Kabinett or Spätlese Riesling is the typical answer. These are beginner friendly because they’re typically a little sweet (by the way sweet wine is not necessarily bad wine; good sweet wine is transcendent), but well-made examples are sought after by even seasoned wine enthusiasts.

Beaujolais

Can't go wrong with Chianti or Rosso Di Monticino. 15 to 20 bucks

Like, cheap-like? Boggle makes good $10 bottles

Totally agree with Beaujolais & starting with the noble grapes as suggested from others.

There is a lot of wine to choose from out there so I definitely recommend going to a wine shop and talking to the staff about your goals and budget.

Noble grape varietals grow well across the world’s wine regions and are widely made. These varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Personally I would include Syrah/Shiraz, Pinot Blanc/ Pinot Gris, Malbec, Sangiovese, Chenin Blanc, Cab. Franc and Grenache to this realm of noble grape varieties.

Suggestions on where to explore with $20-$30 budget. Quality wines at great value are where to start.

Ribera del Doro, Malbec from Mendoza, Sonoma County Zinfandel, Merlot/Cab. Franc- Right Bank Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon- Left Bank Bordeaux and Paso Robles Cali. Syrah from Central Coast Cali & Northern Rhône. Cab Franc from the Loire Valley. All of which are great Med/Full bodied to start trying.

Lighter bodied wines- Beaujolais or California/Oregon Gamey Noir. Pinot Noir - Burgundy, Central or Sonoma Coast Cali, Willamette Valley, Otago New Zealand, it’s everywhere go explore.

Medium bodied wines Rhône GSM blends. Blaufränkisch from Austria, Frapotto of Sicily, Cinsault from South Africa and Grenache of Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Barossa Australia.

Whites wine is where you can find the best quality and value with that budget. Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay- try Bordeaux Blanc and the Loire or Chablis, central coast Chardonnay. Riesling from Germany’s Rheinhessen & Pfalz regions and Alsace France. There are plenty of grapes to choose from and places to taste from. Blends are amazing too, which there are as many options especially at the top end of your budget.

I feel overall white wine pairs much more diversely with food and typically are outstanding on their own chill’n after work. Sparkling is another amazing rabbit hole- start with Cava, Cremant and Northern Italy & top of your budget Champagne ($50 is the sweet spot IMO) I could go on forever with white wines!

Highly recommend purchasing and reading Wine Folly Magnum Edition for starting out casually and moving on to Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible. Easy, fun and quick reads.

Start using www.wine-searcher.com for information on price and general research. I feel like a quick search or photo search can save you money and taste buds!

Lastly invest a set of two universal wine glasses.

Cheers!

Beaujolais for red. I like the idea of a young Riesling or pinto g for whites if you’re trying develop a palate.

I think Pinot Grigio is a happy medium. Def start white first then work your way over to red.

Oh my fav budget friendly brand is Ruffino.

Perhaps an off-dry Riesling like Dr. Loosen.

Before committing to buy bottles, visit a wine bar and do some wine tasting or taste through a flight of wines (usually 2 oz per taster). Ask questions, take notes, ask for recommendations from an experienced salesperson - not randos on this sub.

Edit: Some of these white wine recommendations are spot on to start with.

I really think the best first sip of wine for anyone is Moscato d’Asti. The good stuff just tastes like flowers. And then move on to more complicated things!

All of these are wonderful suggestions but IMHO, I think you need to find yourself a wine bar that has various wines and also different flights. I have seen some have 60 wines and you can order a 2oz tasting. This is the way, it doesn’t break the bank and you can try various wines from around the world. Taking what others have said you note what you like or dislike.

In short, the way I’d approach is think of the fruit and juices you like, assimilate those to wine, for example if you like red juicy honey crisp apples, a Riesling may be your jam or if you like more lemon or herbal notes, a Sancerre. You like cherries and vanilla then an oakey red like a Cabernet, etc… enjoy and in a couple months you’ll be asking what wine cooler and wineglasses you should buy.

OP I’d buy a few + bottles - Juan Gil (silver label); Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône; Oddero Barbera d’Alba; Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel; and maybe Marcel Lapierre Raisins Gaulois. These are all $20 ish (Juan Gil is a bit less). Taste through these bottles and just take some notes in terms of what you like, or what stands out. You can start to figure out your palate preferences and not break the bank while doing so. These are all really quality/lovely in their own right, value based wines.

Edit: I focused exclusively on reds for some reason. If you prefer white just let me know

Guigal - Cotes Du Rhone New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in the $15-20 range

Where are you?

First of all, congrats! Here’s my two cents for the beginning: start with something approachable but still full of personality.

