Decent wine on a budget

[pixiewings71]

I suggest Yellow Tail, Barefoot or Sutter Home wines. I would have a red, white and a rose at least. There are many varieties, many white wine drinkers don't like Chardonnay as it is the driest of the whites, I would suggest a Pinot Grigio for white, a white zin for a rose and maybe both a Merlot and a Pinot Noir, both good reds. If you want 2 whites go with a Chard and a sweeter wine, like a Moscato or Reisling. The 3 I suggested above are about $5 per bottle, if you want to spend a little more go with Beringer or Menage, Menage has 3 great blends that would fit your bill perfectly, their CA White Wine, CA Rose and CA Red. All 3 are regularly used by us and are very good wines, about $10 a bottle I think, but I'm not sure because I buy from the winery and as a Sutter Home Wine Club member I get a discount.

 

[mbf]

I am a big fan of Cavit Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. I do not tend to like domestic wines and have found just about anything from Italy, South America, or New Zealand (Yellow Tail Tree Free Chardonnay is great) works well for me.
My husband bought me Wine of the Month last year for Christmas and most of the selections were from these countries. I don't think I had a bottle I did not care for.

For reds (which I have not found any I like as of yet) a lot of people I know like Red Cat. If you are selecting a Rose just remember that a Rose from France, Italy, or South America will likely be on the dry side while a domestic Rose will be sweeter.

I would suggest a mixture of domestic and imported wines for variety. Again, for those who like Reds it seems domestic wines are very popular.

 

[JAG107]

I second the Cavit vote, you can get the big bottles at Costco for under $10. I also like the Cupcake wines. 2.49 Buck Chuck is just fine but it may be a tad on the cheap side if you're pouring for any wine fans.

 

[cheerky]

Do you have ALDI near you? They have some nice choices in the $5/ bottle range... white and red.

 

[Kae]

the Naked Grapes wines are a good lower cost wine.

Kae

 

[Nakkira]

I saw it mentioned before, Yellow Tail is great. I will throw Barefoot into the mix, I also like that myself. It is a good value and about the same price as Yellow Tail. Can't go wrong with either of those brands. The Robert Mondavi stuff is also good, slight increase in price for that (but still can be found for less than $10 a bottle).

I second the Barefoot recommendation. Well prices and very drinkable.

 

[crisi]

While it's passable, just something about buying $2 Chuck for an "Appreciation Party" just isn't correct. I'd pick Barefoot if I had to select one consistently decent budget wine, but many here are excellent choices.

For that reason, I'd stay away from any of the cheap recognizable brands - Yellowtail, Barefoot, Sutter Home, Cupcake. Any of them screams "I paid $5 a bottle for wine."

There are tons of wines in the price range, the vast majority of them are drinkable. For instance, rather than Yellowtail, Alice White is an Austrailian Brand that I think is in the same price range that we've had good luck with.

 

[pheonixheart]

We usually but red cat and white cat. By Hazlitt. The bigger sizebottles are around $12 I believe. That being said I live in Wine Country of the Finger Lakes in NY so they may not be available or as inexpensive where you are. I'm not sure if you can order online either.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Apothic!!!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

For that reason, I'd stay away from any of the cheap recognizable brands - Yellowtail, Barefoot, Sutter Home, Cupcake. Any of them screams "I paid $5 a bottle for wine."

There are tons of wines in the price range, the vast majority of them are drinkable. For instance, rather than Yellowtail, Alice White is an Austrailian Brand that I think is in the same price range that we've had good luck with.

I agree on not serving the recognizable-as-cheap wines. Cost Plus and Trader Joe's have tons of wines under $10 that are good and have lesser-known labels. My Cost Plus either trains their wine clerks well on the wines, or they all drink a lot - I ask for something good & cheap and I've always enjoyed their recs. Cost Plus puts their wines on sale often too, so you can get more bang for your buck.

 

[JusbKoz]

Apothic red and Apothic Dark!

 

[crisi]

I agree on not serving the recognizable-as-cheap wines. Cost Plus and Trader Joe's have tons of wines under $10 that are good and have lesser-known labels. My Cost Plus either trains their wine clerks well on the wines, or they all drink a lot - I ask for something good & cheap and I've always enjoyed their recs. Cost Plus puts their wines on sale often too, so you can get more bang for your buck.

Our Cost Pluses pulled out in 2009, but they did have some of the best staff here as well. In fact, I can't think of anywhere I've been that has had more consistently good staff recommendations - including the snooty high end liquor store I normally buy wine at - which has a huge selection, but their staff isn't nearly as good (they seem pretty dependent on wine distributor staff who are there are the weekends).

 

[Nakkira]

For that reason, I'd stay away from any of the cheap recognizable brands - Yellowtail, Barefoot, Sutter Home, Cupcake. Any of them screams "I paid $5 a bottle for wine."

There are tons of wines in the price range, the vast majority of them are drinkable. For instance, rather than Yellowtail, Alice White is an Austrailian Brand that I think is in the same price range that we've had good luck with.

That is where I am lucky. There is a wine store (ABC Discount) near me that always has a few different "Specials" going on and I can usually get a $10-14 bottle for $5-$7.

You never know what is available but there is always something.
IT's a great way to try new types and also a wonderful way to bring a "Budget bottle" that does not LOOK like it screams "I paid $5 a bottle for wine.
"

 

[JandJ]

Our favorite inexpensive wine is Cupcake. The name sounds silly, but the Chardonnay and Pinot are lovely. Cupcake Chardonnay won best wine under $20 a few years ago. It's usually $10 and I've seen it for as little as $7 at Costco.

I don't drink red so I cannot comment on that. Also like Yellow Tail Chardonnay as others have mentioned. Cannot stand Sutter Home - the Chardonnay tastes awful; it's almost bitter.

 

[JandJ]

There are tons of wines in the price range, the vast majority of them are drinkable. For instance, rather than Yellowtail, Alice White is an Austrailian Brand that I think is in the same price range that we've had good luck with.

Ooh, I forgot about Alice White - that is very good!

I've also found anything from the Carneros area in California is very nice - not too dry and not too sweet. A personal favorite is Acacia, but that's more expensive (about $20/bottle).

All this wine talk makes me wish we had more than a bottle of Beringer Rose in the fridge - hahaha!!