Playing the numbers game? Not this guy

I learned a great new phrase recently. It refers to consumers who are beholden to the ratings bestowed upon wines by publications, people who buy only wines that get 90-plus points from Robert Parker or one of the glossy magazines.

They're called "score whores."

I thought about them when the annual Wine Spectator "Top 100" list arrived the other day. In my own halcyon days as a "score whore" (not to mention a list-o-maniac), this was a highly anticipated event. Seeing how many of the 100 I could actually afford -- and find -- was a near-obsession.

Not anymore. The problem with this kind of list is that so much is based on scores that are weighted heavily toward more expensive wines. According to Robin Goldstein's "The Wine Trials," from 2000-07 the Wine Spectator rated 6,475 wines that cost $10 or less -- and gave only three of them a rating over 90, none over 91.

When it comes to these numbers, there's just plain snobbery involved. The esteemed importer Kermit Lynch nailed it when we talked earlier this year at his shop in Berkeley, Calif. "Here's this muscadet that's flawless; it's perfect. That's a 100-pointer. It's not a Meursault, but it's perfect," said Lynch, knowing that no one has ever given a muscadet or a rosé or a zinfandel 100 points because they're not "noble" wines.

Former Minnesotan Ryan Opaz, now a wine blogger in Spain, brought up a different problem with ratings last summer. "I started doing them," he said, "and I would have 10 wines rated 87, and I like each one for a different reason. So how do I say which one I like better? They scored the same, but they had nothing in common."

And if that system flummoxes an expert such as Opaz, how's a consumer supposed to figure anything out?

For all these reasons, I don't include a score with the Wines of the Week. The aim there is: "I like this wine a lot, I think it provides good bang for the buck and it's worth your consideration."

Toward that end, here are some under-$15 wines to which I've recently taken a liking. Try them, or use them as a gift (and blame me if the recipient doesn't like them!).

Reds/ I mentioned the Kiona Lemberger in a Thanksgiving column, and this Washington state wine's combination of fruit, spice and backbone delighted our Turkey Day guests. Konyari Janoshyegi Kekfrankos, made from the same grape, starts dark and brooding and smooths out to a bright and spicy finish. The Weinart Mendoza "Carrascal" is a malbec-cab-merlot blend from Argentina with a mouthful of flavor and a dry, robust finish. A plummy nose and earthy mouthfeel are among the delights of the Chateau Saint-Sulspice Bordeaux.