Wine for weddings

Aoife50

Hi,
I'm trying to find wines and prosecco for my wedding in October. I don't even know where to start. I know what I like.....but who is to say others like that!!

Also I have found a place that are doing prosecco for €4.95, I've never been a believer in going for the cheapest option....but would it matter if people are only going to be having 1 glass!! Its La Marca Prosecco, anyone have any opinions.

Thanks
Aoife

blindside88

If the corkage fee is low this is definitely a great way to go. On the issues of you liking it but your guests not, this is as likely to happen if a hotel was supplying. I know a number of people that have done this either by going to the north or a supermarket when they have offers on, tesco and super quint often have 25% off when you buy x amount. Alternately a number of off licences will allow you to return unopened bottles and cases

lazygal

I would go to the likes of O'Briens or other good wine sales outlet and ask what would work for your crowd and budget. They'll usually do sale or return so you can bring back what you don't use, and will likely deliver.

For what its worth, don't skimp TOO much. I think people have gotten a lot more wine savvy in recent times and I've had some really rubbish 'bargain' wine and a few weddings - it was obviously Lidl/Tesco/Aldi stuff that was whatever was cheapest and it tasted it.

I think prosecco is overdone and can taste very cheap and nasty. A good cava, really well chilled, would be nicer and a similar price. Don't get me wrong, I'll sip a glass of bubbly at a wedding regardless of where its from, but we spent a little bit extra on our wine and we were glad we weren't too cheap in the end.

blindside88

lazygal wrote: »

I would go to the likes of O'Briens or other good wine sales outlet and ask what would work for your crowd and budget. They'll usually do sale or return so you can bring back what you don't use, and will likely deliver.

For what its worth, don't skimp TOO much. I think people have gotten a lot more wine savvy in recent times and I've had some really rubbish 'bargain' wine and a few weddings - it was obviously Lidl/Tesco/Aldi stuff that was whatever was cheapest and it tasted it.

I think prosecco is overdone and can taste very cheap and nasty. A good cava, really well chilled, would be nicer and a similar price. Don't get me wrong, I'll sip a glass of bubbly at a wedding regardless of where its from, but we spent a little bit extra on our wine and we were glad we weren't too cheap in the end.

100% agree with the above, get a nice middle range wine. A colleague of mine actually had a great idea for the wine at his wedding, he took the labels off and printed new custom labels for the bottles, the front of the bottle had the date, couples names and family crests in it, the back had a bit about the couple and how they met. I thought it was a rally novel idea

meeeeh

I usually forget what bride and groom were wearing but I remember the food and wine.

I'm not a big fan of sparkling wine but it's an elegant drink and a bad cheap one is like glueing red soles onto Penny's plastic shoes. It's better not to do it at all. You don't need to go for champagne or even Italian and Spanish sparkling wines but I would rather go for smaller quantities of good stuff.

Gatica

I would actually think the opposite. I do like nice wine with a meal out and champagne on special occasions, but at weddings I'm usually too busy chatting to friends to notice the sparking wine I'm drinking at the reception or the wine that's going with a, let's face it, below restaurant standard (for the majority of weddings) food.
Trick with the bubbly is that it defo needs to be really cold, covers all kinds of flaws. Unless it's amazing champagne most bubbly tastes horrible once warm.

If you do want to go with middle of the way wines, I don't know why people are dissing Aldi wines; as wines go, their "cheap" wines are far better than Tesco or off-licences' cheap wines and lots of wine drinkers I know who know their wine like it.
There are wine suppliers who deliver and take back returns on unused wines. Those are great if you want to keep a good stock of both white and red wine and return the unused. We'd bought lots of sparking wine and returned something like 12 bottles plus a good few reds (most guests drank white wine). We grossly overestimated people's interest in it. The fellas really do prefer to go for pints for the most part.

