Wine help, please

I can tell you what NOT to get. I won a hula-hoop contest and as the prize got a bottle of festival '34 merlot. The nastiest wine i've ever had...and i'll just about drink anything. i don't drink enough wine to recommend anything though... Sorry.

If you want an inexpensive jug wine, Coastal Ridge chardonnay isn't bad -- it used to be the house wine at Shades in Seaside.

As far as reds go, I'm pickier. I like the Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet for $9.99 per 750 ml as an inexpensive red.

Since this is my best choice for quick information and vodka is my chosen poison, I know nothing about wine. Will be hosting my Bunco group and making a variety of pizzas. I really need suggestions for any white and red wines to serve with them. Thanks for any help, I am desperate.:scratch:

If you want to put smiles on the faces of your friends, awesome whites include Devil's Lair unoaked chardonnay, or Cambria oaked chardonnay; for reds, try either Marquis Phillips Shiraz (tan label) or R Wines Boarding Pass Shiraz. Fruity without being sweet, and not overly acidy/tannic. All fall in the $16-20 price range. I believe you can find any or all at Chan's Wine World Outlet, or their Grand Blvd store.

I would recommend checking with Chan's. They have an excellent staff.

I just go to Vintij, tell them what color I want and how much I want to spend....

Carousel is a very good option. Check with oc". Best $$ around.

Go to Chan's wine outlet and tell them you want a selection of wines for $10 or less a bottle - comparable to $12-15 anywhere else.

Carousel is my preferred choice. Prices are better than most around here. As vodka is my chosen poisen also along with expensive Bordeauxs (which I can't afford) I would ask for Doc. For pizza I would choose a white pinot grigio and a red chianti. You can find a good one from $10 to $15 bucks.

Good luck and have fun.

An easy to find, easy on the wallet, gulpable red wine that I pair with my <very good, I might add> homemade pizza is Bolla Bardolino or Valpolicella.

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Drink a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon.

I need wine help, too. Daughter's wedding reception will be at our home in Georgia. Any recommendations for a crowd consisting of a bunch of twenty-somethings and our friends, many of whom are picky about the wine they drink?

BTW we'll also have beer, but no open bar according to daughter's wishes. She and JP rarely drink alcohol.

She was also thinking about having a signature cocktail. But I'm not sure what that should be. We're having four food stations: German food because he's German, Cajun food because our house is a reproduction Louisiana plantation house, Asian food because daughter and JP love Doc Chey's, and Italian food because that's our favorite cuisine. I have no clue what cocktail would go with all of that. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I need wine help, too. Daughter's wedding reception will be at our home in Georgia. Any recommendations for a crowd consisting of a bunch of twenty-somethings and our friends, many of whom are picky about the wine they drink? Have the "picky" ones BTOB.

She was also thinking about having a signature cocktail. But I'm not sure what that should be. We're having four food stations: German food because he's German, Cajun food because our house is a reproduction Louisiana plantation house, Asian food because daughter and JP love Doc Chey's, and Italian food because that's our favorite cuisine. I have no clue what cocktail would go with all of that. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Sounds like a lot of work--have you asked what the caterer/planner suggests? Maybe you can make the signature cocktail a Bloody Mary and have everyone show up at 7am. Personally I don't think any cocktail would go with "all of that." Beer, wine, sake and non-alcoholic beverages would be my suggestion--and maybe a signature champagne cocktail to be served with the cake or during the toasts. What time should I show up?

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Sounds like a plan to me (re the wine snobs)!

The caterer/planner has given us a good quote on the food. What's really costing us are the tents, tables, chairs, etc.

His quote includes beer, wine, and a champagne toast. But we haven't discussed brands. Great idea about doing a champagne cocktail instead of champagne -- it would save us some money.

I knew I could count on SoWal.com for the best advice.

His quote includes beer, wine, and a champagne toast. But we haven't discussed brands. Great idea about doing a champagne cocktail instead of champagne -- it would save us some money.

Here's a link that has over 200 champagne cocktail recipes--I'll be out of town from 20-27 Sep, but after that I'll have 3 weeks free to help you sample and make your selection...have your people call my people to work out the details.

http://www.drinksmixer.com/cat/9/

Shel.

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Here's a link that has over 200 champagne cocktail recipes--I'll be out of town from 20-27 Sep, but after that I'll have 3 weeks free to help you sample and make your selection...have your people call my people to work out the details.

Champagne cocktail recipes: 200+ appetizing drink recipes.

Shel.

