As a wine beginner you should not spend a lot of money a buying bottle of wine. There is some very good, value wine out there in the $7 to $10 range.

 As you learn more about wine and your palate  develops then maybe you will want to spend up to $15 or soemtimes over $20 for a bottle. Set yourself a budget of under $10 a bottle when you go on your quest of finding the wine beginners value wine . My personal goal is $8 which makes me dig around a little bit more but then I like that part about discovering and buying value wine. (that is how I find new value wine to try) Sometimes I spend more sometimes less but I try to average around $8.00 a bottle.

Tip:If you do find that value wine and you like it,  go back and pick up a few more to stick away. I have found that sometimes those good value wine deals disappear quickly but then all is not lost, as it is on to your next value wine quest.

When you start to drink value wine, a good place to start is with the New World Wine from California, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina or South Africa. These wine regions have a reputation for producing some delicious, affordable wine referred by many as cheap wine but I prefer the term value wine. These wines supply good wine information on the back labels that you can actually read, which is important towine beginners and their wine education.

A good red, value wine to start with are the Australian reds, such as a Merlot which is smooth with limited tannin or a Shiraz which has more character and peppery bite.  These value wine have a nice balance and flavor which is perfect for wine beginners. Chile and Argentina both produce some fine reds also that are $10 or under in the value wine price category.

Good whites to try: You really can’t go wrong with a California Chardonnay in the $10 range. For something a little fruity and slightly sweet, try an Pinot Grigio, I admit the best is from Italy but there are some nice Pinot Grigios with-in the New World Wine. From New Zealand, they make a really nice Sauvignon Blanc that if you search you should be able to pick up for under $10. This particular value wine reminds me of a clean, crisp grapefruit. Very refreshing.  Australian Chardonnay is a easy drinking, dry white wine with a nice balance which is a good value wine for everyday use . On the sweeter end we have California Chenin Blanc, Washington State Rieslings and many of the blended whites. All in the New World Wine value wine category.

I have added my friend Ed Gandia’s link below to “Fool Proof Wine Values” He developed a list of 44 producers from around the world that make over 140 excellent wines for under $10 in the cheap or value wine category. I love this list because no matter where you live you can find some value wine at your local wine merchant. Plus Ed shares valuable information to help add to your wine education beyond this site. Well worth the money!

Click Here for more info on Fool Proof Value Wine

So you have found some wines, they are within the wine beginners value wine budget and you would like to buy them. Where to store them? Wine has some natural enemies; heat, light, vibration, and air. Most of us don’t have cellars to store wine but a cool basement will work. There is storing wine and aging wine. Storing is just keeping your wine a  short time frame.  Again you need to be concerned about keeping the wine away from heat, and out of sunlight. The wine needs to be laid down or stored upside down in a wine box  to keep a natural cork wet. I use the bottom of a dark closet that I set up with two cardboard wine boxes, one for white and one for red. I store the value wine bottles upside down which keeps the cork wet and the air out of the wine. From here I move my value wine to a small wine rack for drinking.

Purchasing Wine to Age

Once in a while I will find a wine with-in my value wine price range that I feel will improve with a little age. The thing to remember is,  it has to be in the bottle to begin with. Many cheap wines just don’t improve with age. I go by my palate. For me a red wine needs to be higher in tannin and a little higher alcohol content, more around 13% or so. There also needs to be some body to the wine. (medium or full bodied) At the time I lay it down I take  the bottles and put dates on the back label in pencil. I date each wine at six month intervals. This keeps me from grabbing a bottle too soon because I can not remember when I laid it down. I then get to taste the wine every six months and rate it. I adjust the dates to be longer or shorter depending on what my palate is telling me about the wine. I normally lay down 4 to 6 of the same value wine at a time. This takes me down the road 2 years or so. I have been pleasantly surprised with some of the wines. I have also found that medium priced or cheap wines don’t need much more extra age than 2 years but that doesn’t mean you can not try one longer. Maybe 5 years but no more. Red value wine seems to improve more than the whites. So that being said, I never worry about aging my whites as I prefer them crisp and young.