Advice on Wine?

[chrisoff]

Try a bottle of Casillero del Diablo if you have it your end.

Seconded.

Very nice and reasonably priced reds. A regular in my shopping trolley along with Cono Sur Pinot Noir (a red for those who don't really like red) and other Chilean offerings.

The one piece of advice I can impart, which may not apply as I don't know if the UK is alone in this selling practice, is to avoid stuff that's reduced in price. The big supermarkets and booze shops here have a habit of reguarly reducing large amounts of wine to make it fly off the shelves. The problem is that the stuff they are reducing is almost always a wine that's real value lies at the reduced price, not the original one. You'll often find the same bottles on special offer in every shop.

You get what you pay for basically, if you want to drink a £7 bottle of wine, buy one. Don't buy something priced at £3 and hope for the best.


Also I can't encourage you enough to ignore ChasR's post earlier. There are some perfectly drinkable Australians, Italians (Italy has some great wines!), Shiraz and Rose. Try a few and make your own mind up.

[izzarina]

Australian* There's a reason it's called 'Yellow Tail'.

Vindicated. Whew. Everytime el esposo hikes it over to the corner vino store, I say "but NOT Yellowtail!."
Invariably he comes back with another 1.5 L Yellowtail and, more tolerably, a Lindeman's of the same size.
Luckily, since the weather is getting crisper, I've segued into my red wine temperament and can largely ignore the Roo peepee. (Nuts. That was a flagrant violation of the Pepsi rule, I just know it.)

I have never understood how people really like Yellow Tail. I think it's horrible. So I'm right there with you....luckily for me, my "el esposo" is more of a wine snob than I am, so he never brings it home.

I used to really hate red wine, but I found that it was because I was drinking substandard stuff (Gallo just doesn't cut it in the red department...). You don't always have to pay a lot of money for a good bottle of wine, but you do have to at least get out of the boxed stuff, and away from the bargain basement variety. Right now, my favorite red is a Spanish Granache, which of course I can't remember the name of to save my life. It's not terribly expensive, but it's a really good bottle of wine.

Most of the time, I have a glass of Pinot Grigio. It's dry, but still has some fruity notes. The Bella Sera isn't bad...that tends to be what I buy most regularly.

This while thread reminds me that I need to get some wine. Thanks, James!

[I.D.10-t]

Keep some 3X5 cards. On them write down the name of the maker, the type of wine, and perhaps the year.

Describe what you like and don't like on them.

Woody, sweet, dry, fruity, heavy, crisp, etc.

Once you see a pattern emerging, you can throw the cards away and buy what you like.

Although, I just get Black Box or Hardys wine in a box these days. Cheap, we enjoy it, can open it and not have to worry about finishing a bottle.

[peeplj]

That brings up another, related question.

I'm reading up on wine, and apparently there are a variety of opinions on how long a bottle of wine can be kept once opened, everything from "a week or more if you refrigerate it," to "it must be finished in the same evening or throw it away."

Thoughts on that?

Thanks for all the great replies--great info! Keep 'em coming!

--James

[Denny]

if it breathes too long it will die

varies a bit, eh

taste it, if it seems okay drink it

[dwest]

I use a vac-vin system to lengthen time but there is some debate about it's effectiveness, luckily the vac-vin can also be used to pressure laminate wood. But I have had some good reds that I think were still good after a week using that system. Whites last longer in the fridge assuming they aren't s sparkle-ling.

[Innocent Bystander]

That brings up another, related question.

I'm reading up on wine, and apparently there are a variety of opinions on how long a bottle of wine can be kept once opened, everything from "a week or more if you refrigerate it," to "it must be finished in the same evening or throw it away."

Thoughts on that?

Depends on the wine (well, it would). Full-bodied red wine maybe a week. It depends on ambient temperature - cooler is better. The wine shops around here sell a little vacuum hand-pump thing with rubber stoppers which allegedly stops the wine from aerating after it's opened.
There are all sorts of stories about putting a spoon in the neck of a champagne bottle. This is nonsense. Champagne will stay fizzy for two or three days if it's kept in the bottle, even half empty.

