Wine suggestions please

[Kay1]

I will certainly have to try Muscato. Not to pile on, but I was going to suggest a nice Reisling. Yum.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

If you want sweet, go with Moscato. The brand, Barefoot Moscato is quite good, and it is not very expensive.

White Zinfandel is pretty sweet too.

Just don't drink too much in one sitting!

 

[HeatherFeather]

My current fave is Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet. It is a blend and pretty inexpensive. If you search on the net it has some reviews...

 

[NVDisMom]

I was gong to suggest Hogue's Late Harvest Riesling. Even my brother, who proclaims to not be able to stand wine of any sort, enjoys a glass of this now and then. Its sweet but not overpoweringly so and tastes like peaches. If you like grapefruit you will like the New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. Haven't had one yet that we didn't like. If you like fizzy and green apples, try the Chandon Riche. Champagne style sparkling wine that is very tasty and easy on the palette, but it is pricier than my other suggestions. You might also try some of the rose wines. Skip the white zin and white merlot, you will be wasting your time and missing out on more flavorful options. World Market is an excellent place to start. They can direct you to appropriate bottles in your price range. Some of our favorites are under $10 a bottle. But, that being said going cheap when you are just starting to try wines might turn you off from them. They can be bitter and astringent sometimes.

 

[NVDisMom]

My current fave is Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet. It is a blend and pretty inexpensive. If you search on the net it has some reviews...

I really enjoy Cupcake's Sauvignon Blanc. We will have to try the Red Velvet!

 

[cdrn1]

Moscato and Riesling are very sweet whites, too sweet for me but my hubby loves them. Pinot Grigio is a good white (I like Cavit) as well. We have a local wine called Soft Red by Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Indiana (home of Indiana University) that is outstanding for a sweeter red. I am sipping a glass now! Not sure how widely distributed it is but it has made a believer out of several non-wine-fan friends of mine. Some other good inexpensive wines are Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Kim Crawford Marlborough (it's a white blend) and Conundrum (which I fell in love with at the California Grill!). I also love a California Viognier from McMannis Vineyards...very buttery. I love wine! I certainly don't KNOW wine as far as all the notes and nuances lol....I just drink what tastes good to ME!

 

[sk!mom]

If you like Asti and found the house wine at Olive Garden to be bitter then stick with sweet wines. I can't recommend many because the drier the better in our house.

I really dislike Moscato as it is very sweet. Reisling is sweet. Try some low cost bottles- Yellow Tail and Barefoot are pretty good bargain wines- and see what you like. Avoid anything that says it's dry and go for the sweets.

 

[Sinderelly]

Moscato and Riesling are very sweet whites, too sweet for me but my hubby loves them. Pinot Grigio is a good white (I like Cavit) as well. We have a local wine called Soft Red by Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Indiana (home of Indiana University) that is outstanding for a sweeter red. I am sipping a glass now! Not sure how widely distributed it is but it has made a believer out of several non-wine-fan friends of mine. Some other good inexpensive wines are Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Kim Crawford Marlborough (it's a white blend) and Conundrum (which I fell in love with at the California Grill!). I also love a California Viognier from McMannis Vineyards...very buttery. I love wine! I certainly don't KNOW wine as far as all the notes and nuances lol....I just drink what tastes good to ME!

Wow I love Oliver's Soft Red. I am from Brown County but now live in Greensburg. Have you tried Brown Co Winery's Vista Red. similiar to the Soft Red but even better if you can believe it!

For everyone that loves the Rosa Regale you would LOVE Vista Red from Brown County Winery.

 

[pixiewings71]

OP I started with Beringer White Zin, it's very light, sweet and goes down easy. It's not dry at all. At Olive Garden I always have a glass of the Chateau Ste Michelle (WA winery) Reisling, it's very good. In fact I buy it at Target for $7.99 a bottle, I have a bottle chilled in the fridge now. Moscato/Muscat are very sweet, more like a dessert wine, good but best in smaller amounts. We can finish a bottle in a sitting, but we take smaller sips of the Moscatos.
For white zin, see if your Trader Joe's (if you have one) has Charles Shaw, I can get it my TJ's for $1.97 a bottle (I know, some people pay $2.97 a bottle but we don't) and it's very good. I always have at least 1 bottle on hand. Barefoot wines are very good, their white zin is very tasty and they have one simply called "sweet red wine" and OMG it's so good!!! The sweet red can be chilled or room temp and either way it is a sweet red wine. Another favorite here, we have 3 unopened bottles and 1 in the fridge chilled.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

Myself, I love the stuff like Chardonnay (NOT sweet)... but I've tried sweet stuff. The Yellow Tail Reisling (mentioned above) is not bad...Moscato is the sweetest stuff I have ever tasted. I just made the mistake of having too much at once.

