re: Give me your best wine under $50...

Next time you drive to B’ham, swing by a decent wine store. Especially on weekends, most will have a few bottles open and you can try things without buying first. And forget being intimidated—drink what you like. Your taste buds are not wrong; they’re yours. No need to throw a gendered slur around to demonstrate your insecurities.

Would you judge someone for liking Dr Pepper over Coke bc it’s sweeter? Wine snobbery is just silly.

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Ridge is a fantastic producer. One of the OGs in California too, scoring very highly in the first judgement of Paris. OP would probably like Rombauer's Zin a little better, but I'll take Ridge any and everyday for zinfandel based blends.

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Yep and I saw another poster recommended Rombauer as well which seems like a good call for OP (and probably easier to get a lot of the time). Outside of Ridge I'm not a huge zin guy but I'll add that I like some of the Bedrock offerings too.

And thanks for your help the last couple years, it's been fun getting into it.

Lots of good advice so far.

Try Earthquake Cabernet or Red Zinfandel in mid-20s price range.

Try Frank Family Cabernet in the mid-40s.

For a daily drinker, there are plenty of good choices in the mid-teens.

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The Prisoner

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I do love this wine, but it's hard for me to pull the trigger on it at $40+. I remember when it used to go for $28.

Completely understand why it costs more now, though.

Does it rhyme with miller fox head

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Does it rhyme with miller fox head

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It does not. It is a red blend made from three grapes.

eta: and apparently its going for less than retail.

Haha, didn't want to spoil it if so.

Pillar Box Red is a 3 grape Aussie blend that for whatever reason has been a "secret" favorite of multiple wine folks I've met over the years. About that price too, although I'm not sure if it's still around.

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Pillar Box Red is a 3 grape Aussie blend that for whatever reason has been a "secret" favorite of multiple wine folks I've met over the years. About that price too, although I'm not sure if it's still around.

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Well thanks! I'll take a look.

The one I'm referring to is probably quite popular.

Lots of value in Australia and Chile right now. Chile even moreso. You can get some Chilean Lefite Rothschild for $10 that tastes like a $30-50 bottle from a more "prestigious" country.

I'm going to guess your bottle is barossa valley GSM. If not, you should try it because it's very good for $12ish.

Based on your palate of sweet wines I'd start off with sauvignon blancs, chenin blancs, and maybe a few chards. I would stay away from $50 wines right now. You would basically be lighting money on fire and watching it burn. New Zealand has some great sauv blancs. Washington St has some decent whites you can look at. Try some cheap merlots, blends in regards to reds and see how you like them. Then if you do then you can start venturing with more expensive wines.

One other route not mentioned that you could explore is ice wines, but I would start with the basics.