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My friend and I are going to visit Total Wine (Wake Forest) a few hours from now (2008.7.12 2:41 PM) while our wives are shopping elsewhere.
I would love a few suggestions for a white wine that might be a tasty wine for a decent price. Something like $6-$10.
I like the reds, but my wife likes the whites, so it's mainly for her and her friend. They like wines like White Zin and a sweet Reisling. We had a Selbach Reisling that was excellent, so we know we like that one.
I do not recommend getting recommendations from the folks at Total Wine. They're not very knowledgeable about wines, IMO. Also ignore Total Wine's top 20 or whatever other gimmick they have going to steer you toward or away from certain wines. I don't know what the criteria is to get their recommendation, but good taste isn't it.
I looked up wines under $10 on Consumer reports and they recommend the following:
For Chardonnay: Alamos (Argentina) or Stone Cellars by Beringer (CA).
For Pinot Grigio: Hogue (Columbia Valley, WA) or McManis Family Vineyards (CA)
For Riesling: Covey Run (Columbia Valley, WA)
If you have to go to Total Wine (and I'm probably too late for you today...sorry!), I would go with an Austrian white called Gruner Veltliner. It's an undiscovered gem of a wine, not too sweet but refreshing. It was at least reasonably priced last time I bought (about $8/bottle). I would agree with the other poster also about not asking the Total Wine people. You have to be really careful, and from what I understand (from wine stewards all around) Total Wine is like the Sam's Clubs of wines and beer...or worse...like Walmart. They don't pay their people well and put a lot of expectations to meet goals= high stress; therefore they don't usually get really knowledgable people. Plus their gimmicks are to push certain products at different times for the best revenue sources--for their pockets, not ours.
I have much preferred going to smaller wine stores (Chapel Hill and Hillsborough Wine Companies to name 2) for truly knowledgable people. And even my local Harris Teeter wine guy is more knowledgable.
As I am a few hours late, hopefully this will be good "food for thought" for future purchases. Hope you found a good wine for this time!
my personal fave: Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Great reviews and around $10. I'm really a wine newbie but had this at a tasting and googled later.
For the sake of completeness, I'll report on what we chose. We wanted it already-chilled, so we were a bit limited in the selection.
We chose a Washington Hills Reisling, and it went for around $10 or so.
I must say that it is extremely smooth and sweet. Perhaps too much for me. But I think it would be a great starter wine for someone who is just trying wine for the first time, or just for folks who like a wine with low acidity. I'm no wine critic, but that much I can say.
Selbach also makes a good Reisling, which I like a little better (not as sweet, and maybe a deeper flavor).
Oh, and the only person we ran into that worked there was more of a cashier-type, and I'm sure would not have been a good "recommender." But I have met a few folks there who I would trust to give me good advice.
Several of the wines mentioned in this thread are available at Costco. But when I want a recommendation - or I'm stocking up on a case - I go to Seaboard Wine Warehouse or the Wine Merchant (Ridgewood or Cary Preston). As much as possible, I like to support my local independent retailers.
Oh - and the prices are usually just as competitive.
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In that price range, I'd try Trader Joe's
