So many reds so little time! Try calling the restaurant, they should still have you bill. Depending on the filing system they use it may not be hard to locate.

Well, FWIW, as a NON red wine drinker...............

I can drink Chianti. Or a tawny port.

Just don't put any stinkin' burgandy on the table! LOL

Deanna (who has a loooooooooooooooonnnnnngggg way to go to even THINK about being a wine connoisseur).

I may call, that sounds good. But I like the Chianti idea. He likes Chianti.

I love Chianti too. Look for a Classico Riserva. For sure Classico

IF that's the one with the rooster, I totally agree, MMM!

I would go with a Merlot or Shiraz if you want full-bodied and low tanins but if he likes Riesling which is sweeter and high in acidity than try a Beaujolais or Beaujolais nouveau on him.

If you figure out what wine it was, please let us know! My husband hates red wine and I'd love to find something to maybe ease him into it. :) Thanks!
Bri

A very drinkable (and cheap!) red is Mondavi's Woodbridge Zinfandel. It's around $10-14 for a 1.5 liter bottle, and it's low in tannins and remarkably smooth. My wife doesn't care too much for most reds, but she likes this.

This is the red Zinfandel, not that blush White Zinfandel.

You won't find complexity there, but it's a very good wine for the price. Not as fruity as a Beaujolais.

If you can find it, Pietra Fita Chianti Colli Senisi is wonderful. It's reasonably priced & imported from Italy's Tuscany region. A big bottle in our wine store is around $16.

Also very good are some Spanish reds...particularly the Rioja varieties. I'm blanking on the names I've tried right now.

If I could be anywhere I'd like right now it would be the outdoor cafe across from the Al Hambra in Granada, Spain with a plate of calamari and my bottle of Rioja. ;-)

I like Chianti and Sangiovese (the grape variety from which Chianti is made) myself. But then, I like really robust reds. I wouldn't give them to someone who doesn't care for reds. There are other Italian reds I would try, such as Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Valpolicella.

I agree with Arley about Zinfandel. And, these days unfortunately, it is necessary to be clear that you are ordering the red, not the white. I do consider it fruitier than Beaujolais, but that might appeal to your spouse.

There are several Beuajolais, from different areas, and they are on the light side and also something to try.

I think what you are looking for are red wines which are drunk young, because those are the ones low in tannin. I think it is the tannin which causes some drinkers to dislike red wines.

Good luck.

Jim

BINGO Arley! I knew somebody would know. The winner is...

Mondavi's Woodbridge Zinfandel

Try it Bri, I think it fits the bill for a red that is good, but will also appeal to non-red drinkers.

But, wait! Why can't your hub have his own preferences? He's not trying to force you to like his reisling at every meal, is he? To each, his own. Which is why there are so many varieties!

Sherry

He can :)

but since I really wanted red, he wanted to accommodate, sweetie pie that he is. And this wine is the perfect way to get the best of both worlds. Check out the description.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woodbridge Zinfandel description (its TRUE!)

Sherry, are you suggesting they open 2 bottles, one for each? That could be fun until the next morning, lol. Seriously, I wouldn't want to have 2 partially drunk bottles of wine around the house for just the 2 of us to drink over the week or weeks. Don't they get to tasting bad after a few days?

I'm glad you got your answer, Rob333. I sure wouldn't be of help. When I'm feeling brain dead or lazy at the store, I just pick up what I'm used to buying and know I like. When I feel more adventurous, I just grab a bottle that I haven't tried before (and that's cheap) to see if I like it. Unfortunately, I don't always remember what it was the next time I'm shopping for wine. Luckily, I like both red and white. Interestingly, I've found more people these days that prefer red over white.

Sally

Why not? They don't get to tasting bad after a few days, Sally. Many wines need to decant before they taste the way they were meant to taste. We often have a couple bottles of open wine in the kitchen because we have different tastes, just as we prefer different levels of salt and different levels of doneness in our steaks, different amounts of sauce on our pasta. Besides, why should it be only rob's preference - doesn't her husband have worthy desires?

Sherry

Yay, thanks! I'll try to remember it next time I'm at the store. Is there anything the members of this forum don't know? :) Glad I found you all!

Bri

Well, I'm another ignorant, unsophisticated yahoo whose tastebuds just shrivel up at the taste of red wine. (Sad, I know, but true.)

However, my oldest son recently brought home a g\f who only likes reds. Since he had the good sense to advise me of this in advance, I went to the local liquor store in a mild panic. Dude turned me on to something called Cellier des Dauphins. She raved! (And asked to take the rest home, which I thought was in really poor taste........) I've since bought 2 more bottles of it to take to friends who were hosting dinner and who do drink reds. It's been a universal hit.

My favorite line about wine is the caption to the Thurber cartoon at the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thurber cartoon

Looks good to me :)

That's funny, Arley.

Well, I guess I got the impression you're not supposed to keep an opened bottle of wine more than a few days because my kids scolded me once (in a loving way) for buying the larger bottles of wine that we'd have around the house for weeks. Since one of DD's music mentors is also a wine buff, I figured my DD had learned about wine along with music from the man, so I took her word for it.

