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  • Wine Info Exchange

    I was just wondering if anyone else might be interested in using this forum to exchange wine information and ideas. I used to read and post on Craig's List, but now CL has become such a cesspool of people who aren't using the forums for their intended purpose. Maybe we can exchange info on wines we like and dislike; wines we tried; new wines; good cheap wines; good expensive wines; wine jokes; etc. etc. etc.

  • #2
    Re: Wine Info Exchange

    Great idea!
    "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
    – Sydney J. Harris

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    • #3
      Re: Wine Info Exchange

      I stick with Barefoot of all flavors about 90% of the time. They are the best value out there that I am aware of. The sauvignon blanc is a bit sour but is the least likely to give me or my guests a hangover. I also like Barefoot champagne and Cooks champagne.
      I do on occasion enjoy some expensive wine like Silver Oak or a nice Sterling but any expensive champagne is wasted on me.
      What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. – Christopher Hitchens

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      • #4
        Re: Wine Info Exchange

        I tend to prefer aged wines, so I doubt my input would be of much use. For instance, I had a bottle of Green Hungarian by Wente that was kept for 12 years. When I finally drank it, it was like the nectar of the gods. That's not going to help anyone, I fear.
        May I always be found beneath your contempt.

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        • #5
          Re: Wine Info Exchange

          So there were a few people who shared some comments. I appreciate that, since I am always looking for info on wines. Like I said, CL used to be a good place, but now it is filled with trolls and A-holes!

          Let me give it a shot and share some info. Maybe this will get some thoughts going ...... wine drinking and tasting is a personal thing; everyone's palate is different. However, it seems interesting that most people who are not wine connoissuers cannot tell the difference between good wines and not-so-good wines. Maybe it is a developed taste kind of thing -- the same phenomena happens with drinking scotch whiskey. Most people like scotches like Cutty Sark, J&B, Glen Livet (SM) and Glen Fiddich (SM). But those scotches are not matched with my palate, and I don't care for them.

          Now with wines, I prefer full-bodied reds, so that is what I will comment on. In the last two/three years, I have bought and cellared some pretty good stuff, like 2004 Orneillaia (Super Tuscan), 2004 Berringer Special Reserve Cabernet, 2005 Casa Lapostelle Clos Apalta, and others (if anyone is interested, I can provide tasting notes). These were all great with the Orneillaia being the best in my opinion, but these are rather pricey.

          I have also had some cheaper one that I would recommend to anyone who likes good wine but is on a strict budget -- like the 2006 Las Rocas Garnacha ($11), the 2007 Casa Lapostelle Cab ($7), and the 2005 Vinlos Sin-Ley M5 ($12). And I have tried some pretty bad ones too.

          I like the good stuff to share with friends who like and appreciate good wines, but I drink the economy stuff most of the time -- cannot afford 3/4 bottles of $150 wine each week.

          Anyone have any comments or info to share with the others?

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          • #6
            Re: Wine Info Exchange

            Again, I doubt I could offer much of interest to this discussion since you mention 2004 to 2007 wines that I believe cannot be fully or properly assessed for some years to come. I'm just rounding off my 1990's wines and won't disturb a red less than 6 years in bottle. I look for affordable makers catering to my older wine preference, but the industry is moving away from it.

            There used to be a winery run by Jesuit brothers in Los Gatos, CA called Novitiate...
            May I always be found beneath your contempt.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Wine Info Exchange

              Originally posted by StinkyTheGrump View Post
              I stick with Barefoot of all flavors about 90% of the time. They are the best value out there that I am aware of..
              LOOOOOOOOOVE Barefoot wine. We pay about $6/7 per bottle here in Mexico and as little as $5.50 in California. What do you pay? But we get some great inexpensive wines from Chile and Argentina here in Mexico. Oh, another favorite is some of the Concha yToro brand (as good as Barefoot, at same price point)

              Try this for a great tastng, inexpensive champagne (yes, from the champagne region of France) - Pol Remy (we prefer the Brut). We pay about $7 per bottle and we think it holds up well against a Dom.

              We aren't wine snobs, we drink what we like. Had a Postales Malbec at a friends casa Saturday night - yum, yum - don't know what she paid, but she bought a case of it.
              Last edited by matapule; January 25, 2010, 08:55 AM.
              Peace, Love, and Local Grindz

              People who form FIRM opinions with so little knowledge only pretend to be open-minded. They select their facts like food from a buffet. David R. Dow

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              • #8
                Re: Wine Info Exchange

                As a fan of the fizzy, I'm glad to see that Prosecco is catching on in the U.S.; it's been a delicious and affordable sparkling wine for us for many years.

                Beyond that, my tastes tend to run to reds that have a bit of a peppery snap, such as Montepulciano and Sangiovese. The Alpha Female likes mellower reds, so one nice surprise was finding a wine we both liked - a simple Greek blend, the Makedonikos Red.

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                • #9
                  Re: Wine Info Exchange

                  I'm going to watch this thread with interest. I won't have anything to offer because of my lack of taste and smell (any ol' wine is fine with me!) but I often take a bottle of wine to a dinner party. I try not to make "A" with my choices!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Wine Info Exchange

                    Originally posted by matapule View Post
                    LOOOOOOOOOVE Barefoot wine. We pay about $6/7 per bottle here in Mexico and as little as $5.50 in California. What do you pay? But we get some great inexpensive wines from Chile and Argentina here in Mexico. Oh, another favorite is some of the Concha yToro brand (as good as Barefoot, at same price point)

                    Try this for a great tastng, inexpensive champagne (yes, from the champagne region of France) - Pol Remy (we prefer the Brut). We pay about $7 per bottle and we think it holds up well against a Dom.
                    I pay $9.50 for a 1.5 L bottle since I mix n match and buy them by the case. I'll have to check to see if I can find that Pol Remy next time I go to the package store.
                    What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. – Christopher Hitchens

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Wine Info Exchange

                      The last couple of bottles we tried were pretty good -- Penfolds Cabernet Savignon and Shiraz Cabernet, from Australia. They were decent budget wines, about $6 or $7 from Longs.

