Wine check!

[BellaBellucci]

About six months ago I started drinking white wine and now I can't get enough. I love Rieslings and Pinot Grigios in particular. I also love a good Chardonnay. Do you prefer white or red, and which varieties do you prefer?

~BB~

[TheGuard]

I'm Italian (ancestry-wise) so I've been drinking wine the better part of my 28 years on earth - I prefer a red, though whites pair better with certain foods. I generally reach for a good Pinot Noir, Cab Sav, or Chianti Classico. Best wine I've ever had was in a small Italian town, home made wine with no sulfates so drink we did and the hangover never followed, fantastic.

[Ecstatic]

Never been a fan of white wine at all. For reds, I favor Pinot Noir, Syrah, or Merlot.

[BellaBellucci]

I'm Italian (ancestry-wise) so I've been drinking wine the better part of my 28 years on earth - I prefer a red, though whites pair better with certain foods. I generally reach for a good Pinot Noir, Cab Sav, or Chianti Classico. Best wine I've ever had was in a small Italian town, home made wine with no sulfates so drink we did and the hangover never followed, fantastic.

Hangwhat now? I don't get those. ;)

~BB~

[msbhaven]

I prefer red. I usually try to stick with Merlot, or a nice Pinor Noir. And I normally make it a point to try and buy French wine. I like B&G or Louis Jadot the most. Oh and I never drink wine without having good food to pair with it. If you don't have good food to go with your wine it's like having no apple pie to go with your vanilla ice cream.

[trish]

It all depends on what else I might be eating or doing, but on a summer day, reading out under the dappled shade, you will likely find me sipping a cold Riesling...that is if I'm drinking wine...more likely you'll find me nursing a Mojito, or a Kahlua iced latte.

[GrimFusion]

Shrimp and white wine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP97PPTufJA

[bulldog]

If you ever need a recommendation, its what I do for a living currently is helping people find their way around Wine, Liquor and Beer. Been selling it for the better part of 5 years.

[jimbo1974]

Ill drink any old shite to be honest.

My only requirements are : Does it have a screw cap ? Is it under a fiver ?

[GroobySteven]

Love my wine - all of it but preference is red but especially Port.

Bella try something like Sauvignon Blanc or a Semillion for something a bit different. More minerally, less sweet than the Chardonney's and more similar to the Grigio.

[GrimFusion]

Good news! It's not wine, but I mustered together $10 and picked up a sixer of 24oz Coors. Good thing, too. I'm completely out of smoke. Huzzah!

[maddygirl]

Mostly reds but I like both. I like White Merlot and Red Sangria :)

[Stavros]

If you ever need a recommendation, its what I do for a living currently is helping people find their way around Wine, Liquor and Beer. Been selling it for the better part of 5 years.


Bulldog what do you think are the top rate US wines right now -and are they exported? I understand that after being criticised for being too bland, the California wine growers have raised their standards in order to compete.
Also, why are Italian wines outside Italy so disappointing?

The basics are simple: red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat, either for salads or vegetarian meals. I do not drink wine with Indian and most Asian food where the variety of flavours tends to clash with wine, although white works reasonably well with Chinese food, I usually drink jasmine tea with that food.

White
Gewurztraminer, from Alsace tends to divide opinion because it has a strong bouquet and spicy notes, but a really good one is versatile enough to go with all kinds of sea-food and fish; Pfaffenheim is particularly recommended.

Chablis -the problem is that the medium and lower-end are average in taste and unable to compete with the best, which is very expensive, but worth it.

Sauvignon Blanc -a good SB lingers on the tongue and goes well with fish. The best SB I have had in years is from New Zealand, Eradus, I think it was 2007 or 2008, there seems to be a division of opinion on how long a white should be kept before drinking. We drank Eradus with fish in one of the Hotel du Vin restaurants, and from the moment it touched our tongues it was a wonder.

New Zealand is currently one of the best producers of 'New World' wine, check out its sparkling wines which are much cheaper than Champagne but just as good, outside the top quartile.

Champagne
Dom Perignon, Bollinger and Pol Roger are favourites, and I also think Champagne is under-rated as an accompaniment to seafood.

RED

In recent years I have drunk less red wine, but when I have I have preferred to spend more than usual to get something worth the price. I can't afford to drink the Premier Cru of Bordeaux and find a lot of the medium and lower priced Claret lacking in distinction. With Reds it is really important to open the bottle several hours before drinking, I don't have a view on decantering wines, but allowing them to breathe makes a lot of difference to the outcome when it is poured for drinking.
The combination of price and interesting flavours has led me to:

Rioja -when choosing a Rioja, choose a Reserva, or Gran Reserva which means the wines are older and have spent more time in the barrel, unlike either plain Rioja or a Crianza (two years). Cote de Imaz is a superb Rioja with rich concoction of fruit and spice and a perfect partner for lamb or beef.

