Wine Recommendations?

[mrtr33]

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

Noted. Will look for those.

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

I can tell you first hand that it's fabulous. I've had the Zin and the Cab Sauv. Both are worth their price. Haven't been able to find them easily, especially since moving to the south, but I highly recommend at least those two wines. Zinfandels are some of my favorites. I used to work at Trader Joe's in southern California. A regular customer (and fellow Zin lover) told me that a general rule of thumb he uses when blindly trying a new Zinfandel is to see how high the alcohol content is. Generally, the higher the alcohol content, the better the Zinfandel. Whether that's true or not, I don't know for sure, but it's something to consider. I have, and have not been disappointed, most of the time.

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...

Will try. At that price range, we only buy one maybe two of those bottles a month. I'll look. It's hard to find a Napa that isn't overpriced. I appreciate your input. My palate has been a bit more refined to be able to appreciate the Petit Syrah's better.

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.

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).

I generally have a hard time getting into Austrailian wines. I don't know why. It's definitely me. And it's not that I only like domestic wines, I just can't get into the Australian ones. But I digress; I have not had any from Brokenwood. Thanks for the recommendation.
I really like the Peachy Canyon Zinfandel, the Blackstone Merlot is decent, and I've never had the Rancho Zobaco. Looking forward to looking for that one. In general, the Coppola wines have disappointed me. I don't know if I have higher expectations because of the price point, or what. They aren't bad, but there are other wines I prefer over the Coppola line. Thanks, though. I might check out that Brokenwood 4-bottle offer.

It's sometimes hard to recommend specific labels/vintages because of availability. In general, I find it's easier to go with the varietal and region. Find a combination you like and explore from there.

As they probably told you at the tasting, Pinot Noir is one of the hardest varietals to find cheap and still be good. If you want to try looking for a good cheap pinot, I'd recommend starting with the Russian River Valley in California. There are still some good finds in the $15-$25 range. I've also had some great value Pinots from Chile, but it's hit or miss there.

Another region to consider are blends from Spain based on Tempranillo and Monastrell. If you like 'softer' wines you'll want ones with a higher percentage of Grenache.

You're telling me. Louisiana has some of the craziest tax import laws in existence. The politics are insane down here. There is supposed to be an alcohol warehouse not too far from where we are, that's supposed to be like the size of several super Wal-Marts. We are planning a trip down there soon to avoid just this.

We used to live in central Oregon, where, in my opinion, the very best Pinot Noir's exist. Some prices are a bit inflated due to being in the region, but there were so many available, that you could seriously take your time exploring. My preference for Pinot Noir's are from the Willamette Valley. We just tried a Retour Old Vine Pinot Noir - 2006 vintage last week at the tasting. Absolutely amazing. Another Willamette Valley production. Couldn't swing the price just then.

I'm a beer guy personally, but the gf is a wino (sp?). I know we have landed some good deals from wine.woot.com but they don't ship to every state because of blue laws.

Those crazy, crazy blue laws. Been haunting me since middle school.