What should Joe serve the non-wine geeks at his wedding?

Please look at the options, and remember that this is for the uninitiated wine drinkers.

Thanks!
Joe

Hey Joe,

Aren't these wines you listed all pretty big, deep, dry reds?
If so, I don't know if I would serve any dry red to the uninitiated. And a wedding? Are you serving food with it? What kind? There are host of issues that relate to what you should serve. Are your friends "non-wine geeks" like you say, or are they "non wine-geeks", because there's a big difference in the two. Maybe you would do well to define "uninitiated" - what it means to you, and add that "other" category to your poll as well. If I was serving any number of the "uninitiated" at my wedding I would get several bottles of different styles ranging from bubbly, to white, to pink, to red, to allow for the diversity of the palates so as to prevent any kind of an exclusion factor. But that's just me. However, I think if you could give us a few more details it would help tremendously in fine tuning this thing for you.

Hope this has been helpful, Aaron.

Aaron, thanks for the advice. The people I have in mind are not wine drinkers in any sense of the term as we understand it. In fact, I'm not even positive the wines will be drunk (which is why I need to make sure that I can palate the leftovers). I could serve Little Penguin, but this is my wedding and my chance to share a small part of myself with the non-wine drinkers among Amy and my friends and family. If I started offering numerous options to folks, I would probably confuse them and undermine what I wanted to do. There will also be a number of food options and I am not going to complicate this with musings on which red fits best.

Thanks,
Joe

I had much the same dilema at my own wedding. We finally settled on Barmes Buecher Pinot D'Alsace, Allendorf Spaetburgunder (not a fav, but cheap and better than ANY $10 Cali Pinot IMO), and Baumard Cremant de Loire for bubbly. Plus a little Bruno Paillard '96 for the wedding party. Everyone loved the wine, even if they couldn't pronounce it.



Congrats!
Bill

I agree with offering only a couple choices of red, white or sparkling. You won't please everybody but you should be able to satisfy the crowd who just want a decent libation in celebration of the nuptials. Some may like it well enough to note the name for future buying.

Joe, I voted the Shadow, but in the "other" category I would have voted for Alaia, particularly in light of your last comment. It contains Prieto Picudo, Tempranillo and a touch of Merlot, is aged in American Oak, and the blend varies from year to year. It has new world structure, but old world taste, is a very friendly wine but with a little extra for interest in case you end up having to drink it yourself. WS on the 2001: “Lively, with a juicy texture and gentle but firm tannins. Plenty of character. A friendly quaff with a little extra.” From Castilla y Leon. I found a bunch of it on closeout for about $6.00 a couple of years ago, but it usually runs 10 to 12 per, I think. It showed up at a tasting here a year or so ago, and the newbies loved it, and the geeks found it interesting.

I think we need some real live non-geeks to come here and give us their opinions!

Chablis and 7-up with crushed ice will do!

Grand Cru, or will Premier Cru be okay?

[James Roscoe]

I think we need some real live non-geeks to come here and give us their opinions!

Chablis and 7-up with crushed ice will do!

Grand Cru, or will Premier Cru be okay?

I thought it was First Growth Bordeaux and 7-up that was all the rage? Where have I been? Obviously I'm not keeping up with the non-geek trends.

How wrong you are. Amy has played me like a skilled trapper. I, the proud Arabian Colt, - last of his kind - have wound up exhausted, sides heaving, with cliffs in front and to the right, and ocean on my left. To the rear lies a saddle, stirrups and corral.
And so, one of the world’s last wild mysteries is extinguished...

Ah, but there's the trick. You chased her until she caught you...
cheers,
Graeme