Look for Beaujolais (made from Gamay) - light, juicy, and ridiculously easy to drink, with loads of red fruit like strawberry and cherry. If you’re more into whites, grab a Riesling Kabinett from Germany - it’s zippy, slightly off-dry (little bit sweet), and super refreshing. Both are wines that don’t take themselves too seriously but can still blow your mind.

Yeah, piling on for German Riesling. Entry level wines even from good producers can be found for under $20 (depends on location of course). Find a good wine shop. Local, not Total Wines. Tell them what you want. Better yet, go when they have a tasting. If you like it, ask for a similar suggestion in a less-sweet style. Go from there.

Start inexpensive. Likely it will take a few bottles before you start to taste the difference between them. A really great way to start is to invite a few friends over and you each bring a bottle. Taste each a few times. It's easier on the pocket and will speed up the process

German Riesling

Start with a really cold Sauvignon Blanc but nothing too inexpensive.

Considered Decoy or if you can afford more expensive wine, I’d go Stag’s Leap.

Have it with something salty like potato chips or crackers

The good thing about wine is that you don’t have to love every single bottle that’s poured. There are hundreds of different styles and flavor profiles, some of which you may not like, and others you might fall in love with.

What does ‘a strong wine taste’ mean? Depending on what your friends are drinking, that could be a lot of unique flavor profiles. What don’t you like about the bottles they pour?

If you want to try something with a bit of sweetness, you could try a bottle of Kabinett or Spätlese Riesling from Germany. These are crisp, light bodied and moderately sweet white wines. Just about every grocery store or liquor store carries tons of them.

find a boutique wine shop that sells mainly wines (not beer or spirits). Especially right now these shops want to interact with 20-somethings & draw Zoomers in. They'd love to introduce you to new bottles, even cheaper ones.

Go and explore one varietal at a time. Get some CA and OR Pinot Noir, then u can compare with Burgundy aka French Pinot Noir for example. In my opinion go for depth instead of breadth before you move onto another varietal.

Go to a wine bar and do a recommended flight. See what you like or don’t. Take notes

Find a nearby wine shop and bar and talk to the people working there. If they aren’t nice about it, go somewhere else.

Convince a friend to start on this hobby along with you. It’s good to have someone to talk about wine with, you can split the costs, and you don’t have to feel weird about opening a whole bottle. Drinking wine should be social anyway!

I would just like to recommend that you not entirely skip white wine. It might sound more boring, but I guarantee you some of the most interesting and delicious wines in the world are whites. Also, beginners tend to like white wine a bit more (although that’s not always the case). I’d recommend trying German Riesling, Loire Sauvignon Blanc, and Chablis.

Better than going for a sweet wine, I would recommend a off-dry or dry aromatic white. You could go for Riesling, Gewurztraminer or Muscat. You will find that they have pleasant fruitiness and are not overwhelmingly sweet. I would go for a medium priced option for each (cheapest will probably just taste bad) Also, get some wine glasses. Drinking from a proper glass makes a lot of a difference. You do not need to get fancy, you can go for entry level glasses from good glass producers (Riedel for example)

I'd recommend either a Moscato (if you want really sugary) or a Riesling. For the riesling, I would pay attention to the sugar content listed. Rieslings vary between dry and sweet. If you are looking for something really easy to drink but not sugar, then go for something in the 40g/L range. If you like really sugary, you can look for something in the 80+g/L. Riesling from Alsace or Germany is splendid.

Let me know!

Do you have a Costco? They often times have some decent wines for very reasonable prices. I like going to Reverse Winesnob for some good picks that are on the cheap side.

Start with Moscato d'Asti. Easy drinking, sweet but not too sweet, small bubbles, not expensive. Try to find an Italian one, not Barefoot.

My wife is new to wine and not a fan of my strong red wines. I'd say if you're still acquiring a taste for it start with something like a Sutter Home White Zinfandel or a Chat St Michelle Riesling. You can get them in pretty much any liquor store and they're very tasty. ~$10 for a bottle.

I only started enjoying wine when I went to a very nice restaurant, got the best steak I've ever had and got a Pinot Noir with it at the waiter's recommendation. It suddenly clicked why wine is so good. The contrasting flavors and the alcohol made it an almost religious experience.

So I'd say that's another fantastic way to get into it. Have really good food and good wine together.

BTW good wine doesn't necessarily mean expensive wine. You've come to the right place to get recommendations on what to buy for a good price. r/wine hasn't led me astray. I will say the easiest way to get good recs is to post a picture of what you have available to buy, what food you want to drink it with and say "go".

Top comment will always be great.

To answer how to store wine: if it's not open stick it in the cupboard or fridge. When it's open you can the cork back in or screw the cap on and stick it in the fridge. That's it. You can drink it room temperature or cold. You store them on their side if you're leaving them for years or the cork can theoretically dry out. Then air gets in and messes up the wine. But realistically that takes years if not decades to happen.