                      We have about ten bottles of misc. reds hiding in a closet... I don't remember what they are, but some have been there for ten years.

                      We also like this port called Fonseca Porto Bin No. 27, just $17 from Costco.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Wine Info Exchange

                        Originally posted by salmoned View Post
                        Again, I doubt I could offer much of interest to this discussion since you mention 2004 to 2007 wines that I believe cannot be fully or properly assessed for some years to come. I'm just rounding off my 1990's wines and won't disturb a red less than 6 years in bottle. I look for affordable makers catering to my older wine preference, but the industry is moving away from it.

                        There used to be a winery run by Jesuit brothers in Los Gatos, CA called Novitiate...
                        ================================================== ==
                        I don't have much experience buying young, unproven wines and cellaring them for a long time, then drinking them later. Maybe that works, but I don't have the patience. I generally follow the recommendations regarding "drink or hold" regarding the vintage from the experts. I also use the website "Cellar Tracker" to see what the hundreds of other tasting notes are on a particular vintage or wine is. I find that Cellar Tracker's users notes are generally pretty good, especially since there are so many users/tasters posting their own notes (of course there are always some that don't seem to match up with the majority). I also find that two wine rating sources work well for me, those being Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate (Robert Parker) .. those "tasters" palates seem to match-up well with mine. For those who might be interested, research a wine on the internet before your buy, especially if it is higher than $40/bottle.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Wine Info Exchange

                          Originally posted by matapule View Post
                          LOOOOOOOOOVE Barefoot wine. We pay about $6/7 per bottle here in Mexico and as little as $5.50 in California. What do you pay? But we get some great inexpensive wines from Chile and Argentina here in Mexico. Oh, another favorite is some of the Concha yToro brand (as good as Barefoot, at same price point)

                          Try this for a great tastng, inexpensive champagne (yes, from the champagne region of France) - Pol Remy (we prefer the Brut). We pay about $7 per bottle and we think it holds up well against a Dom.

                          We aren't wine snobs, we drink what we like. Had a Postales Malbec at a friends casa Saturday night - yum, yum - don't know what she paid, but she bought a case of it.
                          ================================================== =====
                          You have had better luck with Barefoot than me! The couple times I tried Barefoot, they were pretty bad. Even the one that won the Calif State Fair Gold Medal in 2007(??) tasted poor to me. I have had much better luck with Five Rivers Cabernet (an upstart Calif winery). Their 2005 Cab won the Gold Medal at the Calif State Fair and it was pretty good as far as $9.00 wines go.....to be expected it was watery and not very bold and deep, but what would you expect for a $9.00 bottle of wine ..... all in all, it was pretty good. But let me warn you, the 2006 Cab was pretty gross. So again, this goes to show that vintage does make a big difference.

                          And what winery produces the Concha Y Toro that you like? I am not sure, but I think that Concha Y Toro is a wine type and not a producer. Don Melchor winery in Chile produces some Concha Y Toro that is pretty good, but again vintage makes a big difference. Most of their stuff is rated at less than 90 points, but their 2005 cab was rated at 96 points by WS and their 2006 was also rated at 95 points --- pretty good stuff; I have had both and their pricing is fair at about $65 per bottle.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Wine Info Exchange

                            Originally posted by tutusue View Post
                            I'm going to watch this thread with interest. I won't have anything to offer because of my lack of taste and smell (any ol' wine is fine with me!) but I often take a bottle of wine to a dinner party. I try not to make "A" with my choices!
                            ==================================================
                            I think that taking a bottle of wine to a party or dinner as a gift for the host/hostess is very nice and good thing to do. I can appreciate your comment about not making A with your choices. While I think that making A is probably too strong a sentiment, it is good that you are concerned. Taking a wine that is crappy as a gift is probably not the way to go -- the host/hostess will never tell you that it was bad; they will always smile and say thank you. And if you ask them later if they liked the wine, they will always say it was great, even if they poured it down the sink.

                            Just like going to a pot-luck dinner. You can alway make something inexpensive or buy something inexpensive, but those people who take a quart of cheap, generic, ready-made potato salad from the supermarket, or who buy a cannister or cheap, crappy cookies to take don't realize that the others are looking at them funny (or maybe they don't care).

                            And another piece of advice, don't ask the wine buyer or wine shop manager if one of their wines is any good. They will always tell you that the wine is good, even if it isn't. There are some managers who will ask you what your budget is, and ask you what your taste in wines is, and then make a decent recommendation. But don't just take a bottle to them and ask if this is any good -- they will also say it is.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Wine Info Exchange

                              Originally posted by Expat Kamaaina View Post
                              Taking a wine that is crappy as a gift is probably not the way to go.
                              I recall a business acquaintance of mine telling me the following story. He received a beautifully wrapped Christmas present from someone he was considering hiring as a consultant. He said the package must have been wrapped by one of those professional wrapping services and the packaging alone had to cost $15 or more! He thought, "what a nice gesture, my business must be worth a lot to you." Inside the package...............a bottle of two buck!

                              Bada Bing!
                              Last edited by matapule; January 26, 2010, 05:25 AM.
                              Peace, Love, and Local Grindz

                              People who form FIRM opinions with so little knowledge only pretend to be open-minded. They select their facts like food from a buffet. David R. Dow

                              Comment

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