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.
