5 Wines Over $100. One Is $20. Can We Tell?

So we love playing this game here. We try to spot the expensive wine amongst a bracket of cheap wines. So we love this game so much. The Diff'rent Drup Boys have decided to give us a bit of a twist on their favourite game. And we like this twist. We're actually going to guess the cheap wine amongst the expensive wine. So we've got six wines, five of them over $100. But one of them is 20 bucks. And safe to say, we were absolutely shocked. Welcome to Bottle Shock. My name's Mitch Govan. In the context of the wine industry, I destroy wine by distilling it into spirit. First experience of wine, probably I'm talking like Christmas bubbles at my grandma's house kind of style. And I was not super into it. First experience of wine that I like, really, really liked was working in hospitality. Probably that early first pub job, I reckon. First pub job was when I really got around it. Well, I've spent, you know, not to brag, I reckon I've spent like 150 bucks on a bottle of wine. It was like this real unexpectedly natty Italian wine, I reckon, that we got at Fugazi one time. And I'm here today because it's my last day at Unico. So I finally made the cut to get on the Bottle Shock channel and have a go at some of these wines. It's my last day because I'm going over to Germany to work in a vintage. So I can actually experience, you know, actual winemaking a little bit more with Kopp down in Baden-Baden. Hello there. We have six more wines and we're inverting it now. We're flipping it over rather than trying to pick the $100 bottle. We're going to try to pick the $20 bottle. This is going to be fun. Wine number one is fizzy wine. And look at the pale red little highlight to it. It's kind of coppery. Yeah, it smells wealthy. It smells like, honestly, like flat sparkling in the fanciest way possible. Which one of these is under 20 bucks a bottle? Well, firstly, I'm going to say it's not this. I've not even smelt this. Firstly, the colour, slightly darker, indicating potentially that a darker variety use like a Pinot Gris, which doubt it, because the bead, the bead in this is really fine. That can't be $20. It's just, it's not 20 bucks. This is absolute great champagne. There's no doubt. Yeah, it's like old Granny Smith's kind of vibes. I'm going to pick that this is over $100, but it is not my favourite. Bonus kicked a big one here. 12 bottles and I'll happily pay $120 for this. Amazing, vibrant acid, lime zest, juicy character to it. Like it's got power and intensity behind it, a cellaring potential for this wine as well. I think there's complexity to be had that's not quite there yet. I think this is really, really delicious. That is, I think, I think it's a Cremant de Jura, a Cremant of some sort. It could be champagne. If it is champagne, it's going to be a grower champagne. It's just a little bit, I don't know, atypical. Is that how much I think it's worth? How much I would pay for it? I'd pay 50 bucks, one bottle, to show people. I would pay, realistically, $120 a bottle for it. And I would buy, hmm, I'd buy six bottles. It's that kind of like halfway between a big house champagne and also grower champagne. It's got complexity, but it's also just like super simple and drinkable at the same time. It's amazing. Oh, all right, cool, fine. This is more my speed. Feels like Chardonnay. The oak is definitely a component here. And I think without that oak, this would be a very boring wine. Smells oaky. Might be a little bit buttery. I'm a little excited for that. Cannot be under $100. Productive, amazing, flinty, exciting, nervy Chardonnay. High quality fruit, great fruit weight, good drive, good lingering sort of length here. And it goes, and it goes, and it goes. Great little grip. It's long. Definitely oaky, for sure. Kind of a muted acidity in the front, which is quite nice. Crackling acid, just driving, energetic acid. The oak use is really, really lovely here. Vanilla-y, nutty and spicy. It's got power. It's got length. It's super delicious. That kind of reductive character, that sulfuric thing kind of adds complexity all the way along. I would struggle to say over $100 a bottle, but it definitely is not sub-20. There is no way that this is sub-20. I'm going to go $100 on the nose and I'm going to buy three to six. And I would happily pay $100 and I'll grab 12. Long life Ed, delicious. I would pay $100 a bottle for that. And because I've got all the money in the world, you get three of those there, boys. Rosé, red herring, right? Generally speaking, when we see rosé, we expect cheapness, but there are some fancy pants rosés in the world and this could be