Best Wine for Beginners: 8 Easy Bottles to Start With

The best wine for beginners is a soft, fruity bottle with low tannin, and the easiest ones to find are Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, off-dry Riesling and unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay for whites, and Pinot Noir, Merlot and Beaujolais for reds. If you want specific bottles, start with Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve range, which the winery lists at $15 to $20 a bottle. If you like sweet things, Moscato d'Asti is one of the gentlest wines you can buy, and a Brut Prosecco is the easy way into bubbles.

What are the best wines for beginners to buy first?

Our eight picks are Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Merlot, any Beaujolais made from Gamay, and a Moscato d'Asti. Every one of them is easy to find, and none of them will punish a new palate with the drying grip of a big Cabernet. We've only printed a price where we could check it this week at the source, so the Kim Crawford, Beaujolais and Moscato rows carry no number rather than a guess.

We lean on one producer on purpose, because buying five grapes from the same Kendall-Jackson tier is the cheapest tasting class you can give yourself, since the winery and the price band stay roughly the same and the grape is the main thing that changes. Open the Pinot Gris next to the Chardonnay, or the Pinot Noir next to the Merlot, and the differences you notice belong to the grape rather than to a different winery's habits.

Which white wine should a beginner start with?

Start with Sauvignon Blanc if you like tart, zesty flavors, and with Pinot Grigio if you want the lightest, most neutral white in the store. Kim Crawford calls its bottle one of Marlborough's benchmark Sauvignon Blancs and describes passion fruit, melon and grapefruit with vibrant acidity, and that's exactly the style most people mean when they order "a Sauvignon Blanc". If it clicks for you, our list of wines like Kim Crawford gives you the next five to try.

Pinot Grigio is simply the Italian name for Pinot Gris, and Wine Folly's grape profile lists the two as one grape that's usually dry with no tannin, so don't let the label trip you up. The Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Gris lists at $15 and is fermented in stainless steel, which keeps it tasting of green apple, pear and honeydew rather than wood.

Chardonnay is the white that splits rooms, because oak changes it so much. The Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay at $17 spends four months in a mix of French and American oak, and the winery describes baked apple, tropical fruit and citrus finished with butter and vanilla. That makes it a fair test of whether you enjoy the richer style. If you'd rather keep things zippy, Riesling is the other easy door: the Monterey County Riesling lists at $15 with apricot, peach and pear and bright acidity, and the winery suggests it with salads and Asian dishes.

Which red wine is best for beginners?

Pinot Noir is the best red for most beginners, with Merlot and Beaujolais close behind, because all three are low in the drying tannin that makes big reds feel harsh. Tannin comes mostly from grape skins and seeds, and red wines ferment with their skins, which is why a first sip of red can feel so different from a white. The trick is choosing reds where that grip is gentle.

The Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir lists at $20 and leads with bright cherry, strawberry and raspberry, which is what a friendly red should taste like. The winery lists it at 14.5% alcohol, which is more than many people expect from a light red, so it really does benefit from the 20 minute chill we describe below. Its Sonoma County Merlot sits at the same $20 and is a touch darker, with black cherry and plum, and what the winery calls soft, elegant tannins and a silky finish. Taste the two side by side and you'll learn more about body in one evening than a chart can tell you.

Beaujolais is our sleeper pick for a first red. It's made from Gamay, which Wine Folly calls a fruity, floral light-bodied red and the main grape planted in Beaujolais, and it tastes great with a short chill. Wait a while before buying Malbec, though, even though it's often sold as an easy value red, because Wine Folly's profile rates Malbec full-bodied with medium tannins at 13.5 to 15% alcohol, a much bigger step than the three above. Our roundup of easy to drink red wines has more soft options once these three feel familiar.

Is it okay for a beginner to like sweet wine?

Yes, and Moscato d'Asti is the best sweet wine to start with. Wine Folly notes that it's typically just 5.5% alcohol, against about 12% for an average bottle, and it tastes of peach, fresh grapes and orange blossom with a light, half-sparkling fizz that Italians call frizzante. It's sweeter than it seems, too: the same guide puts a typical bottle at around 100 to 150 grams of sugar per liter, against about 115 for a can of Coke, and the acidity and light fizz are why it tastes only lightly sweet.

Liking sweetness isn't a phase you're supposed to grow out of, it's simply one of the ways a palate can be built, and plenty of people who've been drinking wine for decades still reach for an off-dry Riesling first. If you're torn between the two sweet favorites, our Riesling vs Moscato comparison puts them side by side. One label detail is worth knowing before you shop: Moscato d'Asti is the softly sparkling style, while a bottle labelled plain Asti is the fully sparkling spumante version, and Wine Folly describes both as sweet. So if the label just says Asti, expect a lot more bubbles in a wine that's still sweet.

Are rosé and sparkling wine good for beginners?

Yes, a dry rosé is the easiest bridge between white and red, and Prosecco is the friendliest sparkling wine to start with. Rosé is made from red grapes, but Wine Folly explains that the skins stay in the juice only briefly, usually 2 to 24 hours, which gives the pink color while keeping the freshness of a white. A pale Grenache-based rosé from Provence tends toward watermelon, citrus peel and white flowers, and it's an easy glass on a warm afternoon.

Prosecco is made mostly from a grape called Glera, and Wine Folly's Prosecco guide lists green apple, honeydew and pear as its main flavors. The label word worth learning is the sweetness term, because it runs the opposite way to what you'd guess. Brut is the driest of the three common styles at 0 to 12 grams of sugar per liter, Extra Dry is actually sweeter at 12 to 17, and Dry is sweeter still at 17 to 32. So if a Brut tasted too sharp but you loved a bottle labelled Extra Dry, that's why, and now you know which word to look for next time.

