The Wine Trials 2010
02/07/2010 
2 Comments
Last year kicked off the first edition of the Wine Trials, about which I wrote in my post here.
This year, the editorial staff revved up an even more qualified group of wine lovers across all relevant walks of life, from sommeliers to restaurant owners, and came up with this year’s The Wine Trials 2010: The World’s Bestselling Guide to Inexpensive Wines, with the 150 Winning Wines Under $15 from the Latest Vintages (Fearless Critic)
What’s interesting about this year’s edition is the number of wines that have changed from last year’s edition – over 30% of the wines are new. As we’re talking about wines in the $15 and under category, it’s typically thought that there is little variation from year to year in that less expensive category. Given the economic climate and host of other factors, this could not be farther from the truth – the $15 and under category has gotten extremely competitive, with the advantage being that the wines in general have improved, and forced a few of the strays at the bottom of the pack out of the list.
Blind Tasting
The deciding factor about The Wine Trials is its reliance on nothing more than blind taste tests, repeated around the country (New York, Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts), at several levels of restaurant venues, from the more sophisticated (Aquavit), to the more popular (Paradise City Tavern).
With marketing, prestige, and beautiful labels aside, all the tasters had to go on was the juice inside the bottles.
The bottles in this list represent the objectively best-tasting wines most commonly found around the United States.
Organizing Criteria
The book is intelligently organized by style of wine, with the following styles listed:
- Sparkling
- Light Old World White
- Heavy Old World White
- Light New World White
- Heavy New World White
- Rose’
- Light Old World Red
- Heavy Old World Red
- Light New World Red
- Heavy New World Red
- Sweet or Aromatic
If it’s not in one of those classifications, it’s not in the book – but then again, it probably doesn’t exist. (Champipple, anyone?)
Pick It Up Now at Amazon, and stop throwing away good money on bad wine!
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Hi Michele, glad to hear you liked the book. We were definitely impressed with the variation from vintage to vintage in the under-$15 price point; as we’ve discovered throughout the process, once you take the labels off and ignore price these are real wines, many of them with impressive complexity and all the vintage variation that comes with it. Let us know if you try any of the winners!
Tyce – Thanks for your note. Yes, I’ve been methodically going through and trying some of the winners. I’ll do a follow-up post with the results of my own personal tasting. I really believe in what you guys are doing, and I want to support it 100%!