We went to France, spent a week in the Loire Valley and bought all of it from a small vineyard down there. Worked out at around six euro a bottle when you factor in the trip to France.

bee06

Dónal wrote: »

We went to France, spent a week in the Loire Valley and bought all of it from a small vineyard down there. Worked out at around six euro a bottle when you factor in the trip to France.

I'll be getting mine in France too. My dad and his friend go over on the ferry to Roscoff every year and stock up on some really good quality wine for half or a third of the price here. They don't even stay overnight. Just go one day, you have about 6 hours in France to buy the wine and back on the return ferry.

grarf

Dónal wrote: »

We went to France, spent a week in the Loire Valley and bought all of it from a small vineyard down there. Worked out at around six euro a bottle when you factor in the trip to France.

While we got our wine here, we did get our champagne (well it wasn't champagne from the Champagne, but 'Sekt') in Germany, from my home town, local vinyard. Worked out at about 8 euro a bottle, tasted amazing (it was guzzled in record time, everybody raved about it), and had a nice link to home for me.
Definitely recommend the travelling route, go get your wine in France (closest) if you can, it's cheaper and much better value for money than what you'd get here.

Apanachi

grarf wrote: »

(well it wasn't champagne from the Champagne, but 'Sekt')

Basically sparkling wine then.

I find €4.95 for a bottle quite cheap (even here in Germany, where wine is quite cheap (in price, not necessarily in quality) it's hard to find a decent wine for that price, however as far as cheaper prosecco go, this one isn't actually bad (at least according to tests here in Germany - personally I'm not a huge fan of prosecco, so I wouldn't be able to judge objectively)

Buy a few bottles beforehand and invite friends and family to taste it, it they like it (or don't hate it ) go for it!

GastroBoy

Just spotted this and thought it may be some use to you OP.



From O' Briens BTW....

meeeeh

Apanachi wrote: »

Basically sparkling wine then.

They are all sparkling wine including champagne.

DavyD_83

GastroBoy wrote: »

Just spotted this and thought it may be some use to you OP.

Hi Gastroboy, I've figured out that the offer relates to O'Briens, but can't find it anywhere on their site. Do you know where exactly you came accross it?
Any chance of a link?
Cheers
DD

GastroBoy

DavyD_83 wrote: »

Hi Gastroboy, I've figured out that the offer relates to O'Briens, but can't find it anywhere on their site. Do you know where exactly you came accross it?
Any chance of a link?
Cheers
DD

I got that in an email newsletter from them, I couldn't find it on the website either.
But it says that the discount will appear at the checkout before payment.
Hope thats of some help.

DavyD_83

GastroBoy wrote: »

I got that in an email newsletter from them, I couldn't find it on the website either.
But it says that the discount will appear at the checkout before payment.
Hope thats of some help.

Not sure that it is. Thanks for trying though

Layinghen

Go visit your local off licence or the off licence section of your local supermarket. Make sure you speak to the Manager, as they have the authority to give you further discount when you buy in bulk. The knowledge that some off licence staff have is very very good and they are well used to recommending wines for weddings. I travel to France once a year to stock pile, so if you had the time this would be a fantastic option. Irish ferries do a great wine buying rate which gives you 6 hours in Roscoff. Enough time to buy your wine and have a nice lunch. Google WineBeerSupermarket Roscoff they are right at the port and don't just stock French wines. When you see the price difference between Ireland and France for the same wine it will blow your mind. There are numerous hypermarkets within a short driving distance for Champagne and French wines.

Ainu

You can always bring a bit of life to a cheaper prosecco with some elderflower cordial! Add a raspberry and its a lovely drink for summer!

fondue

Aoife50 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm trying to find wines and prosecco for my wedding in October. I don't even know where to start. I know what I like.....but who is to say others like that!!

Also I have found a place that are doing prosecco for €4.95, I've never been a believer in going for the cheapest option....but would it matter if people are only going to be having 1 glass!! Its La Marca Prosecco, anyone have any opinions.

