did a search and didnt find what i was looking for, sorry in advance as i'm sure this question comes up every now and again.

I'm in my early 20's and haven't really been explosed to wine. I'm reading several of the articles from this website now, but besides that have no knowledge on wine.

My question is this, if you were me, going to buy wine for the first time, what would you get. What are the best options out there w/o spending much (would be foolish to spend a lot on something i have yet to taste IMO) Probably looking for something on the fruity side, atleast for now. So i would appreciate people giving me some wine suggestions and approx costs

thanks so much in advance!

Assuming that your buying wine to drink rather than as an investment or to impress, do yourself a favor and forget the opinions of "those in the know" or scores from the magazines. Everyone has their own palate, and whatever it is that you like (and can afford) is the right wine for you. Don't fall into the habit of taking other peoples opinions! They are entitled to them, but their palate is no better than yours for you.

The best way to learn what you like is to taste a lot of wine. Wine tastings are excellant teaching tools; every major community has an abundance of them on a frequent basis. You'll quickly discover that there's a lot of wine out there at very reasonable prices that you'll really enjoy.

Also be aware that your palate will change as you learn and taste more wines. Most people initially can't understand why anyone in their right mind would drink Burgundy's and Bordeaux's (I was there). But after awhile we all end up there wondering why the rest of the world is bothering to make wine (although I still like wine from the rest of world, even California). The long and short of it is today's favorite will probably not appeal to you a year from now; that's normal and good!

Oh, and one more piece of advice- learn to love and appreciate inexpensive wine as long as you can possibly hold out. The habit can become very expensive on it's own (your palate will lead you there). Don't push yourself to the pricier stuff until you absolutely need to (and then you'll regret that you ever did).

All that said, wine is no more than a beverage, and it deserves to be drunk. Have fun with the learning process. Appreciate the new friends you meet, and the old friendships you cultivate over a good bottle of wine. I hope you discover like I did that food, wine, and friends all belong together.

*************************************

What's more fun- the pursuit or the consumption?

hey uwstud,

Welcome to the boards and to the world of wine! Here's a rundown of what I would seek out:

*Reds*

CA Red Zin. There are great ones to be had for under $20. My standy is the Seghesio Sonoma bottling which costs $17-$18, but there are other good ones in this price range as well such as Lake Sonoma. These wines have lots of fruit and a bit of spice. They're great by themselves but also pair well with many red meats such as lamb. *Avoid 1998 and 2000*

Cotes-du-Rhone. Either a generic (generally about $10), a Cote-du-Venetoux (not really a Cotes-du-Rhone, but taste-wise, almost identical) a Vacqueyras (generally about $15) or a Gigondas (generally about $20-$25) would be excellent. Inexpensive Chateauneuf-du-Papes can be had for $20-$25 and can also be very tasty. These wines have lots of deep cherry, jammy fruit and have lots of earth and underbrush notes. While there are always great and bad producers, this is one area of wine that, at least in this price range, it seems you get what you pay for. *Avoid 2002 Rhones

Spain. There are great wines in the $11-$25 price range emerging from just about every region of Spain (though Ribera del Dueros and many Priorats can be much more expensive).
-From Rioja, see if you can find Sierra Cantabria, Muga, or Baron de Ona wines. These wines are a little less fruity and have a hint of red clay taste.
-From Toro (a love of mine) look for Dehesa Gago, Termes, Finca Sobreno or, for a treat, Finca Sobreno Seleccion Especial ($24). These are bigger, more fruit forward, lush wines with a bit of spice.
-From Sardon de Duero, check out Abadia Retuerta Rivola or the more expensive ($24) Seleccion Especial. These wines are more complex with lots of fruit, but not what we call a "fruit bomb"
-From Priorat, check out Barranc. These wines have lots of deep dark, fruit flavors.
-I'm not certain where it is from, but Borsao is great for $7, and Borsao Tres Picos is a phenominal buy for $11. These wines are also "fruit forward"
-Vega Sindoa makes great wines from Navarra for about $8 and their dry Rose is TERRIFIC -- plus it is only $6.
-If you want to try a Ribera del Duero, try Emilio Moro ($23).
*Avoid 1997 Spanish wines*


