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Wine

Started by kphoger, March 09, 2021, 06:02:13 PM

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kphoger

Forgive me if this topic already exists, but I don't recall that it does.

Let's talk about wine.  General preferences?  Overrated labels?  Crowd pleasers?  Does terroir matter?  Does minerality even exist?




I'll start.

For cooking with red wine, you can't go wrong with a cheap Rhône blend.  No overpowering flavor characteristics, not overly sweet, choosing a blend helps hedge your bets, and good quality can be found at low prices.

For cooking with white wine, I really like the neutral flavor profile of Graves.  But it can be a bit expensive, so I often go with a Pinot Gris instead.
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Max Rockatansky

I like wine whenever I have it but I usually don't out of my way to.  We still have about a dozen left over bottles from the Kings River Winery from our wedding two years ago.  I've only gotten through maybe 5-6 by myself and my wife probably has had only one?

NWI_Irish96

I don't really like white wine, but I like most varietals of red with favorites being Pinot Noir and Cab Sav. If I'm in the mood for something sweet I love a chilled Michigan cherry wine.

As for national brands I can't stand Barefoot. I've had $4 bottles from Aldi that I've liked better than Barefoot.

One Indiana winery that I don't like is Oliver.

My favorite Indiana wineries are Huber's, Turtle Run, and Butler
My favorite Michigan wineries are Lemon Creek, Round Barn, Warner, 45 North, and Chateau Chantal

Haven't done a California wine trip yet.
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kphoger

Quote from: cabiness42 on March 09, 2021, 07:33:30 PM
I don't really like white wine, but I like most varietals of red with favorites being Pinot Noir and Cab Sav.

Pinot Noir is pretty easy to like.  People who aren't big into wine generally like Pinot Noir just fine.

Have you had Merlot?  It's similarly easy to like.
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Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

NWI_Irish96

Quote from: kphoger on March 09, 2021, 07:50:50 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on March 09, 2021, 07:33:30 PM
I don't really like white wine, but I like most varietals of red with favorites being Pinot Noir and Cab Sav.

Pinot Noir is pretty easy to like.  People who aren't big into wine generally like Pinot Noir just fine.

Have you had Merlot?  It's similarly easy to like.

I like Merlot with a meal, but I don't enjoy it as much by itself.
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kevinb1994

Sangria, it can be either Red or White. I haven't had it in awhile, though.

kurumi

We have oenophile friends who bring a bottle or two when we go out to eat. Almost always red, but different each time. Always great choices.

At parties they host they'll sometimes do a blind tasting contest. Eight sips, ID the variety, extra points for winery and vintage. I've never developed the ability to pin those down. Pinot Noir and Syrah are usually a good choice for me, and pair well with the food we tend to eat.
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Takumi

I like dry wines. Sweet wines give me stomach cramps.
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kphoger

I used to think I didn't like dry wines.  Then I realized I was conflating "fruity" with "sweet".  I actually quite enjoy dry fruity wines.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
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Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

OCGuy81

I like Cabs, Malbec, and Temparnillo for reds.

I'm not a huge white wine fan except with seafood, but a good chardonnay is my go to.

Some of the bottles I always keep stocked?? Surprisingly enough my wife and I like Kirkland wine from Costco. They're really good for "cheap" wine.

cjk374

I have never had wine, but I grew up watching Justin Wilson cooking on TV. One of his main rules in cooking was "Never cook with a wine that you don't drink."
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1995hoo

We are members of the wine club at Fox Meadow Winery in Linden, Virginia. We particularly like their Cabernet Franc and their Pinot Grigio.

Generally, if you come to dinner at our house, you stand a pretty good chance of being served Virginia wine, although on Sunday night we were drinking a Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York. At the moment, not counting a bottle of Port and a bottle of sherry, we have two bottles of wine that aren't from Virginia (a Shiraz from Australia that we're saving for a special occasion and a Marquette from Gervasi Vineyard in Ohio). I had one last bottle of Cabernet Franc from Domaine Queylus in Ontario left from our 2019 trip to Toronto, but we drank it earlier this winter.

I remember I first took an interest in wine in the mid-1990s. I was at the grocery store and bought a pork chop to grill and decided to have wine rather than beer, so I asked for a recommendation and the guy suggested a Pinot Noir from Oregon. It went quite well. So the next weekend when I bought a piece of steak, I got the same wine because I had liked it. It was awful. Totally clashed with the steak, had a metallic flavor. That was when I first came to understand that there was something to the whole idea of pairing wine with food.
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kphoger

Quote from: cjk374 on March 10, 2021, 09:17:38 AM
I have never had wine, but I grew up watching Justin Wilson cooking on TV. One of his main rules in cooking was "Never cook with a wine that you don't drink."

In a few applications, I could see using "cooking wine" from the grocery store shelf, though I've never personally done so.

Honestly, the main reason to never cook with a wine that you don't drink is that you have to do something with the rest of the bottle after you've used the small amount required for the recipe.  Might as well pour it in glasses and serve it with dinner!




As for wine we keep stocked...  Well, we rarely have more than one or two bottles in the house at a time, but...

