+1 for Beaujolais chilled. Makes for a zippy fruity drink, perfect for a white wine drinker looking to get into reds.
young Tannat.
you’re welcome.
Pinot with RS is disgusting TO YOU. It might be a great call for a new red drinker. I’d go Meomi, Eluon, or like was just suggested, beaujolais or lambrusco. Heck, maybe even have them start with a Tavel first. I always think its important to remember with gateway wines that what i think is gross has nothing to do with it. My mom’s gateway has been that terrible idea of coffee infused red wine. It met her in the middle and now she is moving on to things that arent abominations.
The most important thing your friend can tell you to help you decide is what it is that his wife likes about white wines and doesnt about reds. if her experience is all big fruit bomb cabs or shiraz, giving her a big fruit bomb Zin isnt gonna help anyone.
if all else fails, your friend might just need to start investing in Auslese.
Field Recordings Fiction should be a good choice. Or, not my preference, but Austin Hope Troublemaker.
2015 DOLCETTO DI DIANO D‘ALBA “SÖRÌ CRISTINA”: The little sweet one~
You might float out the Marietta Angeli Cuvee. It is sometimes a bubble gum explosion, but very smooth.
I haven’t tasted it in many years, but from memory it fits right into your search specification. 
I think Rose or Lambrusco might make for an easier transition…My recent bottle on the Marietta Angeli was wonderful but might be a bit too big for her…Haven’t tasted Eluon but I found the Meomi a tad syrupy, too sweet for me and a bit muddled. That being said, the wife of a friend of ours loves Meomi…hubby drinks bourbon and prefers Rose when drinking wine.
If you hurry, you can get the final vintage of Mollydooker.
I don’t what Sparky’s gonna do next, but for now, it will be very strange not to have a Sparky wine coming to these shores after almost two decades.
Gigondas.
Hi Corey,
Just a couple of off the wall suggestions:
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Freisa-northern Italian red in a fruity style
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Negroamaro-a bit bigger but fruit forward for sure
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Goodfellow-she won’t like this at all, but she’ll like just about anything served afterwards
I honestly think she might enjoy one of Brad MacElroy’s wines from Ayres though. They are dry for sure but always have such beatiful pretty forward fruit.
Corey, there isn’t enough good wine for us here on the board. Guide them to boxed wine or Sutter Home White Zin, otherwise your helping drive up prices and reduce availability. The only legitimate excuse NOT to do that is they are relatives, you have to go there for dinner and want good wine to drink.
Literally any Argentinean Malbec from the grocery store.
In fact, do a grocery store tasting:
Malbec (any)
7 Deadly Zins
Meiomi
Martini Cab (any appellation)
Duboeuf Bojo (any)
Yellowtail Shiraz Reserve
This will give more insight on how to proceed.
Most of the time sweet drinkers just don’t like bitter flavors and finishes.
Tell the husband to drink higher pH’d slutty but not bitter reds and see how that goes.
Like this:
Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block
I continue not to buy the idea that non-hipster newbies are likely to dig things like Lambrusco, Dolcetto, and Beaujolais. Sales of those wines relative to ripe jammy reds would seem to strongly support my position.
But everyone is different, and I don’t know this woman at all.
In my personal experience, I “broke into” red wines like Bolla Valpolicella and Bardolino, very light, easy-drinking wines without any “habit-forming” RS.
I am a wee bit concerned about introducing the person-in-question to sweet, polished “mystery blends” from big brands that are culturally reinforced by fellow habitués of Candyland. 
Everyone is different so predicting what they’ll like is inpossible.
That said, my Uncle started drinking Glenellen Merlot instead of Beaujolais because Glenellen was in 6 different places in every Kroger connected store in the country, and $7/1.5L. Not because he didn’t like Lambrusco(or Beaujolais) he switched the first time I poured it for him.
…and if Corey was looking for the average big jammy red, he wouldn’t have stated that he couldn’t stomach the idea of a sweet Pinot Noir. So he’s already asked for off the beaten path ideas for this situation…
+1, hence the Ayres(not bitter or astringent although not “slutty” either”
99.5 out or 100 newbie wine board posts begin with “I started with sweet whites, then buttery Chardonnay, now I drink Prisoner and Bogle Petite Sirah…” wherever could Chris come up with such a position? 
Carlo Rossi Paisano should do it
And the very next sentence, he said his first thought was higher alcohol Zinfandel. So, not off beat at all.
I am not a fan of the Prisoner/Apothic type wines, but I’m just trying to give the most likely successful answer to the question asked. It’s 10x more likely she’ll initially open her mind to riper sweeter modern reds than to obscure hipster / wine geek reds. Conservatively.
There is the world as we wish it were, and the world as it actually is. My response was based on the former.