Wine for guests ... price?

[kenny]

What's the typical price of a bottle of wine you'd buy for guests coming to your home for a sit-down dinner.

Of course guests vary.
You may spend more on your boss and her hubby and less on 'just' the neighbors.
If so, average it out.

 

[Jennifer W]

Probably around the £20 mark. I have a couple of favourites, and I'd serve them whoever was coming to dinner, because I like them and know they'll be enjoyable. One of my neighbours is a wine merchant though. He brings the wine, which is always a treat.

eta, we're in Scotland - I'd also serve a really good single malt cask whisky. That would be quite a bit more expensive.

 

[kenny]

At the pot luck last week, for which I made the tabouleh, the hosts served VERY expensive wine.
What a treat!!!

Always curious about Scotch I finally bought a couple at Costco.
Laphroaig 10 year single malt was fantastic!
I have never never enjoyed whiskey before.
Fantastic!
Did I mention it was Fantastic?

But it's so expensive I doubt I'd ever buy it again.
I'll likely just go whiskey-less forever, since I doubt I'd enjoy anything cheaper.
Every other whiskey was like drinking gasoline, uhm, I mean petrol.

I can find drinkable wines under $10, but not whiskey.

 

[Jambalaya]

I know absolutely boo-diddly-squat about wine, but I do know that I adore every New Zealand sauvignon blanc from the Marlborough estate that I've ever tried. The Matua, Nobilo, Brancott, Oyster Bay, and Manawa are particular favorites.

So I voted "$10-$20" as bottles of these are usually $15-$22.

As an aside, I was with someone recently and I can't even remember who it was, but they pronounced the Marlborough sauvignon I was drinking as too sweet and ordered a chardonnay. I need some educating here.....I thought good sauvignons from NZ were beautifully dry and crisp, and that chardonnays were on the sweeter side? Or have I got that completely wrong? The person kind of made me feel as if I was drinking some crappy sweet wine from the seventies! But I'm pretty sure that those NZ wines aren't considered sweet, so I was surprised. Could someone let me know if I'm on the money or so wrong that I should be quiet before I embarrass myself further??

 

[jazzoboe]

Jambalaya, if you like those New Zealand sauvignon balances, keep your eyes open for one called Cloudy Bay. It's probably around the $25 range. Some Australian relatives introduced us to it a few years ago, and it's wonderful.

To answer the question, on average I probably would spend $15-20. Most of our friends are, like us, fairly young (under 30) and don't have super high expectations. We might spend a little more, like $30ish, for a special occasion or to treat ourselves.

 

[Jennifer W]

At the pot luck last week, for which I made the tabouleh, the hosts served VERY expensive wine.
What a treat!!!

Always curious about Scotch I finally bought a couple at Costco.
Laphroaig 10 year single malt was fantastic!
I have never never enjoyed whiskey before.
Fantastic!
Did I mention it was Fantastic?

But it's so expensive I doubt I'd ever buy it again.
I'll likely just go whiskey-less forever, since I doubt I'd enjoy anything cheaper.
Every other whiskey was like drinking gasoline, uhm, I mean petrol.

I can find drinkable wines under $10, but not whiskey.

Oh, good choice, Kenny. Laphroaig is glorious. If you decide to buy whisky again, can I suggest you give Lagavulin a try. It has similar characteristics, with peat smoke and iodine notes. I am also very fond of Talisker, from the Isle of Skye. It's wonderful with seafood. I admit, I buy a fair bit of whisky. My father worked for one of the distillers, and I was raised on it, cask strength.

eta, I just remembered Islay Storm - a very drinkable malt from the isle of Islay, and I think you can pick it up in the US at Trader Joe's. Not under $10, but I think it's around $20, which is probably a fair bit less than a Laphroaig. It isn't quite up to the same standard, but it isn't in the gasoline category, by any means. I like it a lot. Or, you know, you could just come to Scotland and try 'em all... Sorry - back to the wine!

 

[Niel]

My guests know we will let them pick from our array of craft beers and they bring wine if they want it.

Craft beers can be a little pricy, bpricyut not like wine.

Just the culture of our city/ area/ group

 

[dk168]

About 10 GBP/15 USD.

kenny, you have good taste in whisky.

DK

 

[iLander]

They get the same $7 bottle of Sangria that I like. With ice.

 

[kenny]

I buy a fair bit of whisky. My father worked for one of the distillers, and I was raised on it, cask strength.

Bring back memories?

 

[Jennifer W]

That is probably pretty close to the truth of it...

 

[kenny]

Jennifer, do you drink your Scotch from one of those Glencairin Whisky glasses?

Per the 'Scotch-Whisky Association', "A tulip-shaped glass will help to compare different whiskies by trapping the aromas in the bottom and releasing them in the small area at the top of the glass."

http://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/understanding-scotch/enjoying-scotch-whisky/tasting-scotch-whisky/

 

[dk168]

I have these glasses, as well as a water dropper thingy to dilute the whisky.

I discovered my taste for single malts when I was up in Scotland camping in 2012 and visited a distillery, by diluting the whisky with a touch of water.

