Wine appreciation

[Dubpoet]

Q if you are enjoying Yellow Tail then its time to open your eye's. I know you are thrifty but there are good wines and bad ones. An expensive red may have a big dry tannic after taste. Don't confuse this with bad taste that cheap reds usually offer.

I suggest you start with well known value names and cross check them with the Wine Spectator ratings. Years matter as one wine that is 10$ may be value one year and crap the next. Also, rule 2 is that cost is only a guide. Many well known expensive wines suck. The deal is that they are prestigious and even in a bad year cant just put out a wine that is cheap. This happens more in Europe where the climate varies. A bad Rothchilds is really bad but still 50-100 a bottle.

Since you said heavy Reds are not your thing, consider it may be that you have not had a good one.

But some names for reds to consider.

Grapes/Vinyards

Zin "the red kind" can be affordable and good. but mosty 10-20$ or more

Pedrocelli
Renwood
Ravenswood
Ridge $$

Alternatives

Renwood Barbera

Go foreign too

Barbera
Dolcetto

Value domestic

Kiona
Hogue
Columbia anything

Also try in the whites

Chenin Blanc
... my favorite is Chapellet "Old vine cuvee" 13$ if that

Voignier spell check

And a must is to visit ABC vinyard in Santa Barbarra!!! Au Bon Climat

Great wines you can taste for free and an Hippie owner with a super model wife.

 

[fhmesq44]

QL, Dub is right, you should try some higher quality wine that has some age to it. Young cheap wines often are very tannic, hot on the mouth and therefore come off as bitter. There are a lot of shitty expensive wines, but if you get a nice win with some age to it the tannins will have mellowed and you will get an entirely different experience to drinking an 06 Yellow Tail Shiraz. Even if it still has a lot of tannin, it will be entirely different than the tannins of the young Yellow Tail.

 

[Dubpoet]

A good Tuscan Chianti or Chianti blend is one of the most under rated wines around. 30$ can get you some of the best wine on the planet from Italy. 1997 Has some of the world's best Tuscans. I have enjoyed many. Again you need to check the ratings and find a good one. They can get $$$$. My favorite was 1997 Tignanello, now a cool 160 a bottle if you can find one. I was in at 62$ for a 6 pack and sad to see it go. Read up and find a good one in the 2000's and get two. Drink one with at least 10 minutes air time and drink the other one in 4 years.

California is now growing great Tuscan blends too. Shaeffer Firebreak is one but $$ like 30-40.

 

[fhmesq44]

A good Tuscan Chianti or Chianti blend is one of the most under rated wines around. 30$ can get you some of the best wine on the planet from Italy. 1997 Has some of the world's best Tuscans. I have enjoyed many. Again you need to check the ratings and find a good one. They can get $$$$. My favorite was 1997 Tignanello, now a cool 160 a bottle if you can find one. I was in at 62$ for a 6 pack and sad to see it go. Read up and find a good one in the 2000's and get two. Drink one with at least 10 minutes air time and drink the other one in 4 years.

California is now growing great Tuscan blends too. Shaeffer Firebreak is one but $$ like 30-40.

Love Brunellos. I have had the 97 Tignanello as well and it was fantastic. I have some 97 and 99 Frescobaldi's at home, still haven't cracked one. Suppose I should to see how it is. Bunch of others as well and plan to buy more soon. The Chiantis are much more reasonably priced though and often very nice.

QL, you should also get a vintage chart to put in your wallet. Wine Spectator and Robert Parker have them, it won't give you ratings for each individual wine, but it will give you the overall rating for a vintage by region. While this won't tell you whether or not you are buying a good wine you will at least know it is a decent vintage. I can email it to you if you wish, it is pdf otherwise I would upload.

 

[roach23]

You guys are getting high class up in here. I'm a degenerate gambler looking to get a cheap buzz of $5 bottles of wine from Trader Joes. If anyone has any suggestions that fit my preference, let me know.

 

[Dubpoet]

My dad went to Tuscany in 1995 and I gave him a list of wines to get. I also told him to drive down to Brunello. He got the just out 1990 Biondi Santi Brunello Riserva for 80$, now priceless! 2 bottles and it wasn't even on my list since it was just out.. We had fun drinking them. Frescabaldi Nippizano is sweet on the good years! And for rookies Frescabaldi is the no.1 land owner in Tuscany. Chianti/Sangiovese blends well with Cabernet and will be the great wine of the future IMO! A straight Chianti offers vary more than Merlot with fruit and compexity!

 

[Dubpoet]

You guys are getting high class up in here. I'm a degenerate gambler looking to get a cheap buzz of $5 bottles of wine from Trader Joes. If anyone has any suggestions that fit my preference, let me know.

At your level, you want a sweet wine from Germany. 6-8$ Reisling. Make sure its sweet!

 

[Shea]

Thunderbird about 2 bucks a gallon...anybody else remember those days?

 

[brutusthebuckeye+]

try bogle
pinot nior or merlot.very nice flavor for under 20$

 

[LEYKIS101]

Some very good beers at Trader Joes too. I'm a big fan of Mission St. Pale Ale.

