best country for wine. poll and discussion

[Thorgal]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I've had great luck with Riojas and found a few Tempranillos I like though Sherries have uniformly been garbage. I have tried cooking with sherry and have found them to be good for that.

So typical... http://www.wineoftheweek.com/tastings/0008sherry.html

So are you sure it was real Spanish Sherry from Jerez and not some crappy "sherry" made in California or somewhere else?

This remember me about another thread in this very forum about potatoes...

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Saras
Is Alsatian Gewurztraminer German or French?

The main reason why Alsace wines are such high-quality is because Alsace is French. Their wine-tradition definitely hints at their German heritage, but their good work at making quality wines comes from their Frenchness.

The German neighbouring regions of Alsace (Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz) make wine too. Nearly indentical climate, nearly identical geography. But different methods, which don't emphasize on quality, but rather on quantity. Unsurprisingly, it makes for crappy wines in 99% of the cases.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Oerdin


If you like Zinfandel then give Castoro Cellars a try. They're located in Paso Robles which is an inland valley in San Luis Obispo County (between Santa Barbara and Monterrey) on California's central coast. It's a real up and coming wine region and many of the wines rival those of the Napa Valley but they still cost a fraction of the price even a mediocre wine from Napa would cost.

I've had a couple of truly excellent Cabernet Sauvignon's from Paso Robles recently.

[-Jrabbit]

The Germans don't export their good wines. Much better quality available there than in US stores.

[Spiffor]

I lived in Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart) for three years, and I have yet to taste one good local wine

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride
Isnt NZealand too cold for wine?

To cold for good reds but I've tried several good whites from New Zealand.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Thorgal

So typical... http://www.wineoftheweek.com/tastings/0008sherry.html

So are you sure it was real Spanish Sherry from Jerez and not some crappy "sherry" made in California or somewhere else?

This remember me about another thread in this very forum about potatoes...

Yes, it was Spanish and yes I have tried the "new" sherries. They're still to thick and cloying. If I was looking for a thick and heavy tasting wine then I'd go for Port since those Portugese seem to make a wine closer to my tastes.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Spiffor
I lived in Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart) for three years, and I have yet to taste one good local wine

Is it that you just prefer a different style of wine or is it that the wine really does suck?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Is it that you just prefer a different style of wine or is it that the wine really does suck?

To be fair, I didn't have access to really good wines. I'm a cheapsake (and even moreso when I was a student), and I never ventured in places where good wine might lie.

However, I regularily had the opportunity to taste Württemberg wines from places that serve decent foreign wines. All the Württembergs I tasted sucked.

Edit: There are some wines I don't like, but in which I acknowledge a genuine work to get quality (I dislike wines that taste like wood, for example). I wasn't under the impression that there was any real work invested on the quality of the wines I tasted in Württemberg.

On a similar note, I'd like to add that Württemberg local beers are good, and is made by people who love good beer, whereas Alsacian beer is not as good, by faaar (Alsace makes the Kronenbourg piss, and makes the bland yet decent 1664). So I do think there is really a cultural difference on the two sides of the border.

[Thorgal]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Yes, it was Spanish and yes I have tried the "new" sherries. They're still to thick and cloying. If I was looking for a thick and heavy tasting wine then I'd go for Port since those Portugese seem to make a wine closer to my tastes.

It was spanish? Then you use a wine at about 20-40$ a bootle for cooking?

[Dinner]

You can find Spanish sherries for around $15 in the states if you go to a place like Costco. I have used a $25 bottle for cooking before on the premise that if you don't want to drink it then you don't want to cook with it. Besides it was a special occasion; I was having all of my family over to my house for the first time since I bought it so I wanted to show them what a good host I could be.

Also I had purchased the bottle to try how it tasted, didn't like drinking it, and needed something to do with the bottle.

[Zkribbler]

I remember being told by a California winery that California's great advantage is that, year after year, its weather is fairly regular. This leads to a consistency in California wines not found in European wines, which often have very good years followed by very bad years.

Right now, I'm hooked on "two buck Chuck," Charles Sutter's astonishing low-priced $2.00 wines...especially Chardonney and Merlot the Cabernet Sauvinon, not so much .