Ribera del Duero
Similar to Rioja but some will argue the best RdelD is better than Rioja, which seems a bit precious to me. Hard though it might be to believe, the RDelD I liked most was bought in Marks & Spencer; heavy, rich, spicy and priced at £9.99 a bargain -they have sold out and dont seem to have renewed their contract, but its worth tracking down through a good supplier.

Argentina
The demand for quality wines from the 'New World' has enabled Argentina to develop its Malbec grape for a wider market. The wine is slightly less robust than the best Claret or Rioja, but has elegance and is great with rich red meats. Best when left to breathe for between 4-8 hours at room temperature.

Many years ago I wandered into a trattoria in Genoa and ordered a plate of pasta and a half bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. What I got was a dish or the simplest tagliatelle with a meat sauce (presumably a bolognese) so perfect I have never forgotten it, it is one of those ridiculously simple foods bursting with ripe flavours that makes Italy such a welcome place to eat; the wine came chilled -something I have never done with a red, but it was heaven, and I have never had a Montepulciano as good as that one which makes me wonder if the best Italian wine is ever exported; or it could just be the ambience of the country, the air, or something.

Buon Gusto!

[phillyguy21]

I'll drink either, but I definitely prefer red. My favorite is Merlot. I like dry wine, not too sweet.

[TheGuard]

Love my wine - all of it but preference is red but especially Port.

Bella try something like Sauvignon Blanc or a Semillion for something a bit different. More minerally, less sweet than the Chardonney's and more similar to the Grigio.

Good suggestion - when I go white I'm all about Sav Blanc.

[robertlouis]

About six months ago I started drinking white wine and now I can't get enough. I love Rieslings and Pinot Grigios in particular. I also love a good Chardonnay. Do you prefer white or red, and which varieties do you prefer?

~BB~

Bella, I presume the Pinot Grigio is Italian and from either the Veneto or the Alto Adige. This will cost a little more, but try Pinot Gris (same grape) from Alsace. Further north, cooler climate, grapes longer on the vine, altogether crisper. Alsace Riesling is also usually better than German - the best German wine tends to stay in the country. Heading for France in a couple of weeks and hope to bring a few cases of Alsace wine back with me. Also, Alsace Pinot Noir is fantastic with salmon, if you pop it in the fridge for twenty minutes and drink it "Frais" as the French say.

Salut!

[robertlouis]

Love my wine - all of it but preference is red but especially Port.

Bella try something like Sauvignon Blanc or a Semillion for something a bit different. More minerally, less sweet than the Chardonney's and more similar to the Grigio.

Shit Seanchai - you've got wifi in Devon? Bloody well done!

[robertlouis]

Good news! It's not wine, but I mustered together $10 and picked up a sixer of 24oz Coors. Good thing, too. I'm completely out of smoke. Huzzah!

You're fallible after all, Grim. Come over to Europe and we'll teach you all about real beer. :party::cheers:

[Dino Velvet]

About six months ago I started drinking white wine and now I can't get enough. I love Rieslings and Pinot Grigios in particular. I also love a good Chardonnay. Do you prefer white or red, and which varieties do you prefer?

~BB~

What type of wine goes with Blue Dream?

http://www.medicalmarijuanastrains.com/wp-content/uploads/tdomf/10804/blue%20dream%20weed-578x360.jpg

[robertlouis]

Anything in a jug at $1.99 lol.

[BellaBellucci]

Shrimp and white wine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP97PPTufJA

Mmmmm! Shriiiiiimmmp! :)


Bella try something like Sauvignon Blanc or a Semillion for something a bit different. More minerally, less sweet than the Chardonney's and more similar to the Grigio.

I'll do that, but it'll have to be at home mostly I think. You can get a decent Sauv Blanc in a restaurant in L.A., but White Zin, Riesling, Chardonnay, seem to be most common here. I've never even heard of Semillion, so a lot of wines are tough to come by unless you buy it in a store by the bottle. Next time I'm at BevMo I'll check it out though.


What type of wine goes with Blue Dream?

http://www.medicalmarijuanastrains.com/wp-content/uploads/tdomf/10804/blue%20dream%20weed-578x360.jpg

Jack Daniel's. :dancing:

~BB~

[onmyknees]

About six months ago I started drinking white wine and now I can't get enough. I love Rieslings and Pinot Grigios in particular. I also love a good Chardonnay. Do you prefer white or red, and which varieties do you prefer?

