Only if you have sushi lovers over for dinner. For BBQ, you might want to have something with a bit more heft.
Nobody has mentioned starter bubbles…
Like many here, I would start them at Ridge. I got “into” Ridge over 25 years ago and I am still buying it.
I like the above suggestion of bubbles, too.
JD
Agree with the recs for Rioja, Beaujolais, and Ridge. I’d also recommend Huet wines of all sorts. And various German wines, too, probably more Pfalz or Nahe then MSR. You could do a lot worse than Donnhoff.
From Italy
Felsina CCR
Any one of the Vietti Barbara’s to go with pizza
Vietti Perbacco
Produttori Normale
From Oregon, there is probably 50 bottles any of us could pick
Geyserville
A sauvignon blanc from one of the many good producers from the Sancerre region.
I remember early on having my first Beaucastel. Wow. I had never tasted anything like that before. Still love it all these years later. I don’t crave it on a regular basis, but I do continue to go looking for it time and again and am always happy I did. (Well, almost always)
This has been true for me, too. I’ve been into wine for less than 10 years, but through my journeys so far, I’ve always come home to Zin.
A starter kit from Bordeaux, not too pricey, not too austere, won’t take too long to drink well:
-Cantemerle
-Gloria (good one Howard)
-du Tertre
-Lafon Rochet
-Carbonnieux (rouge and blanc)
-Lagrange
-d’Armailhac
There are cheaper and/or more modern options out there, but those won’t last as long and one is more likely to outgrow those too.
Bubbles:
Marie Courtin
Bereche
Lassaigne
Jaquesson
Oregon:
Evesham Wood(I’ll vouch for this house from both ends of my wine evolution)
Patricia Green Cellars
Ayres
J. Christopher
Andrew Rich
California:
+1 on Ridge, also Edmunds St. Jean, Thackery, and Navarro
IMO, there are so many good Austrian & German producers, that both Newbies and old dogs would like. This is the category that has ebbed and flowed the least in my cellar.
Riesling has always fascinated me in this regard. It is so yummy that someone who knows nothing about wine just immediately likes it. The people I know who are true experts on wine love it. But, some people who are just starting to think they know something about wine but really often don’t somehow don’t like it - or at least think they are supposed to like it. It is amazing how many people I run across who think it is not sophisticated enough for them (probably in their youth they had some sickly sweet cheap German wine that actually did not even have any Riesling in it), while the real sophisticated experts I know love the stuff.
So, I am not a Newbie on many wines but know very little about Riesling. Assuming a Newbie went to Total Wine to pick up some Riesling to try, very few of the producers I see that are discussed prominently on the Board are available. I browsed this morning on their website, and ignoring the $5-$10 wines, I saw these:
From $30-$50:
Dr Loosen Erden Trepp Auslese
Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Emile, 2006
Dr Heidemanns Graacher Auslese, 2012
Dr Heidemanns Doctorberg Auslese, 2011
Dr Heidemanns alte Badstube am Doctorberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs, 2013
JJ Prum Bernkasteler Badstube Auslese
at $30 or below:
Dr Heidemanns Doctorberg Spatlese, 2014
Dr Heidemanns Graacher Spatlese
Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Gunterslay Auslese
Would any of these be recommended for a Newbie? If not, where would a Newbie start with Riesling?
I wouldn’t start with Auslese as a German Riesling newbie.
Rioja and Riesling seem like 2 obvious categories for the question posed. Most people I know who started with those kinds of wines still enjoy them.
Bruce
Muga. I’ve liked their wines for over 20 years.
Trimbach is one of the great dry Riesling producers in the world. The wines are from Alsace and the Cuvée Fred can be great, but it can be a bit austere when young. It would be a good wine to try.
Prum is one of the great German wine producers. An auslese from them will be a rich wine that is somewhat sweet and great for dessert.
For a good German wine to try with fish or something, look for a wine labeled Kabinett that is not labeled trocken (dry) or halbtrocken (half dry). There are lots of good producers. Some that I like include Zilliken, Rheinhold Haart, Schloss Lieser, Selbach and Shaffer-Frolich.
Try the Trimbach and Prum you have found, find a Kabinett like I described, and you will have a good start for various Riesling styles.
Sheesh, I’m surprised there wasn’t much mentioned for riesling!
If there is ever a wine to come full circle, I think it’d be riesling. If you’re really green to wine, you tend to gravitate towards sweeter, bigger wines and a well made riesling could easily fit that bill and they’re every bit as complex and food friendly as other wines.
We had a german exchange student come visit us when I was 16 and I remember trying and liking some of the nicer rieslings we had and 14 years later, I still absolutely love riesling.
CJ, this was my answer, too. While I could list some things about Pinot Noir or Syrah, for instance, those to me have some pretty distinct style variations, and so if one’s palate was to shift (much as mine did with a hard right turn about 5-6 years ago), then they don’t work for this thread but Champagne for me does. What I have found with it is a unifying pleasure across most of the Extra Brut wines, and some Brut. If someone would have started me on these 20 years ago, even 10, I would have been grateful.
Came here to say this
Champagne: Aubry or Gimmonet
Alsace: Dirler-Cade
Germany: Selbach-Oster
Bordeaux: Lanessan
Sauternes: La Tour Blanche
Red Burgundy: Drouhin
White Burgundy/Chablis: avoid until they get their act together on premox
Spain: Condado de Haza
USA: Ridge Zins and the Matthiasson White Wine