Your favorite white wine under $12/bottle
 

I don't drink a lot of white wine but my wife does. She encouraged me to start this thread. She drinks a lot of Meridian & Beringer Founders Estate Chard. which runs about $6-$8 around here. She wants to branch out and try different varietals. Ideas?

Nobilo sauvignon blanc is ok and usually around $10.

Target has a pinot grigio wine cube (wine in a box) for about $5/750mL I think. It's really rather good for box wine. Also check out the Black Box pinot grigio, about $20 for a 3 L box.

At that price point I think the best wine value is Torrontes. I just pick up whatever my local wine store has -- haven't been disappointed yet.

Perhaps a Vinho Verde from Portugal?

My wine of choice in the summer.

Most any normal Mercurey, Givry or Montagny from Côte Chalonnaise.

Monkey Bay sauvignon blanc for about $8 - $10 a bottle. A good everyday wine out of New Zealand.

Clean Slate.

I like Marquess de Cacerre (sp?), although it's around $11.00. It's a white rioja from, I believe, Chile. I've had nice experiences with a number of Chilean wines.

I've found New Zealand whites discounted on sale down from the $12-16 bottle a range to under $12 always very good. It seems like you can often find some at larger wine stores. Of course, you have to like NZ wines, which people tend to have strong feelings about one way or the other.

I won't name specific producers but instead varietals and styles of white wine (which I prefer to red):

1. Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) - I find this to be very versatile (a good choice when you're trying to find a white that will work with everyone's meal at a restaurant) and is more mineral-y and less grass-y than other sauvignon blancs.

2. Riesling -especially from Alsace, Oregon or Ontario.

3. Gewurztraminer - especially from Alsace, Mosel River or Ontario. Has a very distinctive, almost floral taste. Excellent with spicy Asian food (Riesling is a good match, too).

Trimbach is a reliable, Alsation producer of both Gewurz and Riesling.

I'm not a big chardonnay fan, but I have had some good Semillon-Chardonnay blends and I like the not too oaky Bordeaux and some chablis (but prefer Sancerre).

I'm on board for any rieslings (german esp) under $12!

Is this my wife writing this?;)

You two have EXACTLY the same taste in white wine...I prefer chardonnay myself, but of all the above listed, Sancere is my favorite.

You can get REALLY good and cheap deals on Alice White (with rebates, around $3/bottle)...wine is OK for every day.

Two Austrian whites should make this cut although the very best Rieslings will go right up the scale in price. The style is dry and flinty and quite distinctive.

The other is almost always found around or under that $12 price point and that is the Gruener Veltliner. Just as its name sounds, it has a green cast and the good ones (most) have a refreshing dryness.

When you can find them in the States, both of these are almost always very good values since Austria tends to fly under most oenophiles' radar.

Oh yes. My wine of choice all year round. A rose vinho verde is excellent with a strong meat flavour such as barbeque.

King Shag Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joe's. Usually about $7 and it's a totally serviceable "everyday" wine.