NH liquor stores used to be terrific when i was there for college. They've gone downhill since then.

The Beringer Napa Valley Cabernet is a fine $20 Napa cab, probably better than a $25 BV Rutherford. It should be in most stores.
Bonny Doon's wines are in many of the stores and is $15-25 and not bad. Dude is crazy, but makes decent wine when he tries.
The Catena wines are mass market, but he's got a gifted palate. I'd buy any of his wines in the $15-20 range (or the Alamos brand that's $10-15)
Ravenswood, too, mass market, but Peterson has a great palate and I'd pick that over anything else in the $10-15 range that's domestic.
Chateau Marjosse is widely available in NH and is a perfectly cromulent, merlot-heavy bordeaux that is fine if you see a 2009 or 2010 out there.
I used to see Conn Creek cabs on sale for very good prices in NH. They are a fine domestic producer and worth buying if you see for under $20.
Charles Joguet, from the Loire, is curiously widely available in NH and is very good. That would be over your price point in many cases, but if ever on sale, BUY, they are excellent.
Faiveley burgundies (from 2009 and 2010), specifically the Mercureys and Bourgogne, are good value. Highly recommended as a cheap red burgundy (and yes, $20 is a downright cheap red burgundy). Really good as a first burg as they are now making wines in a ripe, accessible style. Definitely sold to the NH stores - I'd bet the bourgogne is ~$15.
Its not a wine, but Farnum Hill cider is one of the top 2 or 3 cidermakers in the US, and is as serious as wine.
Gloria Ferrer Brut is, by far, my favorite of the widely available <$20 sparkling wines in the world. As good as Moet or Veuve, IMO. (Actually much better than Vueve, which is piss.) Gruet, from New Mexico, is also perfectly good and may be a buck or two cheaper.
Guigal cotes du rhone is widely available and very well-made.
Louis Jadot is a reliable source and widely available, including in NH. I don't like their base Beajolais-Villages, but the Chateau des Jacques Moulin a Vent is excellent. The Bourgogne is OK (but not as good as Faiveley's), and the Vaucrains Cotes du Nuits Villages is in the low $20s and is a real burgundy. In all cases, look for 2009 and 2010s.
Numerous wines imported by Kermit Lynch are sold in NH stores. The names are hard for even me to remember, but he prominently labels the wines he imports. Anything imported by Lynch will be well-made, he has an excellent palate and gives a #### about quality. His portfolio is particulaly strong in Southern France, where there are lots of sub-$20 wines.
Marquis de Riscal makes a decent, traditional Rioja, and should be everywhere.
Montinore is sold throughout NH, a good basic Oregon Pinot and IMO the best sub $20 US pinot.
Torbreck is a super modern and sweet Aussie style, but some folks dig it. The cheapest bottles in their range are <$20 and available in most NH stores.

Mmm, thanks, I will definitely be printing that list out and bringing it with me next time I buy.

Any thoughts on Decoy's Zinfandel? It has been heavily reduced in price, and I have liked it a lot.

An overwhelming percentage of shrimp is frozen. It's not easy to catch shrimp and get them to a restaurant or grocery store before they go rancid.

I remember the time in a restaurant in New Orleans, I asked the waiter if the shrimp on the menu were Gulf shrimp or Lake shrimp.

"They're frozen shrimp," he deadpanned.

That sort of candor merits an extra-nice tip from me.

As for wine: having consumed enough of it in all price ranges over many decades, I've learned:

- Most wine criticsm is less than useless (so, by all means, feel free to ignore mine)
- The most important consideration is what you like
- Repeated tastings are necessary to develop a palate
- Most expensive wine (say, $30-$40 a bottle and up retail) is vastly overpriced compared to its relative quality

Any thoughts on Decoy's Zinfandel? It has been heavily reduced in price, and I have liked it a lot.

That's Duckhorn's second label, right? Duckhorn is only mediocre, but some of those old-line Cali producers get reduced so much in NH stores on clearance that they're worth the investment - a mediocre $30 bottle is a really good $15 bottle. I used to cherry pick wines from producers I wouldn't otherwise recommend - Nickel & Nickel, Ferrari-Carrano, Hess - but only when 40-50% off.

I am not surprised of Bob's story about Chili Davis. When you share a rookie card with someone, you're bound to have that kind of intimacy.

In which case, what can he tell us about Bob Brenly?

