The new wine thread.

[Dinner]

Most of my experience is with new world wines so I'd like to become better acquiented with old world wines. I'm hoping my fellow poly tubbies can suggest a few a bottles of reasonably priced but still tasty wines from around the EU. I need to go to a good wine specialty shop because my local super market is weak on foreign wines and only carries a few large labels. Still, I was determined to make the best of a bad situation and picked up a Bordeaux from the Haut-Medoc appealation.

It's called Chateau Larose-Trintaudon and all in all it tastes pretty mediocre for a $18 bottle of wine. It's not bad but there is little complexity, it looks and tastes thin (I.E. doesn't coat the glass nor the tongue), and there is little lingering taste to balance the alcohol taste. Upon tasting it I figured it was mostly Cabernet Sauvignon mixed with a bit of Cabernet-Franc. I read the label and found those two were the main though supposedly some merlot was also blended in though I couldn't distingush any. As a new world wine (Australian, South American, Californian) this would be a $8 bottle but because it is a Bordeaux the price more then doubles though the quality is about the same as an inexpensive new world wine. All in all I was expecting better for more then twice the price.

So enlighten me. What are the excellent tasting yet decently priced wines from France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Portugal? Hell, toss in good wines from the rest of Europe as well. I need help sorting the wheat from the chaff.

[Jon Miller]

I would like to know more about wines also

generally I get 10-20 dollar merlots or what have you

and some are good, and some are merely ok

but I can never keep track which is which

JM

[DaShi]

I only want to know about wines in regards to cooking and maybe which ones to serve with certain meals.

[Dinner]

I forgot to mention the Bordeaux was a 2000 vintage so maybe additional aging was required but I generally find a bland wine when young is a bland wine when aged. Generally flavors mellow over time and this one started at a low point.

[Sikander]

While I'm certainly no wine expert I too have been disappointed by the price to quality ratio of French wines. I have a much better chance with a California wine of being pleased with my purchase.

[Solly]

Every wine is lovely with a bit of lemonade. Some need more than others though (like ones under £3).

[CerberusIV]

I'm no expert but I rarely buy French wines because they usually don't deliver (at least the reds don't). I joined a wine club a few months back and get a mixed case delivered every 2 months. The first one was excellent and the second one will be here in a few days. Other than that I buy a few bottles when the supermarket manages to buy up some bin ends and puts them on offer.

If you want a strong red try a Rioja (Spanish). Made from tempranillo grapes. Takes 2-3 years to mature so don't get anything younger than 2003.

I find Cote du Rhone to be amongst the best value. A good one is nice but unfortunately there are many indifferent ones out there too.

To be honest I generally prefer South American red wines as they are more consistent and better value.

Really, you are probably best to find a specialist supplier who knows what they are doing and can advise you on and get the kind of wines you want.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
Every wine is lovely with a bit of lemonade. Some need more than others though (like ones under £3).

[Spiffor]

I strongly suggest not to buy a Bordeaux wine over 10€/$. Bordeaux enjoys a great image, and because of that it overcharges an average/mediocre product.

The Bordeaux area is actually mass-producing wine because it has a large demand. As a result, all lands are dedicated to wines (even mediocre lands that should have never been used this way). They make as much wine as possible from the grape, meaning that part of the yield is very low-quality. And they homogenize the taste by giving as much wood flavour as technically possible (use of brand new wood barrels, addition of pieces of wood in the wine). Lastly, many Bordeaux wines are newly exploited, and the winemakers are fairly inexperienced, or even worse, lack in wine culture.

Anything over 10€/$ for a Bordeaux is a ripoff. Any Bordeaux that costs less than 10€/$ is bound to suck horribly. Forget about Bordeaux *


France's wines benefit from two great advantages: the culture of tastebuds means that some traditional wines have centuries of experience at getting better and better. In other countries, where tastebuds aren't considered as a cultural value, there would be much less striving for perfection over the centuries. As a result, France's traditional great names tend to be very solid, though they also tend to be horribly expansive (I myself haven't drank many of them).

The second great advantage of France's wine is that the wine industry is still mostly a craftman's thing. Some are just in for the money, and suck (especially in prestigious areas such as Bordeaux or Bourgogne). But some are really passionate about their job, and they'll make real sacrifices for the quality of their wine. I'm mostly used to drinking the products made by these passionate craftsmen.

On top of my head, here's what I like (I have forgotten mucho, because I am terrible at remembering names):
- Faugères from the Domaine Léon Barral (other kind of faugères tend to suck though)
- Any wine from Dider Schuller
- Wine from Antoine Arena
- Champagne De Sousa

Except for the champagne, you shouldn't burn more than 25€ on these bottles IMO. I know that Barral has 3 different qualities, the lowest of which is 9€ per bottle in Paris.


*I'm a bit harsh with Bordeaux here, but that's for your own good . I can sometimes enjoy a Bordeaux -when I didn't pay for it- because it makes for a change in my drinking habits. I generally drink more subtle wines that are also woodless, and sometimes it's nice to drink a simplistic wine that's heavy on wood-flavour for a change. But generally speaking, don't expect to find anything really good in Bordeaux. Heck, even a jingoist like me have preferred New World wines over Bordeaux

[Spiffor]

I have been pleasantly suprised by Hungarian wines btw. Simple and fun wines that were really pleasant. I haven't tasted many, but the ones I tasted came from German supermarkets of all things, so I guess I have tasted the worst, and still enjoyed it

[Saras]

Penfolds Grange:

Taste
Price

[lord of the mark]

Re: The new wine thread.

Originally posted by Oerdin
Most of my experience is with new world wines so I'd like to become better acquiented with old world wines. I'm hoping my fellow poly tubbies can suggest a few a bottles of reasonably priced but still tasty wines from around the EU. I need to go to a good wine specialty shop because my local super market is weak on foreign wines and only carries a few large labels. Still, I was determined to make the best of a bad situation and picked up a Bordeaux from the Haut-Medoc appealation.

It's called Chateau Larose-Trintaudon and all in all it tastes pretty mediocre for a $18 bottle of wine.

Chat La-Trint was much better when it was only $10 a bottle

[lord of the mark]

try a beaujolais (sp?) in honor of the Yuppie days of yore. Not a great wine, but a definite moment in the culture you should know.

[Japher]

my dad likes Viogniers

I don't drink wines, but try and keep on them for cooking. Mainly, I just get my dad's word for it, as I don't like to spend more than 20 bucks on a bottle if I'm going to cook with it, but he generally drinks stuff like Bighouse and 2 Buck Chuck which are cheep. A nice Viognier is a treat for him, and it's a Euro wine from what I know.

[Solly]

Red wine and lemonade is an interesting combo. So are there like different kinds of wines and stuff?