Grocery store wine recommendations

Cafe Society
1

I’m more of a wino than an oenophile. I enjoy wine immensely, but am pretty inarticulate when it comes to describing what I like or what I taste, and I know little about selecting a vintage or vineyard. On top of that, I rarely have the time or inclination to go to an actual wine shop and hash out a rational wine-buying decision with an expert. I buy most of my wine in the grocery store, where I always see a pretty consistent range of winemakers represented. (E.g., Jacob’s Creek; Rosemount; various animal-themed wines; G. Duboeuf; Kendall-Jackson; Bogle; Coppola …) But no one there is going to help me pick a wine.

I would like to put this question to the wine afficionados: Can you recommend any consistently good wines or winemakers that I am likely to find at my local Safeway? I like virtually all red wines, especially smooth, non-tannic ones, and many dry whites. Not a fan of overt sweetness.

2

I find Coppola’s Classico Rosso to be a steal, usually priced $9-$11. I buy it by the case and everyone who has it remarks on how much they like it. I would try that if you can get it.

Ravenswood Zinfindel is always a good buy.

Can’t say I love Yellow Tail wines, but their reserve wine is usually priced $2-3 above the regular and is pretty decent (Shiraz or Pinot).

Good luck!

3

The top 30 ‘table brands’ list was just released. You’ll probably have good luck with most of the brands on it.

See here.

4

I like both the Bogle and Coppola Zinfandel, and I agree with friend phungi on the Ravenswood Zin

5

I like Clos du Bois for a chardonnay. I can usually get it for around $9. They do a more expensive one, but I never see it at the grocery store.

6

Give the Black Opal Shiraz a try. it seems to be readily available and I like it much better then the Yellow Tail. Around here it’s priced at about $9.00

7

Phungi and Longhair75: Funny, a trip to the grocery store yesterday (before I posted this thread) resulted in a bottle of Ravenswood Zinfandel. We had it last night and enjoyed it.

8

Another raised hand for Ravenswood Zinfandel. It actually seems to have declined in price where I live, since I discovered it a few years ago.

A good inexpensive wine, medium-dry, very drinkable either with food or as I prefer it: as a meal in itself.

9

Peter Vella’s box of Delicious Red is shockingly good for a box of wine under 10 bucks. A friend brought a box to our housewarming party and bullied us into trying it.
We are never without.

10

I was actually about to recommend Franzia as a joke, but you say Peter Vella’s Delicious Red is actually good. I will hunt it down and try it. As much as I like wine I am on a bit of a budget, so box wines are not below me.

11

<Off topic> As a native of Pennsylvania, I never quite adjusted to the sight of alcoholic beverages in grocery stores and convenience stores, despite having lived in New York for four years. </Off topic>

12

One of my favorite grocery store wines is Gallo Hearty Burgundy. A great wine with pizza or hamburgers. Lots of flavor with no pretentions of greatness. This is wine for those days you feel like working for it.

Risha, as a native Californian, it weirds me out whenever I visit a state that says I can’t buy booze at the local grocery store. How dare they!

13

Never bought wine at a grocery store, or anywhere else. (Don’t like wine. So why I’m fascinated by wine threads, I’m not sure).

Anyway, I was at the grocery store recently, and they had a REALLY good price on some sparkling fruit juice. Since I love that sort of stuff, I bought 6 bottles. Obviously, they look kinda like wine bottles.

Cashier says “I’ll need to see your driver’s license”.

I looked at him kind of funny, and reached for my wallet.

Cashier “It’s a joke, I’m kidding”

I roll my eyes, and keep reaching for the wallet.

Cashier assures me again that he’s joking, as I dig for a card in my wallet.

I explain, patiently, that I’m not looking for my driver’s license, I’m looking for my store loyalty card–and my plastic of choice to pay for the groceries.

I was kind of irked with him.

14

Describes me fairly well. I love to try different wines, have developed a sense of what I like and what I don’t like, read a lot about them, but can’t seem to describe what it is that appeals to me. I’ve been lurking in the Wine Club thread, but I really don’t have much to offer, and everything to learn. So, given that, this may be like the blind leading the blind…

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz made Wine Spectator’s 2006 Top 100 list of exciting wines, FWIW. I’m not a real fan of their ordinary shiraz, but the Reserve is supposed to be quite a bit better, and somewhat hard to find after making the list.

Peter Lehmann makes a very respectable Barossa Shiraz, don’t know if it is readily available. Okay, I’m a shameless shiraz fan. And I was very pleasantly surprised at the Ravenswood Vintner’s Reserve Shiraz; I considered it to be a great bargain and very smooth.

I am a big fan of the Bogle Petit Syrah (also a great bargain), although I don’t think it qualifies as non-tannic. It has a lot of character, though. Oddly enough, in a lot of wine stores it seems to be the only Petit Syrah they have. Not that that’s a bad thing…

And from the list linked by psycat90 above: The La Crema Pinot Noir is very good and seems to be readily available in almost all of the stores I visit.

15

Same here, comparable to the Simi but for several bucks less.

Sebastiani make a nice, inexpensive cabernet.

Menage a Trois, a Foie A Deux zinfandel meritage, is one many of us here have really come to appreciate and it’s just under/around the 10 buck range.