Swap guides
Wines Like Prosecco: Four Sparkling Underdogs Worth the Swap
Prosecco earned its spot on your table. But four lesser-known sparklers give you deeper, drier bubbles for close to the same money.
Wines Like Riesling: 4 Aromatic White Underdogs to Pour Instead
If you love Riesling for its perfume and its acid, four lesser-known whites give you the same lift for less money and none of the sweet-wine baggage.
Wines Like Gewürztraminer: The Aromatic White You Can Actually Pronounce
Love Gewürztraminer's rose-petal perfume but not the spelling, the sweetness roulette, or the Alsace price? Moschofilero gives you the same aromatics, bone-dry, from the high plateaus of Greece.
Wines Like Provence Rosé: Skip the Markup, Keep the Pink
Provence perfected dry, pale rosé — then priced it like luxury. Three indigenous underdogs pour the same crisp, coral-pink glass for less, and taste more like where they're from.
Wines Like Merlot: Underdog Reds for the Soft, Plush Crowd
Merlot is smooth, plummy, and easy to love — which is exactly why it got taken for granted. If that plush, low-friction red is your comfort zone, two underdog grapes give you the same pleasure with more to say.
Wines Like Chardonnay: Textural White Underdogs to Try Instead
Love Chardonnay's weight, texture, and depth but tired of the same bottle — or the oak? Three underdog whites give you the body and richness for less, and with more to say.
Buying guides
The Best Agiorgitiko Wines Under $40
Agiorgitiko is Greece's most-planted red and one of wine's great soft touches — plush, juicy, and absurdly good value from its home in Nemea. Here are the bottles worth chasing under $40, all in stock.
The Best Alicante Bouschet Wines Under $35 (In Stock, 2026)
Alicante Bouschet is the rare grape that's red to the core — and Portugal's Alentejo makes the best of it for shockingly little. Here are the bottles worth chasing under $35, all in stock.
The Best Xinomavro Wines Under $35
Xinomavro drinks like Barolo for a fraction of the price — high acid, fine tannin, tar and roses. Here are the Greek bottles worth seeking out under $35, all in stock.
Best Wine Clubs That Ship Bottles You Haven't Tried
Most wine clubs sell you the same forgettable bottles in nicer boxes. A few don't. Here's where to point your money if you actually want to be surprised.
Deep dives
Antão Vaz: The Alentejo White With a Chardonnay's Weight
If you like Chardonnay for its body, Antão Vaz gives you the same weight and ripe fruit for less money — a sun-fed white from southern Portugal with real texture.
Arinto: Portugal's High-Acid Answer to Riesling
If you love Riesling for its cut and its lemon-and-stone tension, Arinto is the Portuguese white you have been missing. Same electric acidity, a fraction of the hype.
Assyrtiko: The Volcanic White That Out-Crisps Sauvignon Blanc
If you drink Sauvignon Blanc for the cut, Assyrtiko gives you more of it — bone-dry, high-acid, and tasting faintly of sea salt off a volcanic island.
Bical: The Bairrada White That Out-Ages Your Chardonnay
Bical is a high-acid Portuguese white with the body of an oaked Chardonnay and the staying power of Riesling. If you want texture without the tropical fatigue, this is the swap.
Blaufränkisch: Austria's Peppery Answer to Syrah
If you love Syrah for its black pepper and savory backbone but not the price, drink Blaufränkisch. Austria's signature red gives you the same dark fruit and spice with brighter acid and a lower ticket.
Bobal: Spain's Inky Old-Vine Answer to Malbec
If you love Malbec for its dark color and easy fruit but wish it had more spine, Bobal is the bottle to reach for — a high-acid Spanish red that used to fill tankers and now fills serious glasses.
Bonarda: Argentina's Quiet Number Two
Bonarda is Argentina's second most-planted red, and it costs a fraction of what its plush, dark fruit should. If you drink Merlot for the softness, this is the switch.
Cabernet Pfeffer: California's Peppery Red With No Real Name
A rare Central Coast red that tastes of white pepper and cranberry, and carries a name that lies twice over. It is not Cabernet, and nobody is certain what it actually is.
Carignan: The Bold Old-Vine Red the Wine World Nearly Ripped Out
Carignan was planted for volume, then torn out by the hectare. The gnarled old vines that survived make one of the Mediterranean's best-value bold reds — dark, brambly, and built on acid.