I like natural wines although I don’t know a ton about them. Enjoy a nice skin contact orange wine. I’m thinking of ordering some online especially now that its getting hot. I’d like to keep the cost in the $20-$25 per bottle range. This might be difficult as it seems most natural wine bottles are in the $30-$50 range. Looked up options in CA to minimize our footprint. I’ll probably order a case of whites, chillable reds and interesting bottles to fill up the case.
Anybody have recommendations? These were at the top of my list
Kermit Lynch - I know of them as a wine distributor but not for natural wines per say
Helen’s Wines - good selection but maybe on the pricier side
Primal Wines - read a little on them but most bottles are $25+
Just found a wine that Primal sells for $25.99 for $17.99 at a wine store in Wash DC. Jeez those mark ups. Primal is sold out of it anyway but now I’m going to have to do more online sleuthing.
European wines are often cheaper on the East Coast. I think it’s a combination of lower shipping costs and higher demand.
Vino Vore in LA has the Prosa for $24. The Wine Country in Long Beach has a Meinklang white for $16. Hi-Time in Costa Mesa has a Meinklang red for $14 and a couple of $25 pet-nats.
I am also on a bit of a natural wine kick with this weather. As mentioned, lots of good pickup options in LA if you want to take a road trip (Psychic, Silver Lake Wine, Tilda, the new Good Luck Wine Shop). Punchdown above looks cool.
I’ve heard good things about Mysa but haven’t done a price comparison.
There’s also the Natural Wine Shoppe though their stuff looks like it’s mostly in the $25-40 range.
And I don’t mean to derail, but - does anyone know of a reliable source for tasting notes / evaluation? I’m finding it pretty tough to get comprehensible and reliable notes on a lot of these wines, and haven’t had great success asking for recs or describing profiles to Silver Lake Wine folks.
Same here. I feel like I’m basically relying on the website to procure and suggest the wines. Some give pairings or add labels but don’t see a lot of tasting notes.
I may have to add a LA trip soon. Hi Times in OC does not have a very extensive collection of natural wines.
Hi Times is a reliable place for discount wines. Ditto Wine Exchange in Santa Ana.
Kermit Lynch is a reliable importer but I don’t think I have ever seen anything from Kermit Lynch that retails in the $20 - $25 range. In my experience, for a decent bottle of non-industrial wine and/or for a bottle of well made natural wine, you usually have increase your budget to around $30 or more unless you are looking for Muscadet (which I personally adore, although Muscadet is not everyone’s cup of tea). I’ve have also had some very nice small production New York wines for less than $30, but no distribution on the West Coast.
I’m sure there are probably somewhere out there some decently made wines for $20 to $25, but I think you are going to drink a lot of plonk to find them.
One thing I have done in the past to find wine is that if there is a restaurant where I know the beverage team is great, and if the restaurant has an online wine list, I will peruse the wine list, find some of the lower priced wines and then find them at retail where the wines are going to be less expensive than in a restaurant. I often used to do this with the Del Posto wine list in New York - that restaurant had a first class wine team and a surprising number of lower priced wines (even cheaper at retail).
I was quite surprised to see a number of bottles under the $20 range. They are described as table red wines but I took a chance and ordered a case. They’re probably good especially given the price. Maybe they’re as good as the house wines you’d get at a restaurant in Europe. Can’t beat that QPR. I included a Morgon for $39 and some Muscadet for $22 but averaged it out with a few ~$15 bottles.
free shipping for all order over $125
10% discount on cases
Glad you were able to find some economical Kermit Lynch bottles. Let us know how you like them.
Yesterday I found in my closet a Coca Cola style can of red California wine that had been in a gift bag at a pricey wine event. Popped it open. OMG, it was bad - full of flavoring agents, but to be fair no worse than many California wines I’ve had in genuine bottles with corks. The antithesis of natural wine.
Kermit is an importer, wholesaler, and retailer. The retail part of the business generally avoids discounting their wines so as not to complete with their wholesale customers.
That makes sense. I trust Kermit Lynch to procure good quality wines in the $15-$20 range. I ordered a bunch much higher than that price range but it all evens out.
I live on the East coast, so not sure of what’s available in LA, but these importers all have impeccable portfolios: Zev Rovine, Jenny & Francois, Selection Massale
Most of them list stores and restaurants (which may be selling whole bottle to customers now) that carry their wines.
Lou in LA has a fantastic selection of natural wines. They are not doing delivery, but pickup seems easy: https://www.louwineshop.com/
If you’re concerned about carbon footprint, keep in mind that you also have some fantastic “natural” or “natural”-leaning producers in your own state! After trying a bottle or two, consider buying directly from the wineries!
Some great examples:
Broc, Martha Stoumen, Ruth Lewandowski, Donkey & Goat, Scholium Project (now in LA!)
There’s also a “natural” wine focused app called Raisin: user aggregated reviews, maps showing winemakers, shops and restaurants that focus on “natural” wines. Only downside is there’s a lot more content in Europe; this might just be user base but more likely reflects that this movement really started first in Europe.
Thanks for the recommendations @jperelmuter. I’ve never heard of Raisin but that looks like a good source for info. It does seem like Europe has more variety/options but I’ve come across Donkey & Goat and Lewandowski on a few sites. I imagine we’ll see more options from California over the next few years. I’m going to start with a few bottles from Helen’s and try to take a trip to one of the good wine shops in Los Feliz area to get my feet wet.