Archstone Vineyards wasn’t on our radar, but it made a token appearance in our Thanksgiving slideshow of value pinot noir suggestions. We tried Archstone Carneros Pinot Noir 2008 in November on the recommendation of Michael Du at Pearson’s in Glover Park and were delighted that such a silky pinot could cost just $10 a bottle.

But by the time we got around to trying the Archstone Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 in December – on sale at both Pearson’s and Cleveland Park Wines for the same $10 – we heard from the folks at Pearson’s that it would be among the last wines from Archstone (which also made a reportedly excellent 2008 chardonnay). There’s little information available about this label, which is said to be an offshoot of Sterling Vineyards, a well-known high-end Napa Valley producer that introduced a line of $8 to $12 wines back in 2000 under the label Sterling Vintner’s Collection.

Please forgive the long holiday hiatus for this column, but there’s not much value in the typical year-in-review commentary when it comes to bargain wine hunting.

In the world of value wine, there’s little point in looking back nostalgically at the wines of the year. The best wine values typically sell out fast – particularly after they earn high scores from the critics – so why bother looking back?

Or do they all sell out? …

This wine market is anything but typical. The sluggish economy remains the value wine shopper’s best friend (assuming you still have a job). And many of our favorite values from 2011 (and even a few from 2010) are still on wine shop shelves. And most are still on sale. In fact, just last week Paul’s of Chevy Chase took another slice off the prices of a pair of favorites (plus one we recommend but have yet to featured here) that were already on sale.

Way back in April of last year, we recommended Falesco Merlot Umbria IGT, when Paul’s put the typically $15 to $16 dollar wine that scored 92 points from the Wine Advocate on sale for $13.49 by the six-pack. Since it’s made by the producer of one of our absolute favorite Italian blends (See “Is this Italian red the best $7 wine ever?”), we couldn’t resist after WA’s Antonio Galloni called the 2009 Merlot “one of the finest wines I have ever tasted from Falesco.”