Talk to me about Wine!

lovemesomemonster

I am super excited about getting up to my venue to do some tasting! I have a wine obsession and they have a buyer who has been working with them for over 20 years and specializes in local wines. I love it all but I know not everyone does. We are having a winter wedding and will be offering beer as well (micro brews and light).

My question to all of you is, what do most people prefer? I lean toward reds in the winter but I know some people only like white. Am I safe to try and do a 50/50 split between red and white or should I lean toward one or the other? I personally like a dryer wine but I want to make sure we are getting something for the masses. Just need a game plan going in for what I am looking for or I will walk out of there buying everything.

JoanE2012

I only drink white wine.  Red wine often gives me headaches.  I usually get Pinot Grigio or Riesling.  How many types can you have?

esstee33

I almost only drink red wine. I'll drink Pinot Grigio in the summer sometimes, but it's not common. 

I think you're safest to go with a good split -- maybe, say, a drier white and a sweet white, and maybe a couple varieties of red. Then you hit all the bases, and if someone has a preference, you likely have it covered. 

lovemesomemonster

Thanks for the responses! I'm getting at least a couple cases and I can mix and match which is awesome. My venue is also doing all of the catering and booze so I did ask and in the event that we run out of something I can tell them to roll in another keg or bring another case of wine in to be charged to my room.. At least we will not be left high and dry if something runs out and I don't have to over order being worried about it. I will try to stick with a good mix, I like the suggestion of a dryer white, and sweet white, and a mix of reds!  And maybe I will go about 50/50 on reds and whites?

BlueBirdMB

Definetely go for a even split of reds and whites.

Crowd pleaser reds are merlot or cabernet and pinion grigio or sauvignon blanc for white.

kaos16

What is your menu?  If you are doing an italian menu, for instance, people may lean more towards reds.  If your proteins are chicken and fish, people will likely lean more towards whites.  If you have food that pairs with either nicely, I would do a 50/50 split.

banana468

I'd go in two directions:

1) Pick wines that pair well with the food you're serving.   A white wine with a big piece of prime rib just doesn't work for me.  Likewise I wouldn't pair a pinot grigio with lasagna.

2) Still pick wines that are crowd pleasers.   In my family, the women go gaga over chardonnay.   I don't know why and I don't care for it but if I'm hosting them then I keep a bottle in the fridge.

allispain

I would go for a 50/50 split and definitely have a good mix of dry and sweet. For example, having both a pinot grigio and a riesling/moscato for the whites. For reds, my winos friends and I have been big on malbecs lately, but I'm also a fan of a good pinot noir - I usually stay away from merlots (never been a fan, even though that's a popular choice for a lot of people).

lovemesomemonster

Thanks! I wrote suggestions on sticky notes so I don't go in there just saying "give me all the wine!"

cupcait927

PPs have a lot of it covered but I want to stress having a sweet option. H and I got to pick 7 wines for our bar so we went with 3/3 red & white and threw in champagne as well. We let our venue manager know our preferences (had to have pinot noir and riesling) but left it to him to make the final decision - he was also the executive chef and we wanted options that would pair well with our food choices. He put a loganberry wine on the bar that ended up being the most popular option. Everyone was drinking it, even people who wouldn't normally drink wine. A bunch of people then ended up purchasing huge quantities of it at Christmas time a few months later, both for themselves and as gifts. I personally hate sweet wine but it went over like gangbusters with my crowd.

kaos16

cupcait927 said:

PPs have a lot of it covered but I want to stress having a sweet option. H and I got to pick 7 wines for our bar so we went with 3/3 red & white and threw in champagne as well. We let our venue manager know our preferences (had to have pinot noir and riesling) but left it to him to make the final decision - he was also the executive chef and we wanted options that would pair well with our food choices. He put a loganberry wine on the bar that ended up being the most popular option. Everyone was drinking it, even people who wouldn't normally drink wine. A bunch of people then ended up purchasing huge quantities of it at Christmas time a few months later, both for themselves and as gifts. I personally hate sweet wine but it went over like gangbusters with my crowd.

Most rieslings are sweet these days

JoanE2012

banana468 said:

I'd go in two directions:

1) Pick wines that pair well with the food you're serving.   A white wine with a big piece of prime rib just doesn't work for me.  Likewise I wouldn't pair a pinot grigio with lasagna.

2) Still pick wines that are crowd pleasers.   In my family, the women go gaga over chardonnay.   I don't know why and I don't care for it but if I'm hosting them then I keep a bottle in the fridge.

hahaha, I'll drink pinot grigio with anything!  I'm not that particular into pairing wines with food, especially as I don't drink red wine.  That said, I do agree to have a balance of choices for the guests.

onefootinthebayou

I actually prefer red but if I were a guest at a wedding I would actually drink the white to avoid the "red wine lip" or teeth. (Yes, I drink enough red to stain the teeth! Haha).

I would ditto the PPs in pairing with your menu items.

Another suggestion for a less dry option (not necessarily "sweet" per se) would be (& forgive me if I butcher the spelling) would be a Gewurstraminer. They can be light and crisp with some sweet notes and are notoriously good for pairing with food, especially anything spicy and seafood.

My go-to favorite is chianti but for a great, really drinkable Pinot noirs I love the ones from Wilamette Valley. Brooks is a favorite of ours.

