what wines to stock as "house"?

I think that Australian and New Zealand wines offer tremendous value. If you like the Dryland Sav. Blanc, by all means try Kim Crawford's Sav. It is wonderful and an astonishing value. We are in an area where wine and liquor is cheaper than some other states, but I pay around $12 or $13 a bottle, and it would be less if you buy it by the case or catch a sale.

For a house red, I am going to suggest a "near-jug" wine, Jib Jib Rocks Shiraz, another Australian and another great value. Although the price gets close to the Yellowtail range, Jib Jib has much more complexity and depth. In my mind, it compares very favorably to the Nine Mile.

If you can't bring yourself to stoop that low for your house wine, you should explore some more of the malbecs, especially since you apparently like those. I don't know the Pascual Toso, and to be honest I am just now getting into the Argentine wines myself, but overall they are great values as well.

You might want to consider doing the same thing we planning, which is to get the wine shop to recommend half a dozen bottles for a tasting. Get some cheese and crackers and have some friends come over to help you decide on your family's house wine. (They're going to be drinking it sometimes as well, right?)

Some really cheap ones (less than $10) that I consistently enjoy:

Norton Sangiovese (#1) or Malbec (#2)

Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon (#1) or Carmenere (#2)

cheap Spanish Grenache -- I can't think of the vineyard, but you know the one.

Li Veli Orion Primitivo Salento

A notable one for less than $15:

Gallo Sonoma Reserve Pinot Noir (trust me. California Pinot sounds bad and Gallo sounds bad, but this is a good "house" wine).

As far as whites, go, I don't have a favorite Sauv blanc. All the cheap ones taste decent to me but they're all the same. I like sweet reislings (I don't think you do). And I've had some really enjoyable (and I don't think too expensive) Chenin Blancs. But I haven't found one I can get consistently yet. I'd love a reccomendation if you have one.

I find that I like the Menage a trios brand wines for house wines. They offer a red, white and rose. These are inexpensive wines that taste good. Each are a blend of three different wines, for example the red is cabernet, Zinfandel and merlot. This save you the issues of stocking a pinot, a zin, a merlot, a cab and so forth as a house wine. It will cut back on waste and maybe help you up sell to those who want to have a true cabernet. Good Luck.

you want really cheap but tasty wine to have on a weeknight, consider Charles Shaw wine its the Trader Joe's signature wine, and is only $2-$4 a bottle depending where you are... very tasty too

if you want something a little fancier for parties, i really like Menage a Trois, which is available in red, rose and white, and is a blended wine, with a variety of grapes, giving it some really interesting character you don't normally get in 1-style grape wines. near me these usually go between $8-10 a bottle.