~BB~



Enjoy a dry red ( Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon even Chianti) with quality Italian marinara dishes and white when dining on Alaskan salmon, Halibut or any fish really...but only a glass. I never thought of wine in terms drinking it in any quantity. I know some women who do, and they get mighty fucked up, and mighty aggressive! Do you indulge Bella...or over indulge? lol

[BellaBellucci]

Enjoy a dry red ( Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon even Chianti) with quality Italian marinara dishes and white when dining on Alaskan salmon, Halibut or any fish really...but only a glass. I never thought of wine in terms drinking it in any quantity. I know some women who do, and they get mighty fucked up, and mighty aggressive! Do you indulge Bella...or over indulge? lol

Let's just say I think nothing of drinking an entire bottle and leave it at that, shall we? :lol:

~BB~

[irvin66]

It depends on the food served, I drink both red and white wine. Some recommendations on what kind of wine is hard to say. But it must match the food. :geek:

[onmyknees]

Let's just say I think nothing of drinking an entire bottle and leave it at that, shall we? :lol:

~BB~

Hmmm. Ok I won't press you further, but you drinking a bottle of red leads me to think of Pino envy ! :salad

[Dino Velvet]

Wine check > Whine... Cheeeeeeeeeeeck!

[Erika1487]

My great grandfather June used to make some damn good watermelon wine! Personally I would rather have red wine than white.

[ditadior]

Red always.

I like white with Turkey or if someone offers me a glass and nothing else is there. :salad

Merlot or Shiraz please.
I'm a major fan of Australian Wine.

I love Lindmans, Yellow Tail, Eagle Hawk, and Jackson Trigs, and I loved Road 21 or whatever it was called but I can't find it anymore.

Wine, tequila, scotch, and whisky. Never can complain. And the occasional beer.

[bulldog]

Bulldog what do you think are the top rate US wines right now -and are they exported? I understand that after being criticised for being too bland, the California wine growers have raised their standards in order to compete.
Also, why are Italian wines outside Italy so disappointing?

The basics are simple: red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat, either for salads or vegetarian meals. I do not drink wine with Indian and most Asian food where the variety of flavours tends to clash with wine, although white works reasonably well with Chinese food, I usually drink jasmine tea with that food.

White
Gewurztraminer, from Alsace tends to divide opinion because it has a strong bouquet and spicy notes, but a really good one is versatile enough to go with all kinds of sea-food and fish; Pfaffenheim is particularly recommended.

Chablis -the problem is that the medium and lower-end are average in taste and unable to compete with the best, which is very expensive, but worth it.

Sauvignon Blanc -a good SB lingers on the tongue and goes well with fish. The best SB I have had in years is from New Zealand, Eradus, I think it was 2007 or 2008, there seems to be a division of opinion on how long a white should be kept before drinking. We drank Eradus with fish in one of the Hotel du Vin restaurants, and from the moment it touched our tongues it was a wonder.

New Zealand is currently one of the best producers of 'New World' wine, check out its sparkling wines which are much cheaper than Champagne but just as good, outside the top quartile.

Champagne
Dom Perignon, Bollinger and Pol Roger are favourites, and I also think Champagne is under-rated as an accompaniment to seafood.

RED

In recent years I have drunk less red wine, but when I have I have preferred to spend more than usual to get something worth the price. I can't afford to drink the Premier Cru of Bordeaux and find a lot of the medium and lower priced Claret lacking in distinction. With Reds it is really important to open the bottle several hours before drinking, I don't have a view on decantering wines, but allowing them to breathe makes a lot of difference to the outcome when it is poured for drinking.
The combination of price and interesting flavours has led me to:

Rioja -when choosing a Rioja, choose a Reserva, or Gran Reserva which means the wines are older and have spent more time in the barrel, unlike either plain Rioja or a Crianza (two years). Cote de Imaz is a superb Rioja with rich concoction of fruit and spice and a perfect partner for lamb or beef.

Ribera del Duero
Similar to Rioja but some will argue the best RdelD is better than Rioja, which seems a bit precious to me. Hard though it might be to believe, the RDelD I liked most was bought in Marks & Spencer; heavy, rich, spicy and priced at £9.99 a bargain -they have sold out and dont seem to have renewed their contract, but its worth tracking down through a good supplier.

Argentina
The demand for quality wines from the 'New World' has enabled Argentina to develop its Malbec grape for a wider market. The wine is slightly less robust than the best Claret or Rioja, but has elegance and is great with rich red meats. Best when left to breathe for between 4-8 hours at room temperature.

Many years ago I wandered into a trattoria in Genoa and ordered a plate of pasta and a half bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. What I got was a dish or the simplest tagliatelle with a meat sauce (presumably a bolognese) so perfect I have never forgotten it, it is one of those ridiculously simple foods bursting with ripe flavours that makes Italy such a welcome place to eat; the wine came chilled -something I have never done with a red, but it was heaven, and I have never had a Montepulciano as good as that one which makes me wonder if the best Italian wine is ever exported; or it could just be the ambience of the country, the air, or something.

