Drink and Enjoy affordable wine, and a little whining too!

It seems daunting to choose the appropriate wine. Is it red with meat and white with fish, as they say? If so what about the rose colored wines, the pink, and the not so white wines, where do they fit in? Most importantly does it really matter? How can I choose a wine I will like, and will it be affordable?

First don't be intimidated, as in most things use what you know. We have always heard that the best wine comes from France, and while many may be excellent, some just are not. Think about the kinds of food you enjoy. Is it French food, Italian, continental cuisine such as beef, pork, or lamb? Or maybe its ethnic food, Greek, Indian or Thai? Use these food groups to help you to focus in on the lessor known regions that produce wine, for example if you are a hearty meat eater regions such as Germany, Argentina, even South Africa provide some excellent choices. As a pasta man myself, the Italian wines provide some great affordable choices for me, especially the heart healthy reds., as do the South American wines, especially from Chile. Fish folks have an awesome choice of white wines, since these are generally lighter and smoother to the taste.
Both Australia and California produce very good white wines.

Not being a fish person, yet still enjoying a nice white wine, i prefer to use them in social settings with canapes or appetizers, even to just enjoy as an everyday wine. One of my favorites comes from the Rhine River area of Germany, its the famous Blue Nun in the beautiful blue bottle.
Blue Nun is a medium bodied white wine, slightly dry but not overmuch with a nice scent and a delicious taste. Its great to drink on its own, yet blends particularly well with cheesy appetizers like potato skins or cheese sticks. Its great with shrimp, i enjoy the pre-cleaned and cooked, lazy I guess, and any other seafood such as lobster or cracked crab legs, yum. I like to have on hand a few butter crackers or saltines ready to clear my palate before moving on to any other food, or even to use to keep my mouth free of any flavor other than the wine itself. If you find the original Blue Nun to be a little to dry for your taste, try Blue Nun Riesling, its a bit more fruity and lively yet still crisp. Just as versatile as the original but made with Riesling grapes that give it a more medium of the road taste without that tart dry aftertaste some wines have. Note though, that these are great drinking wines and sorry they are not sweet wines, but have a refreshing every day taste to them. While I am plugging one of my favorite vineyards, let me not forget their Rose and Pink blends that are lighter and have varied fruity tastes that make them easy-drinking wines either on their own or with food. Most white wines that are not Champagnes, are usually best served chilled, rather than at room temperature. Seems to bring out the luscious flavors and scents.

Blue Nun wines are very affordable, usually in the $7 - $10 range per bottle.

Now the whining part, he he. There are many affordable wines on the market. I often sample delicious choices while traveling. If your like me though, you can never find that particular wine when you return home. I live in a area where the wine and other spirits are controlled by the state, The LCB or Liquor Control Board. They determine which wines and spirits are purchased and sold within the state, based on the discounted wholesale cost they pay, which of course determines their profit margins. So what you see on their shelves are the wines they make the most on, with the volumes they can maintain throughout the state. That of course limits what they purchase and bring in, since they only have so much shelf space to fill. So often times what you find to drink while traveling cannot be found at home. That's not fair.

Its true you can ask them to special order your wine, but after the shipping and handling and the enormous state tax you probably want to put it in a lock box at the bank instead of drinking it.
Even home delivery, you know the companies who can ship directly to you, has to go through the state process or they cannot ship into the state at all. This makes the wine unaffordable and often not available at all, that's especially sad if what you found was a great tasting and affordable wine. I guess there is always traveling to the next state to buy your wine, but sometimes that's not an option or even not legal to do, so check first.

What about you, what do you like to drink? What have you found to be an inexpensive yet crowd pleasing wine ? And yes what are your whines about wine?

Let us know, soon.

Til Later

David