Meeting the parents?!? Rock on, pups. I'm so happy things are going well with cute girl.

If her parents are anything like my grandparents, they drink the Crown Royal because the little purple sack it comes in is perfect for transporting quarters to Atlantic City.

I don't think a nice bottle of wine would be insulting. It's a special occasion. That calls for special wine.

You can never go wrong with a good bottle of Champagne.

Hm... you know what, I'd say two bottles of wine; 1) [less expensive, just nice] here, let's crack this baby open right now and drink it down, nice to meetcha! and 2) [a little more expensive] here, you put this in the cupboard and enjoy it between the two of you at a later time.

Nobody would hurt my feeling with a gift like that. :)

Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush. A NZ Sauv-blanc. It's a nice wine but not too challenging for an unsophisticated palate and the name gives you something to chat about.

Awww. Yay!

Does it have to be alcohol? Maybe flowers would be better, or a pastry-type thing of some sort? (Just to escape the whole unintentional insult thing, not because I'm opposed to booze as a gift on principle. Obviously.)

The other thing may be to get one of those bottles of California or Australian wine with an anti-pretentious label? Big Yellow Cab is good (though much cheaper than your given price range, available at Trader Joe's for $10, I think), ikkyu just recently bought Toad Hollow Chardonnay (at Safeway, I think) and I really, really loved it. It's un-oaked, really light -- a great summery wine. The Magnet Pinot Noir is a little more graphically hip, I guess, but that's also a great wine. It's usually available at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants, if you're going to be out this way at all.

In any event, something with a non-intimidating label might bridge the gap a bit.

On preview: I see arse_hat beat me to the concept!

I'm assuming this is because they're thrifty, although it could also be that they just have poor taste standards different from mine.

I'll out myself as an occasional box wine drinker. If they're like me, they might like it to keep around because it keeps the wine fresh longer than a bottle half-full of wine and half-full of air. For a dinner party or a nice evening, yeah, I'll open a bottle, but if it's just me having a glass with salad or pizza, I'd rather the wine be fresh than that the wine be fine.

So they may well have a taste for good wine! Go for it!

In any case, I think you've hit on the essence of a good gift: something slightly nicer than the recipient would choose for himself or herself.

Sangria in a box is the most delicious thing ever.

Also, squeee!

Ditto taz's rec, and OHOHOH, you could ask occhiblu about that white, um, moscato maybe? she brought over for girls' night way back. Totally tasty, slightly effervescent and pretty inexpensive if I remember correctly. Otherwise, a nice light riesling, Johannisberg if you want something a touch crisp, or a sauvignon blanc if you want something more citrusy. Both can found cheaper and usually in better quality than chardonnays.

Oh, man, I promised to give both y'all the name of that wine, didn't I? I keep meaning to try to find it, but the wine store where I bought it stopped carrying it, and the other place that stocks it (the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, actually) only has it occasionally.

Damn, because I really liked that wine, and I was going to drop by the Ferry Bldg later today.

*shakes fist*

OK. So, it's big (1L), and in a green bottle, and in German.

Does that help? :-)

It's a halbtrocken. They normally do have a number of different ones there; I think the one I bought is the only liter bottle they have. If you ask the guys, they'll know which one you're (probably) talking about. It has a fairly simple label -- all text, no pictures.

I also have no idea if there's that much variation among these types of wine, so it may be worthwhile trying one of the other ones if they don't have the one I bought.

(Duh. It didn't occur to me that you're coming into the city tonight. Sigh. This sleep deprivation thing's getting old.)

Okay, I'm going to copy down that description and take it to the Ferry Bldg wine dudes.

Ooooh oooh oooh oooh! I think I found it! I can't find a photo of the bottle, but this label looks right:

Weinheimer Holle Silvaner Halbtrocken, from the Gysler vineyard.

And if either of you gives me shit for not remembering that string of consonants, I'll... I don't know what I do. Cry, probably.

That's okay. I'll find something else to give you shit about.

(Thanks!)

Here's my take on Hostess gifts, esp. things like wine: I shoot for something a bit nicer than someone might buy for themselves, but I also try to find something for which I have a little conversational patter that can put the emphasis on "I like this thing and am sharing with you" rather than "I stopped by Safeway on the way over and picked something off the shelf above the one you seem to favor"

and +1 on the unquestionable technological superiority of boxed wine, so long as it's the mylar-bag-in-a-box technology, not the TetraPak drinkbox kind. I like the "black box" brand.