Buon Gusto!

Agreed with the basics, then you also have the weirder meals that go both ways, like pork and such lol

My best suggestion to people is drink what you love, not what rules tell you to, if you are a true red wine fanatic, and absolutely loathe whites, then no amount of meals are gonna persuade you to like them or even tolerate them.

As for top US wines, Cabernets from Napa are of course a favorite of mine, Pinot's from Oregon, and Rieslings from Washington. Those are the wines that are making the biggest splash inside and outside the US as of right now. It will depend on the brand though on whether they are exported, being from Wisconsin myself, it gets harder to find out whether a certain company exports something outside the US without calling up the winery themselves lol.

And I have had some very good Italian Wines, Chianti's, Montepulciano's, Pinot Grigio's and Presseco's, all sold in the store I work at. But I will agree, you do have to usually go higher end, borderline reserve to get quality when it comes to Italian wines, it gets much harder to find a bargain wine when shopping for wines from this country.

As for other countries,
Carmeneres from Chile, (Havent explored them too much, but they are quite up and coming with the rest of South American wines)

Malbec's and Torrentes from Argentina (Gascon and Trapiche are probably two of my favorites for Malbecs),
Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand (Kim Crawford, Nobilo and Cloudy Bay are among some of the best),

Montepulciano's and Presecco's from Italy (Ruffino for Presseco, but my favorite by far is Santa Margherita, who also make a great Pinot Grigio), they also have some more niche type wines worth looking into like Bordalino and such,
Cabernet Sauvignon (I have to go with Louis Martini Sonoma for a relatively inexpensive one, and Napa for a higher type, have also had the chance to try Silver Oak, Twenty Four, BV Georges de Latour, and Cupcake, which are all fairly higher end.)

Pinot Noir's (Some of the best I have had are from Oregon region, such as AtoZ and Erath, however I have also had others such as La Crema that really impressed me as well.)

Pinot Grigio's (Again the Oregon ones really stand out, King Estates is a very good bottle, but Italy also comes roaring back with some great Pinot's like Santa Margherita)

Champagne (I tend not to go overboard with expenses when shopping for champagne, I have had some very good 20-30 dollar bottles that impressed me more than the 100-200 dollar bottles, Domaine Carneros, Vueve Cliquot and such have been long time favorites, and Martini and Rossi Asti when I have my sweet tooth on, as the same time I have had some really good higher end ones too such as some Krug's, Dom, Perrier Jouet and more that their names escape me.

Rieslings, (best in the world in my opinion come from Washington and Germany, I have a decent sweet tooth, so when I have to sate it, I go with Rieslings or Moscato D'Asti's)

Shiraz/Syrah (Hands down Australia, they just have this grape down pat and have been hammering it out on a consistent basis.)

Chardonnay (I have a knack for going with Sonoma region of California when coming to Chardonnay's, Kendall Jackson is of course a favorite, however you can find decent ones even lower priced and of course much better ones at a higher price, such as Rombaur (spelling?) and Cupcake.)


More to follow when I dont have people bugging me to go out and hit the bars with them!

[Baileyluv]

What type of wine goes with Blue Dream?

http://www.medicalmarijuanastrains.com/wp-content/uploads/tdomf/10804/blue%20dream%20weed-578x360.jpg


no wine, i like a lil gods gift or luke skywalker, with my blue dream:werd:

[ditadior]

no wine, i like a lil gods gift or luke skywalker, with my blue dream:werd:

What the fuck is that blue dream, I'm scared...:yayo:

[Baileyluv]

About six months ago I started drinking white wine and now I can't get enough. I love Rieslings and Pinot Grigios in particular. I also love a good Chardonnay. Do you prefer white or red, and which varieties do you prefer?

~BB~

if your enjoying those, you might also try a moscato, or a late harvest sauvigon blanc, with maybe a rasberry lemon cheesecake.

[bulldog]

Moscato yes, Sauv Blanc, not so much, they have an extremely citrusy flavor to them, think grape fruit.

Try a Moscato, or better yet Moscato D'Asti, if not that, Spatlese Riesling from Germany, and if you like it even sweeter, Auslese. And if you ever prefer a tiny bit of spiciness to your food and wine with the sweetness, try Gewurztraminer (late harvest for a sweeter variety)

[Stavros]

As for top US wines, Cabernets from Napa are of course a favorite of mine, Pinot's from Oregon, and Rieslings from Washington. Those are the wines that are making the biggest splash inside and outside the US as of right now. It will depend on the brand though on whether they are exported, being from Wisconsin myself, it gets harder to find out whether a certain company exports something outside the US without calling up the winery themselves lol.



Thanks for the tips, I was not aware of the Oregon and Washington state wines, will investigate.