ITT: We share Great Wines
- Thread starter rutgersal
- Start date
"I don't want to go to Yankee Stadium" , vintage 2016.
It's from my private reserve but I think some others have a bottle or two as well. ;)
It's from my private reserve but I think some others have a bottle or two as well. ;)
Unlike scotch or tequila, I have found no correlation between cost and enjoyment when it comes to wine. Guess I have an unrefined palate.
I can be perfectly happy with a Robert Mondavi or Blackstone Merlots and/or Cabs. Which are dirt cheap. If drinking wine at the local watering hole, I drink whatever they tell me I like because I can never remember what it is. Doesn't seem to be very expensive when I pay the bill, whatever it is.
Do not enjoy white wine at all.
I can be perfectly happy with a Robert Mondavi or Blackstone Merlots and/or Cabs. Which are dirt cheap. If drinking wine at the local watering hole, I drink whatever they tell me I like because I can never remember what it is. Doesn't seem to be very expensive when I pay the bill, whatever it is.
Do not enjoy white wine at all.
This is precisely my view on the subject, as well.
I had a relative show up for Christmas dinner a few years ago with a $400 bottle of wine. It failed to move me.
I'm a long way from a wine expert. I like what I like. But I have found that there is a pretty noticeable difference between a bottle that's $17.99 and one that is $7.99. From there, it seems like the bottles I enjoy most tend to be around $24, and I believe the point of diminishing returns begins near or at $50 (maybe lower). I cannot imagine what a $400 bottle of wine offers (beside rarity - is that it?) that a $40 does not, but then again, as I said, I am no sommelier.
I'd be eager to know more about this, if anyone can explain it.
I'd be eager to know more about this, if anyone can explain it.
A bottle of manishewitz might throw a wrench in this... Try it and let us know your opinion.
My thoughts exactly. I find it tough to drink reds less than 8-9 bucks with rare exceptions. Those exceptions include a few Argentine Malbecs. I guess they can pass low labor costs to us that European/American winemakers can't.
Well I didn't want to brag but I'm pretty sure everybody on here knows I own the vineyard that makes it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
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Chateau Ste. Michelle Merlot or Louis Jadot Chardonnay are a couple of wines I remember us enjoying.
But thank God my wife doesn't sit around drinking wine every night like seemingly every middle-aged woman we know. Would get pretty expensive pretty fast. To each his own, but I can get a great bottle of bourbon for under $30 which will last me a month or two.
But thank God my wife doesn't sit around drinking wine every night like seemingly every middle-aged woman we know. Would get pretty expensive pretty fast. To each his own, but I can get a great bottle of bourbon for under $30 which will last me a month or two.
I ordered a case of wine from Cameron Hughes (chwine.com) which are fantastic bargains as long as you don't need the label. They buy lots of wine from other wineries and then sell it for 40-80% off. I blew people away at a XMas party with a cab that if it had its normal label would be a $200+ bottle that I bought for $32.
Had a bottle of Merryvale Profile with dinner Saturday. One of the better wines I've ever had. Granted, I disagree with many here about rating the difference. I'm actually opposite in that I have many 40-50 dollar bottles of scotch I enjoy as much or more than scotches that cost way more. Wine I'm a little more snobby from a taste standpoint.
You would like WTSO.com then. It's a solid site to find wine at very discounted rates.
Same for me, single malt whisky has a lot more interesting flavor and range. I've only ever been really impressed by a wine once, it was a white that I tasted while visiting a small family cave in Beaune, France. It had a pistachio aroma to it.
Good Sherry on the other hand is a whole other experience. I had some amazing ones when I visited Seville last year, and really love a good cream (Oloroso/Pedro blend).
I've certainly had really bad wine before.
Check out the wines from "Save Me San Francisco", by the band Train. Very inexpensive and quite nice. Not that it matters, but the money raised from it goes to homeless shelters. I think their Cabernet is like $15.
A friend gave me an $80 bottle that I was hanging onto. Took my wife to dinner at Girasoles in Bound Brook (right across from where Efingers used to be). Perhaps its because that meal was so good, but that bottle of wine was outstanding and I did notice a difference.
A friend gave me an $80 bottle that I was hanging onto. Took my wife to dinner at Girasoles in Bound Brook (right across from where Efingers used to be). Perhaps its because that meal was so good, but that bottle of wine was outstanding and I did notice a difference.
Here is the thing with wine...You can find good "table wines" at prices Al mentioned and they are very drinkable and enjoyable. But to say you can't tell the difference between those bottles and a really good bottle, is just crazy.