 

[roach23]

At your level, you want a sweet wine from Germany. 6-8$ Reisling. Make sure its sweet!

I'm not a sweet wine fan though. Got any suggestions for wines that taste ok (not really sweet), give you a buzz, but you won't wake up the next day with a headache and nasty dry mouth?

 

[Dubpoet]

I am high on Mont Pelllier Pinot Nior. I get it at a restaurant where I work. I am not sure if its in the State stores in Pa. Roach thats the one to find should be 10$. If not around try that Chapellet Old Vine Cuvee Chenin Blanc which is in the Pa Stores. Its not sweet but not as dry as a Chardonnay.

 

[quantumleap]

I will do my best not to come off like some wine snob ass hole in this post. Anyone that tells you there is no difference between a good $15 bottle and a good $50 bottle, even to an unrefined palate is lying. That isn't to say there aren't good bottles of wine under $20, there are many. There are also many bottles over $50 that aren't very good.

What I meant to say was that someone with an unrefined palate probably couldn't tell the difference between a $15 wine and a $50 wine. I didn't mean to infer that they were equal in any way.

Thing to remember with wine is that it is all personal preference, whatever varietal, vintage and producer you like is all up to you. That is why it is tough to give advice on wine, what I like may not be what you like. Personally, I would only cook with most of the wine they sell at Trader Joe's. They have made a conscious decision to sell low priced wine and there probably is some decent stuff there.

This is true of cigars and beers and anything else you taste. Taste is in the tongue of the taster.

I think BevMo (www.bevmo.com) has a better selection and equally good prices. They also have a large selection of affordable wines and great deals on wines. One of their sales is buy one bottle and get the second for a penny. Not everything in the store, but typically a lot of their $20 and under bottles. They are all over California. I buy most of my stuff there, from K&L (www.klwines.com) and Wine Club (www.thewineclub.com). K&L is located in Redwood City and just opened a store in LA, Wine Club is in SF, San Jose and Santa Ana. Both stores have great prices and amazing selection.

I love BevMo. I even have a BevMo card. I usually go there for their Belgian beers since I don't know which of their wines are the best. I'll try the wine club too. There should be one near where I work.

If you are serious, you should keep tasting notes to compare what you thought say two years ago against the same bottle. It will give you an idea how long you may want to lay down future vintages of the same wine. You should also store your wine properly, fluctuating temperatures ruins wine and warmer than ideal temperatures (53-58 being ideal) will age wine quicker. Plus, once you start drinking wine at appropriate temps (53-58 for red and, depending on the varietal of white, colder), you won't want to drink it at the room temp that most people serve reds.

I didn't know that about the ideal temps aging wine quicker.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[quantumleap]

A good Tuscan Chianti or Chianti blend is one of the most under rated wines around. 30$ can get you some of the best wine on the planet from Italy. 1997 Has some of the world's best Tuscans. I have enjoyed many. Again you need to check the ratings and find a good one. They can get $$$$. My favorite was 1997 Tignanello, now a cool 160 a bottle if you can find one. I was in at 62$ for a 6 pack and sad to see it go. Read up and find a good one in the 2000's and get two. Drink one with at least 10 minutes air time and drink the other one in 4 years.

California is now growing great Tuscan blends too. Shaeffer Firebreak is one but $$ like 30-40.

I'm glad you mentioned Chiantis. I love a glass of Chianti with my meal at Maggiano's. They have some of the best sauce there and the wine is a good compliment to it.

:thumbsup:

 

[patsrule]

I agree completely, quantumleap.

 

[Dubpoet]

Q, do go to ABC. The wife is so hot and worth it.

 

[Seymour]

Love Brunellos. I have had the 97 Tignanello as well and it was fantastic. I have some 97 and 99 Frescobaldi's at home, still haven't cracked one. Suppose I should to see how it is. Bunch of others as well and plan to buy more soon. The Chiantis are much more reasonably priced though and often very nice.

QL, you should also get a vintage chart to put in your wallet. Wine Spectator and Robert Parker have them, it won't give you ratings for each individual wine, but it will give you the overall rating for a vintage by region. While this won't tell you whether or not you are buying a good wine you will at least know it is a decent vintage. I can email it to you if you wish, it is pdf otherwise I would upload.

I love any of these super tuscans - and I love a Tig too - but these guys were talking value - I think they mean under $20.

 

[quantumleap]

Q, do go to ABC. The wife is so hot and worth it.

Dub:

I have next week off. I may have to drive up the coast.

I'll take pictures.

 

[fhmesq44]

BevMo usually has the Parker and Wine Spectator ratings on the price labels for their wine. Anything 85 and up and under $20 is a pretty good value for your money. They also tend to have fairly knowledgeable employees that can help you out. You will definitely find better wines, but still at good prices, at bevmo.

 

[Beanne]

Ravenwoods Red Zinfindel would be a good "starter" red wine if you are transitioning from blushes.