If you can make it down to Kemah, there's a winery there that makes their own wines. I wouldn't call them high quality, but they are very flavorful and easy to drink. They do tastings and they have some really nice light wines. Blackberry merlots, blueberry shiraz, some wine called Badass that's light a margarita flavor wine, lots of stuff down there. Not very expensive, have tastings for cheap and it's a fun place to experiment with different stuff.
Pick up a bottle of Juan Gil from Central Market...wine from Spain for like 15-17 bucks, but tastes no different than a $35-40 bottle of wine.
Went to eat at one of the top restaurants in the Pacific Northwest back in April to celebrate birthdays between my sister and I. Brought a bottle of Bordeaux that I received as a parting gift when I left a French bistro I had worked at. It was a 2001 grand cru Bordeaux. Received it in 2005 and had it in my collection for 11 years. Longest I've ever sat on a bottle. So we bring it to dinner to have it corked there, saw they had A5 wagyu steak on the menu. Somm takes the bottle from us and says he'll decant it for the wagyu course. We ordered almost the entire menu. Had lots of glass pours. Somm approaches us right before the steak course and informs us they decanted the bottle and accidentally served it to another table. They comped all the wine we drank that night which totaled 14 different glasses between us and the bottle of red they produced for the steak course and gave me a bottle of red to take home, comped the desserts and comped the to go pasta we got for my brother in law. I'm kinda glad they f-ed up cause our bill was still outrageous.
This. I'm still a relatively new wine drinker and not a big fan of any whites. I stick to mostly Malbec's and Cabs. I do like the occasional Zin, too. Catena Malbec is my favorite and is typically about $16 from HEB.
if it's any consolation, depending on which exact region, grand cru bordeaux's are typically not first growths (like with burgundy's), so that bottle was more likely only a third growth and may have even been past it's peak already
Australian wine has some very good regions. Wine tends to be flavoured quite a bit by the region that the grape grows in. No idea what our prices are in the US, but look for the following: Shiraz from Barossa Valley (South Australia) Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River (West Australia) You can't really miss with any wine of that type from those regions. Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre blends tend to come up well from pretty much any of SE Australia, WA, or Hunter valley. I'm no expert, can only tell you what goes down nicely!
Go to some wine tastings and taste several to find your own sweet spot, no pun intended. Specs, Twin Liquors, or even HEB will normally have multiple wines for tasting on most Saturdays. Try a Grenache or Tempranillo for a little sweetness without the tannin bite of a Cabernet.
This man has it. I keep my wine fridge and rack stocked w/ Justin Iscosceles and Justification and whatever Stag's Leap I can find... Sometimes I'll go w/ the Paso Robles if the I or J are out of stock. I used to be a member of the Justin Wine Society and had it shipped directly to the house, but we finally stopped when the last couple of shipments came w/ damaged bottles, ruining the entire package.
Picked up some white wine @ Hye Market. The grape flavor is amazing. I can't recall the name of it, but they let you taste test their wines before purchasing. http://www.hyemarket.com/
Update on my wine venture, Picked up a bottle of Kendall Jackson merlot 2013 Didn't like it much lol my friend was telling me that Merlot is more of a steak dinner Wine than a casual drink one. My search for the perfect bottle continues. Should've known a bottle with the name Jackson wouldn't be so good. I'll try specs in search of a good bottle..
You cant just jump into merlots, cabernets or malbecs right off the bat. You need to try a sweeter type of wine. Look for some Texas wines like Llano sweet red or Twin Springs Sweet Red. Theyll definitely help you ease into the wine category.