Italy.
-Rosso di Montalcino's tend to be around $20 and can be excellent. I like Cacci Piccolomini the best followed by Sasseti and Uccelliera. These wines have strawberry fruit charecteristics.
-There are some great, inexpensive Barberas such as the Icardi Barbera d'Asti. For a treat, you can try Clerico Barbera d'Alba for $23. These wines can be very fruity, in fact, that is what they are known for.
-Scicilian wines made out of Nero d'Avola can be had for under $15. The Morgante is my favorite. These are dark wines with lots of fruit and spice. Perfect with a marinara sauce or Italian sausage (or both!)
-Valpollicalla and Ripassa from Veneto. Basic Valpos are medium bodied with lots of fruit, but not deep fruit. Ripassas are, in a way, a type of Valpo but one that has had contact with Amarone lees (you'll probably love Amarones, but start with these). These are deeper, darker wines with more complexity. Regular Valpos are about $11, these are often about $20. Seek out Zenato's wines from this region. Their available all over and are always terrific.

Australia. If you like massive fruit, you'll like these. The Shiraz tend to be the best, but there are increasingly good Grenache and Cabernet blends. Producers to keep an eye out for:
D'Arenberg, Marquis Philips, Thorne-Clarke "Shotfire Ridge", Tait, Bleasdale, Parringa.

*Whites*

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. These wines have lots of tropical fruits and Ruby Red Grapefruit characteristics. There are dozens of good producers. Some are: Villa Maria, Nobilo, Konrad & Co., Babich, Zenith, Cairnbrae, and Isabel.

CA Chardonnay. Many of us don't particularly likes these wines, feeling that they have too much fruit and oak, but you should taste them to see if you like them. Some good producers are: Simi, Beringer, Chateau Souverain, La Crema.

Alsacians. Spicy, tangy, mango-y Gewurtzraminers, complex Rieslings and mineraly Tokay-Pinot-Gris are all delicious. Good, inexpensive producers include Trimbach, Lucien Albrecht, Hugel, Paul Blank, Weinzorn, Haag, and Martin Schaetzel.

German Rieslings. Tend to be sweeter. Seek out the Qba (quality-wine, but unclassified) wines and Kabinetts. These wines have lots of peach fruit and, depending on region, can have fantastic hints of slate. My favorite producers are JJ Christoffel, JJ Prum, Kurt Darting (exceptional values), Lingenfelder, Dr. Losen and, through 2001 Mueller-Catoir. Excepting M-C, all the 2001s and 2002s are great. M-C was not great in 2002.

When you're done, come back and I'll give you more!!!

a

"What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" -- W.C. Fields

Type "QPR" (quality/price/ratio)into the search feature on this board, there are plenty of reasonably priced, well made bottles to be had. Let the "Merry Pranksters" on this board lead you on a journey that will last a lifetime.

"...soon they'll be bleary eyed under a keg of wine, Down where the drunkards roll." Richard Thompson.

Type "QPR" (quality/price/ratio)into the search feature on this board, there are plenty of reasonably priced, well made bottles to be had. Let the "Merry Pranksters" on this board lead you on a journey that will last a lifetime.

"...soon they'll be bleary eyed under a keg of wine, Down where the drunkards roll." Richard Thompson.

A small computer glitch there, boy-that's an easy way to get your post count up!

"...soon they'll be bleary eyed under a keg of wine, Down where the drunkards roll." Richard Thompson.

Get to know a local retailer you can trust who can make recommendations and tell him what you're looking for in a wine, price, style, etc. Be open to what he recommends, try some bottles, and go from there! however, you gotta watch out for someone just trying to unload "excess inventory".

Welcome to the boards.

2001 Windsor Oaks Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon!

It's around $18/bottle, and is one of my favorite QPRs.

