Best American Wines Over $20

These bottles definitely take us out of the everyday wine experience, at least for my budget. And while some are not too pricey -- the zin for $32 or the sauvignon blanc for $30 -- others I am sure will never pass my lips.

Nonetheless, as a companion posting to my Best American Wines Under $20 (below), it seems appropriate to give the complete picture of these 2010 Food & Wine awards. Unlike the earlier, less expensive list, if you want to try any of the higher-priced winners, you'll probably have to shop online or in a very well stocked store.




Whites

Sauvignon Blanc

2009 Merry Edwards ($30)
One of California's surest hands with pinot noir, Edwards also makes this perfumed, arresting Sauvignon. Assembled from several Russian River Valley vineyards—some planted to the aromatic Musqué clone—the wine combines tangerine and peach with Musqué's hard-to-define, not-quite-honeysuckle aroma.

Chardonnay

2007 Hanzell ($70)
One of California's first post-Prohibition chardonnay producers, Sonoma's Hanzell has long gone its own way, preferring an Old World sense of proportion over showy richness. That balance is epitomized in its long-aging Chardonnays, like this creamy, floral bottling from talented winemaker Michael McNeill.

Sparkling

2006 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs ($36)
This all-Chardonnay bottling was the Davies family's original sparkler back in 1965; Richard Nixon served it on his 1972 trip to China. For the 2006 vintage, the wine was aged in the bottle for two years on its lees (spent yeasts), giving complexity to its flavors of yellow apple, pear and melon.

Reds

Pinot Noir

2008 Brewer-Clifton, Mount Carmel ($63)
There are easier places to grow grapes than this steep, ocean-cooled vineyard in Santa Barbara County, but Steve Clifton (also of Palmina) and Greg Brewer (Melville) started farming it themselves in 2004 anyway. Their 2008, an opulent Pinot with floral berry notes, makes it clear their work was worth it.

Merlot

2007 Pepper Bridge ($50)
In the excellent 2007 Washington vintage, Swiss-born winemaker Jean-François Pellet produced this cellar-worthy Merlot by combining fruit from the winery's two estate vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley—Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills.

Zinfandel

2007 A. Rafanelli ($32)
Because it sells exclusively from the winery rather than stores, this small, family-run Sonoma operation isn't broadly known except to Zinfandel lovers. Winemaker Rashell Rafanelli-Fehlman holds to the family style here—bright, lifted and juicy.

Syrah

2006 Qupé, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate ($40)
This wine, from the chilly 2006 vintage, suggests so. Bob Lindquist is one of the greatest interpreters of Syrah from the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, and his winemaking shows the grape's full potential.

Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Buccella ($150)
Overseen by Chris Justin and consultant Celia Welch (F&W's Winemaker of the Year in 2008), Buccella has swiftly become a top Napa Cabernet producer. The great 2007 vintage played to Buccella's strengths, resulting in a cassis-inflected wine of extraordinary polish.

Bordeaux-Style Blend

2007 Continuum ($140)
Robert Mondavi's children Tim and Marcia have moved on after the sale of the family winery. Their Cab-Sauv–based, gorgeously fragrant red comes from Pritchard Hill and Oakville vineyards, two of Napa Valley's most sought-after Cabernet locations.

Courtesy Food & Wine, copy by Richard Nalley

Best American Wines Under $20

Here's a list of affordable, delicious wines that recently won acclaim from Food & Wine magazine. I've tried and enjoyed several of them -- the Honig, the Elk Cove and the Columbia Crest, for instance, and will seek out the others.
More good news: they should be widely available in almost any large metro area in the U.S.

Whites

Sauvignon Blanc

2008 Honig ($16)
Winemaker Kristin Belair innovates with different winemaking methods on different parcels of grapes, allowing her, for instance, to emphasize the grapefruity character of a specific lot. The Napa winery itself is innovative, too: All energy needed for production, cooling and bottling is solar-generated.

Chardonnay

2008 Mount Eden Vineyards Wolff Vineyard ($20)
In 2008, bad weather in California's Edna Valley drastically cut the amount of fruit from Wolff Vineyard but packed flavor into the grapes. Jeffrey Patterson makes this wine exactly the same way he makes Mount Eden's pricier estate Chardonnays, producing a white with vivid flavors of pear, peach and lime.

Pinot Gris

2008 Elk Cove ($19)
Elk Cove benefited from the fine 2008 vintage in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where it's been producing top Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris since the 1970s. A cool summer and sunny fall meant ideal grapes, and winemaker Adam Campbell accented their brightness by fermenting this lemon-zesty wine in stainless steel tanks.

Reds

Pinot Noir

2008 Wallace Brook ($19)
This Oregon red offers the lively, aromatic appeal of Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs costing twice as much. An affordable secondary brand made by the Willamette Valley's Adelsheim Vineyard, one of the pioneering producers of Oregon Pinot Noir, this Wallace Brook shows the ripeness of the great 2008 vintage.

Merlot

2007 Columbia Crest H3 ($15)
This widely available Merlot comes from Washington's Horse Heaven Hills (hence H3), a promising region for complex, full-bodied reds. Its ripe blackberry fruit keeps some needed restraint thanks to the skill of winemaker Ray Einberger.

Zinfandel

2007 Four Vines, Old Vine Cuvée ($14)
Founder-winemaker Christian Tietje scoured vineyards from California's top Zinfandel counties—from Amador to Paso Robles—to assemble the fruit for this streamlined red. It's sumptuous in style, full of blackberry and blueberry fruit.

Syrah

2008 Red Car, Boxcar ($20)
Winemaker Carroll Kemp started Red Car back in 2000 in his Los Angeles driveway with two barrels of Syrah. His output has grown since then, but Syrah remains the focus, as in this highly polished red's array of classic, cool-climate Syrah flavors: plum, dark berries and black pepper.

Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Louis M. Martini, Sonoma County ($17)
Michael Martini's winemaking team used vineyards around the county for a straightforward red that also has considerable finesse. That deft touch isn't surprising, as Michael himself has been making wine for more than 30 years, and his family for more than 100.

Courtesy Food & Wine Magazine, by Richard Nalley