Wedding Wine on a Budget

[Zinner]

As Innkeeper and misterjive say, the advice from the caterer does seem a bit heavy on the whites. But you might consider whether the guests are used to drinking wine or not. If your guest list has a lot of regular wine drinkers, I'd go for more red. If they're novices, perhaps more white or white zin.

As misterjive says "lots of people who don't otherwise drink wine, happily drink white zin." However don't expect this to be limited to women. In our family, I(female) am the adventurous oenophile, while my older brother, my nephew and several other male relatives go for the white zin, whatever else I put in front of them(misterjive, you are just hanging out with the wrong women). And by the way, it is the folks at Sutter Home who get credit for white zinfandel, not Robert Mondavi.

bsnyder, you might also get an opinion from local wine merchants who can tip you off to what might be particularly value-priced in your market. In D.C., Calvert-Woodley or McArthur's should be able to help. Talk with several consultants, if you can find the time. If there's an in-store tasting, it might be fun to hit that and scope out the situation, while enjoying some wine.