| Those are OK. But if you are in Washington State, why not go with some wines from there? It's one of my favorite areas. You can find some from places like Columbia Winery, Tamarack Cellars, or a few others. And don't overlook the widely distributed wines from Chateau St Michelle. Those are some of the best value wines in the US. The merlot and cab are always good and under $15 a bottle. And the white wines are cheaper and very good. The Canoe Ridge line is a little more, but probably still around your price point. However, you can get the basic riesling or chardonnay and they're just fine. Their little brother winery - Columbia Crest, makes really good whites too in their basic line, although I'm not as crazy about their reds. If you want to do Australia, the Rosemount is widely distributed, but if you want something a little less ubiquitous, see if you can find a zin from Sobon in California. For the price, it's one of the best values out. Up in Lodi you can look for some of the Michael David wines like Seven Deadly Zins - they may be over your limit but if you save money on your whites, you'll be OK. There are too many rieslings to mention by name, but you can stay in the QBA area for German ones and you'll be fine. Counterintuitively, Australian rieslings as a rule of thumb tend to be drier than the German ones. You should be able to get them for under $10, even around $8, although all of my prices are east coast and I don't know what the prices in your area may reflect. If you're set on Australia and want something a little less widespread than those you mention, try Oxford Landing shiraz, Whoop Whoop shiraz, Paringa, Yalumba Bush Vine grenache, or Wishing Tree. Good luck |
