Bordeaux debate of the day...

[hotwine]

I favor the bigger names (Talbot, Lagrange, et al) over the cats & dogs. The woofers are too inconsistent. That's not to say you can't find a gem among them.... you certainly can. But for consistency and dependability, I favor the bigger producers.

For example: when buying a wine that's new to me, I'll buy three bottles, and try at least two of them before deciding to buy more, to allow for bottle variation, travel shock, or whatever. And that may mean waiting a few days for the right menu to be presented by CINC House. If the decision is made to buy a case, it will then be at least a week after the initial purchase, and if the wine is indeed a winner, that may be long enough for local stocks to be exhausted... so I could already be too late to find more.

With Lagrange et al, that's not a problem... if it appears at a good price, buy a case without dilly-dallying around about it. And if it's indeed a real winner, buy a second case, and may a third.

Odds are pretty good that I wouldn't do that with a woofer.