Gimme some wine recommendations! (1 Viewer)

[Pamela]

In college I was a beer swillin' gal. Nothing like a Mason Jar of IC Light for a quarter. Later I developed a taste for hard liquor. Is there anything better than a gin and tonic on a hot summer's night? This past winter, I developed a taste for wine. I used to think it was for weenies, but I'm really loving it. I have a preference for Merlots, although I've begun to test the waters of white wine. My current fave is Pinot Grigio. Yum!

I'm looking for moderately priced, of course, in the $10 to $20 range. I'm not looking for sweet wines, nor do I want something really full-bodied.

OK, you wine connoisseurs, give me some suggestions. Just got my freelance check, and I'm ready to fill up the rack!

 

[Evan S]

If you like Pinot Grigio, check out Santa Margherita. Very nice Pinot Grigio that's highly respected, and rather inexpensive $12-16 a bottle if I recall.
Good vinyards to be on the lookout for that have expensive wines, but also much more moderate priced offerings include...
RH Phillips
Mondavi
Geyser Peak
Blackstone
Cakebread Cellars
Clos Pegase
Meridian
Macpherson
Amongst others.
Some really good high end vinyards include...
Opus
Caymus
Neyers
Mount Veeder
Cain Five
Man, you have got me started now!!! I love a good glass...white, red, doesn't matter.

 

[Cam S]

Wellm where I live there are a ton of vinyards, and we are known for very good wine. Our best wine to come out of the Okanagan Valley is the Ice Wines. They are expensive, pretty sweety, but taste like nothing else. The harvesting of the grapes involves waiting for exactly the right temperature, and then they rush out and harvest the grapes. This is by far my favorite wine, but it's only for special occasions cuz of it's price.

 

[Dave Morton]

I'll second the Clos Pegase. I'm a member of their wine club and think all their wines are superb! Although they are a bit difficult to find.
A good merlot is from the Niebaum/Coppola winery. Try the diamond series merlot. You won't be dissapointed. If you are adventurous, go to http://www.napavalley.com and you can find websites on all types of napa valley wineries. Some have clubs you can join. Nothing like having a good wine shipped directly to your door.
Also, try some of the merlots from Chile. Chile has produced some very, very good wines for a great price (under $15).
Another type you may want to try is a Bordeaux from France. I really like merlot wine but have been branching out for something different and find the Bordeaux to be pretty darn good.

 

[ollie_k]

Most folks here listed domestic California wines I believe, if you want to venture out, try German wines from the Rhine or Mosel River valley. MMMM MMMM good stuff, and its moderately priced as well. Red, white, Liebfraumilch, Gewurztraminer, and there many others, with varying degree of dryness.
Also, my wife and I absolutely love a winery in Michigan called Tabor Hill, we can't get enough of it.

 

[LewB]

Pam:
You sound like my kind of person! Tanqueray & Tonic by the pool in the summer is one of life's great pleasures. Of course Bombay Shaphire ain't bad either. What's your favorite Gin ?
As for the wines I'm a Pinot lover too, I like a wine called Toreselli, it has a peacock on the label. As for Merlot, have you tried the merlot from Fracncis Ford Coppola ? Nice California and home theater tie in there !

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Wander over to The Wine Club in Santa Ana. They have a tasting bar and stock more wine, at reasonable prices, than anyone else. The staff actually knows what they are talking about. They sell $3 bottles and $3,000 bottles, and know the place for both.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Also, my wife and I absolutely love a winery in Michigan called Tabor Hill, we can't get enough of it.

Another good Michigan winery is the Grand Traverse winery, based in the Traverse City area, specifically on the Mission Peninsula.

For a good, reasonably priced California Chardonnay, I really like Kendall Jackson. The local wine shop here sells it for about $12 per bottle.

 

[FredHD]

I would have to agree with Dave on the Chilean merlot.
There is a very good one under $15 a bottle called Casillero Del Diablo. It's made by Concha y Toro.
It is divine. That may not make much difference coming from me, but check out the reviews:
http://www.banfivintners.com/BANFI/REVIEWS/REV_CTC2.HTM

 

[Pamela]

What's your favorite Gin ?

I prefer Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire. Either will do. I buy the great-big bottles at Costco. And no, I'm not a drunk!
Some interesting recommendations. Looking foward to wine shopping this weekend. I'll check out Costco tonight. They have a pretty good wine selection.

 

[Max Knight]

If you want a fantastic summer wine, try the Cassal Garcia Vino Verde. It's a really young portugese wine, only about $4-5 per bottle. Slightly fizzy, and great with spicy food! I buy a couple cases a year I love it so much.

 

[Jin E]

I have been on a big Shiraz kick lately... and for the price ($8-10) The Rosemount Shiraz ain't bad. McGuigans makes some Shiraz in your price range that ain't half bad either. I would say my staple wine in the under $20 catagory is the Ravenswood Vinter's Blend Zinfandel. Should be in the $11-12 range also. Wonderful every day wine. You should be able to find any of the three wines I mentioned at your local grocery store. I hate white wines... and cannot make any recomendations for a white.

 

[John Tillman]

A good Merlot "pizza" wine for $6 is Corbet Canyon.