Your wedding sounds fun, can I come?

onefootinthebayou

^^^Haha, whoops, etiquette breach inviting myself!!

lovemesomemonster

onefootinthebayou said:

I actually prefer red but if I were a guest at a wedding I would actually drink the white to avoid the "red wine lip" or teeth. (Yes, I drink enough red to stain the teeth! Haha).

I would ditto the PPs in pairing with your menu items.

Another suggestion for a less dry option (not necessarily "sweet" per se) would be (& forgive me if I butcher the spelling) would be a Gewurstraminer. They can be light and crisp with some sweet notes and are notoriously good for pairing with food, especially anything spicy and seafood.

My go-to favorite is chianti but for a great, really drinkable Pinot noirs I love the ones from Wilamette Valley. Brooks is a favorite of ours.

Your wedding sounds fun, can I come?

This is where I grew up, every time I got home my dad plays DD for me and mom while we taste our way through some glorious wine! Lucky for me, the venue also has a lot of wines from here! And thanks for the compliment on the wedding.. our "theme" (if you even want to call it that) is FUN! Priorities for where to spend the $$ has been booze, food, DJ!

badbnagdway

I was super stressed about picking wines because I'm not a huge wine drinker (my favorite wine is Barefoot Pinot Grigio) and both H and I do not drink red wine because it gives us a headache. We had about 100 people and served beer, wine, sparkling wine, and whiskey. The whiskey was the hit and was basically ALL GONE, even though I bought more than 4 times as much liquor as any of the online calculators suggested. We also went through about 12 bottles worth of red wine and only 8 bottles worth of white, even though our wedding was on a spring day, a time when probably in theory would drink more white and less red. I attribute this to the fact that we served beef tenderloin for dinner (had veggie and fish option as well) and people were crazy for that beef tenderloin. We did go through 12 bottles of the Poema Brut, which was the sparkling wine we offered. 

We served:

Meiomi Pinot Noir (went through 6 bottles, had 8 on hand) ($20 per bottle)

Bota Box Shiraz (went through the equivalent of 6 bottles, had 5 boxes on hand) ($16 per box)

Barefoot Pinot Grigio (went through 6 bottles, had 12 on hand) ($6 per bottle)

Barefoot Chardonnay (went through 2 bottles, had 12 on hand) ($6 per bottle)

I honestly do not love sweet wines unless they are of a pretty good quality (I like Blue Fish Riesling, for example, but have had a lot of bad Rieslings) and I do think they are divisive. The sweetest of ours was the Pinot Grigio and it was more popular than the Chardonnay. 

Ultimately I think the quality of the wine will partially dictate the type of wine as well -- I hardly ever have had a truly terrible pinot grigio, even if it was cheap, but I have had a lot of gross red wine (when I used to drink red). Generally you need to spend a bit more to get a drinkable red wine than you do to get a drinkable white. 

BouxRadley

onefootinthebayou said:

I actually prefer red but if I were a guest at a wedding I would actually drink the white to avoid the "red wine lip" or teeth. (Yes, I drink enough red to stain the teeth! Haha).

Red teeth is so real it hurts my soul. I love red wine, but I refuse to drink it in public unless I have a toothbrush handy. 

I worked at a restaurant that catered and we usually just made sure we had the Pinots on hand (Grigio and Noir). Both are on the sweeter side of their side, but usually enough of a crowd pleaser. Other than that we always recommended just pairing with the food if you wanted more of a selection. 

anniecm5

I think you're safe with two different reds and two different whites. You can always have more variety but I wouldn't have less than that. A 50/50 split should be good unless you're serving only one main course and it pairs much better with one or the other, then maybe you want to load up on that a little bit more. 

[Deleted User]

My hubby and I are like red & white, as long as it's sweet. If you can for some fun, get a bottle of a few of the options and have a tasting party among friends and/or family & get votes on which ones are peoples favorites. Have them maybe list in order their favorites. Then based on that you can figure out which ones were the most popular amoung people with different preferences in wine. A good excuse to get some people together & have wine.

sramsahoye1

I personally prefer white wines as well but I do not like dry wines. I believe all your guests would like a Moscato because it is freshing and light tasting. 

julieanne912

sramsahoye1 said:

I personally prefer white wines as well but I do not like dry wines. I believe all your guests would like a Moscato because it is freshing and light tasting. 

I wouldn't like a Moscato as most moscatos are way too sweet for me. 

kaos16

julieanne912 said:

sramsahoye1 said:

I personally prefer white wines as well but I do not like dry wines. I believe all your guests would like a Moscato because it is freshing and light tasting. 

I wouldn't like a Moscato as most moscatos are way too sweet for me. 

agreed, moscato makes me want to puke it's so sweet

lovemesomemonster

Well, I took two of the girls up to the lodge with me so we could taste the white and red they typically do for events to see if I wanted to change them or not. They were a Cab and a Chardonnay, right in the middle of being sweet and dry. I usually like dry wines and one of the girls I brought with me likes sweeter wines, and both of us agreed we could enjoy these. I might throw in one or two other options but I think the two they suggested will be good to please most people.

switSwoo00

I am going to pop some red wine wipes in my bathroom baskets as I love red wine but hate the grey mouth it gives you!

I once went to a wedding where the bride didn't let the bar serve red wine because she was afraid someone would spill it on her dress!

CharmedPam

switSwoo00, I'm not really worried about my guests spilling red wine on me as much as I am of myself doing it. It's me I don't trust.  

You guys bring up good points of the stained lips. I may do white that evening.