I’m developing intense anxiety about what wine to serve for our wedding in 6 weeks time. White is sorted (a lovely Roussanne) as is sparkling. The dilemma is:
The wedding is big (by my standards) which means our budget is tighter than I hoped. Looking for under 8 quid a bottle for the reds.
The wine wisdom of our guests is really the entire spectrum. Some who hang out with sommeliers on the weekends, some who are just happy if it’s alcoholic. Most are the middle ground of being willing to spend a bit on a bottle but not really knowing anything about it.
I additionally love orange wines as do a lot of my friends (we lived in NYC where orange wine is widely available). However, I’m struggling to find any affordable good options in the UK.
We are serving Chicken as the meal
I’ve read all the other threads here on wedding wine and haphazardly pulled together this list. (NB: I wish we could do the 5L CdR but I think that would make serving for dinner complicated?)
Any thoughts on the below or additional recommendations?
My go-to good-but-doesn’t-scare-the-horses food wine is the Jaume Cotes d Rhone. If budget is an issue, these come in stonkingly good value 5 litre bag-in-box
However, if you are suggesting that many of your friends are good with orange wine, then this suggests that you can throw caution to the wind and be adventurous.
As well as the collective wisdom of the forum, I’m sure members’ services would be extremely helpful.
Not a specific recommendation, but Majestic is actually really useful for wedding wine, they’ve got lots in that price range, and if you get in touch with a local one (to you or your venue) they’ll get some options together for you to taste. Most importantly they also do sale or return so you can overbuy and make sure you don’t run out without worrying about being stuck with a bunch of it afterwards.
I used them to stock the entire bar for my wedding as well, spirits, softs + beers etc
@Rio_Jano beat me to it on recommending the Cube of Joy (Jeame bag-in-a-box). Hipster points if you can hire/borrow some kilner type bottles to serve at the table?
I’m not sure you’ll easily find anything orange for sub-£8 in the UK, but maybe a big, dark pink rosé? Nothing jumps out at me on the society’s list right now (but various spanish websites have some very interesting Rioja rosado that’d fit that budget).
Edit: Also worth giving Member Services a call, they can advise on both the wine and things like how much per person et cetera. Majestic is another shout (beaten to it by @mpreston91, I’m getting really good at being pipped at the post today!) as they’ll also do sale or return and glassware hire.
The Plaimont would fit the brief of being both familiar to many (Merlot) with added interest (Manseng Noir). The others would both be crowd-pleasers I reckon.
The buy 6 offers in Sainsbury’s and Morrisons can be pretty good, but you need to be somewhat familiar with the wines! Morrisons high altitude Malbec had rave reviews from Decanter.
I’ve not tried it but I thought that it was more than £6.50! Maybe an online offer or something.
Ps: just noticed why it’s cheaper. The one Decanter reviewed was the Reserva version which goes for £8 and was awarded 97 points.
I would second either the Jaume Cotes du Rhone (or the one above that level the Altitude 420 if your budget stretched another couple of quid!) or the Plaimont Co-op wine - they also make some very good whites in that price range.
Everything from the Plaimont Co-op is VGVFM and this crowd pleaser should also appeal to the anoraks. I don’t think you’ll get an interesting amber wine sub-£8 though so that’s for me a non-starter; the only candidate in TWS portfolio at the moment is twice the price and it’s a “soft” amber wine anyway. Teleda Qvevri Rkatsiteli, Georgia 2020
No idea if it’s any good but this seems to be the cheapest orange wine in the UK at the moment (and currently on offer too).
Slightly tongue in cheek but still genuine suggestion - if the funky/natural/orange end of the spectrum appeals what about cider? The Normandy cider the society sell is a great medium sweet option, good value, fizzy/celebratory and a low alcohol option to boot.
It is a real crowd pleaser - just check the 40 reviews - but maybe also leaves a bit more cash for some of the orange stuff (about which I know zip I’m afraid)
Also available for not a lot of money at IKEA. I’m
Also with @strawpig for the baccolo, the appassimento style appeals to
Most palates and is cheerful and easy to drink. I would go for that or even this crowd pleaser Biferno Rosso Riserva, Palladino 2018,
You can’t go wrong with the Biferno which is med bodied and punches above its price point too.
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