Recommend me a good common red wine

I like to drink a little sometimes, and red wine sounds like as good a drink as any since it’s supposed to be good for your heart. What’s a good “supermarket” red wine? I look down the aisle and there’s a bewildering array of choices, most of them don’t say “red wine” at all. So what are the basics of what I need to know?

What’s your price range?

I like Blackstone Syrah (or Shiraz, I can’t remember now which they call it). It’s pretty cheap, too.

I’m a big fan of Ravenswood Zinfandel.

Best combo of price/taste. Like $10. :smiley:

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming. I should be able to find at least one of them around here.

Folie a Deux - Menage a Trois. It’s a blend of Zen, Cab and Merlot, reasonably priced at around $10 and it’ll appeal to almost anyone’s palate. You should be able to find it in your grocery as ours and most every one I’ve visited carries it.

I’m fond of yellowtail Shiraz as a decent inexpensive wine.

Are there Trader Joe’s in Virginia? If so, try Two-Buck Chuck. Otherwise, Yellowtail produce a nice line, as does Gallo of Sonoma.

I am a fan of Trader Joe’s French Market Merlot. It goes for about $4 in St Louis. It is a very pleasant drinkable wine thats a great compliment for most meals.

Their Chardonnay is very good too if you want a white wine now and then.

I am also a fan of Bolla italian red wines, their Valpolicella is my favorite - they generally go for between $8-$10.

Food Lion is the best we have close by. Otherwise it’s just small local stores.

Clos du Bois Merlot can be had for $14-18 per bottle around here (Phoenix). It’s my favorite.

Reserve Perrin is one of my favourite reds, and usually in the same price range (Ontario prices are very different from US, so I’ll just say it should be within a dollar of so of the excellent Yellow Tail mentioned upthread)

Since I come from Australia, and since I lived for most of my life in one of the great wine-producing areas in the world (the Hunter Valley), I am, of course, biassed.

However, I’ve rarely been disappointed by an Australian shiraz, and you can get quite reasonable brands of that in American supermarkets for $7-$10 per bottle (including the Yellowtail Shiraz that Cheesesteak mentioned). A bit more than that will get you a Rosemount Estate Diamond Label shiraz, and that a very nice wine.

I’ll second that for an enjoyable shiraz with a decent body and aroma to it. Nothing complex, but it goes down well, and you can catch it for US$5-US$6 on sale. The Special Reserve is nasty, though; avoid it like the plague.

For a modest step up, I really like the Bonny Doon Big House Red as a reasonable red table wine. It should run between US$9-US$12.

There are a lot of very nice Italian wines based on Sangiovese and Primativo (Zinfindel) varietals that are around the US$8-US$15 range. There are also some excellent Malbecs out of Argentina and Chile that are in or close to the sub-US$10 price range.

Stranger

While we’re on the Shiraz train, I prefer the Black Opal over the YellowTail. Usually runs for about $8.00 and is my “go to” if I get stuck having to purchase wine from a grocer.

Craneford shiraz is really good if you are willing to go to the $15 price range.

A really good merlot is Oyster Bay from New Zealand. It’s around $12.

This is the one I came in to post. It’s really yummy and everyone I’ve served it to has said “wow, this is good, what is it?”

Listen to **lieu **and **Opal **- they know of what they speak. You can’t go wrong with Menage a Trois.

Red Truck is also good.

Words to live by?

Eh. I didn’t think it was that great. Rather ordinary, IIRC.

Search out the old threads of the Straight Dope Wine Club in this forum. We talked about all sorts of cheap plonk. :smiley: