Pick Choice Low-Cost Wines by the Glass

I like wine, and I’m not the only one. The popularity of wine drinking is growing steadily. Many people limit their wine choices or stay away from wine all together because they recall an unpleasant introduction. Most often this occurs when the tannin or acid in the wine is too high for the individual’s taste. If you would like to try wine, or expand your list of favorites, there are many low acid and low tannin wines with very agreeable flavors. You only need to know how to pick the right ones. The good news is that they are often low in price. With a little experimentation, you can develop a list of your personal selections that not only taste good, but are also quite inexpensive.

How you embark on you wine tasting is up to you. You can have a wine tasting party and invite each guest to bring a bottle of their favorite wine. You may visit several wineries. Friends and business colleagues are usually happy to talk about a great wine they discovered, or you may know of a local restaurant or a wine lovers club that hosts wine tastings.

Many people, however, take a less formal approach and simply try a glass when they eat at a restaurant. The wine producers know this and actively seek out restaurants that will put their wines on the menu. If the restaurant has done its homework, their menu will offer you several good tasting wines that you can purchase by the glass. This saves the beginner from wading through a wine shop and dealing with a corkscrew.

I frequently hear patrons at restaurants ask the server about the taste of the wine. Usually they want to know if it is sweet. If you ask, some waiters will pour a tasting for you to sample. At some establishments the tasting is free, but others may offer to sell you a selection of several tastings, called a “flight.” If you order a flight, the server will bring you several glasses, each containing a small amount of wine. Each glass will be marked to let you know the name of the wine.

Should you decide to forego the tastings and make your own selection, you are usually safe with one of the cheaper wines offered by a major producer. Giant wine makers such as Gallo, Mondavi, Sebastiani, Sutter Home and others all produce their cheaper wines for the mass market and usually have conducted surveys to insure that their wines appeal to a wide audience.

Of course not every inexpensive wine is a good one. Also, major wine producers sell their products under a variety of labels. In a restaurant instead of Gallo, you may find the names Copperidge or Wycliff or one of the many other labels that are actually owned by Gallo. I can’t be sure which wine you will find at your local restaurant and we are also restricted because each restaurant has a limited number of wines that they will pour by the glass. So I am going to suggest that we start by selecting one or two large restaurant chains where we are more likely to find the same wines offered.

I recommend Olive Garden as the best restaurant to select if you are new to wine tasting. Olive Garden says, subject to local regulations, “We're happy to pour you a sample of our wines, right at your table.” Even if you don’t want to ask for a sample, there is another reason I recommend Olive Garden. The restaurant offers three excellent house wines that are very mild and should appeal to the new wine drinker. A house wine is one featured by a restaurant and usually their least expensive. With this giant restaurant chain’s huge buying power, they have asked Principato, an Italian wine producer, to create a group of signature wines exclusively for Olive Garden. As a result we get to choose from three very good European wines offered at a low by the glass price.

If you are new to wine, you should probably start with either the Principato white (Bianco), or the Blush (Rosato). Just ask your server for the house white or the house blush. I am very fond of the Principato white and I think you will find it to be a good introductory wine if you are new to wine tasting. Even if you are not new to wine, you should try this one. I think you will make it one of your favorites. While the Principato red (Rosso) is also very pleasing, many new comers to wine find white or blush wines more agreeable. However, this red wine is very mild and smooth. It is my selection for the best wine to drink when you try a red wine for the first time.

You will not be able to find the Olive Garden wines when you go to a wine shop because they are made exclusively for the restaurant. The Internet is full of discussion groups that contain questions on where to buy Principato Rosso to take home. People are unable to find a red wine that is as mild as Principato Rosso. My suggestion is to buy a reasonably priced Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is a low tannin wine and some are fermented to be very mild in taste. While at the Olive Garden try either the Cavit or the Estancia Pinot Noir. Both are excellent wines and quite mild. Estancia is a California wine and widely distributed in the US. The Cavit is made in Italy and is also well distributed.

Eventually you will want to try other varieties of wine. White wines are the safest to experiment with. You may find some that are tart, but they usually won’t have the strong tannin bite that some red wines possess. For white wines, many restaurant menus offer a Pinot Grigio, an American Riesling, or a Sauvignon Blanc. These all have different tastes and you may find some you like and others that are too dry or too tart. Nevertheless they will broaden your experience and perhaps your taste for other wines. Besides Pinot Noir, another low tannin red you may like is Merlot.

When dining at other restaurants try my suggestion -- look for an inexpensive wine from a major producer. The people at Red Lobster have done their homework and developed an excellent selection of fine wines. When dining at Red Lobster, you will find Sutter Home Chardonnay on the wine list. Chardonnay has become very fashionable in recent years and most restaurants offer a variety of Chardonnays at various prices. Sutter Home Chardonnay’s fruity aroma hints of pear and lemon. It has a smooth creamy taste with a good finish. It is an excellent introductory wine for Chardonnay. The danger with selecting one of the pricier Chardonnays is that it may have an acidic taste and appeal to people who like more intense wines. So enjoy your wine and save yourself some money at the same time.