Could also try the 2001 Simi Cabernet (WS 92-94 pts.), but I prefer the aforementioned wine.

hey -- so, as I'm in my mid 20's I kinda know what you're talking about. I can tell you in my mind, the most important thing is to find a good wine shop, where the people really know the wine and they won't sell you crap just because you don't know what it is and they want to move it. But it can be a little difficult to find a store like that...

Second, you should try as many different types of wines as you can to figure out what you like. I would start broadly and go with country -- maybe a zinfandel and cabernet from California, a Pinot Noir from Oregon, a Bordeaux and Burgundy from France, a Shiraz from Australia, a Barbera and Chianti from Italy. This is assuming you want reds.

For about $20 a bottle, you should be able to pick a random bottle of each of these and get a decent wine (perhaps it won't be a good value, but it should be a decent wine), so I wouldn't worry about producers much right now.

So, what I would do is find a bunch of wine shops near you. Buy a bottle of wine from each as you want one. Talk to the people in the shop, see if you like them and feel comfortable with them. As you get some idea of how you drink your wine (mainly with or without food), what you liked, etc. Go into the shop you liked the best and buy more wine. Pick a price point you can afford, and buy a mixed case of wine in the styles you liked. A good shop can recommend decent wines from anywhere for just about $12-15/bottle (except for maybe Burgundy). And if you are a bit more flexible, you can get decent wine in most styles for about $8-10 a bottle. But there's also a lot of crap in this price range as well -- a good wine shop should weed the crap out for you.

But again, take note of how your drink your wine and what you liked. If you find, when you have wine readily available, you drink more with food than you did before, try more old world styles (french and italian) if you had chosen mostly new world styles before.

Anyway, go back to you wine shop, tell them what you liked and didn't like and repeat.

This is all about finding what you like and don't like. Ignore everything else...

Whiner was just waiting for someone to ask that! ; )

I liked the wines people recommended that I've tried.... I disagree with P Sirah on one point, however. I think starting off by grabbing a Wine Spectator magazine or just going to a store and buying something rated by WS, is a good way to try something that won't suck. Other people's ratings can be a great way to decided what to try when you have no idea. Tastings are of course a very economical way to add experience, but there is something about drinking a whole bottle with food that you don't get at a typical tasting.

You'll get farther towards figuring out what you really enjoy that way... don't go browsing labels and picking a label that looks good. You'll miss more than you'll hit. I'd say Look for those ratings!

[This message was edited by lentini on Jan 23, 2004 at 03:24 PM.]

It is very difficult when you are just starting out as the amount of wine you have to choose from, without much knowledge, is staggering.

When I was starting out (late college/early 20's), my wife (then girlfriend) and I had little money and could not afford to splurge much in our wine exploration. Fortunately, the owner of a neighborhood (this was in NYC) was a neighbor of ours and we would basically drink whatever he suggested. Almost everthing was in the $10 plus the neighbrohood discount. When dining out with her parents for example, more could be spent and we explored higher end wines than our normal consumption.

My point is simply that you can start to discern wines you like without spending lots of money on bottles. Getting to know someone at a store is very good advice.

Of course the times have changed and I don't want to think about how much money we spend now.

uwstud,

If "uw" stands for University of Washington, I could point out a few places around town for you to start looking.

"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women!" --Homer Simpson

This is easily the best way to see what YOU like, and P Sirah is absolutely that you should buy what you like, but you can't figure that out without tasting wines.

Call the wine shops and liquor stores in your area - plenty of decent stores open at least a few bottles of wine every Saturday in the Chicago area. I'm not sure if this is a common practice in all areas.

There are also probably "bigger" tastings where they have twenty to hundreds of wines. They're gonna be sponsored by a store most likely, so call around about tastings!

Nancy

Agree with the others. Also, spend a few nights running searches on these boards. You will see many new posters and the replies they have gotten and lots of feedback from wines all over the world tasted by regular, but knowledgable people.

Welcome uwstud!

