Aren't there some wine specialists on here?

Once you go French and Italian, you can never really go back!

 

I lived in Normandy for 6 months and did daily "research" on French wines.
Now it's hard to drink anything else. The complexity and depth of flavors just can't be found in domestic wines imo.
Alsatian whites and white Burgundy are my favorites. All dry and the white Burgundys are unoaked chards for the most part. Macon Villages is on chill for tonight. Just don't drink a good white wine too cold, around 54 degrees is about right.
I prefer a bolder red if I drink it but I had a Pinot Noir from Alsace that was delicious.

 

My brother is a certified advanced sommelier in Philly and whenever we get together he always brings out something spectacular.

He’s been touting the PNW wineries a lot, as well as PA makers for Pinots.

When passed his adanced certification exam, he and his sommelier friends had a bbq and brought out some amazing wines and champagnes. We drank an estimated $15k (retail) worth of wine that day. It was like a pissing contest of who could one-up the other.

Absolutely zero hangover the next day.

 

Good champagnes are a whole new subject.
Love me some Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill. Yum!

 

As you noted, buyers drive the market and the Big reds and oak bomb chards take the cake. French style wines are commonly lighter, Wash, Oregon, Argentina do great french styles. Im biased but Va does some wonderful wine. Vioginer, and Verdejo better than france or portugal.

 

EPIC!!!!

 

I’m no wine connoisseur but I do like it now and again. There’s so much variety in American wines it’s hard to say credibly you only like French, Italian or German wines, or California, or even Napa Valley wines—its all out there. Just try stuff out. Reds, whites, there’s a lot of different and very good affordable wines.

Having said that, we’ve vacationed in Tuscany several times and can’t remember ever having a bad bottle of wine that cost say, $6 or more LOL.

Aaaand, if you want to buy a fairly to very good bottle of wine for not much, Costco has a great selection and posts ratings too. You can easily get a good bottle for $15 or so, in a variety of styles.

 

Yea haha, and I have had a few. They suck. I was so mad visiting the main winery. Its so sprawling and gaudy and lavish and nice looking and the wine was awful. Their cellar is dope as shit. Of all the places i went in Napa that might have been the only one where i poured out a bunch of the tastings. I'd never call Opus bad, but there's other stuff i like more for the money. Woodbridge is hot garbage all around.

Also I didn't realize Constellation bought them out years back. More power to them I guess.

 

I have tried a lot of wines, I 'm a big wine drinker and go through at least 2-3 bottles per week. I drink a six pack of Guinness about every 2 weeks for comparison.

I don't know if I would consider myself a connoisseur but I appreciate a really good wine and can tell the difference. And not all good wines are expensive. I have found some Kendall Jackson and Chateau Ste Michele that I like, just nothing sweet. I tend to go with Oregon or Washington state over Napa though

The French keep their best wines at home and don't export them . Some of the best wines I have ever tasted were not available outside of the region where they were produced because they were such small batches, like 100 cases per year or less for some wines, so we never get to try them here. I imagine the Italians do the same. The Germans like their wines sweeter for the most part and some producers actually add grape juice back into the wine after fermentation. The northernmost regions of Germany produce the best wines IMO, because they are not sweet.

I have tried to like domestic wines but the flavors are just bland to me. You get one taste up front and that's it. A good wine has multiple layers of flavor and different lengths of finish, so it is much more about the experience of the drink than just drinking a bottle to get a buzz.

 

discussing wine here is the same as someone asking what oil to use for his bike.......ill pass

 

wine is always best paired with the air the grapes were grown in. i've given up bringing back Chiantis or Bordeaux from vacation, just not the same.

that said, Chianti for everyday reds, Barolo for the fancier dinners. Grauburgunder for the white stuff.

but i rather drink beer, in general.

 

Interesting. I can drink half a bottle of bourbon and feel just fine the next day, but half a bottle of wine and I feel like shit. Just came back from the PNW...damn there's a lot of wineries there.

 

Whiners too.

 

you're a riot

 

Burnin' down the house...

 

He spent 2 weeks about a year ago out there touring the wineries and vineyards. He really likes what’s been coming out of that region.


Bourbon you say???

 

Been on a bourbon kick lately too. I’ve found 5 batches of Bookers and have really started enjoying the higher octane types. I’d like to find this years first release of Elijah Craig barrel proof, it came in at 136 proof.

 

nice. Just finished a bottle of Weller myself.

 

19 crimes is an inexpensive Australian. Cab, Red are really good.

 

Damn. Still pretty functional for having just completed that feat, yourself.