The Wine Thread -- what have you been drinking?

any thoughts on portuguese wines? there's been a lot of stuff around the last few years, douro valley. i've had some pretty good bottles, but totally going on guess work with it.

I used to stock that Forrester Chenin, back in the day.

If you're off to Israel then you're not too far from Chateau Musar country. Now that's a beast of a wine, impossible to describe without starting to gush. Gaston Hochar also makes a slightly less nuts version, Hochar Pere et fils, which is less scary to drink and somewhat easier on the wallet.

xpost

I'm drinking a lot of Touriga Nacional at the moment, portugal is totally underrated

this blog post is interesting in re touriga nacional. (also i didn't know about the spanish wine shop he mentions, need to check that out.)

anything good at costco? my friend was telling me about the 2004 Léoville-Las-Cases, St-Julien (#6 in Wine Spectator top 100 wines for 2007, 95-100 points Wine Spectator, 90-92 points Robert Parker) but at $115, it's a little/totally out of my price range.

The best thing about wine is that it has its own way of coming down - namely, tannins - so you don't have to smoke. Not that I would ever want to. Chateau Commanderie Du Bardelet Bordeaux 2005. Did I get it all in the right order?

Not that I would ever want to, lol

well, who would?

then again, I don't know what 'coming down' means, here, not that I would ever want to.

answer to question, tonight: a bottle of Terres de Galets Cotes du Rhone. someone's got to do it.

wine snobbery is the dangerous borderland of ilx opinionating

I had a glass of 2004 Rock Rabbit Shiraz with dinner on Saturday. Really nice, full fruit tastes with some, but not a full measure, of the pepper and earth tones that the California Central Coast wines are known for. It went excellent with my bone-in strip cooked rare.

I think you can get bottles of it for under 15.

-- B.L.A.M., Tuesday, September 4, 2007 9:11 PM (6 months ago)

I've had some good experiences with this one. It's made up of excess grapes from some high-end vineyards and is a great deal when it works. (Same with Castle Rock.)

I found a good deal on 10 bottles of 2001 Failla Syrah from the Que Syrah vineyard on the Sonoma Coast. Parker gave this one an 85 and wrote a negative review, so winemaker Ehren Jordan stopped making it -- basically, instead of the rich jamminess of warm-climate Syrah it's got the green-olive sourness of a cool-climate Syrah. I love this stuff. Brought a magnum of it to dinner at Jaymc's place on New Year's Eve, and he's got the bottle on his mantle.

Chateau de Bonhoste Bordeaux 2004 - I think this is mostly Merlot. There is something that I would call cassis but I don't even know if that's the right taste that bordeaux wines that I like have which this wine has which makes me really happy overall after a day that pretty much sucks not because of outright horror but because of waste and attrition and lack of progress. Except I got Talking Heads 77 yesterday and that was really good.

on vynl?

I have been drinking Liberty School Central Coast Syrah. pret-ty, pret-ty good.

mas carlot marsanne-roussanne (with oranges!)

I lucked into lamb kabobs and an '85 Beaucastel.

Bargetto gewurtz on Sunday, some sort of 2006 house Rioja last night and 2/3rds bottle of Red Truck tonight. Beaucoups rosé (Fronton/Negrettes) in the fridge for if it ever warms back up outside. Also several different viogniers.

I am pretty sad the Red Truck bottle is empty ;_;

I read about honey served with ricotta in a Brooklyn restaurant. I had started eating ricotta again because that was the only kind of fat free cheese at Shaw's worth buying, and it was so much better than I remembered it. I thought it would have curds for some reason. Anyway, I got this Domaine Pichot Vouvray 2006 without knowing what Vouvray is and it was too sweet like honey so I thought of buying ricotta cheese again today and had it with the wine and it was really good. I had strawberries, too, but would have had peaches if they were ripe, but they are harvested rock hard for industrial farm production.

Saxon Brown Semillon 2006

some summer whites: assorted vinho verdes and sauvignon blancs (and the odd prosecco)
standby reds: assorted garnachas

http://www.lawineco.com/images/large/claude_riffault_sancerre_LRG.jpg

recommended

dadrza recommends St. Nicolas de Bourgeuil but sez is hard to find in us ;(

need to pick a good thanksgiving wine. not feeling the beaujolais vinegar.

http://www.wine.com/wineshop/product_list.asp?N=7155%201075&hid=HP_G_ThanksgivingWine&mode=xfer

my default cheap red has become the vinos sin ley garnacha line. i've only had the g1 and g2, but they're good.

anyone know the bogle wines? someone recommended them for a decent cheap bottle.

