Most Popular Non-Wine Geek Wines

I’m looking to stock up our kitchen wine fridge with relatively inexpensive wines that our “non-wine geek” friends might enjoy. Looking for stuff that can be easily sourced (not off a wine list). Easy drinking wines to keep the masses happy.

Thoughts?

Meiomi PN

Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay

And anything else from a large producer for under $20 you find at your local market.

Columbia H³ Washington Red Blend

J. Lohr

Costco. Take ur pick. :slight_smile:

Search WB forums for “purple drank” and you’re likely to get a good list.

relatively inexpensive wines that our “non-wine geek” friends might enjoy.

Do the wines still have to be good?

If no, go for Meiomi, Conundrum, Beran, Santa Rita Pinot Grigio.

If the wines still have to be good, it’s harder.

The key is the word “relatively” when applied to inexpensive.

If you’re thinking sub-$50, or even sub-$25, you can find quite a bit. If you’re thinking sub-$15 AND widely available, I’d serve them beer.

But at that mid point, there’s a lot of widely-available Malbec from Argentina, there’s Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc and even Syrah from Chile, there are things like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo from Italy, Rioja crianzas from Spain or Reserva from Marques de Riscal, and Germany is loaded with good buys in Riesling. And then there’s Washington - Chateau St Michelle makes decent value and drinkable wines, and there are little producers all over Sonoma and Paso Robles but I don’t know what’s available in your area. Anyhow, those are the areas I’d look to.

Thanks all, good suggestions. Definitely looking to keep these at $25/btl or less. I’d like them to be good, but our friends definition of “good” may lean more towards something like Meiomi. Something like Bedrock Old Vine is perfect, but it’s mailing list and too hard to forecast out for the year what I’ll need, as an example.

Apothic Red.

The reds and white bargain wines from Washington (Snoqualmie, Chateau Ste Michelle, etc) tend to be crowd-pleasers, as well as stuff like the Marietta “Old Vine Red” (if available in retail), Shebang! from Bedrock, and the items mentioned by fellow posters.

Spain has some great reds (Valencia, Rioja) whites (Viura, Verdejo, etc) and sparkling wines (Cava) for the money!

Altovinum - “Evodia” Grenache.

Shouldn’t be more than $10. Fruity, with a nice little savory note. Not too heavy.

Villa Antinori Toscana IGT $15-$20 everywhere and drinks at 2x that.

I live in Ohio that has about the most expensive base pricing for wine in the country. As a result I buy almost exclusively online. Onsite pricing from actual wine stores here is almost always 25% or more higher than what I can find online. If you also live in an unfriendly wine consumer state and ‘easily sourced’ for you can include online purchases made throughout the year with convenient/prompt shipping, here are several suggestions based on my experience:

  1. Take advantage of Berserkers’ Day offers. Many will be for <$25 including shipping (including Navarro, Cowan, Campesino, Veleta, Briceland, Wilde Farm, and others).
  2. Several BD participants also have regular sales during the year for $25 or less (Navarro, Loring, Sandler), some at even better prices than during BD. And you can likely still get '14 Berserkers Cuvee for $18/bottle+shipping from Patricia Green Cellars as I just did this week (RIP Patty).
  3. Keep on eye on Last Bottle and WTSO sites. Many/most of their offerings are <$25 and with a little ‘due diligence’ you can usually ID good values using tasting notes and comments found on this site, Cellar Tracker, or Wine Searcher (but take their sales pitch hyperbole with a large grain of salt).
  4. Online ‘brick/mortar’ retailers, like B21, have good everyday prices and free or reasonable shipping with good but variable selection. Again, by reading notes/comments on this site, CT and WS you can ID producers and/or specific offerings to shop for. Numerous threads on this site discuss varietals w/in the $25 price range.
  5. If you have a Costco nearby, people regular find good value offerings there but it varies widely from store-to-store and state-to-state. Checkout the Costco thread on this site. Some of the other big box discount warehouse stores like Sam’s Club might have good values from time to time.
  6. And keep an eye on the Commerce Corner thread on this site for super offers that pop up periodically.

Columbia Crest Cab
Petite Petit
Kung Fu Girl Reisling
Eve Chardonnay
Cune Rioja Crianza


Also check out Wine Spectator and Wine Enthushast this month. Both have their top 100 values of the year. Some good everyday wines on there.

+1 on the Marietta Old Vine.

That’s how I’d approach it — there is plenty of overlap between wines that are good wines and something a wine enthusiast can appreciate, and something your civilian friends would like too. You don’t necessarily have to go full Apothic to do it.

Civilians love ripe fruit, but it doesn’t have to be an oaky milkshake type wine.

Sandler Pinot 6 pack is still for sale on their site. Great quality pinot at $25 a bottle and free shipping seems almost like a joke in this day and age but there it is. Just because your friends won’t care about how good the wine is doesn’t mean you should have to drink Meiomi with them.

For a cheap, crowd pleasing wine which wine geeks also like I’ll once again recommend La Vieille Ferme blanc (not the rouge). A delicious wine at under $10 a bottle.

Ultimately, you should get wines that fit your construct of an “easy drinking” wine that you enjoy, at a price point that’s comfortable for you. That way, you’ll enjoy the wine, and be ok serving it to non-wino friends from a monetary standpoint. If they don’t love it, they don’t have to drink it…but I bet they will.