Wine "experts" ATTENTION!

[fierydrunk]

I am left alone on the West Coast trying to organize my wedding party by myself and need to make a wine order for my party. I have a HUGE list of French, Italian, Californian and Oregonian wines from which to choose.

(1) For a party of 100-150 max, how many cases of red, white and champagne? The only other alcohol being served is good beer. I am a red wine (pinot noir esp) drinker. There will only be hors d'oeuvres for food options.

(2) Any suggestions for mid price wines that could possibly be on the list? If someone is willing to consult about this, we could communicate over the message option.

I appreciate ANY AND ALL suggestions on this. My family won't be here in time to help and I have many clueless-on-wine friends.

HELP.

[Capaneus]

I am left alone on the West Coast trying to organize my wedding party by myself and need to make a wine order for my party.  I have a HUGE list of French, Italian, Californian and Oregonian wines from which to choose.

(1) For a party of 100-150 max, how many cases of red, white and champagne?  The only other alcohol being served is good beer.  I am a red wine (pinot noir esp) drinker.  There will only be hors d'oeuvres for food options.

(2) Any suggestions for mid price wines that could possibly be on the list?  If someone is willing to consult about this, we could communicate over the message option.

I appreciate ANY AND ALL suggestions on this.  My family won't be here in time to help and I have many clueless-on-wine friends.

HELP.

←

Count five glasses to a bottle.

All the other questions require more information - how much drinking do you expect, for which ages and sex and general habits within your culture would be handy. What do you mean by "mid-price"? To me that would be $15 to $25/btl, but that varies a lot. There is a *lot* of pretty decent Cal PN floating around in the lower price ranges, but I have no idea what would be on your list... That's probably the starting point: can you post it, or at least the wines you'd consider, in terms of price, grape, etc.?

[winesonoma]

I am left alone on the West Coast trying to organize my wedding party by myself and need to make a wine order for my party.  I have a HUGE list of French, Italian, Californian and Oregonian wines from which to choose.

(1) For a party of 100-150 max, how many cases of red, white and champagne?  The only other alcohol being served is good beer.  I am a red wine (pinot noir esp) drinker.  There will only be hors d'oeuvres for food options.

(2) Any suggestions for mid price wines that could possibly be on the list?  If someone is willing to consult about this, we could communicate over the message option.

I appreciate ANY AND ALL suggestions on this.  My family won't be here in time to help and I have many clueless-on-wine friends.

HELP.

←

Count five glasses to a bottle.

All the other questions require more information - how much drinking do you expect, for which ages and sex and general habits within your culture would be handy. What do you mean by "mid-price"? To me that would be $15 to $25/btl, but that varies a lot. There is a *lot* of pretty decent Cal PN floating around in the lower price ranges, but I have no idea what would be on your list... That's probably the starting point: can you post it, or at least the wines you'd consider, in terms of price, grape, etc.?

←

Where on the west coast? And you can always take the unopened home. PM me.

[Rebel Rose]

Cap's right--estimate five glasses to a bottle. If you have 150 guests, and they average 2 glasses of wine each (some won't drink, some will have one, others more than two) you will need 150 x 2 / 5 = 60 bottles = 5 cases. At a wedding party, I'm guessing most of the guests will lean toward champagne and white wine. Depending on what you're serving, I'd suggest 3 cases of champagne, 2 cases of white wine, and 1 case of red. That's an extra case, but you can always take the remainder home, or use the leftover wine to thank your caterer and servers.

[bushey]

I just attended a bar mitzvah in the Bay Area, and at the party in the evening (Pacific Athletic Club) there was a pretty good, but small, selection of wines to choose from. The parents (my cousins) enjoy wine and are partial to West Coast wines, so that's what they chose. These are mid-priced: St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc, King Estate Pinot Noir (Oregon) and David Bruce Syrah. I've had the St Supery before, and it's a little tropical for my taste, but most people will enjoy it. Both the pinot and syrah were good.

With the toast, we drank a 1992 Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon from a signed, 3L bottle that the parents have been schlepping around with them for 10 years on their cross-country moves. They have a good rapport with the winery and wanted something they could open at Noah's bar mitzvah. The joke was that they had no idea whether the wine would still be good. So there was a moment of silence as we all took a sip.................still good. Very good, actually.

[fierydrunk]

Thanks for the advice--the culture of the party will be late 20's-mid 30's, big drinkers (usually liquor and red wines). There will be lots of dancing and general "partying", not your typical snore-inducing reception.

I am a huge syrah and pinot noir fan. I am not familar with white wines at all.

There will be some older folks there whom I would imagine would definitely order whites. Also some girlfriends of mine who swear that white is less fattening or something! We are expecting 100-150 guests...most of whom will definitely want to drink up!

Because we are only serving beer and wine and because we are in the damp and chill of Portland, OR spring, I have a hard time imagining needing more whites to reds. Also, I can only afford a case of Champagne due to the cost of the only brand they sell at the distributor we have to use.

Is that any better?

[Rebel Rose]

Ah hah! Definitely not your typical wedding reception. Excellent. Now that you've got the basic figure of 5 to 6 cases down, you should let your distributor guide you, if you've decided to work with them. And/or call your favorite wineries and ask if they'll give you a discount for a multiple case order. Can't hurt to do a little research.

