Low-intervention wines under $25

Spring is when wine drinkers reach for lighter, fresher bottles — and this week's selection delivers without asking you to spend more than $25. All four wines share a commitment to low-intervention winemaking: minimal additions, honest farming, and techniques that let the grape and the land do the work. They come from western Sicily, southern Puglia, inland Valencia, and coastal Chile. Four distinct terroirs covering centuries of winemaking history. Each bottle is under $25.

Tenuta Rapitalà Sicilia Grillo Viviri

In 1968, French Count Hugues Bernard de la Gatinais and his Palermo-born wife Gigi Guarrasi inherited a Sicilian estate destroyed by the Belice Valley earthquake and rebuilt it from the ground up. By 1976, Rapitalà was among the first five producers on the island to release estate-bottled wine. Today their 550 contiguous acres are divided into 180 individual parcels — each farmed, harvested, and vinified separately, with a harvest window that stretches from August through November to ensure optimal ripeness timing for each. The Viviri is certified organic, sustainable, and biodynamic. It is made from 100% Grillo, an indigenous Sicilian variety first documented in 1869 as a cross between Catarratto and Muscat of Alexandria. Vineyards sit between 900 and 1,965 feet on clay and sand soils. Grapes are harvested before full ripeness to preserve acidity, then fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel with no oak influence. The result is golden yellow-green in the glass — herb, citrus, and floral on the nose, light and crisp on the palate with a clean finish. At $17.99, it is the cleanest expression of Sicilian white winemaking in this price range.

Castello Monaci Kreos Rosato

Salento occupies the southernmost tip of Puglia — the heel of Italy's boot — where the Adriatic and Ionian seas converge and push cooling maritime breezes across an otherwise punishing Mediterranean climate. Castello Monaci's estate traces its origins to a 16th-century castle and sits on dry, gravelly limestone and clay soils that force vines to root deeply for moisture, producing low yields and concentrated fruit. Winemaker Leonardo Sergio has run production since 2000, and the estate earned ISO 14001 sustainability certification in 2004 — one of the first wineries in Salento to do so. The Kreos is 100% Negroamaro, an indigenous Puglian variety, harvested at night to protect aromatics from the region's intense daytime heat. A short saignée — brief skin contact before juice is removed — delivers the wine's vivid pink color and clean berry character without over-extraction. Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel with no oak. The nose opens with cherry, raspberry, and fresh flowers; the palate is bright with red fruit, light tannin, and a peppery finish. Wine Enthusiast scored it 90 points and selected it as a Top 100 Best Buy in 2020. At $12.99, it is the best-value bottle in this lineup.

Kiki & Juan Orange Wine

Kerin "Kiki" Auth Bembry and John "Juan" House met on a bus in Spain in 2011. House runs Portland's low-intervention project OVUM Wines. The orange wine is a co-fermentation of 90% Macabeo and 10% Sauvignon Blanc sourced from 40-year-old vines at elevation. Both varieties are macerated together on the skins for 24 days using native yeasts — no selected cultures, no additions beyond a low dose of sulfur at bottling. The wine is aged sur lie in stainless steel, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. Vibrant orange in color, it opens with dried apricot, tangerine, and flamed orange drenched in acacia honey. The palate is medium-to-full bodied with an intense mid-palate grip and good acidity, closing on crème de apricot with layers of salted honey and citrus. For anyone new to skin-contact wines, this is the approachable entry point — structured and complex without the funky edge that puts some drinkers off. $24.99.

J. Bouchon Pais Viejo

Emile Bouchon left his home near Bordeaux in the spring of 1887 and eventually established one of Colchagua Valley's most prominent estates. His grandson Julio studied enology in Bordeaux and relocated the family project to Maule in 1977, drawn to the granitic sandy loam soils of the coastal interior. Four generations in, the family now farms 100-year-old Gobelet-trained Pais vines — head-trained bush vines that have never been irrigated — on those same coastal Maule soils. Pais arrived in Chile with Spanish missionaries in the 16th century and remained the country's most widely planted grape until Cabernet Sauvignon overtook it in the 21st. The Pais Viejo is 100% naturally vinified: grapes are destemmed using a zaranda, a traditional structure made of sticks, then fermented with native yeasts in concrete tanks with no oak at any stage. Certified organic and sustainable. Bright cherry in the glass, with aromas of strawberry, wildflowers, and sour cherry. The palate delivers cranberry, dried herbs, and a mineral finish with a saline edge — characteristic of Pais grown on granitic soils. 92 points from Descorchados, South America's most respected wine guide. Serve slightly cool — around 57°F. $19.99.