What is a nice wine for a very casual outdoor chicken barbeque dinner at my g/f's parents'?

Question

I want to show up with a nice wine as a surprise. I want to impress, but I'm not a wealthy man. I can do $30-40 for a nice bottle.

WOW! you guys are all great. I think I've jotted down about a dozen great wines to choose from so far. Kendall Jackson keeps coming up, maybe I'll give that a try. Thank you!!!

Answer 1

Kendal Jackson has great brand recognition but the wine is mediocre.
You should not spend anything more than $ 20.00 max
You don't serve formal wines at casual events.
Contrary to popular opinion you do not match your wine to the meat you match your wine to what's on the meat- in this case several big flavors. Sweet and sour and smoky.
Wussy wines like pinot grigio will get over powered.
I would get an old growth Russian River [CA } Zinfandel or possibly a decent Syrah [ Syraz if it's Australian ]
De Loach, Ridge La Crema are some examples of the Zinfandels
make sure that it is cool as in 64 degrees

Answer 2

These days, even $15 can buy a lot, if you know what you're looking for. Chicken usually says "white wine," and since it's barbequed, you can go several ways. Slathered in sauce, bbq chicken can be a pretty strong flavor, so a nice, oaky California chardonnay would work well as a basic wine pairing, since the acidity would help to cut the sweetness of the sauce, while the buttery mouth feel would complement the texture. If they tend to go lighter on the sauce, you could also do well with a pinot grigio/pinot gris, since it's lighter and often a bit more citrusy than your standard chardonnay.

If you can find it, a bottle of white merlot is actually quite good with chicken in general; it has a light pinkish tinge that pushes it in the rose/blush direction, but is both robust and fruity.

As for vintage/brand name, among Washington wines I like Chateau Ste. Michelle, or if it just happens to be on sale, L'Ecole No. 41 -- it's usually around $40 a bottle, but they make some killer wine. French imports are usually pricey, but you do get what you pay for if you're willing to shell out, and depending on how much they know about wine, it might impress the future in-laws to see the foreign label. I also haven't gone wrong with an Australian wine; I've only had one bad one, and it was because that particular vintner had never tried to produce a box wine before, and that was all the hosts were serving that night... but I've actually had other Austrialian boxed wines that were quite acceptable. And Aussie wines have the added benefit of being a best buy for the budget-conscious; I've had decent drinking wine for $8 a bottle, and downright double-take-inducing good wine for less than $20.

Answer 3

a Dry Reisling is a good bet. Santa Margarita Pingot Grigio runs around $17 - $20 a bottle. It's a little sweet, but crisp. Nice with chicken. Best served chilled.
I just bought a great wine, Guner Veltliner Bio-Weingut Hofer. It's Austrian, I believe. I could be wrong. It was about $9.00 for a 1 liter bottle and, get this, it comes with a bottle cap top! But, it was awesome! Light, crisp, not too sweet.
If you are looking for just a traditional Chardonnay or something like that, Sterling is a great name. It's a Napa Valley winery. Charles Krug, Cakebread, Rodney Strong, those are also some good names. Kendall Jackson is a basic one that seems to fit most peoples tastes. I used to be a Mondavi fan but not so much anymore.
Try to find that one with the bottle top. It really tastes good and it's a good conversation piece, too!

Answer 4

for 30-40 dollars you can get amazingly good wine. There's not much reason to pay more than about 50 for anything unless you havea very refined palate. There's Louis Jadot white bordeaux, it's hard to get better than that. I think you can even buy a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse for around 40. Then again, if this is a "very casual" barbecue, you don't need to get a super premium wine. How about a Mondavi or Kendall Jackson label? Those are very reasonably priced.

Answer 5

You can find a lot of great wines for that or even lower going with chicken barbeque you probably will want to stick with a white wine (with chicken or fish) but it is all about your prefrences... some top white would be
Santa Margherita 2005 Pinot Grigio ($25.00)
Kendall-Jackson 2004 Grand Reserve Chardonnay (About 24.00)
Comte Lafond 2003 Sancerre Blanc ($30.00)
Chalone 2004 Pinot Blanc (24.00)

Answer 6

We like Sutter Home White Zin with cookouts. But this is a grocery store wine, not in that price range at all. You don't have to spend big bucks to impress. Just bringing wine as a surprise is very thoughtful.

Answer 7

if they're wine drinkers, then get a bottle of chardonay.

if they're not wine drinkers, then get something more fruity and less dry. i'd suggest a riesling.

go to your local wine shop and check out their selections. they'll have lots of bottles for your price range.

chill the wine before you go to the bbq and definitely don't get a red wine.

oh and if they're a pretty well-to-do family, then definitely don't get Sutter Home or anything else available at the grocery store and DON'T GET A WHITE ZINFANDEL (it's considered the malt liquor of wine...it's basically alcoholic fruit punch...very unclassy to wine drinkers). they'll laugh at you behind your back.

Answer 8

Go to a wine/liquor store and ask for a suggestion. I prefer a dry white wine but that just me. A popular white wine is Santa Magherita

Answer 9

A nice Chardonnay would be one choice for a table wine. But the BEST desert wine would be a German AUSLSE, it's medium-sweet, white wine.

Answer 10

Trader Joe's

$5 Merlot and Chardonnay