Red Wine

[st_swithin]

Chinese food tastes better in China, but you can't get delivery ANYWHERE.

Italian food is definitely better in the states. I'm lucky that Little Italy is so freaking close to Chinatown.

[Straybow]

Yeah, but Chinese wine sucks.

[st_swithin]

Asians turn red when they drink alcohol because they're embarassed by that fact.


"Stop f**king with my goddamn rhinos!!"

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Dissident
come on!

surely some of you weenies drink something besides Zima . Or Smirnoff Ice

I can enjoy a semi-dry glass of white or red wine.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
As long as they leave Bordeaux alone.

Only the top châteaux, though

[Spiffor]

I have yet to find many, even Vin de Pays, that aren't at least drinkable. Now, for cheap crap, see Vin de Table, or Landwein/Tafelwein (sp) in Germany.

I confused both. I meant "Vin de Table"
While the huge majority of "vin de table" is crap, a few are of good quality, because they're done by professionals who love their job and who love wine (you'll have trouble finding them though )

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Spiffor
While the huge majority of "vin de table" is crap, a few are of good quality, because they're done by professionals who love their job and who love wine (you'll have trouble finding them though )

Indeed, we won't find them over here. Almost the only vin de table that they have over here are the cheap boxes of wine Since our tax is a flat fee per bottle, it isn't worth bringing over wine that is dirt cheap, as it still has to pay the same £2 odd tax every bottle does. It simply isn't worth the cost of importing it.

[-Jrabbit]

A wine thread.

I used to be like you, Dissident -- liked white, didn't "get" the red wine thing. They always seemed to give me a headache, left a weird taste in my mouth the next morning, etc. But that attitude changed dramatically about 10 or 12 years ago. Here's the key --

YOU *MUST* DRINK GOOD WINES. (This is true of white and red alike.) And you can get some pretty decent grape for $10 - 20 US$. Cheap wines inflict pain. A really good wine can be a pretty transcendent taste experience.

I'm now much more into reds than whites. Overall, they seem to have more complexity of flavor. Part of this is due to the fact that I generally drink wine with a dinner and I'm a meat-eater.

Overall, I tend to prefer drier wines (and thus, I don't share the love of zinfandel that several here espouse).

Faves -- cabernet, burgundy (btw there are some excellent white burgs...), merlot, and sometimes a syrah (a lighter blend). The great bargains in red wines are from Chile and Argentina. There are also some excellent Aussie wines, but they've been "discovered" so the bargains aren't as great as they were a few years back.

At the top end, French wines are king, but (cf several entries above) cheap French table wines are NOT the way to go.

It helps to have a friendly, even semi-knowledgeable clerk at your liquor store. (Even if they don't really know wine, they do know what their other customers buy on a repeating basis.) If your local booze shop is wine-impaired, stick with mid-priced California reds. Though not always outstanding, they are pretty dependably decent. Some excellent bargains still to be had.

I regard Italian wines as more of a crapshoot, and will [U]only{/U] have them "with dinner." I've had very uneven experiences -- some amazingly good (an expensive chianti classico comes to mind), some horrifically bad.

If you're going to get into this sort of thing, you might want to go to a low-key tasting. You'll learn a bit more about evaluating a wine beyond the "gulp factor" and it'll make you more comfortable ordering in restaurants. Then, start to keep a little notebook and bring it with you when you go out to eat. Discreetly note the wine you got (brand, type, and vintage), what you ate, and what you and your companions thought of it. (Remember -- it's not just about getting a good wine. How the wine potentiates the flavors of the food you're eating - and vice versa - is really the key.) After a few times, you'll begin to learn what you like, and what you like it with. Soon, you'll be pretty comfortable making menu choices.

The key to becoming a wine lover is, quite simply, drinking good wine. The cool thing is that, like music, it's all about personal taste. You can't be "wrong" about what *you* like.

[Arrian]

I love Red Wine.

I like Cabernet Savingon, Sangiovese, a blend of those two, Chiraz (often blended with CS)...

I started with Italian wines, and now have branched out to Chile, Australia and Spain. At first, given the staggering number of wines out there, I felt I needed to arbitrarily limit my choices so I didn't go nuts. Since I'm about 25% Sicilian, I chose Italian wine.

I don't like Merlot much, and really don't like Chianti.

White wine is crap, IMO.

-Arrian

p.s. As to price, I usually pay $10-15 a bottle. It doesn't have to be expensive to be tasty.

[Ben Kenobi]

Syrah (Shiraz to Oz people)

And Shiraz to Canadian people.

Excellent wine.

[Dinner]

In California the Santa Ynez valley in the Santa Barbara region is know for producing the best Syrah in the state.

[Drogue]

Originally posted by obiwan18
Syrah

Rarely will you find Syrah call Syrah on on it's own though. Most Syrah I know of comes from the Rhone Valley and i mixed with Grenache. Isn't it Shiraz in all the new world, or is Cali different?

[Straybow]

I open a bottle of good Aussie Shiraz in memory of our friend, Scouse Gits (2)

Rest in Peace, SG(2)

[Scouse Gits]

A fine thread to dedicate to (2) ...

Thanks Stray

Stu

[The Pioneer]

You can find good wines in any country. I personally favor (what else...) Greek wine, with Italy a close second. As for French wine, it may be good but they can keep it....

So long...