one of them. Unsurprisingly, big time strawberries on the nose. Can't wait to see how badly my nose match up with everyone else's. Tomato leaf aromatics. It's got savoriness. It's got complexity, but it also has that kind of simplicity you want in rosé. Delight. This, I don't think this is a $20 bottle of wine at all. All right. It's bold. Got some oomph. Kind of bitter on the back palate, which is a bit unusual. Not what I expected. I'm kind of a bad judge for rosé because I feel like, I don't know if you guys had Bailey and Bailey rosé, $7 for a liter. This one's tricky, huh? This one's really tricky. Why do I spend $100 a bottle on anything? Rarity? Scarcity? Based on the flavor, I might identify where it comes from or what it's made from. The variations of price point in rosé actually probably has more to do with method of production than it does place. I personally would not pay $100 a bottle for this. I don't think it's worth it. I can't see the place here. That's my early pick, the $20 bottle, just because I wouldn't spend big money on a rosé. So I would spend $20 a bottle on it. 18 bottles of it. How about that? You like that? I'd happily pay $65 for this and I'd go for $12. It's more than meets the eye, this wine. It's more than your average rosé. It's kind of a, it's an autobot. This is a wine of delicacy and nuance. Uh, and if you are searching for it, I think potentially you're going to find it here, but I'm going to say it's a hundred bucks a bottle and I would buy one. All right. Wine number four is pale and red is pale and red. This is a hundred bucks a bottle or more. This is Pinot. It's one of those things that I would spend a hundred dollars a bottle or more. It's something that tastes what it's freaking made from. Not the best tasting though, but this smells good. Sheesh. Not a $20 bottle of wine. My days. Jesus Christ. This is good. There's a lot of power and intensity to the aromatics. Smells rich, smells oaky, smells Australian, if I was going to guess. But I've been wrong about that many a time. Like perfectly ripe and bright and fresh and juicy and vibrant and like, oh, it's so beautiful. Fudge knuckle. This is seriously quiet. $1.60 and $12. This feels expensive. I reckon this is a nice cool wine. Eight bucks a bottle. I'll get six of these down boys. It's pretty good wine. I like that guy. Oh my God. Wow. I'm more than happy to pay a hundred dollars for that and happy to get 12. The intensity is beautiful. I've got that lovely raspberry. It's top tier Yarra Pinot. It's as good as it gets. See, my mood's better now, right? Wine makes your mood better. You're not allowed to say that in Australia. Now, yeah, we're kind of getting into the $20 basket. Yeah, I feel it. I feel it. You can already tell the rosé is not going to be the cheap one. That is like an umami thing. Blue cheesy almost on the nose. Is that nuts to say? Cabernet. Green. Yeah. Woody and earthy character that kind of detracts a little bit aromatically. Best I can say about this one so far is it's like really cohesive. Like it all hangs together really nicely. I'm struggling to pick apart different elements of it because of that. Which is an indicator of quality. I think it's a really cool wine. It's got some really fine grain tannin. It's got some juice to it as well. It's got some like lovely brambly fruit. I wouldn't pay a hundred dollars for it. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. I think this could be the $20 bottle. Not because it's bad wine. Not because it's a cheap wine. It is cheap. I just don't think it's worth a hundred or over a hundred. And I'd actually buy six. That's really good. Uh, I'm going to call this as my $20 bottle. Um, but I'd grab six. I think this is nice. I reckon this could be the guy. I would pay 30 bucks a bottle for this. I'd probably only get two bottles of it. If the rosé was the one, I'm sorry. But I reckon number five is what I'm going with for the $20 bottle. Unless number six is complete. Look at the stain on that. Look at the color. This possibly should be over a hundred bucks. That's rich. Stewy, like stewed fruits, not like beef stew. It's like, there's like this haze in this wine, a purple haze. What's up, Jimi Hendrix? A slight aceticness to the nose, which kind of hints at maybe more naturalness. That bangs. I like that one a lot. Generous on the palate, a good note. The tannins are soft. They don't really like smack you in the face straight in the way, but they still have like a nice kind of grip and structure to them. This is a big wine. Flushes, big on the palate, amazing tannin. This could also, I've seen wines like this that have been sub 