Been buying from wine-insiders.com. Get 12 or 15 bottles for 90.00 with free shipping. Some price out for 20 to 30 dollars per bottle . Just got a shipment today containing :
QAPAY SYRAH 2014
VOLUPTUERX MALBEC 2015
TERRE BLANCHE GRAVES 2015
ALBAI RIOJA 2014
SORENSINA SANGOVESE 2015
RIVERS END CABERNET 2012
QAPAY SYRAH 2014
VOLUPTUERX MALBEC 2015
TERRE BLANCHE GRAVES 2015
ALBAI RIOJA 2014
SORENSINA SANGOVESE 2015
RIVERS END CABERNET 2012
"Butter" is a California chardonnay with a Rutgers connection. It is from JaM winery, and the head winemaker there is RU All-American Bob Lloyd's son, Dick's nephew. Not a wine connoisseur, but we enjoyed it and it's less than $20
One of my Grandsons is the Wine Director at Vina Enoteca,a very upscale restaurant,in Palo Alto,Ca. He is aware that there IS a difference in quality,relative to the per bottle price of the wine.As for me I always thought that Christian Brothers Rose was pretty good.A friend across the street loved his Gallo Aroma di Roma.And I hear that there are people who have actually convinced themselves that Scotch tastes good.
Vintage 1971. Freshman year at ohio u. I drank 2 bottles in an hour, and didn't recover for a week
Back just after the turn of 1980 I did about 9 months of training at Keesler AFB in Biloxi. That was pre-casinos and there wasn't much to do. A favorite Saturday night pastime was to stop at the liquor store just outside Gate E and grab Qty. 2 Each bottles of Boones Farm Strawberry Hill, total price $3.50, then head down to the beach. We'd sit on some pier and drink, then go over to one of the ATV rental places on the beach to see what kind of damage we could do.
Some of you are confusing an "enjoyable" wine with a "remarkable" wine. There are $10 wines that are enjoyable, and good. They taste nice. But that's the end of the story with them. There are no remarkable wines under $15. A remarkable wine, which cost at least $20, will not only be pleasant and enjoyable, it will be more complex, nuanced, and can represent things that a quality commercial bulk wine cannot. Once you're paying $25 or more, your paying for either label/brand, or because that wine communicates a point in time and a place, as well as a philosophy of the one man or woman who made it.
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay for example 1- a well made, inoffensive wine that represents absolutely nothing, but is pleasant and becomes a go to for people who like that style. Tens of thousands of cases produced by an assembly line of winemaking team.
Example 2- Heitz Cellars 'Marthas Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes come not only from a county or town, but from one specific, named vineyard. a small winemaking team produces less than 1,000 cases, and the winemaker makes subtle, critical decisions on how to treat this year's harvest. The result is that one year to the next you're drinking slightly different wines based off of a year's worth of farming and winemaking decisions, coupled with the impacts of weather.
Good wines taste good. Great wines tell a story. That ability is something not often seen elsewhere in the beverage world.
Kendall Jackson Chardonnay for example 1- a well made, inoffensive wine that represents absolutely nothing, but is pleasant and becomes a go to for people who like that style. Tens of thousands of cases produced by an assembly line of winemaking team.
Example 2- Heitz Cellars 'Marthas Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes come not only from a county or town, but from one specific, named vineyard. a small winemaking team produces less than 1,000 cases, and the winemaker makes subtle, critical decisions on how to treat this year's harvest. The result is that one year to the next you're drinking slightly different wines based off of a year's worth of farming and winemaking decisions, coupled with the impacts of weather.
Good wines taste good. Great wines tell a story. That ability is something not often seen elsewhere in the beverage world.
This is a good, simple explanation, I think. Thanks. This is essentially what I was asking above. I don't know enough about the process to justify my choices, other than (as I said) I like what I like. And on the pricing structure you described, that seems to make sense for me.
In a blind taste test, there aren't many people who can pick out correctly the $10, $30 and $50 dollar bottle of wine. Like art and music,if you enjoy a bottle of wine, enjoy it without worrying about its 'status'.
That's like saying most people can't distinguish Mozart from Salieri. You have to want to know what differentiates greatness from ordinary. If you don't care to learn, then sure, both artist's pieces will sound enjoyable and similar. But there are differences that make Mozart great and Salieri "a mediocrity." You have to want to know them.
Good post . My wife and I like wine but never got into the whole story thing. It sounds interesting . We havd visited some wineries but that's about it . Are there any online wine clubs to dabble in this hobby? Not looking to break the bank either. Thanks!
Your Mississippi story reminds me of this. Years ago I worked for one of the top computer firms in the country. A lot of the really great software developers were rednecks from Texas and Louisiana. When I finally got to work worth them in Dallas, I got to hang out with them. Friday night routine was strip clubs on Industrial Blvd., then pool and beer at the Knights of Columbus. Party time was a drink called SpodieOdies. A near 50-50 mix of Strawberry Hill and Beer. You get rid of the hangover the next morning by putting tomato juice in your beer. These people just know how to live.
Pony is right. There have been numerous taste tests where the same wine is include more than once at different prices. When the tasters see the prices during the tasting they always rate the (same) wine higher when it is listed at $50 than they do when it is listed at $15. Same wine.
This is not only true about wine. With virtually every consumer product we make they same judgements. Price, to most people, is an indicator of quality. It happens in cars, restaurants, clothes, just about anything you can name. Why should wine be any different?
Not always is it worth it to know the difference between mediocrity and greatness. For example, circa January 2017, I can discern no difference between Rutgers and Alabama football. Just a few imperceptible degrees of difference which are irrelevant.
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