Wine Connoisseurs...I don't get it!

coltle6920

coltle6920

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Let me preface this thread by saying my first ventures into wine drinking was Ripple,Boonesfarm and wine coolers. :D

I don't get the "bouquet" thing.Can't be much of a bouquet if you have to stick your nose in the glass.Some things that really have a bouquet are a thick ribeye sizzling on a grill...Grandma's house where you can tell she's baking cookies when you walk in the door...my neighbor who is lactose intolerant.

I also believe that wine is a beverage....something you drink like soda or a beer and not sip.I drink my wine out of a rinsed out jelly jar.And what's with swishing wine in your mouth? I don't swish anything in my mouth unless there's a piece of food stuck in my teeth.

Don't get me wrong! I haven't stooped so low to where I'm buying cooking wine because of the price.I like those wines that come in a box but nothing so dry that it makes you pucker up.

Wine is like bacon to me...It can be had any time and it pretty much compliments anything I eat.

I'm suddenly beginning to realize I really need help with some issues...:eek:
 
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Swishing you taste for acidity, alcohol, sweetness and tannin. Wine, like everything else, can be made wrong. Too sweet or too acidic or too much tannin.

The swirling in the glass is similar to cognac. It's too see the "legs". It's the liquid that remains on the glass wall and slowly slides down. The thicker it is typically the sweeter it is and higher alcohol content.

Wine can be made bad and I don't mean it went bad or something went wrong in the process but instead made cheap from cheap ingredients with chemicals added for flavor and consistency.

Wine is a beverage but definitely not like soda. If you ever try young wine you'll have a different understanding of it. Young wine tastes almost like juice and can be drank like juice and it won't get you drunk however, try getting up after a few glasses. Your legs won't move! You have to think to move your arms and they feel heavy.

I'm not big into wine. I don't know years or best countries. When I find one I like I stick with it
 
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Well sir, I think we might have similar tastes, but when I was much younger and less worldly than I am now, I was more partial to Boones Farm Apple. Now that I am much more learned than I was in my youth, I seem to prefer finer things in life now. It is Stonehaus Winery Sweet White Muscadine, a fine dessert wine. It can be "imported" online, for 12.50 USD plus shipping from the vineyard in Crossville Tennessee. I don't even drink regular but that stuff is great, doesn't taste like used dishwater. I pick up some every time we go to East Tenn. By the way, the muscadine is called "God's gift to the South." I even have a couple of real wine glasses made out of real glass I found at Wal-Mart, that look like the classic "red plastic cup" with stem.
 
We have a small local Winery here in town.
The wife and I enjoy going there to hang out and sip
with the proprietors who are close friends. We even
make our own wine there from RJ Spangols kits that
they sell. We can do everything right there with the
shops equipment. Been making some Port style wines
here lately that are right up my alley taste wise.
Just finished a BlackForrest Port which has flavors of
Chocolate and Cherries and also a Raspberry Mocha.
We can add sugar at the end of the process if we want
a sweeter wine. At the end of six weeks from when we
started the kits we go back to bottle. Make our own labels
off the wine shops printer and we can even for a nominal
fee put the fancy foil condoms on the top of the bottles.
It's great fun and they have sweet wine kits or dry wine
kits. All different flavors you can make.


Chuck
 
I'm not a "wine snob" but have had exposure to many wines of all prices. Wine dinners are fairly common here and the local wine wholesaler has some great connections in CA wine country. Everyone has their own preferences in types of wine, there is no one size fits all. The closest to that are some of the box wines.
 
Price doesn't matter to me....

I've had some expensive wines and I can tell if it's 'fruity' or 'dry' but that's about it. I've had $10 wine that was as good to me as wine four times the price. If my prices are old it's because I haven't touched the stuff in many years. I think the part that I valued most was alcohol content. I do remember that some really bad hangovers result from too much wine.
 
The first time I got really drunk it was on Tokay Wine.
To this day I still can't stand the smell or taste of it. (and it's been nearly 60 years....)
 
Yeah...remember Earnest and Julio Gallo. We sell no wine before it's time..They were so proud of that commercial.

But Remember Thunderbird?? Guess who made it??

As far as the bouquet and fruitiness and all. Bull Crapo! Still ends up being more winos than used to hang out in Alleyways LOL
 
Arik said:
I'm not big into wine. I don't know years or best countries. When I find one I like I stick with it
Click to expand...