How can you tell what you actually like?

You can tell what you like by tasting two wines at once and noticing four things: sweetness, body, acidity and tannin. Sweetness is leftover sugar, and our guide to dry vs sweet wine explains how to spot it before you buy. Body is how heavy the wine feels on your tongue, acidity is the mouth-watering tang that makes a wine taste fresh, and tannin is the dry, tea-like grip on your gums. One wine on its own tells you very little, but two open bottles make every one of those differences obvious.

Here's a simple three-night plan using the bottles above. On night one, pour the Pinot Gris and the Chardonnay together and decide whether you like crisp or rich. On night two, open the Pinot Noir and the Merlot and decide whether you like light or a bit fuller. On night three, try the Riesling or a Moscato d'Asti and find out how much sweetness you enjoy. After that you'll know your direction, and the beginner wine chart shows which styles sit next door to the ones you liked.

Writing down what you thought is the step most people skip, and it's the one that makes the next bottle easier. A line or two in your phone is plenty, and our guide to building your personal wine profile without fancy jargon shows how to describe what you tasted in your own words. Sommy's Taste Profile tracks the same scales you just tasted, body, sweetness, tannin and acidity plus oak, and fills them in from the wines you rate. You can drag any of those sliders yourself if it reads you wrong, and it shows you how confident it is, which matters when you've only rated a handful of bottles.

How do you buy wine as a beginner without getting lost?

Buy by grape name, stick to a $15 to $20 budget, and don't be shy about asking for help, whether you're in a supermarket aisle or at a restaurant table. Kendall-Jackson and Kim Crawford print the grape right on the label, while a Beaujolais names its region instead, so the names in this guide are all you need to read. You also don't need a specialist shop to start, since Kendall-Jackson says its Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay has been America's top-selling Chardonnay for more than 30 years, and our list of the best grocery store wines covers more bottles you can pick up with the weekly shop.

Restaurants feel harder because someone is waiting for your answer, but the same approach works. Wine Folly's advice on ordering wine like a sommelier is to narrow the list to two or three bottles in your price range and then ask the server which one fits a style, along the lines of "I'm looking for something rich and smooth, which one of these fits best?" The same guide notes that a bottle usually costs about twice a single entrée and pours roughly 2.5 glasses each for two people. Ordering by the glass while you're still learning lets you try two different styles in one meal.

What is the 20 minute wine rule?

The 20 minute rule says to take white wine out of the fridge 20 minutes before you drink it and put red wine into the fridge 20 minutes before you drink it. VinePair explains that most people drink whites straight from the fridge and reds at room temperature, and that whites served too cold can hide their flavors, especially fuller ones like Chardonnay. Reds go the other way, and Wine Folly's rule of thumb is that a wine that burns your nose with the smell of alcohol is probably too warm.

If you want numbers, Wine Folly suggests 38 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit for sparkling and light whites, 55 to 60 for light and medium-bodied reds, and 60 to 68 for bolder reds. Our page on wine serving temperatures goes style by style, but the 20 minute rule gets you most of the way without a thermometer, and it's the cheapest upgrade any of the bottles above will ever get.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best wine for beginners?

For most people the best wine for beginners is a crisp white like Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc or a soft red like Pinot Noir. Both have bright fruit and little tannin, so they're easy to enjoy without food. If you like sweet drinks, start with Moscato d'Asti instead.

What is the difference between red and white wine?

The biggest difference is skin contact. Red wine ferments with its dark grape skins, which give it color, tannin and flavor, while most white wine is pressed off the skins before fermentation, according to Wine Folly. Our full comparison of red wine vs white wine walks through how that changes taste.

What is the proper way to hold a wine glass?

Hold a wine glass by the stem. Decanter quotes Master Sommelier Xavier Rousset saying the stem exists to keep fingerprints off the glass and stop your hand warming the wine, which matters most with sparkling and fresh whites. In the same piece, Sarah Ahmed adds that cupping the bowl is a quick way to warm up a wine when you want to.

What is the 20 minute wine rule?

It's a quick serving shortcut where you take whites out of the fridge 20 minutes before drinking and put reds in the fridge for 20 minutes. That brings both closer to the temperature where they taste their best.

Should a beginner start with white or red wine?

Start with whichever you already reach for, because there's no correct order. Many beginners find whites and rosés easier on a first taste, but if you prefer red, pick a Pinot Noir or Beaujolais and save Cabernet Sauvignon for later.

How long does an open bottle of wine last?

Most open wine lasts three to five days with the cork back in, according to Wine Folly's guide to open bottles. Light whites, sweet whites and rosé keep five to seven days in the fridge, reds keep three to five in a cool, dark spot, and sparkling wine fades fastest at one to three days with a proper stopper.

How much should a beginner spend on a bottle of wine?

Plan on roughly $15 to $20 a bottle. Every bottle we've priced on this page falls in that band, which is enough to buy a well-made wine without paying for a name you can't yet judge.

What should you open after your first few bottles?

Once you know whether you lean crisp or rich, light or fuller, dry or sweet, buy the next bottle one step away from your favorite rather than jumping somewhere completely new. A Sauvignon Blanc fan might try a Sancerre next, a Pinot Noir fan might try a Beaujolais cru, and a Moscato fan might try a German Riesling. Small steps keep the surprises pleasant, and each new bottle tells you a little more about your own taste.

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