After you experiment with the less expensive wines for a while, your taste may change and you may find the more costly wines appealing. There are many other easy drinking Chardonnay wines you could try. I am very fond of Yellow Tail Chardonnay from Australia. You should be able to find it on the Red Lobster menu for only a little more than you were paying for the Sutter Home. Both are very good and pleasant to drink, but have distinctly different flavors. At a wine shop, I also purchase Mondavi Private Selections Chardonnay and Hess Monterey Chardonnay (Formerly Hess Select). I was fortunate enough to visit the Mondavi and Hess wineries when they were pouring their 1992 and ’93 Chardonnays. These were exceptional years, but even in off years these two wineries offer excellent Chardonnays. Again, these wines do cost a little more, but as your taste for wine develops you may find yourself spending a little more for special occasions.

In this first entry we have touched on a few of the basics of wine tasting, and provided you with a list of starter wines you can build upon. Remember, start with white wines an only move to reds after you are comfortable with a variety of whites. For a starter red, I recommend the Principato red (Rosso) at Olive Garden, or try a Pinot Noir. Please read my article on bargain-priced wines. It will provide you with the names of many good wines that are reasonably priced. If you have any questions or suggestions please send me an email, by clicking on the words “View my complete profile” that appear in the Contact section that appears near the bottom of the column on the right-hand side of the page.

Find Good Wines for Under $7 a Bottle

Everyone likes to find a good buy and wine drinkers are especially fond of bragging about the great purchase they made on an exceptionally good wine.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to drink good wine. As an ardent bargain hunter, I’m especially fond of finding good quality, great tasting wines at low prices. My “Best Buy” choices represent excellent wines you should be able to find at a discount wine shops or online wine sites for under $7 for a 750ml (0.75 liter) bottle. The price doesn’t include tax or shipping.

I have attempted to pick brands that are well distributed throughout the country in the hope that you will be able to easily find them at a local wine shop. The price at a shop in your vicinity may differ due to distribution costs and the store’s overhead, but if you check different shops you should find one that offers these wines at relatively low prices. You can search online for discount wine shops in your area or use the phonebook. You can also join a shopping club in your vicinity or purchase wines online for delivery directly to you if the laws in your state permit wine shipment. In some states you may not be able to have wine shipped to you from a different state, but can order shipments from a dealer within your state.

This list is not meant to tell you what you should drink. What you should drink is whatever you enjoy. I hope these wines will present you with a broader selection of wines that you like and will broaden your experience and save you some money at the same time.

To be on the list, the wine must be one that I have rated at least good. By this I mean it is without major defect and is well balanced. On a 100-point scale, I rate all these wines above 80. I have divided the wines by the type of grape used in its production. In each section, I list three or four of the lowest priced wines first and it there are some wines that cost a little more but are worth considering, I mention them at the end of the paragraph.

Whites

Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the most popular wine in the states right now. Stores and restaurants are well stocked and offer customers a variety of Chardonnays to from which to choose. The lower-priced Chards are usually low in acidity and have an easy drinking, smooth flavor compared to the more intense flavor of some higher priced labels. Chardonnay from Chile offers an excellent combination of value and quality. My bargain but good choice in Chardonnay is Frontera Chardonnay by Concha y Toro. The aroma of this slightly sweet, pale yellow Chardonnay contains citrus and apple. It has a fruity taste and soft acidity. Other good Chardonnays you should be able to find at or below my bargain rate, are The Little Penguin, and Yellow Tail from Australia, and Sutter Home from California. Sutter Home should be the easiest to find throughout the country. The company is a major wine producer and very well distributed.

Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc offers a refreshing change from Chardonnay. It is known by many names, Fume Blanc, Pouilly-Fume, Sancerre or Bordeaux Blanc. Its taste and other characteristics vary widely according to the region in which it is produced. Typically it has the aroma of herbs or a freshly mowed lawn. I have found four good selections that are available at Best Buy prices. Perhaps the easiest to find and one of the least expensive is Gallo Family Vineyards Twin Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Another low price leader with a very good wine is Barefoot Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma. The third is the Frontera Sauvignon Blanc from Concha y Toro. The fourth and perhaps the most difficult one to find is from French wine merchant, Georges Duboeuf. You can buy this wine online or ask your wine shop proprietor is he carries it. French varietal wines are known as “vin de pays” which means wine of the countryside. A few discount stores sell Columbia Crest Twin Vines Sauvignon Blanc at my bargain price limit, but since it is usually a little more, I am not including it as one of my best buys, but it is certainly worth trying if you find it at a price that is to your liking. New Zealand produces some excellent Sauvignon Blancs. They are quite trendy right now and their prices have risen accordingly. Nevertheless I recently purchased a Monkey Bay 2005 Sauvignon Blanc at a local shopping club for just under $10. While this was priced above my usual limit, when you find a superior wine for a reasonable price I suggest you seize the opportunity. I was also pleased to learn that Applebee’s Restaurants has added Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc to its by-the-glass selection.

