Top 10 Best Wines for Under $30

Thats true but I don't think it compares to the wines served with most meals in Italy.

lol, I'd think thats kinda true. Italy produces a lot of low alcohol, low end wines used for everyday sipping. I dont know of many other countries that make all day every day wines. Think kind of a cross between breakfast style grape juice we have here in the USA and wine.

Hi Dee,

It depends on the person, of course! Here in normandy folks drink calvados at breakfast not wine. (Of course champagne is wine!)

Actually consumption of wine is way down from historic levels in France. Many attribute that to the fading away of the 2 hour lunch tradition, or the stiffer penalties for drunk driving, or the cocacolonization of the younger generation.

And of course France produces an ocean, just like Italy, of cheap table wine that isn't very good. (OK, it's bad.)

However, with the notable exception of wines that have been "discovered" by Americans, good every day wine can still be had very cheaply here: around 5-7 EU or even less. (In terms of buying power a EU is about at parity with a $, in spite of the exchange market.)

-E

Your use of the word, 'sipping' and 'everyday' sipping' escapes my imagination as it would apply to my own everyday life. I cannot do the visualization.

You refer to an "all day every day wine." Give me an example of one of those wines which would be "a cross between "breakfast style grape juice ... and wine." I'm non-plussed about this concept of wine drinking - I've never heard of this. Please enlighten me.

Dee Dee

If they haven't already, someone will eventually tell you that the best advice you can get is to find a decent, small shop where the keeper knows his or her stuff. Depending upon where you live, however, this can be difficult. CostCo is great for wine prices on wine that you want to buy. They don't usually carry junk, but they don't carry "finds", either.

As anyone who has ever seen my cellar can attest, I am a big fan of Franciscan group wines. These guys never stop expanding: Ravenswood, Simi, Estancia, Verramonte, and now Mondavi is part of the umbrella owned by Constellation. Crazy. In any case, their wines are nearly as ubiquitous as any of the ones you mentioned in the original post. The Verramonte Primus is an excellent wine for the price (usually $14)

good luck! Kevin

Thats odd. In the USA wine consumption has been rising and a 2 hour lunch is very rare. Penalties for drunk driving have gotten stricter in most states.

Thats because its a quite different culture in Italy. In the USA we do not serve wine with just about every meal and drink it throughout the day as you might drink water, juice, lemonade etc.

The wines I tried that were served with breakfast were low alcohol (8% or so), slightly sweet and very light mostly whites but some reds. They were served from jugs without labels so I do not know the brand. I dont know of anything quite like it in the USA but apparently its common in Italy.

know of anything quite like it in the USA but apparently its common in Italy.

We sell stuff in a box. Maybe that compares?

Jose

You are getting lots of good suggestions. - But how are you going to choose among all these recommendations, and how are you going to choose at a restaurant with other selections? My suggestion would be that you attend a few wine tastings or wine appreciation courses to expedite and expand your education regarding wines. - You will get to taste a number of different types of wines in a relatively short period and thereby form some opinions of your own as to what appeals to YOU, which, of course, is the important factor. Also, you will find yourself picking up some of the common wine knowledge, terminology, and know-how, which couldn't hurt with your dates. (Provided you don't get snobbish about it or try to push it too far.)

Jim

I've always wanted to try Coppola. I've had it recommended to me a couple of times by the wine people on staff at the local gourmet stores as being a good vineyard. I may forgo that desire now that you say it is "horrible". What kind of Coppola wine did you try which was so bad?

I was looking at a bottle of Simi wine today at Costco. Can't remember now which wine but I had never heard of the brand before seeing it today and until you just now mentioned it. (Not that that means anything. I probably haven't heard of 99% of the fine wines out there) Do you find Simi to be a good brand?

I don't know about taking a course on wine appreciation. I will probably just stumble through tasting the rated wines and/or other highly recommended bottles. I try to pick up what I can from this group and from internet sites on wine like wine.com. For instance I didn't know until Miles explained why I should lay a corked wine on its side for storage purposes.

But....a wine appreciation course does sound sort of neat. I may try that some day in the future.

Well yes, thats pretty cheap! But what I saw was lower alcohol. Guess Italians dont wanna over do it at breakfast!

Are there any wine stores or wine bars in your area that do frequent tastings? Here in Phoenix there are several. It's a lot of fun to mingle with other wine lovers and taste samples of several different wines. The last one I went to tasted Pinot Noirs from all over the world. Learned a lot!

I had some Coppola wine and found it to be quite nice. At the moment I don't remember which it was though. I had had my doubts (name brands being what they are) but was quite pleasantly surprised.

Jose

What is a "Franciscan group wine"?

Jose

That's an idea. I'll have to check into it. Going to a wine tasting at a bar might be a good ice breaker for a date and a good way to meet people with similar interests (I'm sure they have them somewhere here in Orlando, FL).