La Vieille Ferme white wine



We call this "chicken wine" in our family because of the label.  In fact, our sons know it by that name too, even though they're all too young to drink alcohol.  It's not a "fancy" wine:  it is simply a vin de France, which is the lowest of the three classifications of French wine.  It's a class of simple table wines that are labeled by neither region nor grape varietal.  This one is a blend from the Rhône valley–which I've already said is a good bet for red wines–made from like four different varietals.  Only 10% of of only one of the varietals is oaked.

As for reds, I generally don't keep them stocked in the house, but rather buy it one bottle at a time, depending on what we're using it for.  One thing I use it for every year is in making rouladen on Ephiphany.  I simmer them in a mixture of beef stock, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, and herbs.  Perhaps an unusual choice, the wine I often use is a Malbec from Argentina.  But if I'm buying something to be drunk with dinner, and I'm not sure of everyone's tastes, then it's always safe to go with a Côtes du Rhône Villages, such as the one below.

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kphoger

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 09:23:37 AM
I remember I first took an interest in wine in the mid-1990s. I was at the grocery store and bought a pork chop to grill and decided to have wine rather than beer, so I asked for a recommendation and the guy suggested a Pinot Noir from Oregon. It went quite well. So the next weekend when I bought a piece of steak, I got the same wine because I had liked it. It was awful. Totally clashed with the steak, had a metallic flavor. That was when I first came to understand that there was something to the whole idea of pairing wine with food.

In my opinion, most anything pairs well with grilled pork.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 09:23:37 AM
... on Sunday night we were drinking a Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

I know this is beer and not wine, but...

:cheers:

1995hoo

#15
Quote from: webny99 on March 10, 2021, 09:48:43 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 09:23:37 AM
... on Sunday night we were drinking a Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

I know this is beer and not wine, but...

:cheers:

I figured you might appreciate that. The label is Glacial Till; they're located in (or near) Hammondsport.




Regarding cooking wine, you have to be cautious with that stuff. There is a product called "cooking sherry" that is extremely salty. Its purpose is to give you the sherry flavor while being unpalatable to drink by itself so that alcoholics won't slug down the whole bottle. I don't know whether other "cooking wines" might be similar.

When I make beef stroganoff, the recipe calls for deglazing the pan with red wine before putting it in the slow cooker. I usually use Hands Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa for that for the same reason others have discussed: It's eminently drinkable (even if I decide to serve something else with the stroganoff), but it's also not so expensive that I'm reluctant to use it for deglazing. I wouldn't deglaze with a pricey Bordeaux, for example, even if we were going to drink that wine for dinner.


(Edited to fix a verb tense error)
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

kphoger

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 09:23:37 AM
Generally, if you come to dinner at our house, you stand a pretty good chance of being served Virginia wine,

Is that an open invitation?  Should we bring a vegetable?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

index

Wine tastes like feet to me. The only wine I'll drink is Cheerwine and that isn't wine.
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kphoger

Quote from: index on March 10, 2021, 10:37:34 AM
Wine tastes like feet to me.

My sister (a huge red wine fan) has actually described appreciating a bit of "gym bag" flavor component in a wine.  To each his/her own...
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 10:17:28 AM
Quote from: webny99 on March 10, 2021, 09:48:43 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 10, 2021, 09:23:37 AM
... on Sunday night we were drinking a Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

I know this is beer and not wine, but...

:cheers:

I figured you might appreciate that. The label is Glacial Till; they're located in (or near) Hammondsport.

Interesting, I've never heard of that one, but have heard of several others near there, including Dr. Konstantin Frank's and Bully Hill. Hammondsport is just at the edge of what I would consider our traditional "wine country", with the the highest concentration of wineries being on the northern ends of Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. But there are plenty of good ones outside that range - Casa Larga, for example, is right here in the Rochester suburbs.

Roadgeekteen

I'm not old enough to drink.
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kphoger

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on March 10, 2021, 10:54:44 AM
I'm not old enough to drink.

Depends on the country.  I had legally purchased alcohol by the time I was your age.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: kphoger on March 10, 2021, 10:57:54 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on March 10, 2021, 10:54:44 AM
I'm not old enough to drink.

Depends on the country.  I had legally purchased alcohol by the time I was your age.
In what country?
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kphoger

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on March 10, 2021, 11:07:00 AM

Quote from: kphoger on March 10, 2021, 10:57:54 AM

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on March 10, 2021, 10:54:44 AM
I'm not old enough to drink.

Depends on the country.  I had legally purchased alcohol by the time I was your age.

In what country?

Germany.

But there's also a carve-out in most (all?) states' drinking laws that allows a parent to serve alcohol to his or her own child at home, and another carve-out that allows a minor to consume alcohol as part of a religious rite.  So, by the time I was your age, I had had beer and wine (and vodka and mezcal) under the supervision of my father, and I had also had wine during Communion at church.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

OCGuy81

Where do you all like to go for wine?

I miss Total Wine from living in California, but find Costco has a surprisingly great selection.

Has anyone tried an online wine club?



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