Anyone know of a good tasting light wine? I have tried many wines but they all tend to leave a bitter taste.?!
Anyone know of a good tasting light wine? I have tried many wines but they all tend to leave a bitter taste.?
I'm just looking for a wine that would make you say, "wow, that it is sweet!" I know nothing of wines and would like to try a real good one. Please keep the suggestions to a modest budget. Thank you.
Answers:
The bitter taste that you are describing is called Tannin, which is primarily from the skin of the grape. Since red wines have more contact with grape skin than white wines, red wines have more tannin in general.
As a result, I would recommend for you to try a white wine. As for sweetness, it varies based on how long the wine is fermented as well as long much sugar content is in the grape to start out.
For mildly sweet white wine, I like to recommend Sauvignon Blanc. These are light crispy slightly sweet white wine that goes well with fish and sushi. It is easy to drink, fairly cheap, and not too sweet to overpower the food that you are eating with. For Sauvignon Blanc, I would recommend Chateau St. Michelle ($15), Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc ($18), Duckhorn ($20), Caymus Conundrum ($25).
For medium sweet wine, I would recommend gewurztraminer or riesling. These are both grapes from German and Alsace region, with lots of fruit and sweetness and some spiciness. They are sweeter than Sauvignon blanc but still goes well with food, if you don't mind sweeter wines. Food such as mango salsa or teriaki or something on the sweeter side goes well with these wines. For Gewurztraminer, I would recommend cheap ones from US such as Sutter Home ($10) or Fetzer ($8). For Riesling, I like Bonny Doon's Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling ($12), Gunderloch ($15-60).
The sweetest white wine that you may want to look for are the late harvest wines and the dessert wines such as ice wines and sauturnes. These are very sweet, high in sugar content and variable in alcohol content. They tend to be served with dessert because of the extreme sweetness. However, that does not mean you can not drink them with food. They tend to be a bit pricier, since the production is limited, but you get some great wines. I would try Noble House Icewine ($20/half), Chamber Muscat ($15-35/half), Chateau Riussec Sauturne ($50/full, they also have a second label wine for $15/half), Robert Mondavi Muscato d'Oro ($25/half), Robert Mondavi Botritis ($35/half), Jackson Trigg Vidal Icewine ($15/187 ml, $30/375 ml). You can go very high price stuff like Far Niente Dolce ($65/half), Inniskilling ($70/half), or Chateau d'qyem ($125/half). These are guaranteed for you to say "wow, that is sweet".