What wines can you recommend for a party?

Question

Please recommend one red and one white. Very good quality, reasonable price. Not necessarily the best known but the best tasting. Something excellent and unknown would be great.
And:
Where can I get it?
How many bottles do I need for 40 people when wine is the primary beverage? (wine and appetizers only) The crowd is comprised of very light drinkers.

Water and soft drinks will be there too. I meant that wine is the primary (or possible only) alcoholic beverage.

Answer 1

First, I would suggest that you match the intensity of both the red and white wine. That way, if people decide to switch (and hopefully they switch from white to red...), it will hold up.
White- St Supre Chardonnay, at any liquor store. What is nice about this Chardonnay is that it isn't as dry as most chardonnay's. It is very crisp and buttery.
Red- Yellow Tail Shiraz-Grenache. This is a fantastic blend, because it is even heavier and more peppery than a regular Shiraz! These 2 bottles are in the medium price range. If you are very budget conscious, you can't go wrong with Charles Shaw wines from Trader Joes. They are between $2-$3 each, and some of the best wine I have evr had! (We don't have a Trader Joe's here, so we always buy by the case) Get a shiraz and a chardonnay. When you go in, ask for "Two buck Chuck!)

As for quantity, I would get between 2 and 3 bottles of each! That way you have enough, but not too much. :-)

Answer 2

Budget is a concern. If you go to liquor or supermarkets your going to get what you pay for. If you go to beverage warehouses you can get decent wines for 7 to 12 dollars. You can't go wrong with Trader Joes decent party wines for 4 to 8 dollars. all wineries sell a range of quality. Beringer for instance produces decent wines and you can buy their wines for 4 to 140 dollars and up. If your budget is more along the lines of 15 to 20 dollars a bottle there are delicious wines for that price. If you can afford 30 to 40 dollars a bottle, now your looking at some serious wine tasting. For 40 light drinkers I would estimate one bottle for every 2-3 people. This also depends on length of party and types of appetizers; some apps. are more conducive to wine drinking.

Answer 3

I'll start with the quantities: my rule-of-thumb is one bottle (750 ml) for every three people. In your case, if everyone drinks lightly, you'd probably get away with 1 bottle for every 4 people. Just remember, only open bottles as you need them; if there's leftover unopened wine, you can ALWAYS use it later, or give it as a gift.

As for my choices: for the red, I really like Bully Hill Vineyards' Special Reserve Red (Hammondsport NY). It's moderately priced (around $12-13 around here), and it's my favorite table red.

For the white: Bully Hill makes a very good, semi-dry white, as well. However, I highly recommend Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling. I tried it when I was in Australia, and so far it's the best white wine I've ever tried (I'm really not even a huge fan of rieslings). It's also resonably priced (about $18-20)

Both types are available (here in Pennsylvania, anyway) at regular liquor stores.

Answer 4

I would recommend Rosenblum Zinfandel Cuvee, which sells for around $10 a bottle for the red wine. Another choice would be Fetzer Merlot....they might even have that in the 1.5 liter size.

Fetzer Gewurtraminer would make a good white wine....less than $10 a bottle.

If it were my party, I would probably buy 4-5 bottles of a red and a white and maybe have a few 1.5 liters of red and white around in case I run out.

Answer 5

What do you consider "reasonable" price? For me, that's under $40, but for many that's under $12.

Here are some of nice, drinkable wines under $20:

Six Prong Red
Pepe Sangiovese
Cycles Gladiator Syrah (A FANTASTIC Deal at under $10)
House Red
Maryhill Reserve Sangiovese (this may be a little more than $20)
Amberhill Cabernet
Il Bastardo
Chiaramonte
Concha Y Toro Cabernet Diablo (my Costco carries this one)

Nice inexpensive whites are:

Maryhill Viognier (a little sweet)
Reuscher-Haart Reisling (Sweet but with a citrus finish)
Duck Pond Pinot Gris
Maryhill Reserve Chardonnay
Moscato Allegro (very sweet)
Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauv Blanc (Citrusy) (my Costco & target carry this one)

My local grocery store and wine shop carry most of these labels.

I'd get 20 bottles of wine to be safe.

Hope this helps!

Answer 6

I've personally never gone wrong with the Ravenswood label, and they tend to run 8-15$ a bottle. Most larger liquor stores should carry it. Estimate about 2 to 2.5 glasses per person, and it's proper to have water available to cleanse the palate with and reduce the alcoholic effect. The last thing you need is the liability of someone making a poor driving decision after attending the party!

Answer 7

Red wine Beringer 3rd century pinot noir and for white wine Santa Maria sauvignon blanc.

Answer 8

i recognize of a number of tremendous wines solid for any placing. First, the recent Zealand wines are making a recognition in the wine international; Glaetzer Wallace Shiraz/Grenache 2005/$19.00. also, this Australian wine: 1996 Black Opel Shiraz, Barossa Valley/$16.00 is one among my favorites and isn't any longer some thing short of outstanding. As those 2 international places income marketplace percentage in the U.S. you could wager their fee factors will climb. yet, for now they're tremendous values.