 

[Mike Voigt]

In the $10-20 range... try the Piesporter St. Michaelsberg Spaetlese. One hint about German wines: look for a Qualitaetswein (the ae is often the a-umlaut - two dots above it), or next step above, a Qualitaetswein mit Praedikat. Those are usually pretty good ones.
More on German ones: a Spaetlese is one that was collected later in the season, hence had more time to develop sugar and thus sweetness. Most Kabinett are good ones also. Mosel-Saar-Ruwer area is well-known for its wines. More unusual are Rhine wines, but I prefer them; a little lighter, a bit dry, but not a vinegar (I despise really dry wines - yuck. my taste, though! YMMV).
Concha y Toro is a good cellar, they make excellent wines. Chile produces some excellent wines.
Shiraz is nice, if you like it heavy.
If you want some fun, prepare a "Bowle" - essentially the clean version of a punch bowl. Pour a couple bottles of a good, sweet white wine into a large, preferably round vessel. Add washed strawberries or perhaps some peaches to it. Then let it sit in the fridge for 3 hours. Add a bottle of a decent champagne. That is it - most all the alcohol will be in the fruit, enjoy them with care! If you want some fun (and have cored peaches that are still otherwise whole) pierce them with a fork at an angle. They will start to produce small amounts of bubbles, and if done right, will turn in the fluid. Kinda neat.
Another great drink is a good Sangria. Don't knwo any recipes, but it goes really well with Spanish food, like a paella. Wonderful stuff.
At the high end, try a Silver Oak sometime, or a Far Niente. Both are in the $100+ range, normally. And both are awesome; they give you an excellent idea of what goes into making a really good bottle of wine. But, to me they're too damn expensive to drink casually. Maybe for someone's graduation or such
Mike

 

[Mark Lee]

Wine and home theater are my two greatest passions, and they seem to eat up my income in fairly equal amounts....
I know that merlots have been the "intro" red wine for many people, and if they motivate you to explore the world of great wine further, then I guess I can't really complain. It's just that merlot's trendiness (thankfully receding somewhat these days) has led too many wineries to crank out some insipid plonk, slap a "merlot" label on it, and sell it to the unsuspecting masses.
For my money, a better introduction to red wines would be French Beaujolais, especially in these stifling summer months. Just a simple Beaujolais-Villages from Georges Duboeuf would be a great place to start (usually in the $6-7 range); for a few bucks more, one can try any of a broad range of his single-village Beaujolais (a Fleurie or a Morgon, for instance) that'll put most of those merlots out there to shame.
And if you're willing to blow a couple more bucks, you can try a wide range of California zinfandels (Ravenswood has an ever-expanding portfolio of them; St. Francis or Ridge are also top-notch options) or Australian shirazes (my current favorite; Penfolds, Chateau Reynella, are good choices, and if you can find it, the shiraz from Paringa is an absolute steal at around $10/bottle!).
If you've developed a taste for Italian pinot grigio, I strongly recommend you pick up the California pinot grigio by Luna, if you can find it. About $15/bottle, and far superior to most of the Italian ones I've encountered so far. As far as white wines go, though, I'd echo what some others have mentioned, and make a strong sell for riesling. An absolute crime that more people haven't discovered this grape -- while the highest-end examples of riesling wines can command hundreds of dollars per bottle, one can find absolutely great examples from any number of places around the world for much less. German wines, unfortunately, for the most part still use a cumbersome, somewhat confusing labeling system which throws off even the well-versed wine aficionado, never mind the novice. As an intro, however, I'd look for wines that say "Kabinett" or "Spatlese" on the label -- these are rough indicators of the level of sweetness of the wine, and neither ought to be too sweet to go well with food. If you're a sugar hound, though, you could shell out some more bucks for an "Auslese"-level wine (the next higher level of sweetness), or throw all caution to the winds and buy a "Beerenauslese" or "Trockenbeerenauslese" (whew!) or an "Eiswein," any of which generally has enough sugar to make the wine resemble syrup as much as resemble a beverage.
American examples of rieslings generally tend to have roughly kabinett-to-spatlese levels of sweetness; Chateau Ste. Michelle's "Eroica" or Hogue's example are good ones to try. Australian and Alsatian rieslings tend to be in a very different style, much drier, but just as profound in their own ways. I've already spewed on way longer than I should have; maybe I'll get into those wines in some other post....

 

[Pamela]

Wow, some great info. Thanks! I am currently sipping some Louis Bernard Cotes-du-Rhone red wine which I picked up on a whim from Cost Plus. It's very nice. Mellow.

I have tried the Rosemont Shiraz, but it really didn't tickle my fancy. Tonight, I bought a bottle of the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. I will try that this weekend.

 

[Jason Hughes]

I just had Pino Grigio for the first time last night at Ruth Chris. Great stuff...

 

[Philip Hamm]

I'm not a wine conissuer but I do like a nice glass once in a while. Like with beer, I like to use local wineries if I can, since Virginia seems to have some good ones right now. If you come across wine from Oasis Vinyards in your travels, pick up a bottle. Highly recommended, particularly their "sparkling wine" (champagne to most of us). The sparkling wine is actually very good (has won many awards), but at $70 / bottle it's not cheap.

 

[Stacie]

Pam,

One of my favorite ~$10 merlots is the Lindemans Reserve. IMO, it's much better than its price.

Enjoy!

 

[Seth Paxton]

My favorite Merlot under $30 is St. Francis. Very smooth.

At the high end, try a Silver Oak

Man, is their Cabernet Sauvignon excellent. Seems like it runs about $80 for a bottle about 4 years old I think.
I can't stand white wine, and luckily I've trained the fiancee to be the same.
TnT, my drink of choice till I moved to Houston and found Margaritas. Always loved Tequila anyway, so it's perfect. TnT is still a tight drink though. Always keep a supply around the house for either drink (plus a stock of wine).
Funny, I started with hard liquor because I hated beer. But I've grown to enjoy a few beers (though not many). I prefer to stick with the clear liquors (Gin, Vodka, Rum, Tequila).