Love it!!! I've found a couple of wines I like and rarely drink anything else. They're local, (made within about 400 miles). One is St Clair's Chardonnay, a New Mexican wine ($12.50); and the other is the Llano Escato's Chenin Blanc ($8.50) made near Fort Stockton.
 
Cyrano said:
Love it!!! I've found a couple of wines I like and rarely drink anything else. They're local, (made within about 400 miles). One is St Clair's Chardonnay, a New Mexican wine ($12.50); and the other is the Llano Escato's Chenin Blanc ($8.50) made near Fort Stockton.
Click to expand...


Colin-

I think that 's Llano Estacado, meaning Staked Plains. It's named after that geographical region of Texas. The Chenin blanc is the principal grape used in France for Loire wines. Marie Antoinette was said to be fond of them.

I've drunk only one Texas wine, years ago. I understand they've improved a lot.

The best values in wine I've found are Kendall-Jackson's Sauvignon blanc, Columbia Crest's Chardonnay, and the better Chilean reds, like those from Chateau Santa Carolina. Col. Crest also has excellent Riesling, but it lacks the stony flavor of German Riesling, as the soil is different and they lack the stones used in the Mosel and Rhine vineyards.

I've drunk good wines from South Africa, where the Dutch Gov. Simon van der Stel made his first wines in 1655, soon after the founding of Cape Town. I've had superb German Rieslings from the best estates on the Mosel and Rhine rivers, towns with estates like Rauenthal's Berg Rottland and Brauneberg on the Mosel. Alas, I haven't been able to afford Bernkasteler Doctor, but have had very similar wines from nearby estates. That vineyard got its name in medieval times, when the visiting Bishop of Trier said it cured some mysterious illness from which he'd been suffering. A case of it was presented to Gen .Eisenhower following WWII.

I've drunk wines from all communes of the Haut Medoc, and especially like those from the commune of St. Julien. Two famous Chateaux from there are Ch. Beycheville and Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou. I also like some wines from Margaux and from Paulillac. And the better houses in Pomerol and St. Emilion make splendid Bordeaux wines. Some of the latter can be excellent value, if you know what to look for. My son presented me with bottles from Ch. Latour and Ch. Lafitte-Rothschild, because I felt they were beyond my means. (You should raise such sons! He knows wine pretty well and is also a good cook, well able to match wines to food.)

Of the fortified wines, try real Sherry from southern Spain. Harvey's Bristol Cream, shipped by a famous British house, is justly well known, as are the offerings from Pedro Domecq. Look for oloroso or full cream sherries for normal drinking. If you can find a good, fresh fino grade, that's for a pre-dinner drink. The sweeter ones stand alone or go well with fruit and nuts. The sweetest German Rieslings like Auslese and sweeter grades are also stand alone wines, not meant for drinking with meals, as is the case with Bordeaux's Sauternes. The adjoining commune of Barsac is classed in the same Appellation-Controlee as Sauternes and the wines are about the same. I had a very fine one from Ch. Coutet.

I've attended very nice wine tastings and met such vintners as Stag's Leap's Warren Winiarski and Hugel et Fils' representative Jean Hugel. M. Hugel had even fished the same river for salmon as I did, in Newfoundland! Small world. I loved seeing his photos of his home town of Riquewehr, built like houses in Shakespeare's time, to remind everyone that the firm began in 1639! Says so on their labels: Depuis 1639.

If you want to start inexpensively and still have wine fit to drink, try the four bottle offerings in a cardboard container from the better known California wineries. The reds will be lighter, less full, and not as dark, developed, and complex as the better ones, aged longer. But they'll get you through most meals happier than if you hadn't had them. Look for the usual varietals, like Cabernet sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, etc.
 
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I suspect that this thread was begun by someone who doesn't know wine, so wants to encourage others who are afraid of it to ridicule it because they don't know it, either, and are intimidated by it, as they'd be intimidated by discussions of art or refined music, anthropology, archaeology, astrology, astronomy, poetry, etc.

The net effect may be that when students doing research on gun control come here, they see affirmation of the stereotype that gun owners are just rednecked good ol' boys. And that is the stereotype that our enemies want to prevail...

It will also make a very poor impression on educated, cultured adults who may be thinking of buying a gun and seeking instruction in its use.

If you might really want to learn about wine, there are classes, and magazines like, "Wine Spectator" help, although you need a background in wine to understand some of the articles and wines discussed.

Best is buying a basic book, like "Vintage" by Hugh Johnson or his other books. He's also published an annual pocket wine guide, as have others. Look at Barnes & Noble or other major booksellers, find a volume that meets your needs, and buy it.