The "finished in the same evening or throw it away" sounds like a plan if you intend to get your guests intoxicated. Throw it away? Here's a clue. When we was cycling in France, and staying two nights at each hotel, the waiters would put your name on the bottle and the cork back in the top and you could finish the bottle the following night. Maybe the *best* hotels don't do that, but it's a straw in the wind.

[BigDavy]

Why not peruse this site http://www.winemaking.com/ and learn to make your own.


My Methiglyn recipe :-

3kg of heather honey
3 litres of pear or apple juice
a champagne yeast and a burgandy yeast
2 sachets of yeast nutrient.
2 demijohns to make the wine in.

dilute the juice to make up 2 gallons of mixture then dissolve the honey into the mixture. Heating the mixture can help in dissolving the honey.
Add one sachet of yeast nutrient and the burgandy yeast to the mixture and then put it in the demijohns to ferment (note this can take some time).

When the fermentation finishes, decant about a pint of the contents of each demijohn into a container, add the yeast nutrient and the champagne yeast to the container and mix. Put the resulting mixture back into the demijohn and wait for the resulting fermentation to end and the wine to clear.

Please drink this responsibly (if you do it right it comes out sweet and lethal )

David

[Makar]

Hey Big Davy - you sound far too responsible to be living in Larkhall

Sounds nice though - knocked back with a wee buckfast chaser.

I should maybe post my Birch wine recipe - not too long before it can be started. At least come February 'ish' the trees can be tapped for sap with good result.

cheers
Stephen

[Aanvil]

for about a week I'd been trying to think up a 'controversial' topic that's neiter Politics or Religion...this is it...
well since everyone's spouting opinions I 'll chime in too:

(All 'IMHO')

Italian * Although there's SO much to love about Italian cuisine, its wine is just not in the running. sorry.

French *****. I'll drink any wine grown in France. any day. no matter what. with any food.

Austrailian* There's a reason it's called 'Yellow Tail'.

California ****. Almost, but not quite French.

Hungarian (Tokay) ***. yum. almost in the sherry category.

Spanish /Portugese***. Ususally their good wine goes into Sherry or porto, imo. They keep a little aside for drinking as wine, and it can be surprisingly good.

German/Austrian ( Gewirtztraminer) ***. Good, but gotta be in the right mood for it.

Shiraz * cough medicine.

Anything labeled: Zinfandel, Blush, rose: *. Another word for "we-mixed-a-$hitty-red+white-together-and-came-up-with-this-for-sale".

New Zealand (no stars) hahaha..yeh..right...

Medic!!!


You are just itchin' for a fight I just know it.




A bottle lasting more than one night?

Is that even possible?



Whites just get a cork and reds I have a vacuum topper and they go back in the wine fridge.

Just keep them in a dark cool spot and they might be good for another day or so. If I don't hate them but not too interested in them they go in the regular fridge and I'll cook with them. Still... they won't last very long.


Steve Shaw... that man drinks wine. I'd wager a large amount.

[pipersgrip]

I love Cab, but a lot of people who aren't used to wine prefer a Merlot. A great and affordable Merlot is Tin Roof, it is so good.

[peeplj]

A great and affordable Merlot is Tin Roof, it is so good.

Cool name!--I may have to try it just for the name if I can find any locally.

Sounds more like a beer name, goes right with "Fat Tire," "Turbo Dog," and the like.

--James

[SteveShaw]

Yep, Errazuriz, Cono Sur, Casillero...and Isla Negra, I nearly forgot. All good value wines from Chile. Argentina can be good too. There's a lovely brace here called Trapiche, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. Try Argento Malbec or Argento Bonarda. Malbec is almost the "national grape" of Argentina and it's usually good stuff. Trivento is another reliable brand. I've yet to encounter a Pinot Grigio or Viognier from South America that I didn't like. No-one's mentioned Rioja. I love a good 'un, brilliant with roast lamb. They range from pretty average to superb, so fish around. There is significant vanilla-ish wood in Rioja, but it shouldn't be overly tannic or repressive in a nice one.

[izzarina]

A bottle lasting more than one night?

Is that even possible?

Not in my house it isn't

[fel bautista]

No one has mentioned finding a wine merchant that hosts a weekly tasting. There is one near where I live and I've gotten to taste some really great wines. Can't afford them, but at least I had a taste.

I think their next tasting is "affordable daily wines", what ever that means.