Finding a good $30 is easy to do, though there are bad $30 wines, so price can't always be the determining factor. Though I love some higher dollar wines, I am always on the lookout for a great deal.

Currently on our "table wine" rack are:

Concha y Toro Frontera Cab/Merlot 2004
Beaulieu Vinyards Coastal Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2002
Barnard Griffin Syrah, Columbia Valley 2003
Chehalam Cerise Gamay Noir/Pinot Noir 2003
White Rose Greg's River Pinot NOir 2003
JK Carriere Provacateur Pinot NOir 2003

Concha y Toro
http://www.conchaytoro.com/

I discovered them at a "Taste of the Nation" fundraising event in Boulder, Colorado. I have loved the Frontera wines ever since and introduced many people to them. This is a plug for people to remember community events. They gave out a nice eight-page brochure that I saved.

Concha y Toro has several lines of wine. We also liked the Xplorador line, but it is not listed presently on the website (06/05). I was not as impressed with their higher-priced wines (and disappointed, since I like their low cost wines so much.) I have not tried Trio yet.

Beaulieu Vinyards
http://www.bvwines.com

This winery ran a wonderful program called the Ambassador Program. They would send a representative to an event that and give a wine tasting. They would even provide the glasses. At these events, we tasted 4 wines and they gave attendees a great book with descriptions of all of their wines, food pairing and recipes. Needless to say, I still have the book. At this tasting, I discoverd the Coastal line's Cabernet Sauvignon.

As a marketing person, I hope they are continuing with the program. I read in Promo magazine http://promomagazine.com that the program dramatically increased brand awareness and those all-important sales. It was run by BFG Communications - their agency. http://www.bfgcom.com

Barnard Griffin
http://www.barnardgriffin.com

Right after I moved back to Oregon, we took a trip to Tillamook for the Memorial Day Weekend. We stopped in at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company http://www.blueheronoregon.com where they make Brie and have a gift shop and wine tasting room. At the time I was not drinking, but I did taste the wines from my husband's sample flight. We loved the Barnard Griffin Syrah. We bought several bottles, which my husband was not permitted to open until I could enjoy wine again.

We purchased the above three wines at Costco.