Don't start out by buying the most expensive wines. You have to know wine before you can fully appreciate what gives them their reputations. Buy basic good brands like Robert Mondavi, Ch. Ste. Michelle (in Washington) and similar vintners. Columbia Crest is a best value maker. In Australia, the biggest names are the associated Penfold's and Lindeman's. Their famous Grange red costs about as much as Ch. Petrus from Pomerol, and that's saying something!

But most of their wine runs from maybe $8.00-$15.00. Try Bin 45 Cabernet and Bin 65 Chardonnay. The latter will not taste like Chardonnay grown in northern climes, but has its own unique appeal.

Some people will just never "get" wine. I have a longtime friend who is one of the most respected writers about custom knives. A French society of custom cutlers invited him and some US knifemakers to France to exchange ideas and to learn new things, and to enjoy meeting one another.

The hosts served some excellent meals, with sometimes very fine wines. My pal says they all remind him of cough syrup. I guess he has issues in his palate that preclude tasting the subtle aspects of wines.

As for bouquet, yes, it's there. I've opened some "big" reds and the aroma filled the room. One South African Pinotage was especially impressive that way, after my then-wife had refrigerated it. Red wine should not be chilled in most cases, just served at cool room temperature. After that Pinotage warmed a little, it settled down and was a good bottle.

I think it was Arik who mentioned "legs" in the glass. That tells you the glucose content, the "fatness" of the wine. You don't want that sign to be too thin.

Be very aware that imported wines often sit in the heat on docks in summer. Learn the signs of a bottle that may be ruined by that. American wines are less likely to be damaged in transit. (Of course, in France or Germany, the opposite is true.) Most grocers here do not understand wine or most other refined things. You need to do the research. Try to locate a good grocer or liquor store that has a knowledgeable wine staff. But when you learn, some really good buys are in grocery stores. I've bought a whole bottle of Columbia Crest chardonnay for what a single glass cost me in Red Lobster. And it was a good value at restaurant prices.

You won't learn much about bouquet or other wine traits by drinking Boone's Farm or MD 20/20. But get to know fine wines well, and you'll add a new, worthwhile dimension to your life.
 
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My wine story. When I was working, I was part of a group who trained junior officers who were going to be deployed overseas. It was a week long course and on Thurs. evening we would have picnic as celebration of the course completion. One group who had heard about the picnic, brought a very expensive bottle of wine with them to serve at the picnic. The instructors heard about the bottle of wine and we told them that we would keep the wine and bring it to the picnic on Thurs. They gave us the bottle.

We took a long needle syringe and went thru the cork of the wine bottle and removed all of their wine and replace it with Boone's wine. We then put their wine in the Boone's wine bottle. Come the party, they opened their bottle of wine and were raving about how good it was. The "bouquet " was so superior and the taste was exquisite. A few of they said it was terrible wine. We just sat back and passed the Boone's wine bottle among the instructors. The class couldn't understand why the instructors had such low taste in quality wine. We just smiled and said we were just low class instructors, not wine connoisseur like the class!
 
the only 2 things you need to know about wine is (1)a white wine from along the Mosel or Rhine river in Germany. (2) Bad Durkheim as it is the Oktoberfest for wine drinkers and held about the same time as Oktoberfest. it is about halfway between Mannheim and K-town.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxRAnrIgW_w[/ame]
 
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When I was stationed at West Point in 1968 I had a part time job working as a bus boy at the officers club. If you ordered wine there we would pour wine from gallon jugs of Gallo into empty french wine bottles with the label removed and a white cloth napkin wrapped around it. The most fun I had there was the night one of the officers got married and they had a couple of large garbage cans filled with ice and cheap champagne. Everyone got rip roaring drunk including us bus boys. Before the party was over we were shaking bottles and poping corks across the room. So much for officers not fraternizing with enlisted troops.
 
Gallo Wine, (no type, just wine), $2.10 a gallon at the state store in Lebanon, Pa. 1970. I get a headache just thinking about it.
 
Never developed a taste for it, never had an interest in it, probably never will. But I'm far from being a bogan.

As for my youth when we would drink anything short of diesel fuel - who remembers Night Train Express? I can still taste it.
 
I like my red wine with ice in it.

I get some looks but i am what i am. I am slowly getting a taste for it.
My local winery makes a Raspberry wine that i buy when i can.

I do like some chocolate with it.
 
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