I am also pretty new to wine, but have asked for suggestions from board posters- some suggestions that I got were to try German reislings or muscats-I also prefer something a little on the sweet side.
Something to be careful of when reading a wine rating is to pay more attention to the tasting notes than to the points- the point scale is designed to measure how well a wine matches up to a classic of whatever kind of wine it is.

Cheers!

Go to your nearest costco and pick up some 01' Hanna unless pyang's been there already.
Hanna,Justin both make very nice wines at the under $20.00 range. Also a very nice red is California Old Vine Red by Marietta it is one of my favorite every day drinkers nice fruit flavors and just a darn solid wine best part it's in the $12.00-$15.00 range.

Personally I find Rosso di Montalcino's to be a big gamble. Even at the 15-25 price range. Quality is iffy.

German QbA's are cheap, yes... but they're a bit too on the underripe/tart side for my palate at least. Kabinetts can be had in the 15-25 range and are far superior, imo.

Alsatians, if you're into Gewurztraminers and Pinot Gris, those can be found and are quite tasty in the $15-20 range.

Cotes du Rhones (and Cotes du Rhone - VillageS) really are great deals. in the 10-15 range usually, and are really good for casual drinking.

Really what you should do is to make friends with some wine shop people. Make sure that they know their stuff, and let them guide you. Give them about 5 tries to see if they can figure out your palate.

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AIM: Drunken Mariachi

The first bottle of wine I ever bought (in a restaurant) was a half bottle of Wente Bros Johannasberg Riesling. Granted, I was only 17, but I don't remember it being difficult. I started with sweeter white wines, like Riesling (which can be a truly great white wine), then got brave enough to try Chardonnay, and then Beaujolais Nouveau, for the first red wine. Unless you have a particularly fine palate, few people can go straight to dry red wine and actually like it.

Nowadays, I would strongly recommend going to some wine tastings, as others here have suggested.

I second NSextons idea. Find some good wine shops in the area and see if they do tastings. This is a great way to try many wines from all over without having to purchase hundreds of bottles. They usually charge a small tasting fee but that is still better than buying a bunch of bottles. Once you get to now what "you" like, you can use that information and a good wine merchant to start purchasing wines you might like. Enjoy, soon you will be addicted like the rest of us.

For truly first timers, I would buy a bottle of Forest Glen Merlot ( California), and a bottle of Fezter Sundial Chardonnay ( California also ).
Both can be found for $10 or less, and are basic introductions to classic varieties. Any vintage would do.

Then, I would step up one notch to Saintsbury Carneros Chardonnay and Sebastiani Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon or Sterling Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. ( all California for about $20 ).Try to find 2001 vintages. Then Begin reading, and reading, and reading some more.

wow, lots of info. thanks guys! UW is for wisconsin, not washington by the way... thanks for the tips, i'm gonna go "shopping" later today, and realize i have quite a bit of reading to do! thanks again, and i'll be back

I'm also in my 20's and I have the great fortune of being in wine sales.there are so many wines out there.I would suggest to read as much about wine as you can and try new things to educate your self on what is out there.Some fun things to do is to taste California cabernet,merlot,chardonnay,sauvignon blanc vs those same varietals from Chile,France,Italy Australia etc. This will show you how those same grape varieties can depend on the soil or the climate of those growing regions.

Your tastes will change over the years,you may like Merlot today but in a few years you may like Malbec or sauvignon blanc.Don't be scared to try new varietals for around the world.There are always going to be wines that we all will discover and enjoy.Keep tasting and have an open mind to the many styles out there.

Good Luck

Ah, to be young again, and just starting out into the wide world of wine!

A very enjoyable way to taste a lot of wines is to put together a wine-tasting dinner for you and a group of friends. It doesn't have to be fancy, and it doesn't have to be formal. Set a cost range (e.g. $20 a bottle) and a varietal or wine-type (cabernets or bordeaux) and you'll get to try many different wines in the course of an evening.

We usually blind-taste the wines first, reveal the winners, and then have dinner afterwards, enjoying the top wines that we all selected.