I'm making dinner for a friend tomorrow night, and I want to pick up a good red wine that is also less than 15 bucks for the event. I love chianti, merlot and cabernet sauvingon. My problem is, I know absolutely nothing about wine and what makes it good, so the years and the brands are lost on me. Please help a clueless girl...
Thanks in advance.
Blush wines are also a possibility for consideration, btw.
Thanks in advance.
Blush wines are also a possibility for consideration, btw.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 6:47 PMdo a little poking around to find a good local wine store, go there, and ask them this question. tell them what you are making for dinner and what you want to spend and see what they suggest.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 6:57 PMThe first and best merlot I ever had was Rodney Strong, which I've found at Cost Plus cheaper than in grocery or liquor stores. I think they say they add a little chocolate flavor to it. It was much more rich than any I've had since then, although some of those have been really cheap, like Glen Ellen and Vendange which are about $3.99 and $2.99 respectively. The latter tasted like bug poison, and the former was barely tolerable. I think the Rodney Strong is about $13 to $14.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 7:35 PMThree quick suggestions:
Fess Parker
Stumpjump
Four Sisters
All good. All under $10. All screwtop.
Can't beat it.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Sun, November 11, 2007 - 9:16 PMI rather like the Black Mountain Fat Cat Cabernet. $5 at Trader Joes. My winemaker father also drinks it as a staple table wine. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Wed, January 2, 2008 - 12:25 PMwhy doesn't your father drink his own wine? just curious
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Mon, November 12, 2007 - 6:48 AMdont get cabernet ... it's nasty unless you can get the expensive stuff that's got some age in it and not as tannic ... cabernet, most of it is only good for cleaning a floor ! haha .
get pinot noir ... an Italian one like Villa Sorono or Cavit ... both are very reasonably priced ...and there's more reservatrol in pinot noir than any other grape apparently , the stuff that busts up plaque in your arteries ... -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Wed, December 5, 2007 - 10:59 AMalso - try the reasonably priced Zinfandels and red Grenaches
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Mon, November 12, 2007 - 7:12 AMI've been lucky in that I have a couple of friends who are fiendishly into wine. I'll ask them about once a year to give me some ideas for self-respecting $10-$20 wines I can cook with and put on the table to serve. I've also found that most wine shops and grocery stores with decent wine selections have a wine steward around who is happy to give tips *and* won't roll his eyes at your budget. Trader Joe's, New Seasons, and Fred Meyer/Kroger stewards have been pretty good to me over the last couple of years.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Mon, November 12, 2007 - 9:19 AMIt's easy to get decent cheap Chianti - go for the Ruffino. I agree to steer clear of cheap cab.
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Tue, November 20, 2007 - 5:29 AMI've had good luck with Red Truck......
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Thu, November 29, 2007 - 4:24 PMToo late for your dinner party, but for future reference, I highly recommend Trader Joe's for wine shopping. They have great prices so you can buy a higher quality wine that would still be in your budget. They also have short descriptions on the shelves by each wine so you can see its character and decide if it'll go well with what you're serving.
ps ~ Not to be a wine snob, but screwtops make a lot of wine drinkers shudder. Avoid them for parties if you can. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Fri, November 30, 2007 - 6:34 AMI disagree about the screwtops - some really excellent wines come with screwtops these days. Many of the delicious sauvignon blancs from New Zealand are coming with screwtops, including the high-end ones. Admittedly, you probably won't see French wines with screwtops yet, but really there's no reason to shudder. Screwtop wines have come a long way since Boone's Farm. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Fri, November 30, 2007 - 6:56 AMMo - Very true. And a real wine lover knows this! Only the ignorant wine snobs (quite different than a true wine lover!) will turn their noses up at a screw top these days because they know about the cork shortage since that's old knowledge and an old debate in wine circles. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Fri, November 30, 2007 - 1:40 PMPlease note, I said "make a lot of wine drinkers shudder". If you're holding a dinner party, your goal is to make your *guests* comfortable. Extensive wine knowledge should not be a prerequisite for your guests... unless it is, in which case, you ARE a wine snob. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Fri, November 30, 2007 - 2:11 PMSuz - Okay.... I guess you're talking about your own guests or wine drinkers you know, your experience isn't the same as mine with my guests at all! Different kinds of people I guess :-) You seemed to be equating not liking screw tops with *being* a snob (or likely to make you sound like one) which seemed funny to me considering the reality and partially prompted my response.
Ultimately though, isn't it really more pretentious to turn up your nose at a good and affordable wine because of some inaccurate idea about class and quality and screw tops than to just go by how it tastes? It kinda sounds like the people who'd be offended by a good wine in a screw top bottle are more into image than taste (and are therefore snobs even if they're not actually knowledgeable).
The easy answer is just to decant the wine if one is afraid to be judged poorly, or needs for some reason to hide the cheapness of the wine (though taste will soon reveal that secret!) or create an illusion of grandeur (which can certainly be fun to do :-). Though, of course, then one needs to buy a decanter!
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Sun, December 2, 2007 - 9:27 PMNo, but a good guest should drink what is served and not judge. Screwtop or not. Shuddering makes them the bad guest. -
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Re: Good but affordable wine
Thu, January 3, 2008 - 9:17 AMI love Navarro Correas 2006 Malbec..... runs about $10.99 , goes fantastic with every food iv'e ever tried it with. Love it!
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