A Jacob's Creek wine at Dan Murphy's that will be hard to beat on my rough-and-ready value for money index

The Owl does not see much point in recommending wines that he, along with most of his potential readers, cannot afford to drink. Sure there will be special occasions when we decide to act like mugs with money and bust the budget but it is the wines we can drink and enjoy every day that most interest me.

Rare indeed will it be when this little blog gives an opinion on something that merits a five on the Owl's quality scale. So rare that I can't exactly remember when I last did so but I do remember the wine. It was a 2002 vintage late disgorged Arras from Tasmania and I could not imagine how a sparkling could be any better. 

All very wonderful if $150 or so a bottle is of no consequence to you but for my celebratory drinking I'll settle for the A by Arras Premium Cuvée NV for around $23 at Dan's. 

The posh one would rate a 30 on my value scale (see details of the scale here) and the three quality points for the NV would see its value rated as an eight where the lower the rating the better my rough-and-ready measure.

You won't come across many better value wines than this Arras NV and you certainly won't find a French champagne that comes close.

Which brings me back to what I started off to write about - good quality wines we can drink and enjoy every day without trying to be precious and pretentious about it.

This one from the current Dan Murphy's list is at the top of my value list.

It might just be a one star wine on the Glug scale but it really is a classic. In my experience over many years it regularly outshines rieslings being sold for three or four times the price. It is one to stock up on before the Chinese take the lot.

THE OWL’S SIMPLIFIED RATINGS SCALE - REMEMBER WINE IS JUST A DRINK
<0 - It might be alcoholic but not even good for cooking
0 - It is wine, it is alcoholic, and there will be times ...
1 - Nothing fancy but pleasantly drinkable without major faults
2 - Most well made commercial quality wines fit in here and more than a few expensive small producer efforts too
3 - Moving up the quality scale and the price one too probably. Wines that will pass what I call “the bottle test” where I can be tempted to open another one.
4 - Wines of real quality with characteristics of distinction. Not many reach this level.
5 - Rare finds where you cannot think how they could be any better.