I would suggest reaching out to “wine90” on instagram. She’s in your market, has a good idea of what may be in your market. I know anything I suggest here may not be in your market. I just want to get you into something that is easy to find where you’re at. Also, welcome to the forum! Everyone starts somewhere. I think the best thing you can do is to taste as much as possible. If you have a local wine shop that does wine tastings that can help too.
Without knowing what it in your market. I might suggest the following wine:
Why not trying some Chablis? It is also Chardonnay but is a different experience. It may open the door to a interesting world. BTW not everything interesting has to be expensive, for example this wine is the same price as YellowTail:
Excelsior - Chardonnay South Africa 2018
This is a text-book example of the linguistic/vinous gulf between brand new wine drinkers and wine collector/wine elitists. Its been literally years since I’ve tasted Yellow Tail and I’d bet dollars to donuts that the wine exhibits very little of the varietal characteristics I associate with “chardonnay”. The wine is round, simple, tending towards the sweet and exhibiting little, if any evidence of barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, or acidity. Advice to the original poster to explore outside the realm of chardonnay is probably a good idea…esp. riesling, chenin (SA Steen), NZ Sauvignon Blanc.
This is one of the only recommendations that actually has a very similar level of sweetness to the yellowtail Chard. It has a tiny bit more residual sugar and a bit more acidity, so it probably tastes pretty close as far as those things go. It’s also probably out of her price range in the UK, though.
Good point Doug. I saw WS prices at 20/22 USD and thought the exchange was around 2 USD to 1 Pound. Wow, maybe it’s time to go visit Uk, exchange rate for USD is better these days at 1.23 USD to 1 Pound sterling.
Any other suggestions for Clarksburg Chenin Blanc for me? I do buy Loire Cb. (Although I can always try what I suggest and do a search online, or buy others like dry creek or Wilson vineyard). [update: after a site search, I see the references to beau rivage in clarksburg]
I lived in the UK last fall, near Grantham. You have lots of options in your price range, thanks to the wide selection of good grocery store wines.
I would first suggest going to Sainsbury’s. Most every wine they offer has a “shelf talker,” which is a brief description of the wine flavors and what foods go with it. The shelf talker also has a graphic indicating how dry or sweet it is.
Sainsbury’s has their own “Taste the Difference” label. Buy a bottle of Taste the Difference Muscadet Sevre et Maine. It is quite good and around £9. You may also like McGuigan Bin 9000 Semillon; it is about £12.50 so wait for it to go on sale.
Buy one or two other bottles that sound interesting, along with whatever food they suggest. Try sipping the wine on its own, then try it with food. Make sure to serve it at the proper temperature. White wines should be served around 7 to 13 C. Take note of how the wine tastes as it warms up in your glass.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of Sainsbury’s, branch out to the other grocery stores. M&S is excellent. Morrisons is OK, too. I would avoid ASDA.
You are also very close to British wine country. Once your social restrictions have eased, take a weekend and visit a winery or two. You’ll learn a lot about your palate and it’s great fun, especially with friends. Here’s a good website: