Wine lovers... - by ercles
ercles on 13/8/2007 at 11:50
I was just interested as to how many users enjoy a drop of wine now and then, or maybe more often... Favourite varieties? Anybody home-brewing? I was also just wondering to what extent people generally take their wine seriously, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there.
Personally, I'm halfway through a bachelor of wine making, and although I don't drink as much as I do I really enjoy a relaxing drink. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are tops as far as I'm concerned.
It may be a bit difficult to give out wine tips due to the vast distances this forum covers, but for the few Australians out there, I had the Paxton's AAA the other day (about $22 a bottle) was a great shiraz grenache, a touch too much alcohol, but if you cool it a bit before drinking you don't even notice.
DeargDoom on 13/8/2007 at 12:02
I enjoy the odd drop of wine. French and Italian wines are the best bet in my opinion. Particularly italian wine, they know there stuff. Never been a big fan of austrailian wines but at the same time im still very young so ive maybe just not had the right stuff
ercles on 13/8/2007 at 12:05
Indeed those Europeans know their stuff, and most likely produce the best wine in the world. Where are you located? Because most of the wine that Australia exports is incredibly bad. This is especially the case in North America, where a brand known as Yellowtail has become a raging success due largely to the fact that it has a kangaroo on the label.
Scots Taffer on 13/8/2007 at 12:16
I'm a big wine drinker.
Avoid French (save for Champagne!!) and Italian (save for Chianti and Sangiovese) like the plague, in my opinion. They are very acidic wines and often don't tend to age very well either, at least those that I've tried anyway. Most of their varietals are enjoyed young and fresh, even the reds are best served cold as they are so vivd in flavour, the ones I've tried seem to grow bitter and vinegary as they age. But I am quite plain about the fact that I haven't tried LOADS of them, as I just never found many that I liked... so I could be missing tons of goodies.
Spanish reds are lovely. Rioja in particular. Similarly, Chilean reds are also pretty fantastic. They generally tend to have a lovely snappy palate.
New World wines are far, far superior in my experience. The expression in the wines is immense, the tropical flavours, the different weights of each and their suitability (solo drinking, with food, hot days, cold days, etc) seems to be more varied and appropriate.
South African whites are pretty decent too, but they're like some American wines, pleasant but they tend to be a little indistinct - the imports we get anyway, like E&J.
So far though, I've never experienced wine anywhere as much as I have in Australia - down the Margaret River in WA and in the Queensland Hinterland over here - and I've rarely been disappointed in a wine.
I went through a period where I drank nothing but Chardonnay, but then I really started to appreciate the youth and fresh citrus/tropical fruits present in Sauvignon Blanc - the NZ SB's are just unbelievable, explosions of pineapple and papaya and all kinds of crazy fruit. And I started drinking tons of that. I've slowly started returning to a love of Chardonnay again, I love vanilla oak character and really appley-nosed ones.
With reds, I've evolved slowly through the varietals, from Merlot to Shiraz to Cab Sav and lastly onto the mealy Pinot. Pinot is amazing, it just blows your mind when you try to grasp all the flavours (I talk more than I truly understand about appreciating it, but I do try, I love trying to fully experience the palate/nose of wine) but it's so heavy that I only get in the rare occasions where I'm really craving some serious wine-appreciation. Generally, SA Shiraz's (from Barossa Valley esp) are just superb glugging wines and I tend to drop about $20-30 on a bottle two or three times a week. Just lovely!!
PigLick on 13/8/2007 at 12:54
speaking of wine/champagne, do a youtube search for "drunk orson welles"
ercles on 13/8/2007 at 13:00
Wow, scots, I'm impressed. You have to make the effort to get down to South Australia, though. Give the hunter a miss, it's pretty well useless. But the fact that you can visit 3.5 wine regions (although it produces some of the most delicate wines in Aus, the Adelaide hills is still fledgling) within an hour's drive means Adelaide is awesome.
Have to disagree about the ol' Sauv Blanc, though, it may have something to do with the head of my dept at Uni just drilling this anti New Zealand Sauv Blanc line into my head. I would be interested to see what you think of one like Dominique Portet's which is lightly oaked-a more old world approach to the wine.
SubJeff on 13/8/2007 at 13:15
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
New World wines are far, far superior in my experience. The expression in the wines is immense, the tropical flavours, the different weights of each and their suitability (solo drinking, with food, hot days, cold days, etc) seems to be more varied and appropriate.
It's all down to cost. New World wines are much more accessible and at lower price points outshine similarly priced Old World wines. But if you up the price (30pounds+ per bottle) you'll find that the Old World wines have a depth and complexity not found in the New World. Up it to 100+ per bottle and you're talking silly degrees of texture and variety from sip to sip (mind you I've never had New World wine in this price bracket). I'm talking red only here.
Having said all that I prefer New World wines because of the wide variety at reasonable prices. And I'll turn down Rioja for even cheap cidera any day, unless veal carpaccio is on the menu :p
Scots Taffer on 13/8/2007 at 13:30
Quote Posted by ercles
Wow, scots, I'm impressed.
You'd be surprised what you'd get into when beer isn't an option. :)
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
It's all down to cost.
You're probably right. I must give them a chance sometime, though that's unlikely to be anytime soon given where I am and import costs being what they are; however, when I was in Paris and drinking >20euro bottles they were definitely among the more palatable that I've ever had. That said, I still prefer many New World wines to those that I did enjoy.
If you have to drink the most expensive Old Worlds in order to appreciate them, I guess I'd argue as to how good they really are then!
Oskar Cruo on 13/8/2007 at 13:39
Just bought "Carlo Rossi, California Rosé" -rosé wine. I love rosé wine but I can drink any wine generally. I usually prefer dry. But it is yummy!
PigLick on 13/8/2007 at 13:47
You cant beat Californian champagne, it has the same french excellence!
MUAAAHHHHHHHHH THE FRENCH
