I am fairly new to the world of wine and am currently seeking some suggestions. Does anyone have a couple of moderatly priced bottles and vintages that they would suggest? If so I would be quite thankful.

My personl tastes, thus far, are Merlot, and Shiraz and I am starting to get into the Cabs.

Thanks,

smithc@hsc.edu

Charles: Here are some buys I think you will like.

Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Zinfandel
Blackstone Merlot (get the higher priced bottling)
Any black label Gallo of Sonoma (typically Frei Vineyard or Barelli Creek Vineyard)
Marquis Phillips Shiraz (they make a bunch of different bottlings)

Hopes this helps.

http://www.winesnobz.com

Wine maketh glad the heart of men and maketh women giggle.

I'll limit these moderately-priced selections to ones that should be somewhat easy to find

Shiraz:
-Paringa
-D'Arenberg Footbolt

Cabernet:
-McManis Family
-see the lengthy $10 Cabernet topic in Wine Discussions

Merlot:
-a good cheap Merlot? I find them mutually exclusive, but there may be something out there (Mouiex cheapo line from Bordeaux?)

-Vitis Vinifera

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Member #19

quote:

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Originally posted by VitisVinifera:

-see the lengthy $10 Cabernet topic in Wine Discussions

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Yeah, some of those wines are great starters.
I'd suggest the Castle Rock Cab.
I picked some up at the suggestion of ronmc2 and grossie and I'd say its the best 10.00 wine I've ever tasted.

Hi,

I've had (and enjoyed) the 2001 Simi Cabernet Sauvignon. It's for sale at the L.A.Wine Co for $14.99. WS gave it a preliminary rating of
92-94. I also like the Buehler '01 Cab for a buck or two more...

Cheers!

I enjoy the Hawk Crest 2001 Merlot produced by Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. It costs around $14 per bottle and is readily available in grocery stores and at your local wine shop.

Kris0579

You don't mention Pinot Noir as a favorite, but if you are interested, the Castle Rock Russian River Pinot Noir 2002 is an incredible value. Unless you dislike Pinot, I highly recommend it for the money ($9-12 retail). Also Wishing Tree Shiraz 2001 at about the same price is fantastic (needs 3-4 hrs. decanted)

2001 Carmen Reserve (Chili). Should be less than $15 and easy to find.

If you can find the Sebastiani 2001 sonoma Coast Pinot Noir buy it up, around $13.99 Yummy!!!

I'd recco the Norton Bodega (Argentina) merlot.
Excellent value at $7
I think it got a WS 89 rating or so and deserved it imo.

funny wine quip goes here.

Was going to make the same recommendation as wino4ever. The Norton style of Merlot is a little different than the California Merlot's but it's quite tasty, easy to get, and like Vitis said, Merlot's that are cheap from California just aren't very good. The only thing that I've found that's decent (not great but very drinkable) is the 2001 Delicato Merlot. Had this at a party and it was defintetly the best under $10.00 wine they had. (They were only serving cheap wines)

I would still take the Norton first but you might want to try both as they both should be easy to get and under $10.00 and offer two different styles of Merlot.

If you like Shiraz another sub-$20 perennial fave of mine is the d'Arenburg d'arry's original Grenache/Shiraz. Also recently had a cheapie (less than $10) Penfolds Shiraz/Mourvedre that went down really well. But I am a Mourvedre fan. Also in the $10 range speaking of Penfolds we liked the Thomas Hardy Shiraz or something like that.

Actually I'd recco a tasting of the three above head-to-head maybe to study the nuances of blending with shiraz.

Fun, fun.

funny wine quip goes here.