Chasing Atlanticism in 6 entry-level wines

The fine line between accessibility and apathy or why I still judge every bodega by its more accesible wine.

🇪🇸 también puedes leer este post en castellano: click aquí

September was tasting season. The frantic pace that defines summer distribution is finally over, so the different importers and distributors can now start with their portfolio presentations to pave the way for the Christmas season.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to attend several of these tastings, and I thought it’d be a good opportunity to talk about six wines that fall into the entry-level category from producers I usually like a lot; producers I often mention for their top cuvées, while neglecting their base wines a bit. Mea culpa.

Now, many of you, whether you work in the trade or you’re just solid wine lovers, might not find much excitement in these base wines. However, for me, they’ve always served as a kind of ‘cover letter’ for the producer’s work. If their entry-level wine is seriously underwhelming, to the point where there’s nothing to grab onto, I tend to lose interest in tasting the rest of their work, no matter how good it might be. Mainly on principle, because it often points to a certain carelessness or lack of respect toward those who don’t have the means or inclination to drink only the top-tier stuff. The everyday drinker should never be neglected; the same care given to the flagship wines should also go into the entry-level bottlings.

I should say that the first wine I’m including here is more out of curiosity than because I’m a die-hard fan of the winery. However, I thought it would be interesting to bring in a little piece of the southern hemisphere’s Atlantic.

Do they represent good value for money? Let’s find out.