Pinot Grigio
Another refreshing change from Chardonnay is Pinot Gris, also commonly called Pinot Grigio, and less commonly Rulander or Tokay. I found several good Pinot Grigios that are best buys. The American-made varieties tend to be full-bodied and full of fruit flavors, while the Italian wines tend to be light and crisp. I found both very pleasant. The Americans also tend to be lower in price in more locations; they are Barefoot Cellars, Trinity Oaks, Fish Eye, Robert Mondavi Woodbridge, and Sutter Home. Fish Eye is available by the bottle or in a 3-liter box. If you can’t find a wine shop that sells the Fish Eye 750ml bottle for under $7, then check out the price on the 3-liter box. A 3-liter box contains the equivalent of four 750ml bottles. If you divide the selling price of the box by four, you usually obtain a result below $7 for each 750ml of wine. The good quality Italian Pinot Grigios which you may be able to find at a bargain price are Cavit and Folonari. At some shops, you may have to purchase the 1.5-liter bottle in order to reduce the price per 750ml to under $7.

Reds

Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is one of my favorite wines. It is naturally low in tannin and unless tannin is added during fermentation, Pinot Noir is a soft, pleasant tasting, easy drinking wine. My selection for a great tasting, cheap Pinot Noir is Sutter Home 2005. It’s a little more effort to have to remember vintage dates, but this was a good year and a good wine at a reasonable price. Two very good Pinot Noirs from Australia that are well distributed and qualify for my bargain but good rating are Little Penguin and Lindemans Bin 99. Premiat wines from Rumania were being advertised a few years ago and the company produces an excellent Pinot Noir. Wines from Eastern Europe tend to be overlooked, but are usually well made, pleasant to drink and relatively inexpensive. Premiat may be hard to find in some areas but it is available from many online sellers. Other great Pinot Noirs that you may be able to find right at or slightly above my bargain limit are Cavit, an Italian wine producer; and two Californians, Mirassou and Pepperwood Grove. Cavit, is available by the glass at many Olive Garden Restaurants if you want to give it a try.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The British called it Claret. The French insisted it was Bordeaux--after the name of the renowned wine region of France were the grapes were grown. To many others it was a wine you purchased by the case when it was young and less expensive, then carefully stored away in a cool location while it aged to magnificent taste, texture and value. These wines were blends and the dominant wine in the blend was either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon is the wine of choice for many connoisseurs. It is blended with other wines in order to achieve roundness and complexity. It usually has a bite to it from tannin, and is not a good wine to try until you are familiar with other reds and have grown to like them. The wines offered at my bargain price are ready to drink when you purchase them. If there is too much of a bite for you, try swirling the wine in your glass in order to expose it to air, or leave the wine out in the glass for a while before you drink it.

The price-quality leaders in the Cabernet Sauvignon group are Glen Ellen from California and Walnut Crest from Chile. These wines typically sell at prices below my bargain target. Both are available in the 750 ml and 1.5 liter sizes, and Glen Ellen is also available in a 3.0 liter box. Fish Eye also produces a very good Cab and discount wine shops in your area should have it at bargain prices. Barefoot Cellars and CK Mondavi also offer good Cabs that usually sell at just under my price limit. Three other good Cabs that are usually just above the bargain limit are Covey Run, Fetzer Valley Oaks, and Fusee.

Merlot
Merlot is often used as a blending wine to be combined with Cabernet Sauvignon, however the wine has also become a very popular generic. Because of its immense popularity, you can find a great many Merlots and Merlot blends. My bargain picks for Merlot include three Californians: Woodbridge, Barefoot Cellars, and Fusee; and four Australians: Little Penguin, Alice White, Yellow Tail, and Lindemans.

Montepulciano
I am adding a fourth category to the red wine list and revealing my favorite red wine for pasta dishes, or anything else. It is Citra’s Montepulciano de Abruzzo (Mon-tuh-pul-CHEE-an-no-da BREWTZO). Montepulciano is usually priced well below my bargain target and offers exceptional flavor for an inexpensive wine. In most wine shops I visited it was not on display with the other Italian wines which usually sell for much more. You may have to look around the store or, better still, ask the proprietor if he carries Citra wines. If he doesn’t offer Citra wines, you can shop elsewhere or you may wish to try another brand of Montepulciano if the shop sells one. Montepulciano de Abruzzo is the name of a variety of grape and many other manufacturers also produce this wine and it is usually low in cost and quite good. You may find one with a price and taste you like. I frequently find a Montepulciano at Italian restaurants.

In this article, I have tried to present you with good tasting wines that you can purchase at reasonable prices. If you try one, or want to suggest your own favorite, I would be happy to hear from you. Just send me an email, by clicking on the words “View my complete profile” in the Contact section that appears near the bottom of the column on the right-hand side of the page.