Thanks
Aoife

Where did u find the la marca for €4.95? Is it normally that cheap or is it on offer?

Gatica

meeeeh wrote: »

They are all sparkling wine including champagne.

I think he was just clarifying that what grarf should've said was that it's sparkling wine, not champagne. Champagne is like a brand name, it's particular to the region and highly protected. If it's not from the Champagne region, then it cannot be called champagne. All champagne is sparking wine, but not all sparking wine is champagne.
It's like saying "all wines are Bordeaux"; when in reality while one can say all Bordeaux are wines (in general), not all wines are Bordeaux.

meeeeh

Gatica wrote: »

I think he was just clarifying that what grarf should've said was that it's sparkling wine, not champagne. Champagne is like a brand name, it's particular to the region and highly protected. If it's not from the Champagne region, then it cannot be called champagne. All champagne is sparking wine, but not all sparking wine is champagne.
It's like saying "all wines are Bordeaux"; when in reality while one can say all Bordeaux are wines (in general), not all wines are Bordeaux.

Really. Thank you for clarifying that.

Ehm, most of us from countries where wine is actually made (like grarf) are well aware the importance of regional classifications. However people will very often use word champagne in the same way as they would word hoover. Now you will also explain to me that not all vacuum cleaners are hoovers.

Gatica

I just thought you misunderstood Apanachi

Apanachi

Gatica wrote: »

I think he was just clarifying that...

Gatica wrote: »

...All champagne is sparking wine, but not all sparking wine is champagne.

"She" but thank you

That is exactly what I meant, anyway, let's not hijack Aoife's thread by arguing over terminology and get back to the real issue of finding her some wine (or other grape based alcoholic beverage ) for her wedding

ChickenBalls

I'm looking for wine for my wedding also. I'm told to go over to Roscoff when the wine sales are on. Does anyone know when the traditional wine sales are on ? Is there any sites to keep a look out for these sales?

jjdub1

I was at a wedding where the couple supplied their own wine for the meal, not sure what they were charged corkage-wise from the hotel but they got a great deal on the wine from Superquinn.

La Croisade Réserve Cabernet-Syrah (RED) and La Croisade Réserve Sauvignon Blanc (WHITE), they are normally E16 a bottle but on offer it's less than E40 for a case of 6, so about E6.50 per bottle. I buy it myself anytime it's on offer - they're both lovely wines and at that price a steal and cheaper than the boat

lazygal

Would recommend the La Croisade too - its a lovely wine and brilliant value when its on offer (which is often!).

ChickenBalls

jjdub1 wrote: »

I was at a wedding where the couple supplied their own wine for the meal, not sure what they were charged corkage-wise from the hotel but they got a great deal on the wine from Superquinn.

La Croisade Réserve Cabernet-Syrah (RED) and La Croisade Réserve Sauvignon Blanc (WHITE), they are normally E16 a bottle but on offer it's less than E40 for a case of 6, so about E6.50 per bottle. I buy it myself anytime it's on offer - they're both lovely wines and at that price a steal and cheaper than the boat

Thanks for the info. You see the boat works out cheaper when your buying 160 bottles at €2 a bottle that would cost €16 here. €6.50 a bottle by 160 = €1040 compared to €320 or even €3 a bottle for €480 boat trip is usually €100. I've heard thou that during a wine sale in France the price can drop to €1.50! I think it's autumn time for the sales but not sure where to look out for them. I'll just keep an eye out on the Rosscoff supermarket sites.

jjdub1

^^ fair enough - didn't think it was that much of a saving

lazygal

Are you really getting a decent wine at 1.50 a go? Sounds like it'd be basic table wine at those prices.

ChickenBalls

lazygal wrote: »

Are you really getting a decent wine at 1.50 a go? Sounds like it'd be basic table wine at those prices.

I'm told during the sale yes - I know about pissy table wine definitely one to avoid.