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+--- Thread: Suggestions for wedding (/thread-18577.html)
- LoriA - 05-01-2003
Hello, I'm new and looking for suggestions. My wedding is planned for June and I need to select the wines that will be served soon. I am looking for a red, probably a Shiraz or Shiraz-Carbernet, as I tend to prefer those, and a white, not too dry nor too fruity. I would like to find good, smooth wines that are moderately priced since we will have to purchase enough for 100+ people. Any advice would be appreciated.
- Innkeeper - 05-01-2003
Hi Lori, and welcome to the Wine Board. I would go with Bleasdale Cabernet/Shiraz and Saint Andrews Unwooded Chardonnay. Don't know where you live, but both these Australian wines are available from The Southern Hemisphere Wine Center in Huntington Beach, CA (www.southernwines.com) for $10.99 and $7.99 respectively. They can be shipped if you can't find them locally.
I have personally seen both of these wines work well in large occassions, and enjoyed them both from my own cellar.
- stevebody - 05-03-2003
Let me put in an couple of suggestions here, too, if I may, since wedding planning is a lot of what I do in our shop every day. Certainly, have to second IK's suggestion about the St. Andrews. Yummy stuff, great price. On the Bleasdale, well, IK and I will have to agree to disagree but you might like it a lot. Several of my customers didn't like it at all. 'Nuff said.
As for alternatives, inquantities sufficient for wedding receptions, I'd suggest the Rosemount, at around $6.99 per, or the Buckeley's Shiraz, a little gem that got 90- point-ish ratings from a whole slew of wine magazines and really deserves it. It will run you about $6-$7 a bottle.
There is no shortage of these things. One domestic one you night consider: the Pepperwood Grove Syrah. You've seen these in the grocery store but don't mistake this stuff for cheap plonk. The guy who makes it, Bob Broman, is a Napa Valley lifer who buys second barrels of really fine Syrah from some of the area's best producers and blends them deftly into a GREAT little cuvee. A local paper here asked me for my list of the top 25 bargain wines from last year and it was a solid Number One. It has the true character of the varietal and a richness and balance you seldom find in a cheap wine.
You might want to think about bubblies, too, for your toast. In that category, let me suggest any one of a number of Spanish Cavas: Cristalino, Aria, Seguras Viudas, Torre Oria, or the lovely, underappreciated Freixenet Carta Nevada, really great Chardonnay grapes with a great dry flavor and nice bubbles. Best part, it's dirt cheap - about $6 each.
Hope these help.
- Drew - 05-03-2003
Would also second the Pepperwood Grove Syrah but not the 2001 vintage. Had one several nights ago and found it rather thin and very one dimensional which was surprising, given their track record.
Drew
- Innkeeper - 05-03-2003
Agree with all of Steve's suggestions. I forgot about the bubbly; very important! Steve, don't know why you and your customers don't like the Bleasdale. Have never had a bad bottle, and the blend is lovely. Had a bottle of the straight cab(2000) with strip steaks last night, and it was wonderful.
- stevebody - 05-04-2003
IK,
I feel like a snot for saying anything bad about Bleasdale. I've been a HUGE fan of their wines for, well, EVER. but I did get a couple of truly rank bottles of that blend back from customers and bought one myself. It was dirt simple, acidic as hell (in an Aussie Shiraz?!?) and completely out of whack. I thought it was so atypical for those guys that I talked to our distributor about it and they promised to open a few bottles in the warehouse and check it out. That was last week, so I'll know something shortly. I'm rooting for it to be a fluke. That's far good a winery for them to have issued a bottle of crap.
- peterson - 05-05-2003
There are a lot of great wines from Clifornia and /or USA, with the economy, how about picking a wine that is from the states?
I work in Santa Rosa California and am seeing a lot of the Rusian River winerys starting to see the pinch of the import wines and hear from the tasting rooms that a lot of there marketing departments are deeply discounting wines to keep them competitive in the stores. Sorry to wave the flag. "But long live the USA."
- wondersofwine - 05-05-2003
I'd probably go for an Australian shiraz or shiraz/cabernet myself, but if you want an American alternative for the red, another one to consider is Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite inexpensive and a good match if steak is on the menu. (This was the red wine at my nephew's prenuptial dinner. I had suggested a California Sauvignon Blanc for the white--out of the wines available at this restaurant--but they had run out of that so we had a Chateau St. Jean chardonnay instead. The chardonnay was not as good a match for the fish choice or the pasta dish as the sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio might have been.)
[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 05-05-2003).]