No need to overthink or overcomplicate. Only rule is when you open it you gotta drink it within a couple days or it starts tasting bad. Won't hurt you, alcohol is already bad for you lol, but will just not taste good.

Go to a wine bar and ask for a flight of half pours up to the somm/wine person in charge. Do that a lot until you find what you like. Go to all the free tastings you can find.

Btl of Vinho Verde, Btl of Eden Valley Aussie Riesling, Btl of Volnay Red Burgundy, Btl of Chianti Classico, Btl of Chablis….

Drink with friends, eat cheese, laugh and chat. A few benchmark’s to get started

Honestly, if you can find a bar or restaurant that serves small plates and has staff that know what they’re talking about, there’s where to start.

Welcome to the wine world. Many/most of us started where you are. A typcal wine fan's trajectory goes from sweet wines to very fruity, slightly less sweet wines, to more structured and complex wines.

That's a grand oversimplification but my advice to you would be first realize it will take time and experience tasting a huge number of diverse wines to train your palette to get a sense of what you actually like and don't like, and that may evolve over time. The beauty of the wine journey is that it doesn't really have guardrails or a defined end.

>Can someone please tell me where to start so I can start learning to appreciate wine?

Go to a wine tasting. Ideally, many wine tastings. Taste broadly, wines from all over the world and made from many different varieties. Depending on where you live that might be trivial and fairly inexpensive or difficult and pricey. But really, the beauty of wine lies in its great diversity. An it can be the sheer diversity of expression that can be a driver of interest and enjoyment, even when an intuitive enjoyment of flavours isn't there.

Don't focus on likes and dislikes but on differences. Take notes. Engage your mind as well as your olfactory and gustatory senses. Getting a well-written introductory book like Jancis' 24-hour wine expert (used or e-book is fine, it doesn't have to cost a lot) can help a lot with understanding what you're doing. "The Atlas" is also a great investment, you can usually get the N-1 (7th) edition (used) for ~5 £€$.

>I don't like bitter tastes but I also don't understand the appeal of them. If I understood it I think it would be easier for me to enjoy.

It's an acquired taste for many. Not just wine, also olives, black coffee, beer, certain vegetables, ... Few people like these flavours from childhood but many develop a taste for them later on. But it might be heartening to hear that many in fact do acquire a taste for those.

The thing with wine is, at all notable bitterness is only present in maybe 40% of wine styles. There are many wine styles where acid rather then bitterness is the principal component on the austerity side of the scales.

Good luck on your wine journey!

The Seghesio Zinfandel is super beginner friendly and probably easy to find if you’re in the US

Lots of wineries have wine flights nowadays. I’d start there.

I was 14 years old when I started with Wild Irish Rose and MD 20-20.

Don’t do that.

I was the same, I was never into drinking alcohol simply because it all tasted terrible, champagne was the exception though. You're probably not liking high alcohol, highly oaked wines and most conventional makers overdo it, which is why I'd go with an oddball recommendation here. I like low intervention wines and they rarely overdo the oak so I'd suggest looking for a skin contact white/orange wine(not made from oranges btw), it'll be nothing like anything you've likely tried before and introduces a tropical taste without the sweetness, as for reds, Beaujolais might be a good place for you to start

If you have a Sam's or a Costco, that can be a great place to find good bang for your buck starter wines to taste. For your chicken dish there's a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay for $10, or Kung Fu Girl dry riesling for around $12. Gruet makes a lovely sparkling for less than $14. Apothic has a very accessible and drinkable red blend for under $9, and also a merlot for $10. All of these are easy drinkers that you can enjoy without food too. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with these for the price as a beginner. Have fun experimenting and exploring!

Find a wine bar that sells flights. Taste and compare.

What beers & whiskey? Miller lite & an IPA are way different. Scotch & Irish are equally different.

For Chard night, try a Jadot Macon Village (french chard) which is way different than a sonoma-cutrer (california) chard.

Steak night, try a red blend (I like the prisoner) or a zinfandel. Pinot Noir is lighter than zin, and cab is the most bitter (think IPAish)

Aim to spend ~$15-20 per bottle so you can avoid the cheap stuff but not "waste" the good stuff.

Get a decent muscadet, put some chill on it, and enjoy a glass (or two or three) in a clean proper wine glass at the end of a hottish day. It will taste great and you will be refreshed and happy.

Good taste. Refreshment. Happiness. That’s what wine should make you feel.

For your chicken dish, go to the grocery store and get a 12 dollar New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The next time you make the dish spend a little more and get a Sancerre from France. Same grape but made by Frenchies that have been making that same wine for generations. See if you can detect a difference. Or if you have friends drink them both on the same night. Even better.

For your steak, first time get Bogle Essential Red for about 10 bucks and second time get the Ridge three valleys red blend.