curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
California makes some excellent wines, Dual, including those by Fetzer and something with "Canyon" in the name.
Ancalagon
I'm not wearing any panties!!
I like most all wines, but my wife is a bit more picky. Her favs are:
Red: Zinfandel (not to be confused with White Zin, aka cotton candy)
White: Pinot Gregio
Extra: Dry Rose.... Pleasant Hill Winery makes a great one, but hard to find.
As for certain brands.... start off with the basics, Yellowtail, Echo, KJ, etc and then just experiment. Go with a label that looks interesting. Coppola makes some good stuff actually. Also find local vineyards in your area. Free wine tours, or all you can drink tastings (usually ~20 bucks includes aps) are a awesome way to kill a spring or summer afternoon. Or a really cheap date as most have music as well. And you can try all different kinds of varieties, and what you like buy at a discount straight from the winery.
Red: Zinfandel (not to be confused with White Zin, aka cotton candy)
White: Pinot Gregio
Extra: Dry Rose.... Pleasant Hill Winery makes a great one, but hard to find.
As for certain brands.... start off with the basics, Yellowtail, Echo, KJ, etc and then just experiment. Go with a label that looks interesting. Coppola makes some good stuff actually. Also find local vineyards in your area. Free wine tours, or all you can drink tastings (usually ~20 bucks includes aps) are a awesome way to kill a spring or summer afternoon. Or a really cheap date as most have music as well. And you can try all different kinds of varieties, and what you like buy at a discount straight from the winery.
curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
Sorry; gotta disagree there: I wouldn't go with a label that looks interesting, myself. That's just advertising; some of the most fantastic wines are in fact behind the most boring looking labels. I'd rather drink product from vinyards that put their money into the wine, rather than expensive graphics.
As for the grapes, that really will have to be trial and error to find out what you personally enjoy: I loathe Shirah/Shiraz wines for the most part and only once have I tasted a wine from that grape where I could finish the glass! But it was delicious!This is why the WINERY is so important. I wish I had paid attention to who made that Shiraz but it was at a party and I neglected to write down the info from the bottle.
On the whole, I am not a fan of Australian wines,[again, personal taste] but South Africa has some surprisingly wonderful stuff. The regular wine- producing countries of course have many excellent, inexpensive vintages to get you started.
Other than that, you might want to start with a merlot from a decent winery as that grape has a taste that seems to be easiest for newbies to acclimatize to.
Good tasting!
As for the grapes, that really will have to be trial and error to find out what you personally enjoy: I loathe Shirah/Shiraz wines for the most part and only once have I tasted a wine from that grape where I could finish the glass! But it was delicious!This is why the WINERY is so important. I wish I had paid attention to who made that Shiraz but it was at a party and I neglected to write down the info from the bottle.
On the whole, I am not a fan of Australian wines,[again, personal taste] but South Africa has some surprisingly wonderful stuff. The regular wine- producing countries of course have many excellent, inexpensive vintages to get you started.
Other than that, you might want to start with a merlot from a decent winery as that grape has a taste that seems to be easiest for newbies to acclimatize to.
Good tasting!
Ancalagon
I'm not wearing any panties!!
No doubt, but you gotta remember who we are talking to. If you don't know what you are looking for a wine store can be overwhelming. For newbs labels are as good as anything to base a wine off of, better in my opinion b/c it's easy. Most neople get turned off by how complicated people make it, when the truth is that it's really one of the easiest 'hobbies' to have with the only rule being: drink what tastes good to you.
That's why I said try a basic wine, and grab one that you've never heard of. Experiment, have fun. Once you get a basic idea of what you are looking for THEN you can start doing some research and finding what kind of wines you want to go for. But until you actually do know a bit about what you want, a label is as good a thing to base a purchase off of as any.
Ancalagon
I'm not wearing any panties!!
curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
Cassie what was that wine in a box we were discussing last year?
curiousa2z
Be patient till the last.
Ancalagon said:
ummm...isnt that what I said too?
Ancalagon
I'm not wearing any panties!!
ctmelvital
more cookies please?
I'll have to disagree with the first part of your statement there.
In my, admittedly limited, experience, expensive wines have also always been the best ones.
Can't really give you brands here as I have no idea about 'merican ones.
Cassie what was that wine in a box we were discussing last year?
It was pretty good! lol You can just put the spigot in your mouth and suck it dry.
Big Dick McGee
If you don't know, now ya know
You can't go wrong with Ripple.