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The Wine Thread

#41
bullybottles.jpg


Bully Hill!
 
#44
I enjoyed this mid-price french pretty much:

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Very nice one with lots of taste. I had it with a big grilled Entrecôte steak (tenderloin?) and I liked the combination quite a lot.

Nobody in this thread has yet mentioned the importance of the serving temperature. If you serve a red too cold, you spoil it completely. A red should never be served below 16°C IMO, 18-20 is the best temperature for most red wines. The lighter the wine, the colder it should be served. Same principle goes for white wines, but then the temperature usually should be between 8 and 12°C. So keep those in the fridge for some time before serving.

Then, the glass does matter. You will not get the most out of a wine if you pour it in a plastic glass or a too small wine glass. I prefer large ones so you don't have to fill up the glass with more than 3-4 cm. Once in a restaurant in Sweden, the waiter brought me a small wine glass filled almost completely. It was very close I would have complained about that. I thought every waiter had at least some basic knowledge about wines and how they're supposed to be served.
 
#46
Passinwind said:
It may be a little tough for you to find most of my favorites in NY stores, but here's one that showed up when I did a search:

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Blended reds from Washington can be a pretty good deal, at least by my standards. This one's around $12 in stores out here. Looks like it's $16 in Hudson at [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. It showed up in a couple of NYC stores in my online search as well. I'll poke around and see what I else I can find for you.
Click to expand...

Big plus 1 to this post.

Hedges CMS is is my favorite Washington state blended red. It is in the $10-15 price range which to me is the sweet spot on the price/value curve - the wine version of a $500 bass.
 
#47
Deacon_Blues said:
........
Nobody in this thread has yet mentioned the importance of the serving temperature. If you serve a red too cold, you spoil it completely. A red should never be served below 16°C IMO, 18-20 is the best temperature for most red wines. The lighter the wine, the colder it should be served. Same principle goes for white wines, but then the temperature usually should be between 8 and 12°C. So keep those in the fridge for some time before serving.

Then, the glass does matter. You will not get the most out of a wine if you pour it in a plastic glass or a too small wine glass. I prefer large ones so you don't have to fill up the glass with more than 3-4 cm. Once in a restaurant in Sweden, the waiter brought me a small wine glass filled almost completely. It was very close I would have complained about that. I thought every waiter had at least some basic knowledge about wines and how they're supposed to be served.
Click to expand...


Excellent points.

A simple rule of thumb I've heard is the "10 minute rule" which works in Celsius and Farenheit ;)

Take whites out of the fridge 10 minutes before serving
Put reds in the fridge for 10 minutes before serving

EDIT - I've also seen this as the 15 or even 20 minute - You may need to adjust based on what room temperature is at your house.

Or
GAS ALERT GAS ALERT GAS ALERT
if you have an especially generous sister and brother-in-law you throw your wine in one of these (Waring Pro Wine Chiller) which has different settings for dozens of types of grapes - works like a charm.
 
#50
dangnewt said:
Excellent points.

A simple rule of thumb I've heard is the "10 minute rule" which works in Celsius and Farenheit ;)

Take whites out of the fridge 10 minutes before serving
Put reds in the fridge for 10 minutes before serving

Or
GAS ALERT GAS ALERT GAS ALERT
if you have an especially generous sister and brother-in-law you throw your wine in one of these (Waring Pro Wine Chiller) which has different settings for dozens of types of grapes - works like a charm.
Click to expand...

Me wants one of those. :hyper:


Thanks for sharing that 10 minute tip, excellent rule of thumb there! :)
 
#51
I usually have two options at home:

* a Malbec from Argentina, casa Trapiche has great wines.
* Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile usually from Concha y Toro.

The other wine I drink is Moet & Chandon that is our guest on my wife's birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We do not drink too much wine, around 10 bottles per year.
 
#55
jazzbo said:
I am an oenophile and sommelier. Testing for the Master Sommelier rank would be interesting and fun, but not something that looks to be in my future. I truly love and enjoy wine and could talk about it and taste for hours and hours.
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I heard that the Master Sommelier is very difficult and there are not that many people who hold that rank. When my son was considering going to culinary school, they all had a special classroom that was used exclusively for wine tasting. The students giving the tours would say that is one of the toughest classes.
 
#57
Anyone here likes icewine? I bought a couple of minibottles when I was in Toronto a month ago. One 5cl bottle was about the same price as a full-size normal wine bottle... I've had one of them, but was rather disappointed. I knew it was going to be sweet and I don't mind sweet wines, but this one from Peller Estates was rather disappointing. Anyone have a tip of what I should eat with this one to enjoy it more?

Speaking of that, food generally have a huge impact on how (especially more expensive) wines taste. Some wines don't taste good at all on their own but with the right food they can turn all around. Yesterday when my twinbrother and his GF was visiting, we had a bottle that clearly was like that. It was a Pisano RPF 2005 Tannat from Rio de la Plata, Uruguay, that I got for my 30's birthday a few months back. It was barely drinkable as such (pretty rich of tannins I guess) so I tried it with some parmesan cheese that I had at home. Instantly, the cheese made the wine taste much smoother and the other tastes that were hidden behind the tannins came to life, so to say. I also had to try it with some chicken and bacon pasta that was left from earlier in the day, and the wine made both itself and the food taste great.

Wines is a pretty fascinating subject. :)
 
#58
Deacon_Blues said:
Speaking of that, food generally have a huge impact on how (especially more expensive) wines taste. Some wines don't taste good at all on their own but with the right food they can turn all around. Yesterday when my twinbrother and his GF was visiting, we had a bottle that clearly was like that. It was a Pisano RPF 2005 Tannat from Rio de la Plata, Uruguay, that I got for my 30's birthday a few months back. It was barely drinkable as such (pretty rich of tannins I guess) so I tried it with some parmesan cheese that I had at home. Instantly, the cheese made the wine taste much smoother and the other tastes that were hidden behind the tannins came to life, so to say. I also had to try it with some chicken and bacon pasta that was left from earlier in the day, and the wine made both itself and the food taste great.

Wines is a pretty fascinating subject. :)
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I had the chance to taste that wine a couple of times and I agree with your comments.
Uruguay is producing great Tannats right now. It`s currently their "flagship" grape, such as Zinfandel in California, Pinot Noir in Oregon, Carmenere in Chile or Malbec in Argentina.

They`re generally thick, rich of tannins and full bodied.
Great find.
 
#60
dangnewt said:
I heard that the Master Sommelier is very difficult and there are not that many people who hold that rank. When my son was considering going to culinary school, they all had a special classroom that was used exclusively for wine tasting. The students giving the tours would say that is one of the toughest classes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there aren't many, maybe 120 or so, although the numbers are going up quickly. I don't know that I would have a use for it, ultimately. Their are some culinary schools in the area that have some great programs, though.

For me it's easier because I'm in a wine area. I spend a lot of time in wine country, I have a lot of friends who work in the industry, and I weekend in wine country a lot. Plus, I have some connections to UC Davis, (the wine school), and to other Sommeliers, including one of those Master Sommeliers. But this is really just a result of being in the wine industry for the last 6 years, (part-time, though, while in school), and being interested in the stuff.
 

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