The Wine Thread

Bought myself a bottle of this last night, I'd known of it for a while but had never tried it, it's quite good IMO...

half price deal on a case of tempranillo for £30 at tescos... £5 a bottle for an excellent wine!

http://www.tesco.com/wine/product/details/default.aspx?N=8129+4294967159&No=10&id=268439641

this thread totally stalled. it's 1.5 years from my last post and i'm now a whole lot wiser. vinturi = just another knick knack, that shit's gotta breathe one way or another and i no longer believe in an instant 'cure'.

favorites nowadays? chateauneufs and other southern rhone blends are among my absolute favorites. i had my breakthrough barolo moment this past winter and, though its a bit expensive, holy fuck was it an absolutely wonderful laser-focused taste. and fucking bordeaux.

good wine can really break the bank.. best to find someone who can bankroll it. it certainly doesn't have to though, you can get perfectly good drinkable stuff in most major cities for between 10-20/bottle. BUT. man, just like lance said in pulp fiction .. "you will know where that extra money went."

edit: i drink almost no single varietals, if i can help it. blends are almost always better.

My dad just won his weight in white wine at some contest. He's 104 kg. I don't like wine.

Mmmmmmmmmmm wine. I like a nice merlot myself. That or a pinot grigio in the summer. Best and favorite wine though is a nice crisp cotes de provence rose wine ( which waitrose do). Lovely.

Got this for a fiver from Tesco - half price. Nicest Pinot I've had since I've went to Italy and stayed in a winery.

Hmm don't mind if I do sir!

*waggles glasses comically*

Charles Shaw's Cabernet Sauvignon is what I alternate to when I tire of my usual pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

  On 8/10/2011 at 7:24 AM, J3FF3R00 said:

I don't drink much. I do like a good glass of wine here and there.

I'm a total novice and I'd like to learn more about it. I do know what tastes I like and don't like. For example, I normally don't care for whites. I have a sensitive stomach, so I don't like anything too acidic.

Anyone keen on the subject?

 

 

I sound like an old person, don't i?

 

You are spot-on about white wine, it's basically one step removed from being vinegar, the only thing it's good for is removing red wine stains from your bedsheets.

Oh this is a thread for me I suppose. I worked at a winery for 6 months, both helping make the wine and run the tasting room. Since then one of my part time jobs is serving wine (wine tasting) at fine grocery stores to customers. So I guess over the last year I've learned a lot about wine and specifically how to talk about it to just about any one!

First and foremost the thing I hate most, is when some one says "what is the best kind of wine?" I think most of us here know that to be a bad question though. Two reasons, the most obvious answer is that every one has different palletes and needs from a wine. Secondly though that I like to point out even more is that on an individual basis different wines function differently and you may want different experiences at different times. (I know I don't want a hamburger every day, why would I only drink Merlot?)

Another big step in wine is to get over the "hype". I mean scores, reviews, brands, prices. Wine is a huge industry and many luxury brands make money hands over fists. (Think of Luxury Champagnes that average 100$ a bottle, they often aren't THAT much more labor intensive than most 18-25$ bottles.) A lot of over the top tastings really go into details that are nearly indescernable for even expert tasters (elements like Terroir are a bit of a joke, at best you can discern certain minarlity and earth tones) and after the range of 18-25$ you're beggining to pay for only: Legacy/Provenance and potential reliability/fame as a brand. Basically I'm stating really be skeptical when any one is talking up a wine. Most people who talk a lot about wine are getting paid to do it by some one and have an obvious bias. I don't work directly for any companies and get no commissions when I do tastings but I will still try to push the wine to a person any ways simply because it's my job.

In this post I don't really want to go deep into red/white and varietals or food pairings but that's really what becomes the bulk of enjoying and experiencing wine. My recommendation is findin a liquor store or grocery store near you that has free tastings and check it out every week. Usually I know I'm serving 2-6 wines 2-3 times a week and when I am 2-4 other people are doing the same. I'm almost always serving something different and you quickly get to try a LOT of different wines and that is the ultimate way to experience and learn about wine. Don't just try it though, talk about it and ask questions with the people, and try wines you're not sure about. I generally don't like super sweet wine but I will always try them any ways and occasionally you find some very flavorful and robust gems!

What white wines have you had that are like vinegar? Sounds to me like you've mainly had cheap Chardonnay, or generally poorly made wine. In general Acidity is a highly measured and considered aspect of all wines. Reds have more Acidity AND Tanins. (Worse for hang overs despite any one's claims unless you're drinking sugar whites.) High levels of acidity are usually designed for table wines. (Lots of Bordeauxs and Itallian Reds will do this) When there is high acidity in wine it literally breaks down the food you are eating and bring out more complex favors. I like to consider high-acidic wines as unbalanced on purpose, waiting for their food partner to make the perfect evening.

Try a cheap (but excellent) New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, they are usually very reliable for having a nice fruit-forward light and crisp quallity. (Kim Crawford is like 13.99 or something)

White wines are indispensible IMO. Nearly 0 reds would go well with a very tender light fish, and I'd much prefer a white wine with most any Asian Dish. (Viognet + Pad Thai? Yes!) Have a creamy white sauce pasta? I mean you could try a Chianti or a Pinot Noir but a buttery Chard or some Pinot Grigio is gonna be so much better with it.

Why are you so concerned about pushing white wine on people? I don't even drink any more.

For most of the relevant white wine pairing situations, I'd rather have a sake or rice wine or good crisp/sour cider or an ale, et fucking cetera, none of which options are as consistently over- inflated in price per 750ml.

A lot of whites are about as complex and challenging as welch's white grape juice mixed with a shot of neutral spirit*. Which is, I guess, why a lot of people only drink white wines.

There are good ones, but mostly I'd just rather have something else, or skip a pairing and drink a decent red.

And champagne has to be the most overrated substance in human history.

*gonna try this brb

I had some of this last night, it was very nice. I got some on my new carpet though. Oops.

  On 6/7/2013 at 9:02 AM, Iain C said:

Why are you so concerned about pushing white wine on people? I don't even drink any more.

why are you whining about white wine then?

  On 6/7/2013 at 12:16 PM, keltoi said:

 

  On 6/7/2013 at 9:02 AM, Iain C said:

Why are you so concerned about pushing white wine on people? I don't even drink any more.

why are you whining about white wine then?

 

Another brainwashed representative of the sittingdown-whitewine complex, ho hum.

i prefer red Lain. seemed like a strange thing to moan about when you're not interested but we know you just love to moan. i bet you say 'ho hum' in real life.

You could say... I'm a white whiner.

i already made that joke, ho hum.

Not very well, you didn't.

Has anyone tried Maynard's wine?

Caduceus Cellars

They don't import to IL, or used to but apparently no one was buying so it got dropped by the local distributor here (so I am told).

Further.. so no Bordeaux/Burgundy/Alsace drinkers here? I remember back in the day either J-Swift or Flapdoodle had some great advice about Rioja, but of course they're long gone.

  On 6/7/2013 at 7:00 PM, Deep Fried Everything said:

Has anyone tried Maynard's wine?

 

Caduceus Cellars

 

They don't import to IL, or used to but apparently no one was buying so it got dropped by the local distributor here (so I am told).

 

Further.. so no Bordeaux/Burgundy/Alsace drinkers here? I remember back in the day either J-Swift or Flapdoodle had some great advice about Rioja, but of course they're long gone.

I've had the Nagual del Sensei 2006 (or 2005) from Caduceus. It was very good but too expensive.