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The wedding is June 19, 2010. We have plenty of time.

Since this is my best choice for quick information and vodka is my chosen poison, I know nothing about wine. Will be hosting my Bunco group and making a variety of pizzas. I really need suggestions for any white and red wines to serve with them. Thanks for any help, I am desperate.:scratch:

I'm a Manhattan girl, myself. I do enjoy wine, too. I thought I only liked dry reds and the occasional French Rose. I also like Vinho Verde for a nice fruity summer white.

A girlfriend brought over a bottle of Hazlitt Vineyards Red Cat over the summer, and I thought, hmmm, what is this bourgeois wine? :roll: Well, a few days later, after checking my booze cabinet and finding it empty ~gasp~ I came upon the Red Cat. I read the back, and it intrigued me:

Red Cat is a semi-sweet, fruity blend. It is best served chilled. Try it with hamburgers, pizza, or chicken wings! Its a great hot tub wine too!

Well, I was serving burgers, so I guess I'll give it a try. It's semi-sweet, so I'm sure I'll hate it, I thought. Well, I have to say, I served it ice-cold and it was delicious with those grilled burgers and dogs. Since then we've tried it with pizza and hot wings, too, and it went really well. I wouldn't want to drink it all the time or just by itself, but with certain foods it's just the trick for me.

Now, I have to talk my dearest into getting a hot tub installed.

If you can get it at Chans, try it. It's from the NY fingerlakes region.

Well, I was serving burgers, so I guess I'll give it a try. It's semi-sweet, so I'm sure I'll hate it, I thought. Well, I have to say, I served it ice-cold and it was delicious with those grilled burgers and dogs. Since then we've tried it with pizza and hot wings, too, and it went really well. I wouldn't want to drink it all the time or just by itself, but with certain foods it's just the trick for me.

Now, I have to talk my dearest into getting a hot tub installed.

If you can get it at Chans, try it. It's from the NY fingerlakes region.

...my favorite wine tasting term was gleaned from the WSJ wine critic--"IHOPPY." Sounds like it describes this wine--with a distinct Boones Farm undertone.

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...my favorite wine tasting term was gleaned from the WSJ wine critic--"IHOPPY." Sounds like it describes this wine--with a distinct Boones Farm undertone.

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It's a good tasting wine. I guess you are much too sophisticated for it.

Thanks for all for the great tips, I knew you would come through for me. Chan's it will be and will take the list I have comprised from here! I just knew this was the place to come to get the best answers, thanks to ALL.

It's a good tasting wine. I guess you are much too sophisticated for it.

...more like old age. After the 1970's I've gotten suspect of any wine that suggests it should be consumed "ice cold"...in that state it kinda makes it fly right past the tastebuds <with good reason> but, I guess, in the end it still does the job.

I like the marquis phillips wines, first drop mothers milk shiraz is good, the gaucho club malbec is also good

Thanks To JUL! How are things in NO AL? I lived in Gadsden, AL all my life until moving here in 2000.

For beachrunner, if from Atlanta, Total Wine. Huge selection and great prices. On everything. That's my my favorite stop going to the cabin.

...more like old age. After the 1970's I've gotten suspect of any wine that suggests it should be consumed "ice cold"...in that state it kinda makes it fly right past the tastebuds <with good reason> but, I guess, in the end it still does the job.

Back in the day, my old boyrfriend bought me a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry every weekend to drink in his candy apple red Dodge Challenger, since I didn't care for his Meisterbrau Beer :shock:

When I joined Facebook last year, there was a silly thing that you could use to send back-in-the-day "gifts." So I sent bottles of Boone's Farm Strawberry to some of my FB friends. I then realized that nobody in their 30s or even early 40s knew what Boone's Farm Strawberry was. That's when I decided my friends were too young for me.

Red Cat wine is an adults version of a soda substitute, nothing more, for when you're just having some pizza or fun food. I have realized after doing a lot of entertaining that there are a LOT of people, specifically my girlfriends, who don't like "good" wine. They want sweet and fruity, and they couldn't even pretend to like a nice Chianti. I used to think that was so unsophisticated, but then I realized, they just drink what tastes good to them. I can't make them like good wines, they're not open to it. So I've adapted when I'm with them, and find myself enjoying the time I'm spending with them, even if it's not an expensive or complicated cocktail. And I bring my own bottle of wine a LOT. :funn:

buy a case of oak leaf pinot grigio for 36 bucks, throw ice in the case, and tell everyone to grab their own bottle w/ pizza. cheap date!