I'm not huge on wine, but I did grow up in Guerneville and Sebastopol, CA (AKA Sonoma County or "wine county")... All that aside, I'm more of a beer and liquor kinda guy and ironically the most uninitiated person to ask about wine; throw me a glass of box wine merlot and the award winner with all sorts of colorful adjectives and s**t, and I'd probably never tell them apart
but then again I never made it a point to compare them either, so what I consider "good" might warrant a chuckle in my general direction, and mostly go by [higher] price and the advice of getting bottle designs that are not over-the-top.
Anyway, I like Gallo Signature Cabarnet Sauvignon, BV Coastal Riesling, and well... Whatever you toss my way
. One recent gem a womanizing friend did tell me about though: For the single fellas or complete n00bs to wine, San Antonio Winery Cardinale is a good date night/beginner wine (if you can call it that, it's sweeter and fruitier than white zinfadel); had some with dates that came over and her inhibitions drop enough to fool around with my ugly mug
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