I suspect that the not liking reds or not liking whites has a lot to do with which wines you've been introduced to. For the dessert party, I fixed a meal with asparagus risotto, carrots sauteed with herbs, a salad and bruschetta. for the meal I served my standard white wine, Bella Serra's Pino Grigio. My niece said she normally doesn't like white wine, but she liked that white wine. There is so much variety in flavors of white wines, I bet she just hasn't been served one that suited her taste before. I imagine the same could be said for red wines, too.

I'm thinking of printing out this thread and sticking it in my purse for the next time I'm wine shopping, to help me remember all that's been suggested here.

Sally

Woodbridge zin is really on the edge of being...uh...swill. Wines like that are a major reason people say they don't like red wine.
Try one of the Australian shiraz/cabernet blends. the cost is very little more...I mean like maybe $1.00 a bottle, but it's less acid and has a fuller mouth feel.
I believe Woodbridge is the low end of the Mondavi line and I can't imagine a restraunt offering that as a choice on the menu.
I'll bet it was something else you had.
Linda C

Chacun a son gout, Linda.

Would anyone ever compare a Woodbridge Zinfandel with a premier grand cru? Of course not. I judge inexpensive wines on the lack of offensiveness. While I certainly don't expect greatness in this price range, I find it pleasant and drinkable; your mileage may vary.

One problem with most red wines is that the finer ones do require aging to allow the tannins to become less astringent. Aging costs money, and a lot of reds are on the market before they reach their peak. A too-young red is often responsible for people saying, "I don't like red wine."

On a related note, the man who introduced the Zinfandel grape to California was a colorful Hungarian immigrant named Agostin Harasthzy. He was the first Sheriff of San Diego. He died from being eaten by alligators in Nicaragua in 1869.

Linda, what would be a good shiraz/cabernet blend? (I almost emailed you directly instead of starting the thread). Sure I'll take another suggestion!

It may just be my palate but I find that, for me, I have to spend lots more on red, than on white, to get a good bottle of wine.

I like Californian, Canadian and Australian white but find myself turning to France and Italy for my big reds. My favourites are reds from the Rhone, Bordeaux, Tuscany and Piedmont.

Mind you Beringer in California makes a very good Pinot Noir and St Francis in Sonoma makes a lovely cab but the price point is just above $20.

As far as keeping unopened wine; you can get away with keeping a white a few days, stored in the fridge, but a red is best drank the same night.

Mind you I have found that younger reds will keep a day or two without to much change in flavour but the older reds need to be drank once uncorked.........which is no problem here! LOL

Very good explanation of reds, and the astringency matter, Arley. That's what I was trying to say, but you said it better.

I can't afford to drink fine wines on a regular basis, so I have to find ones which pass that "lack of offensiveness" test as well as having some attribute to make them enjoyable. Many Zinfandels, one of my favorites, are getting pricey. I'll try the Mondavi. I've found they do a good job with inexpensive wines.

Jim

Of all the wines in the world Arley mentioned the exact wine! That is pretty amazing. High five, Arley!

In today's wine world there is no place for being a wine snob in terms of price. You can get fantastic bottles for $15 or less. Of course, we are not talking Bordeauxs here or cellared wine but table wines that you drink everyday. Chase - I agree on St. Francis.

I was a Sales manager at '21' Club in Manhattan and because they had a million dollar wine cellar we were required to have a good wine knowledge. At the time, there was a very famous class given by a guy form Windows on The World about not spending more than $10 for a good bottle of wine.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Woodbridge and I have seen it on wine menus along with Beringers - with the restaurant charging $25 and up, of course - LOL!

Try Black Opal cabernet/shiraz blend....it's cheap, full bodied....a very little bit fruity and is mostly my taste for everyday table wine. It's not 'FINE WINE' but I find even people who don't like reds and those who regularly drink something a lot more expensive also like it.
It's low tannin and won't age at all....but for cheap and NOW it's better than OK.
Linda C

This weekend I stopped and bought a bottle of the Mondavi's Woodbridge Red Zinfandel. A friend and I opened it and enjoyed it to the last drop.

It's my new favorite red wine. And also my friends favorite now.

She told me that she served Woodbridge wines at her own wedding but hadn't tasted the Red Zinfandel before.

Thanks Arley!

Thanks for the Black Opal cabernet/shiraz blend suggestion Linda! I'll have to that soon.

Okay, I must be really cheap, cause I don't consider a wine cheap unless it's under $10. lol

This weekend I looked for that Woodbridge zin at my grocery store, but they didn't have it. They had a Woodbridge Merlot, and their Chardonnay, but not their Zinfandel. I ended up getting Barefoot's Zin, which is incredibly cheap, and may taste that way, also. I haven't opened it yet. It did have a sticker on it saying it won some kind of award for one of the best wines under $10. I'm a sucker for advertising like that.

Sally