Still can't drink the really smokey ones though.

DK

 

[Jennifer W]

Jennifer, do you drink your Scotch from one of those Glencairin Whisky glasses?

Per the 'Scotch-Whisky Association', "A tulip-shaped glass will help to compare different whiskies by trapping the aromas in the bottom and releasing them in the small area at the top of the glass."

http://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/understanding-scotch/enjoying-scotch-whisky/tasting-scotch-whisky/

Yes, we have a few of these. I tend to like my old fashioned heavy lead crystal whisky tumbler (it was my grandad's) but if I'm trying a new whisky, or feeling fancy, I break out the tulip glasses. They are a little fragile for my clumsy self on a daily basis though.

 

[Jennifer W]

I have these glasses, as well as a water dropper thingy to dilute the whisky.

I discovered my taste for single malts when I was up in Scotland camping in 2012 and visited a distillery, by diluting the whisky with a touch of water.

Still can't drink the really smokey ones though.

DK

I like a drop of water too. Real purists like to take water from the area the whisky comes from. When I'm on Skye and have Talisker, I do believe it tastes better than when I drink it at home. Probably just because I'm highly suggestible, but maybe it's the water.

 

[OoohShiny]

In a way I wish I liked whisky because there's a whole world of choice out there, but I'm quite glad that I don't because I have a terrible knack of only ever liking the most expensive versions of whatever I'm considering in life...

With regards to the original question, you could always say "I'm serving fish / white meat / red meat - bring along your favourite wine!", that way they won't bring a £3 bottle of Blue Nun or drink all your £20-a-bottle expensive stuff... lol



EDIT: Say, who selected $200+ on the poll? I'm available for dinner dates whenever suits haha

 

[Sunstorm]

Yeah, really, I would be happy to join the one for dinner who selected 200+ also.

I too voted 10-20, around here you can get really good wine between 10-15 Euros which would now be somewhere around USD 12-18, of course this is partly due to my living in a famous area for wine with lots of great vineyards but I can also get some really good Argentinian and other foreign wine around 10 in Vienna.

Yeah, sure, some of my absolute favorites, one of them is French are a bit over 50 USD but really not worth the difference most the time especially since you are not likely to just drink one bottle when you have guests coming over. I love wine and am really a gourmand but I would not want to invest hundreds for several bottles of outstanding wine for one dinner.

 

[telephone89]

Our favourite 'regular' bottle is $19, so that is usually what I'd buy, sometimes on sale for $12. If it was a super special, maybe up to $30.

My father in law likes to think he's a wine connoisseur...He buys/loves $5 bottles of Copper Moon haha.

 

[MishB]

I voted $50+.

I've been collecting wine since my 20's, I have about 600 bottles in a professional wine storage facility. I rarely buy wine to put away that costs less than $40.

So I'm not buying wine specifically for guests but serving something out of existing stock.

Most of our friends are also discerning wine drinkers so I don't mind sharing good bottles with them, they'll often bring a bottle of their own that puts mine in the shade.

My family though... that's another matter.

 

[vc10um]

My guests know we will let them pick from our array of craft beers and they bring wine if they want it.

Craft beers can be a little pricy, bpricyut not like wine.

Just the culture of our city/ area/ group

Particularly Michigan craft beers! Yum!

We don't host a lot of guests (I've done a poor job of reaching out to make new friends since moving in 2012) but I'd probably serve something in the $10-20 range because that's what I usually have on hand.

And now I want scotch.

 

[star sparkle]

So I'm not buying wine specifically for guests but serving something out of existing stock.

Most of our friends are also discerning wine drinkers so I don't mind sharing good bottles with them, they'll often bring a bottle of their own that puts mine in the shade.

My family though... that's another matter.

This. DH and I belong to a number of wine clubs so we don't buy wine for guests, we just serve something we already have. If guests are over we'll usually pop open something in the $30-$50 range, but for more discerning or "treasured" guests we'll open something in the $60-$100 range. We usually save the $100+ stuff for ourselves.

Similarly, when we've been invited to a friend's house for an event, we'll pull a bottle from our collection ($30-$50 range) as a gift for the host/hostess.

 

[partgypsy]

The guests need to drink what I drink, which is the (inexpensive) stuff. I try to keep it under $12 a bottle, so I like brands like Goliath for reds, Cupcake Chardonnay, Apothic Red, others that I recognize when I see them. There are some cheap bottles that I have tried and do NOT like and avoid.
If I am having friends or people for dinner over and don't have something in the house, I may stop by a food store on the way home, and their cheapest wines are around $12 so in that case I get something in the $12-18 range.

The only time I have something more expensive than that is if my Dad takes me out to eat A treat. We went to a very nice restaurant, got a selection of seafood and ordered a Vouvray. Unusual but very delicious!

FYI (from my extremely limited experience) I think of savignons also on the dry side, but lighter and little more range in the sweetness than chardonnay but I wouldn't call them sweet. There are some chardonnays that are very oaky which may make them have more of a dry feel?