Finishing the bottle now:

http://www.mymelange.net/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/23/melini.jpg

Paul Autard Cotes du Rhone - highly recommended

<img src="http://www.klwines.com/images/skus/1033904x.jpg";>

http://www.klwines.com/images/skus/1033904x.jpg

man, I really liked the Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

http://cache.wine.com/labels/94626l.jpg

was not impressed with the Biltmore Pinot

http://wineshop.biltmore.com/prodimg/020388.jpg

I like the David Bruce Pinot though

http://a3.vox.com/6a00c2251e17ae8e1d00fad69119630004-500pi

I still haven't had this years' Boojalace NewWaveOh

^^^ this is how it was pronounced to me and friends by our waitress at bistrot du coin one time

http://nomerlot.com/reviews/media/Rivola%20Sardon%20de%20Duero%202003.jpg

$4 malbec, u are a treat

http://www.winelegacy.com/Images/ItemBottle/20071024/astica-malbec_1.jpg

Finished a bottle of Posada Del Rey last night and enjoyed is so much I went online and ordered a dozen more this morning. It's a Rioja in all but name and compares well to most of the bottles I've had recently in the £8=12 range.

Having said that, It's not a patch on The Monasterio De Tentudia 1997 that I bought last year. I have 3 bottles, all which will be consumed over the Christmas period.

For cheap, everyday drinking, Domaine D' Aubaret Cabernet works out good value at around 60 quid for a box of 12 and my wife swears by Prickly Pear, an Argentinian white, which again, comes in at about £4.50 a bottle. it says "for everyday drinking" on the bottle so that's what she does.

Stopped using my local supplier (Stephensons) as the old cow in there is so deeply unpleasant, It became a real ordeal. I clearly don't fit in with her idea of a wine drinker and the fact she knows next to nothing, despite having been there for many years does the company no favours at all.

Tend to buy most of my wine online nowadays, although The Sunday Times Wine Club have been running some decent offers lately. For a big organisation, they have proved suprisingly good at sourcing, and re-sourcing, especially Spanish Riojas and Temperanillos so they are getting most of my business at the moment.

I tried Eiswien last night – it kind of tasted like grape juice. :(

I used to be picky. I'm not anymore. Why spend $10 or more when you can spend $5?

I used to be picky. I'm not anymore. Why spend $10 or more when you can spend $5?

― Bat Penatar (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Saturday, 20 December 2008 19:14 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I think you can be picky and get decent wine nowadays. Some of the best wines I've had this year have been special offer 3 for a tenner at ASDA.

The trick is to find something you like and buy as much of it as you can afford. Wine experts talk shite most of the time and the ones in newspapers tend to be on the payroll of someone selling the stuff.

Having said that, an occasional really good bottle is a wonderful thing.

You bet it fucking is. I still sorta get hard ons when I see the words "Cotes Du Rhone".

I want to go to the planet where there is an endless supply of that. And never come back.

Bimble. If you join The Sunday Times Wine Club, do it for 1 reason only;

http://www.sundaytimeswineclub.co.uk/article.aspx?product_code=60425

Works out at just over 8 quid a bottle and drinks like a £20+

Revive, for the sake of the Santa Barbara Co. Vintner's Festival. Currently, doing some work on a brief, and enjoying a REALLY good syrah - Margerum '06 Colson Canyon Syrah.

Also, playing UB40/Neil Diamond really laoud. WONDERFUL Friday.

dudes bestow the wine logics

What's up, jd? I certainly won't put myself up as an expert, but I drink a good bit of good wine. I'm currently digging on some Central Coast syrahs - big fruit, big earth, really chewy. Where are you? what level of stuff do you have access to?

Chicago; not rollin in dough so access is mad limited. been on the mission to find wines me an my gurl dig south of the Alexander Hamilton. Recent expeditions have turned up http://www.redandwhitechicago.com/wine/spain/ProtocoloBlanco.JPGProtocolo 2007 - $9, Rioja Alavesas, Spain, Airen/Macabeo at this place

whoa dude that is a big ass picture, sorry

I'm a fan of the Spanish riojas. nice medium body red. Was that one good? Should I look for it?

dude it's a white wine with a touch of peach, citrus and minerality.

Grayson 2007 Pinot Noir $12 very good

This is best thing you'll ever taste with Phil Collins face on it.

http://www.avalonwine.com/PGC_dollar-bills-200p-5-05.jpg

Seriously though, this is the best Pinot I've ever had under $20.