20. It's just got so much power and concentration, but elegance. You don't get this from many wines, particularly from Barossa Shiraz. More than happy to spend 150 bucks on this and buy 12. I would pay $120 for that bottle of wine and I would get six of them. I'm going to go a hundred on the nose and I would buy three bottles. That was really good. Let's see what the team think about that. Boys, gentlemen. Uh, I love revealing these, uh, six empty glasses because we tasted these wines and we generally have a little bit in, uh, but we have Mitch here who tasted last and cleaned them all up. Wait, did you, did you drink them or did you put them down the spittoon? Oh, it's my last day. I'm a thirsty boy. And, uh, they're in the bucket. They're in the bucket. I do apologize. So one of our favorite games in the show, we played the inverse of one of our favorite games of, uh, which is spot the expensive bottle. Instead we played spot the cheap bottle, which was awesome. I just want to vote that we should do this format. If you could get in the comments below with enough comments, we'll only do this format and that would be very okay with me. Well, fancy wine and smart boys. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, exactly. Uh, did you have fun? I had fun. I didn't enjoy myself. I'm sure when you watch it back, you'll see how much I was enjoying myself. Do you have a firm idea of what you believe to be the a hundred dollar bottle? Uh, sorry. The $20 bottle. I had a couple of guesses. I landed on number five. I also landed on number five. Oh, dude. Even if I go wrong. Yeah, that's it. That's it. We're fun. I landed on number five. Uh, this is a hundred and seven. All righty. Now, why number one was a shampoo and excellent shampoo as it is. Sorry. That's a, that's a family. That's a good bit. That's the family thing where it's like, where it's like, would you like some more shampoo? And you just fill up the glass of champagne on Christmas day. It's like more shampoo. It was Ripper. It was so, so good. It was very good. It's either, it's either like that Cremant de Jura-y thing or it's like grower champagne. Yeah. Thought it was maybe some interesting stylistic choice. The glass didn't tip me off. Didn't tip me off. You're a spirits guy, not a wine guy. I picked it was flat champers and I picked it was expensive is what I went with. Uh, I was 12 for 120. I was six for 120. I was 150 bucks. It is 130. Hey, well done. Well, brew reserve, champagne. Champagne. How do you pronounce this word? Arres effy. I reckon. The band of number. So this is grower. Very, very good stuff. I think well priced too. This was a Chardonnay looking thing. ****. That was good. I was happy with that. I was being that. Rockstar. I thought it was very, very sharp at a hundred bucks. Like three, two, six. I didn't go the whole way for me. There are other wines that I found more appealing in the bracket, but I didn't want to pay for it. I definitely thought it was not under 20 bucks. If it's under $20, I will be leaving this studio immediately and buying it. Uh, yeah. Rockstar. I was 12 for a hundred. I was a hundred bucks. I got three. We're all at a hundred. I'm riding the wind. Henry, you are not coming back, bro. $129. We're going to Cote d'Or. That is excellent. Excellent Burgundy, uh, like, you know, the large Burgundy for that price. I think that's ******* awesome. $130. Yeah. We've had Burgundy on the show. We've had this producer on the show. We'll be like a little bit expensive. That is Rockstar for the price. Yeah. Cause we had the Merceau before. Yeah. And it was like $360. You'll really love this. Jesus mate. We'll bust open the car and it'll be your last day, brother. Uh, wine number three. Okay. Red herring kind of thing because it's rose. Yeah. I can't pick rose as like quality at all. So I have a take on this. Like I would not spend a hundred dollars on this. I don't think it's worth it. Would not spend a hundred dollars. But I can't. I like, I have to mark it a hundred knowing full well that I can't believe that it would be under 20. I was pushing 20 bucks on this until I tasted it later on, which I'll think of you later. Uh, but yeah, I was, I had suspicions about this. It acts like a cheap wine, but it actually is kind of like classier. That's finished that aged matured finished. And I was like, well, I had 101 because I can't go lower than that. I would pay 65 bucks and buy 12 of this. I said 20 bucks, but I want 18. It is $119. Francois Cotat. Cotat. Chavignolles. So this would be a peanut. This would be a peanut noir from Sancerre. Red Sancerre or pink Sancerre. Pink Sancerre. Yeah. Cotat. We've, we've