Would you enjoy a wine that’s just … ordinary? Would you even try it? What exactly does “ordinary” mean, anyway? Is it a compliment or an insult?
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This is one of those rare cases when the dictionary isn’t much help, because the word seems to have multiple meanings. Merriam-Webster offers us three choices right at the top of its Ordinary (adjective) entry.
Of a kind to be expected in the normal order of events: routine, usual. An ordinary day.
Of common quality, rank, or ability: An ordinary teenager. Ordinary people, not rich or famous.
Deficient in quality, poor, inferior: Ordinary wine.
Look up “Ordinary” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and find three definitions that don’t quite agree.
That’s right: Merriam-Webster’s least complimentary definition for “ordinary” relates specifically to wine. And this, in my opinion, shows us why some people think wine lovers are, well, snobs. Just plain “ordinary” wine isn’t good enough for us. We want the crimson nectar that transcends mere ordinariness.
Or do we? I can still remember my joy, on my first trip to Paris a long time ago, sitting down at a sidewalk café within sight of the Arc de Triomphe, and in my fractured French ordering “un petit pichet de vin ordinaire.” A four-franc investment – less than $1 – brought me a two-glass pitcher of a perfectly good everyday red wine and a sense of sophisticated accomplishment.
Indeed, for at least 300 years the French have been using “vin ordinaire” to denote the kind of simple, drinkable, everyday wine that you’ll sip with dinner or enjoy at a café. And we’ve been using the term in English for just about as long, without much of a sneer.
The midcentury wine writer Frank Schoonmaker, one of the handful of writers who helped awaken postwar America to the joys of wine, regarded vin ordinaire fondly, as we see in this snippet from The Gilroy (Calif) Dispatch:
“Vin ordinaire is the wine you drink 360 days of the year,” he wrote in an essay titled Vin Ordinaire in America. “Fine table wine is the turkey at Thanksgiving and plum pudding on Christmas Day. When you pay [a premium] for a Cabernet from Napa, you have the right to the equivalent of a filet steak … When you buy vin ordinaire, you are altogether in a different league… you should judge what you buy as you judge coffee, milk, or beer.”
But somewhere along the way, wine got fancy. Many wine lovers became accustomed to paying more for the fancier stuff, investing in climate-controlled cellars, and paying attention to critical point ratings. Vin ordinaire just seemed too, well, ordinary anymore, not the kind of thing to interest a serious wine lover.
Vin ordinaire fell out of fashion, and in the first decades of the 21st century, amid a process of aligning French wine law with European Union practices, French regulators discarded the vin ordinaire appellation, replacing it with “Vin de France (“wine of France,”) for wines claiming no geographical source beyond France itself.
In Bourgogne, though, because Burgundy is so often different, the regional ordinaire had long held the elevated status of a formal appellation. It was still ordinary, but it could proudly bear an AOC designation on its label: Bourgogne Ordinaire and Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire.
That finally changed in 2011, when those two categories were replaced by a single new appellation, Coteaux Bourguignons. This category covers all of Bourgogne, including Beaujolais, may come in red, white, or rosé, and the red may include both Pinot Noir and Beaujolais’s Gamay.
I don’t see this label around much, but when I spotted one at my neighborhood wine shop the other day, bearing a very traditional-looking label on a traditionally slope-shouldered Burgundy-style bottle, I knew I had to bring it home.
I’m glad I did, too. Jean Touton 2023 “Les Sarments”Coteaux Bourguignons, is a fresh, balanced, cherry-berry-scented mix of four-fifths Gamay and one-fifth Pinot Noir. It’s well worth its mid-teens toll, and I’d definitely buy it again.
Remember the old Vin Ordinaire? What’s your attitude toward enjoying “ordinary” wines like that?
Today’s Tasting Report
Jean Touton 2023 “Les Sarments” Coteaux Bourguignons ($17.99)
A clear, attractive ruby color that it would be entirely reasonable to describe as “burgundy,” Jean Touton 2023 “Les Sarments” Coteaux Bourguignons is a blend of 80% Gamay and 20% Pinot Noir. It offers appealing if simple red cherry and strawberry scents with a hint of fresh, juicy tomato. Red fruit carries over in a dry and properly acidic flavor, with tannic astringency becoming more apparent in a medium-long finish. 13% alcohol. U.S. importer: Monsieur Touton Selection LTD., NYC. (Aug. 29, 2026)
FOOD MATCH: Versatile at the table, it’s a natural with red meat, grilled poultry, cheeses, and plant-based dishes, particularly featuring mushrooms.
WHEN TO DRINK: As a simple wine closed with a simple plastic stopper, it’s not meant to age; I’d drink up this 2023 over the next year or two.
VALUE:
Wine-Searcher.com’s database shows a $16 average U.S. retail price, and I paid $18 locally. It’s a fine value in the middle to upper teens.
WEB LINK:
There’s not much about this wine online. This link from a Northern Kentucky retailer provides basic information.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for “Les Sarments” Coteaux Bourguignons on Wine-Searcher.com.
Read more about Coteaux Bourguignons, a recent all-Bourgogne appellation that replaces the old Bourgogne Ordinaire and Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire, at this Wine-Searcher link.
This Wine-Searcher link covers Gamay-Pinot Noir blends.
Find the wines you want
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Good wines we’ve tried under $12!
Want tips to still more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $12 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!
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This is pure gold Robin!
Vin ordinaire got downgraded once wine became a thing to rank. When every bottle carries a score, a wine that is merely good has nowhere to sit. The bottles I drink on a Tuesday are the ones I never think about, and they do more for my week than anything I have been saving. Ordinary is what most drinking actually is.