of minerality. More than medium bodied, with some density to the mouthfeel and racy acidity to keep everything moving along right on through the more-than-decent finish. I like this wine; it’s a fine example of Oregon Pinot Gris at a really good price. Find this wine

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2021 A To Z Pinot Noir Oregon, 13.5% alc., $14.99: This is a good glass of Pinot Noir, and the price is right. It’s rich and round, with good intensity and plenty of black cherry red plum character, underscored with an appealing earthiness. Medium-to-medium full bodied, and structured to age for a year or two. This definitely likes air, as Kim and I both noted over four hours, so I would suggest decanting an hour to let it open before you pour a glass or three. Find this wine

From what I’ve been able to gather, the TW prices run about $2 or $3 less than just about anywhere else in the Detroit market. These are both good enough that I wouldn’t mind paying a little more for each if I had to, but I think the better idea is to make a return trip to Total Wine to stock up on both for the prices listed above. 

Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo

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