Wedding Wine Tasting Part 1

Since we will be fortunate enough to be able to bring our own alcohol to the reception, we feel obligated that the wine should be good. Or at least good in comparison. Here's the plan:
-Two reds and one white.
-$10-ish bottles
-Something that will be generally likable to both those who have good taste and are novel wine drinkers.

Tentatively have decided on a merlot (cheap cabs are just too harsh) and a pinot or other medium bodied wine. Top contender for the medium bodied is the Hayman & Hill Pinot Noir. So, a few days ago we had Wedding Wine Tasting Part 1- reds. We tried:

Ravenswood Merlot-actually pretty good. Easy to drink straight out of the bottle, a little bit of complexity.

Concannon Merlot-now we really like this chardonnay (its buttery) and we had the pinot not too long and it was also pretty decent. The merlot…well, not to much. Not horrible, but not good enough compared to the other two.

Marquee GSM-very jammy. Good, might be a contender instead of the Hayman & Hill Pinot but not different enough to be a separate choice from the pinot.

Big 8 Cellars Merlot-right out of the bottle its pretty harsh. Tastes like a young cheap red. But, give it just10 minutes in the bottle (not even in a decanter) and it opens up really nicely into a slightly tannic, but well rounded merlot. Top contender, because of the mystery of the wine-no one will have heard of it plus it’s a bit fuller bodied than the Ravenswood and thus would be a good choice for those who want a big red.

We’ll probably try a few more, and we’ll also try some whites. The whites in mind are the Shoofly Buzz Cut and Pine Ridge Viogner/Chenin Blanc. Stay tuned.