[fierydrunk]

Thing is...the distributor isn't responding to me. We have to use them as they are the one that Stumptown cafe exclusively uses...and since I am not from Stumptown, they don't care to respond! Argh!

Should I just go with 3 red, 1 white and 1 champagne? Or 2 red 2 white and 1 champ? How many glasses could we get out of a case again? Sorry

[winesonoma]

Thing is...the distributor isn't responding to me.  We have to use them as they are the one that Stumptown cafe exclusively uses...and since I am not from Stumptown, they don't care to respond!  Argh!

Should I just go with 3 red, 1 white and 1 champagne?  Or 2 red 2 white and 1 champ?  How many glasses could we get out of a case again?  Sorry

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Now I've been refreshed. I would go with 3-4 red,2 white and 3 bubbly. Thats 150 of my friends. Rule is never , ever run out. You can always take it home.

[melkor]

Thing is...the distributor isn't responding to me.  We have to use them as they are the one that Stumptown cafe exclusively uses...and since I am not from Stumptown, they don't care to respond!  Argh!

Should I just go with 3 red, 1 white and 1 champagne?  Or 2 red 2 white and 1 champ?  How many glasses could we get out of a case again?  Sorry

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1 case is 60 glasses. Does Stumptown have someone you can work with to make arrangements with the distributor? There are plenty of delicious sparklers available for not a lot of money, if you can get something instead of the champagne they are pushing on you then you'd likely have room in your budget for more bottles. Will they let you bring in wine and charge you corkage?

[fierydrunk]

We are meeting with Stumptown's manager to finalize it all on Sunday. I will look through the list for cheaper sparklers...any words that will hip me to what "sparkles"? Sorry, I am a complete vino idiot.

Due to having to buy lots of beer, we will have a sort of limited budget. I am thinking 5 cases may be MAX what we can get of everything. That will be a lot too as we are ordering two kegs of good beer and some bottles on the side. We just have no idea how many people will opt for wine when most of the guests drink liquor or the Oregon microbrews when drinking on a normal night.

[melkor]

A Prosecco is likely to be the best value for a sparkler, Cremant or a domestic sparkler would also work. Domestic sparklers usually use the name of the producers (Mumm, Ironhorse, etc) and they are for the most part labeled 'Brut'.

If you have the name of the distributor perhaps their catalog can be found online and we could point out some good options at reasonable prices.

[KatieLoeb]

A Prosecco is likely to be the best value for a sparkler, Cremant or a domestic sparkler would also work.  Domestic sparklers usually use the name of the producers (Mumm, Ironhorse, etc) and they are for the most part labeled 'Brut'.

If you have the name of the distributor perhaps their catalog can be found online and we could point out some good options at reasonable prices.

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Blanquette de Limoux is an inexpensive and oft overlooked sparkler too. Or an inexpensive Brut that isn't from the rarefied confines of Champagne would probably be affordable as well.

[fierydrunk]

The distributor is Casa Bruno in Portland, OR. I have looked online but to no avail. The owner is the head of the Slow Food "gang" here in PDX...so maybe he's cares not for such high speed things as the internet. Just kidding!

The info you have been giving really IS helping. Believe me, I have learned more about wine in the last day on this board than I have my entire life. So much more to learn though!

[fierydrunk]

OK here are some wines I just picked out of the air due to price...comments?

OREGON:

J. Christopher

2003 Chardonnay cuvee lunatique

2003 Chardonnay Chehalem Mtn

La Bete

2002 Pinot Blanc

2002 Pinot Gris

2002 Pinot Noir Stoller Vineyard

Stafford Hill

2003 Chardonnay

2002 Pinot Noir Le Pavillon

Westrey

2001 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

1998 Chardonnay Reserve

CALIFORNIA

Dashe Cellars

2003 Petit Syrah Lodi

Peterson Winery

2000 Zinfandel Dry Creek

Qupe Winery

2001 Bien Nacido Blanc

2002 Syrah Central Coast

Roshambo

anything they have

NEW MEXICO

Gruet

Brut Sparkling Wine

Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine

[Susan G]

I'm only slightly removed from the catagory of Wine Idiot, so I'm limited in my responses, but here's what I know:

The Gruet family in New Mexico is a branch of the French Rothchilds vinyard.........they have an excellent technique, institutional knowledge, and the money to do the magic. Good choice, all around.

Other New Mexico wines are iffy. The climate and soil just aren't quite right. I'd serve them only if your guests know nothing about wine!

[chromedome]

For what it's worth, my company usually goes 3:1 red:white for catering purposes. We seldom bring home any red, invariably bring home about half of the white. YMMV.

[melkor]

The few Dashe wines I've tried were quite good. You should be able to find a local wine shop with half bottles of the Gruet sparklers - get one of each and decide which you like better, they should be under $10 for each half bottle.

[KatieLoeb]

The Gruet is one of my favorite domestic sparklers. Excellent choice!

The advice to go buy a half bottle and try it is a good one unless the caterer or venue is doing a tasting for you. It's wonderful wine, but YOU have to like it. After all, it's your big day, n'est ce pas?