Best QPR red wine? Syrah

This week I had a conversation with an East Coast wine broker who told me, "Syrah is dead." People will buy Yellow Tail, and they'll buy Central Coast Syrah at $7.99, but sales are flat for higher-end Syrahs. Red wine drinkers are much more willing to buy Cabernet at all price points.

This is crazy, folks. Syrah is the best red-wine value out there right now. If you like Cab, you can always find a Syrah you'll like better at a lower price.

Just for fun I ran a list of 2005 California Syrahs rated 90 to 94 points by Wine Spectator. There are 66 wines in this group. Of them, 39 cost $50 or less; 13 cost $30 or less.

I ran the same list on Cab: 2005 California Cabernet Sauvignons and blends rated 90 to 94 points. There were nearly twice as many wines on the list -- 125.

Of those 125 well-rated Cabs, only 16 cost $50 or less, and just 1 wine sold for $30 or less.

A Cab defender could point to the fact that twice as many Cabs get high ratings. But there's a reason for that: There are simply more top-of-the-line Cabs made. Many wineries issue multiple single-vineyard and/or reserve Cabs. Few wineries have more than one top of the line Syrah.

What I'm looking at is the price performance. I might disagree with Wine Spectator on an individual wine, but in the aggregate, they're a good benchmark of quality. I believe their group of 66 Syrahs is about as good as their corresponding group of 125 Cabs with similar scores.

So why spend more than $100 for a Cab when the same winery's Syrah, at $35 might be just as good?

Folks, if you're spending $300 a bottle, go ahead and buy Cab. But if you're not in that price range, Cab's QPR (quality-price ratio) just isn't very good. Switch to Syrah and you'll be happier -- wealthier too.