Wine Recommendations?

[DeeDubya]

There are so many wines available now. Winery's are popping up all over Texas, not that Texas wines would be ones to choose, some are pretty good. You might want to set some paramaters like by type, vintage, price, region, etc. You can get a real good cab or merlot under $12 these days. Some chards too. IMO good Pinot's $12 and up. We've found some really good Chilean and Australian wines too. IE, Jacobs, cab, merlot, shiraz, and chard all around $7 are hard to beat at the lower end. Casa Diablo produces some good cabs. The sky's the limit with more expensive wines. Have fun.
As far as wines to drink with a cigar. IMO they are going to need to be sweet like a port. I've gone from the dinner table out onto the deck with a glass of cabernet and ruined an otherwise good cigar. It doesn't work.

[mrtr33]

Thanks for the tips.

I guess I was looking more for specific wine brands, sorry I didn't specify.

We were in Marshall about a month or so ago, and went into a little shop that sold Texas wines. She explained that there were several cropping up. Are they usually all Cabs and Merlots? If I had to choose one bottle from a winery, I would go with the Cab. But lately Merlot's have been impressing me. So have Malbec's. We generally try to stay in the $8-$12 range in terms of wines. Nothing snobby about it, we just find those suit our needs a bit better. I'll try to keep posting what we've drank recently.

I've even updated my profile, but I enjoy red wines from Alexander Valley, CA, and Hungary the best. I enjoy whites from Italy and Sonoma, CA. I haven't drank enough rose to know any better. My favorite Boone's Farm Vintage is 2007, Strawberry Hill.

[DeeDubya]

You're going to be hard pressed to find many good whites from Texas. Our climate is going to be a little too harsh for white grapes, while we have the wild red muskodine grapes growing all over the place. I have some in my back yard.

Unless you were born with a silver spoon and a Partagas 150 in your mouth you probably wouldn't be drinking $50 wine all the time. Normal consumption would be special wines for "special" occasions. I got Diane a bottle of Dom for her birthday and she got $150 worth of pleasure out of it. One flute for me and I was back to drinking Miller Lite. But then I was born with a toothpick and a Henry Clay in my Mouth. Sad isn't it?

[mrtr33]

Any good Texas-based reds you could suggest? Have you been to a winery in Texas?

We normally don't do the sparkling. And I think we only have like 2 bottles of wine that are over $50 in our whole wine rack. Like I said, most of the wines we buy are in the $8 - $12 range. Sometimes a little bit over, but not often.

I gotta get me some Henry Clays.

[DeeDubya]

That's easy. Llano Cabernet. IMO Texas' best.

http://www.llanowine.com/

[MasterCylinder]

I'm a Chianti man myself - always my go-to wine for special occasions (except the currant lady-fan doesn't like red... at all...). There's also a Cabernet Sauvignon from Moldova that I like, called 'Firebird Legend.' No idea if it's available in the States, but it only runs about £5-6 here. I've never been brave enough to try wine with a cigar - always kept to whisky or rum.

[JFellows]

I was born with a toothpick

That's unfortunate.

[BigMacFU]

You'll rarely if ever be disappointed with either Pichetti Wines (Santa Ynez Valley, Ca) or Del Dotto (Napa). Also, explore Israeli and Greek wines of all brands, they've been making wine longer than just about everybody else in the world and because they're not as popular, they're cheap!

[cinda]

Layer Cake Primitivo aka Zinfandel Puglia IGT 2006 (Italy)
Try this and tell me how it is..:)

[ggiese]

One of my absolute favorites if the T-Vine Zinfandel (Napa Valley). It's a bit pricier than you were looking for (~$30/btl), but it is an INCREDIBLE wine. Their Petit Syrah is also very nice...

[logan37]

My favorite wines come from Hunter Valley in Australia. Although they are not the only wines I like. And, out of the Hunter Valley My favorite vineyard is Brokenwood.

It's a little tough finding Brokenwood bottles local so I order them from www.oldbridgecellars.com. They don't mark their prices up much from what they cost at the vineyard(I visited there on my honeymoon). Only a few bucks per bottle. Right now they have a 4 pack of different vintage Brokenwood Semillon for $95. Which is about $30 less then if you bought each individual bottle. Also their Cricket Pitch Red is a nice cabernet blend. And if you want to drop $125, the Graveyard Shiraz is probably one of the best bottles of wine I have ever had. Definitely a special occasion bottle.

Old Bridge Cellars has other Australian wines that are not Oz, Yellow Tail or Rosemount(which you can get almost anywhere in the U.S.).

Link to 4 pack deal.

Some other wines I drink regularly are Rancho Zobaco Zinfandel (~$17), Peachy Canyon Zinfandel (~$10-12), Blackstone Merlot(~$8-10), Greg Norman Pinot Noir(~$15), and if you can find it, 2004 or 2005 Coppola Claret(~$17-20).