I rarely drink anything but wine or beer, and my philosophies on them are quite opposed. I drink beer once in a while for a treat, so I get the best I can; I drink one glass of red wine at 5pm every day, so I get the cheapest I can. YMMV (and all must bow to 'zop's palate, as I have learned :) but often there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between the $10 bottle of red and the $3 bottle, and there are some lovely drinkable "table wines" for $3; if you're on a maintenance dose, get them. I wholly endorse Steve's idea of drink what you like. The same applies to all kinds of pleasures with snob cultures surrounding them, including opera and olive oil.

One thing that drives me nuts about American wine stores and supermarkets is the hundreds and hundreds of brands of merlot, chardonnay, cabernet, and shiraz (not to mention moscato and "sweet red") clogging the shelves, while you often can't find a bottle of Chianti or Valpolicella. The cheap wines of Europe need more exposure here. One of the best wines I ever had was a Kekfrankos in Budapest, for which I paid the equivalent of $1.50 a bottle. I do like Trader Joe's for the $5 Montepulcianos and Nero d'Avolas; at least they're a change that you don't often see elsewhere.

I used to hold out for fresh wild-caught fish and seafood till I realized I live hundreds of miles from the g#####n ocean, so now I just get frozen or just-thawed shrimp and fish, a lot of it farmed somewhere. If you want to eat the stuff (and you should; it's tasty and healthy) and you don't live near a fishing village, don't try to buy never-frozen fish. It's expensive and often rotten.

I do like Trader Joe's for the $5 Montepulcianos and Nero d'Avolas; at least they're a change that you don't often see elsewhere.

If you think that's actual Montepulciano or Nero d'Avola in the bottle . . . then I have a bridge to sell you. The Italians cheat with the $100 bottles and they sure as hell cheat more on the cheap ones.

If you think that's actual Montepulciano or Nero d'Avola in the bottle . . . then I have a bridge to sell you. The Italians cheat with the $100 bottles and they sure as hell cheat more on the cheap ones.

If the drinker enjoys the wine and considers it fair value for the price, why should he care?

If the drinker enjoys the wine and considers it fair value for the price, why should he care?

I'm pretty sure you just made a cave of shadows argument.

I'm pretty sure you just made a cave of shadows argument.

I haven't the faintest idea. What I hope I made is an argument in favor of the proposition that, at least for most of us, fussing over wine isn't nearly as satisfying as just enjoying it.

As stated elsewhere, I drink about a glass of wine a year total.

My two rules for blind, non-wine-drinker buying wines that people have enjoyed:

1.) Age of vineyard
2.) Aesthetic value of the label

It's been damned successful.

Steve, you could make the same argument about analytical understanding of baseball. Some folks don't want to understand what they're watching, they just want to see some dingers. That's fine, I guess, but it's not how I live my life.

Steve, you could make the same argument about analytical understanding of baseball. Some folks don't want to understand what they're watching, they just want to see some dingers. That's fine, I guess, but it's not how I live my life.

Fair enough. And please don't think that I don't acknowledge value in the intense scrutiny over wine, and I know many people who derive great enjoyment from it (one of my own brothers being one of them). Knock yourselves out.

Meanwhile, I'm more than happy with my $20 Cabs. May they be dingers. Fine with me. :-)

In which case, what can he tell us about Bob Brenly?

In the low minors, he would do the Spaulding Smails routine and quaff people's drinks when they went out to dance.

Well, see, Tufts, that's scrappiness. That's knowing what it takes to win.

Oh, by the way, Bob Tufts, I attended this game:

I would tell you that the memory never left me, but, ya know ... I was in my early 20s.

The Italians cheat with the $100 bottles and they sure as hell cheat more on the cheap ones

Well, if I'm getting cheated at $5, at least I'm getting cheated out of $2, not $97 :-D

'zop, thanks so muchly! That's an awesome post, and I fully intend to put it to use this weekend. I live on the Upper West Side, so there's no dearth of wine shops near me. I think I'll start on a sangiovese? I tend not to eat too much Asian-style cuisine, so I suppose my diet is fairly conventional in that way (and utterly lycopene-laden.)

Krusty, any of the decent west side stores - Gotham, West Side Wine, the vastly overpriced Beacon or 67 Wine, or the wine store attached to Whole Foods - should have many of the above. Of course, the mecca is Chambers Street Wines - their selection is curated precisely for what you want.