HOW TO BUY GOOD CHEAP WINE

  HOW TO FIND GREAT CHEAP WINE!

1. Our Wine List is the easy answer to help you decide how to stock your Bar with up to 30 bottles of basic, good-tasting wine, each costing $10 or less.

2. No need to buy the whole list. You need only to select the wines you want.

3. No shipping costs or long waits for your wines to arrive. You buy locally.

4. We have chosen 11 varietals (Types of Wine). Each varietal has two or more selections which you can buy where wine is generally sold in your area, such as a wine, liquor, grocery or state store. No Cheap Box Wine included.

5. You buy our Wine Guide for less than the cost of having 2 bottles shipped from California, then go to just one store to purchase the wine.  It's just that simple. It is a list of Wine Basic Types that you can find at most stores. Remember that you get a discount if you buy "by case wine".

6. No education is needed. Our list is composed of well-tested, low-priced, standard wines from numerous countries. It is also a list suggesting "What Is a Good Wine to Give".  Your friends will be impressed with these selections and you can learn by tasting with them. 

If you want a quick education you can also access some of the other wine websites that we have listed for you as URL's on our Beginners Wine List. These will give you further information such as how to use the Dry Red Wine Types or an extended explanation on the Types of Red Wine or White Wine.

We include the basic Big Six varietals: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. Also included are Sangiovese (Chianti), Shiraz, Zinfandel, some Red Table Wines (blended grapes), and Sparkling Wines (Champagne types).

Each wine on our List will be easy to find in your area, and you need only buy the ones you want.

For An Outline Describing Why You Want to Buy Our Wine List, Click Here .

  WINE AND FOOD PARING!

Many people mistakenly believe that they will ruin the whole meal if they make the "wrong" wine choice. The good news is that it's impossible to ruin a good meal if you select a wine that you enjoy regardless of what the "wine experts" say. Remember, the wine experts are not eating your dinner.

If you want to talk "rules" of wine and food pairing, the oldest one in the book is red with meat, white with fish or fowl. But rules are meant to be broken. In recent years we've gotten bold and have said it's okay to have Pinot Noir, which is a light red wine, or even Merlot with salmon. And I personally know some white wine drinkers who will enjoy their Chardonnay whether liver pâté or a juicy grilled steak is on the menu.

Having said that, there are some general guidelines you may find helpful when selecting a wine to enhance your meal.

1. Select light-bodied wines to pair with lighter food, and fuller-bodied wines to go with heartier, more flavorful dishes. Using the salmon example above, the Pinot Noir works beautifully with the fish because you are matching light to light. Otherwise a full-bodied, heavier wine will overpower a light, delicate dish, and similarly, a lighter style wine will not even register on your personal flavor meter if you sip it with a hearty roast. You may as well drink water.

2. Consider how the food is prepared. Is it grilled, roasted, or fried, for instance, and what type of sauce or spice is used? For example, chicken with a lemon butter sauce will call for a different more delicate wine to play off the sauce than chicken cacciatore with all of the tomato and Italian spices, or a grilled chicken breast.

3. For every food action, there is a wine reaction. When you drink wine by itself it tastes one way, but when you take a bite of food, the wine tastes different. This is because wine is like a spice. Elements in the wine interact with the food to provide a different taste sensation like these basic reactions:

Sweet Foods like Italian tomato sauce, Japanese teriyaki, and honey-mustard glazes make your wine seem drier than it really is so try an off-dry (slightly sweet) wine to balance the flavor (Chenin Blanc, White Zinfandel, Riesling).

High Acid Foods like salads with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, soy sauce, or fish served with a squeeze of lemon go well with wines higher in acid (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir). White Zinfandel, although not as high in acid, can provide a nice contrast to high acid foods.

Bitter and Astringent Foods like a mixed green salad of bitter greens, Greek kalamata olives and charbroiled meats accentuate a wine's bitterness so complement it with a full-flavored forward fruity wine (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot). Big tannic red wines (like many red Zinfandels, and Shiraz or Syrah wines) will go best with your classic grilled steak or lamb chops, as the fat in the meat will tone down the tannin (bitterness) in the wine.

For More Information on Food & Wine Paring, Order Our Wine List, Click Here .