Newbie

[carlosmtz]

Hello. I have never ever tasted wine before. I am hoping to try some but I am unsure which to try. Is there such a thing as an entry level wine or a wine usually preferred by many? I'm thinking of maybe starting out with a wine that is not too heavy and probably sweet. Any ideas or recommendations? Oh, and if possible maybe something for less than $20-$30. Thanks.

[Kcwhippet]

You didn't fill out your profile, so we don't know where you are. If we knew that we could better help you find wines available in your area you might try. Help us out and complete your profile. Thanks.

[Jackie]

This will probably date me but lots of wine drinkers started with the very popular "White Zinfandel" made by Sutter Home.

Newcomers tend to not like tannic wines or wines with a lot of acid. They tend toward somewhat sweeter wines.

See our WINE FAQ (link is above in the purple bar).

Anyway, we welcome you and hope you begin experimenting to find just what you like. Wine is like an adventure -- so much to discover.

WELCOME and CHEERS!

Jackie

[carlosmtz]

Kcwhippet, I'm located in Texas.

Jackie, thanks for the input.

[wondersofwine]

Welcome Carlos. We were all newbies at one time. You might also want to try a German Riesling Spatlese such as Wehlener Sonnenuhr or Piesporter Michelsberg or Piesporter Goldtropchen. Riesling is a white wine grape. Spatlese refers to later-picked grapes (which are naturally a bit sweeter.)
Wehlen and Piesport are towns in the Mosel River region. Sonnenuhr means sundial--the vineyard has a famous sundial. Michelsberg means Michael's hill and Goldtropchen means golden drops.
It is generally easier to find sweet white wines than sweet red wines. With red wines you may want to ask a retailer for a wine that is very fruity or fruit-driven and low in tannins.
Moscato is an Italian sweet wine from white wine grapes that you might enjoy and is quite inexpensive.

[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 07-08-2008).]

[carlosmtz]

I just finished reading the FAQs on this site as well as some reviews. Great information although it takes a while to fully understand...

Seems like a white wine like a Moscato is what I'm going to purchase.

I was wondering if any of you have purchased wines from an online website such as wine.com?? Are they safe? Quality?

[dananne]

Hi, and welcome to the board. I've used a few Internet retailers (sometimes creatively, as it's not legal for them to ship to GA), but now is not the time of the year to go that route. It's just too hot. If you want to order wine and have it shipped, wait for cooler temps in the fall.

[hotwine]

If you're near Houston, Austin or Bryan, visit Spec's for good wine selections, especially the main Houston store. Well-trained staff, too, who are anxious to help.

[carlosmtz]

dananne, thanks for the heads up regarding shipping during hot weather. I never really thought about that.

I think I have enough information to get finally be able to be somewhat of a knowledgeable wine shopper.

I do have another question but I'm no sure whether to post it here...I'll post it here and if this is not the proper location in the message boards, I'll repost...

Ratings. I've seen wines being rated as 88 - 94. Are these ratings standardize?

[Kcwhippet]

Wine ratings are very,very subjective. They are based quite often on the raters' biases relative to the wines being tasted. Ideally, they should be rated on the tasted wines relative to their peer wines. Personally, I look at the ratings and judge the wines on how I've felt about how the raters have given points to the wines in the past. More importantly, I judge them on how I feel about the wines after I've tasted them. Of course, I'm ITB and I taste close to 70 wines a week, so I have that advantage.