 

[PrincessNoelle'sMom]

My husband and I do not drink wine very often. When we do, we usually drink Asti Spumante. We went to the Olive Garden a few weeks ago and sampled some of their house wine. But they were mostly bitter tasting for us.
We are looking for something else to try, but I think the sweeter it is the more we will like it. Does anyone have any suggestions for us to try out.
Thanks

All of the suggestions are great! I am a bartender at the Olive Garden and we allow customers to sample up to three different wines (in NJ it is 25 cents a sample) other states are free. This is a great way to try wines before commiting to a whole bottle. As all of the other pp's said - moscato and reisling are sweet whites and white zinfindel is a sweet blush proseco is a Cold sweet red. Good Luck - wine tasting is really fun, I'm sure you will enjoy it and find one you truly like!

 

[dsanner106]

Definately try a moscato, they are popular and plentiful at the moment and definately a sweet wine. Saw the Sutter Home on sale for about 5 bucks a bottle today. Not the best brand, but it is a cheap investment to try that type of wine. The Germans make a number of wines ranging from very sweet (Eiswein) , Sweet (Riesling, Auslese) Semi sweet (Spatlese to a Kabinet).
Personally I like the Gewurztraminer which is sort of a spicy sweet. Because German wines are so well divided they are an excellent starting point for learning wine and what you like.

Drew

 

[LizabethSwan]

Thanks again everyone for such great advice. I think I will start this weekend with the Moscato. Then the next time I will try some of the Riesling. My list is quite large now, and I look forward to trying something new.

 

[elcodfish]

I would call your local liquor stores and ask if/when they have wine tastings, you can find some great things you normally wouldn't have tried!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I would call your local liquor stores and ask if/when they have wine tastings, you can find some great things you normally wouldn't have tried!

That is how I found the Ricossa moscato that we like.

It is from Italy, and it's the only moscato we have tasted so far. It runs $14.99 a bottle. It also has a lower alcohol content than a lot of other wines - it is just about 5%.

 

[crisi]

Another thought is that if you don't drink wine and don't like most of it, why bother developing the taste for it? I like wine (I've been drinking it since I was about three years old - large Italian family where watered down wine was a normal thing to give kids). My husband didn't. Several years ago he gave me a wonderful anniversary gift....he developed a taste for wine. Its wonderful in that now I can open a bottle and don't have to drink the whole thing by myself. We can enjoy a bottle when we go out - I'm not stuck by whatever the restaurant has by the glass. But I could have gotten some very nice jewelry for what that gift has cost us over the past ten years - my husband doesn't do much halfway, and his taste in wines doesn't tend to be Two Buck Chuck. My "wine by the glass when we went out" habit was much more budget friendly.

 

[Minnie M6]

I love Prosecco. Very light, almost like champagne as a PP mentioned. And Kroger has several brands for $8 and up.

 

[fakereadhed]

Just a couple more suggestions to see what you really like. Wine by itself is one thing. Paired with food it's a whole different taste. I think even at Olive Garden they have suggestions for pairing. If you want to see how different they can taste when paired, order an appetizer tray, try one with the wine and try the same wine with another. You will be amazed at what you may like with certain foods that you didn't like as a sipping wine.

 

[scrapquitler]

When you go back to Olive Garden ask to drink the Moscato. It is really a good sweet wine. Sadly, they will not let you purchase an unopened bottle to leave with.

I am not a big drinker and find most wines bite back, but I love the Moscato.

I agree with this. Last time my Mom and I went, she took a picture of the bottle with her cellphone, went to the liquor store and ordered a case of it

 

[Diabolicdesire]

I love Asti, I think it taste much better than most champange type drinks. With that being said I've tried to like a lot of wines but most are bitter to me as well. I would recommend trying Lambrusco Reggiano. I get it at Trader Joes for less than 10 dollars a bottle. I googled it and here is what the bottle looks like http://www.wineglobe.com/san-03006.html It is so good!