Wine: Greatness, for less

Every wine lover at some point experiences “an itch to drink a truly great bottle,” said Ray Isle in Food & Wine. That thirst doesn’t have to be answered by a bottle that costs four figures. I’ve found that for every $1,000-plus wine, there’s a “truly great” alternative priced under $250, such as the whites below.

2008 Littorai Thieriot Vineyard Chardonnay ($60). A collectors’ favorite whose “creamy texture and bright citrus fruit hide a tensile strength,” suggesting it “will be able to age for years.”

2008 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Spätlese Riesling ($115). A “profound” Riesling from a celebrated Mosel Valley producer. It’s “slate-inflected, powerful, delicately sweet.”

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2008 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er Cru ($220). Domaine Leflaive produces some of Burgundy’s greatest whites, including this delicious premier cru with “seductive spice notes.”