had his wines, their wines on the show. A very famous Sancerre producer. Awesome rosé. Awesome. Rosé. There's a Cotat tax that's being paid here. Yeah. A hundred percent. And then, uh, wine number four. Oh my God. This is good. Basically wet myself. The smell it run around the room. Just screaming. It's unbelievably good. I did like it. I went to that level with it, but he didn't get it. I thought he didn't get this moment. He realized he's in a room full of dorks. It's good. It was nice. I went New Zealand. I went South Island. I went Yarra Valley, Giant Steps, Applejack. You know, I wasn't taking messes like that. I was like thin, kind of acidic, but nice. I was right. Yeah. That's all I had. 160 and 12. 12 for 100. 80 and six. Nice. Uh, Home Hill Tasmania Kelly's Reserve Pinot 110. I have never heard of this wine. This is new. This I've never seen or heard of this. But **** me. Is that good? We work in the industry. So this would be one of the first releases. Maybe we see in the mainland or in a main sort of indie retailer. That is a wine, guys. And what we often see is these producers that hit the market, they kind of skyrocket away. So like, buy this wine. That's outrageously delicious. That is so cool. Yum, yum, yums. Now, wine number five, which we've already agreed is the, uh, the $20 wine. With that being said, I thought it was delicious. It was one of those things that it's like, I don't think it could charge a hundred. So therefore, I also don't believe that it could possibly be sub 20. It's like a really, really good value sub 20 if it is. I was like fancy nose and then was kind of like a little bit, maybe didn't deliver. I reckon this is from where your family's from. And I'm wondering whether or not it's like a bit of like an ingrain in the DNA. Possible. So you're talking Kunawara? I think it's Kunawara. All right. Fair enough. I don't care where it's from. I think it's great. I think it's like, it's fun. Like I wouldn't pay north of like $35 for it, but I, okay. If it's 20 bucks, I think it's a really great value buy. Well, I had 20 and six. Exactly the same. 30 and two. There we go. This is a hundred and seven. Damn it. It says Yarra Valley Cab Savant Merlot. Clearly we were not a massive fan of Yarra Cabernet. That medium bodied thing is not our vibe. 12.8 a cent. Uh, Wontirna Estate, Yarra Valley, uh, famous producer. It's very simple packaging. Frick. Um, then this is crazy. Oh, that is a good wine for 20 under, under, under $20. That, that last one is a great wine for under $20. Dude, I'm copping a million. I love that one. It's my favorite wine. Wow. This is your favorite wine? Yeah. I was heavy on this one. It's super intense. Yeah. Big. It's super aromatic. I call it Primitivo from like Puglia. I was, I thought it was more standish and I was so mouth coating and like, uh, glass coating. It was, it's clearly not for $20. Um, but it's ******* crazy. That's really good. That's really, really good. I was, I went 150 in 12. Oh yeah, that's *******, that's big love. I went 120 in six. All right. Let's have a look see what we got. Oh, it's Dandelions Barossa Shiraz for $20. Well done. Yeah. I always thought I'd call it a Barossa Shiraz, uh, French and American oak barrels. 18 months maturation. Uh, 20 bucks is wild. Cool. Invest guys, invest big in Dandelions. They're on your money. They've got something sorted. I feel like they're already owned by a big, uh, multinational. No, no, no. Dandelion, no. Oh, 100%, 100% indie. It's just, um, uh, Zara Brooks and, and Elena. Zara? Yep. There you go. Uh, and Elena's an incredible winemaker. Uh, Zara's an incredible marketer. All right. Uh, gentlemen, uh, one of the lineup. Uh, what, what are we thinking? I mean, I mean, our choice would be Pinot. Yeah. That is, that is stunning. Uh, you know, I'm loving the Dandelion, man. I've got hard feelings for the Dandelion. And you guys went 12 for that. Yeah. It has to win, doesn't it? I'll concede that. I loved it. I thought it was pretty good. I think that's great wine. Uh, that's a, that's an absolute shock. ------- hell. There you go. Uh, Dandelion, uh, Lionheart of the Barossa Shiraz 2023 is our wine of the week. But I'll be drinking that Pinot for the rest of the day. We're going to start losing viewers when they realize we have no idea what we're talking about. Yeah, a hundred percent. What the hell's going on? Mitch, thank you so much. No worries, boys. Good luck in Germany. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. Finally, I made the cut. He also employed Henry Doyle. I did. Sorry for what I've done to you. Love you, Doyle. Feel better soon. Bye-bye. See ya.