Good value Pinot Noirs are a plenty these days, but the best are coming from the Western Hemisphere, according to a recent article from Wine Searcher. California, Chile, and New Zealand are responsible for the majority of the list of best bang for your buck options when it comes to the famed Burgundy varietal.
Pinot Noir’s most famous bottlings hail from Framnce, but there’s not much value to be found in the Côte d’Or. Rather, Pinot Noir lovers looking for the best value should head manifest and head west.
In 2019, when Wine Searcher first ran its last list of value-focused Pinot Noir list, New Zealand was king with 9 out of 10 wines coming from the archipelago. Come 2021, things are bit more spread out. California, Chile, and even Oregon join New Zealand on the website’s most recent list.
For the site’s series of “best value” stories, it worsk with a more direct point-to-dollar ratio. It simply divides the score by the price, which gives a value factor and the higher the factor the better the value – a kind of points-per-dollar scale. So without further ado, here’s their list:
Best Value Pinot Noirs on Wine Searcher:
Wine Name | Value factor | |
2017 Tabali Vetas Blancas Reserva Especial Pinot Noir, Limari Valley | 6.06 | |
2019 Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Pinot Noir, Aconcagua Valley | 4.97 | |
2017 Tabali Talinay Pinot Noir, Limari Valley | 4.89 | |
2015 White Rose Estate Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills | 3.39 | |
2018 Domaine Nico Soeur et Freres Grand Pere, Mendoza | 3.20 | |
2017 Domaine Nico Soeur et Freres Grand Pere, Mendoza | 3.17 | |
2017 Cantina Terlano-Kellerei Terlan Monticol Pinot Nero Riserva, Alto Adige | 3.10 | |
2017 Hartford Family Winery Land’s Edge Vineyards, Sonoma Coast | 2.16 | |
2018 Domaine Nico Soeur et Freres La Savante, Mendoza | 2.02 | |
2018 Anthill Farms Campbell Ranch Vineyard, Sonoma Coast | 1.84 |
Chilean producer Tabali has two entries on this list, which join the winemaker’s already impressive output on the website’s list of best-value Chardonnay.
The wines on this year’s list are also better related than those in years past. Only one wine on this list has an aggregated critic score of 91, and only one has a score of 92. Three, meanwhile, have scores of 94, while the White Rose has an aggregated score of 95.