wine recommendations...

deisebabe

Ok, having a bit of a dinner party(please dont picture come dine with me style as extremely bad cook)....anyways...what wines would you recommend that are easy on the palate and wallet??? Has to be a red and a white....you know...that whole choice thing! Oh and i'm not pushed about if it suits the actual food.

rediguana

From reading your post, I think a tenner is a good price point for the wines you should buy. Most guests will bring wine anyway, and maybe some people will be driving so they'll hardly drink at all. A lot of people won't know good wine from bad wine.

Whites:

If you want to wow them, O'Briens Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc is down to E12.99 from E15.99. Amazing, popular wine.

If you want to spend less, Donnybrook Fair have Emiliana Sauvignon Blanc for E10, from Casablanca Valley, a great place for whites.

Reds:

Cotes du Rhone
(Basic) Bordeaux
Ten-Cabernet

These kinds of wines will satisfy most people.

Don't forget that once people show up, they tend to start boozing and the alcohol takes over, to a greater or lesser extent. Just get okay stuff and you'll be fine. Avoid the cheapest stuff, or cheapest stores, but there's no need to spend a mint.

muckety

I'd second the price thing, spend around a tenner per bottle as anything less will be horrible. If you are not near the (lovely) shops mentioned by the reply above, Superquinn have a sale on at the moment 25% off new world wines and a further 10% if you buy 6 bottles.

McGuigans black label shiraz is good value (usually around the tenner mark so c. 7.50 in the sale) and quite drinkable... they also have a couple of nice sauvignon blanc (look for nEW ZEAland, eg oyster bay, usually about 13 euro but c 10 in the sale). Or if your friends are not big wine drinkers the rosemount chardonnay has broad appeal.

Bagheera

I'll second Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc. Yummy.
For red Wyndham estate bin 555 shiraz is very drinkable. If you want to splash out Mudhouse Pinot Noir (also NZ) is delish and my fave wine at the mo. It's about 17 euro.

alie

I bought a bottle prosseco in harvey nichols yesterday and it was lovely. I tried the one in tesco and it was awful.

grenache

If you're looking for easy drinking good value reds, you should choose 'Beaujolais' from France - Tesco do a couple of nice one's. In white, go for a Albert Besombes 'Muscadet' from the Loire Valley (France) or a Peter Lehmann 'Semillon' from NSW in Australia - both have nice lemony character and go down a treat with fish.

Each available for under €13

muckety

Might be too late for you now, but Tesco have 20% off 6 bottles including those with an offer - a good buy would be the Macon Lugny (now 2 for 22 instead of 15 each) with a further 20% off if you are buying 6 giving 40% off.