Wine

[boughtwithaprice]

I'm finishing my last glass of a lovely Bordeaux wine we had with our dinner tonight: Les Fiefs de Lagrange 1999, a St Julien wine in the Médoc in the Bordeaux region, France. It's the second wine of the 3rd cru Château Lagrange. http://www.chateau-lagrange.com/
It's yummy. It's made of mostly cabernet sauvignon and some merlot. The tannins are soft because the wine has aged. It was great with the entrecôte I grilled, and it's great with the Gouda cheese I'm eating now.

I love overmature reds. Greater than 12 yrs old preferably 20 yrs, but they are kind of hard to come by.

Has anyone ever been to Bern's steakhouse in Tampa, Florida? They have one of the best wine cellars where you can get overmature reds

 

[krstlros]

I'm just looking for a nice mild-sweet red wine that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Love buying wine. Just never know what to buy, so I get a bottle that looks good, then when I get it home, I don't like the taste, so it ends up sitting in my [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth] for a while.

(Yes, I drink chilled red win. What of it? )

 

[NDIrish]

I'm just looking for a nice mild-sweet red wine that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Love buying wine. Just never know what to buy, so I get a bottle that looks good, then when I get it home, I don't like the taste, so it ends up sitting in my [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth] for a while.

(Yes, I drink chilled red win. What of it? )

LOL! Do you really have one of those where your opened wine bottles sit?

 

[krstlros]

Yup. Second to the bottom door shelf. It's the only place they fit. Although, I do have a space on the shelf above the vegetable bin that would do nicely to lay down my bottles.

 

[NDIrish]

Just out of sheer curiosity, what was it that you were trying to write? I always have to scratch my head at the censor software, and the words it picks to remove.

 

[Davidnic]

I can not believe I missed that there was a Wine thread

That's what the flu will do.

Currently I am trying out some of the Southern Italian Wines. But I have more experience with French ones. As far as Italian wines I just had Cirò Riserva Duca San Felice 1999 from the Italian Region of Calabria.

I had to have it sent from a store elsewhere in the state but they delivered it. It was 16$ A bottle and very good. A soft fig and date taste and aroma. A very Mediterranean wine that blends a bit of Italian and Greek heritage. Very rustic and with a bite.

I like red more than whites usually.

Sadly the stuff I like usually costs more than I want or will spend. I like Southern Rhone Valley wines and I like the Grenache and Syrah grapes.

I can find some good ones with that in a well priced range in some California wines but I don't know a whole lot about the California wines. So I go with how close they are to the Rhone Valley ones I like.

Sorry to drag on but since I quit smoking I have been able to really enjoy a glass of wine every other night at a different level.

 

[NDIrish]

Here's a question that came to mind when reading your post...how does ones come to the point where you decide you like wines from a particular region in Italy?

I mean, when I go to the wine store, they have a seciton for Italian wines. But that's about all I know about the bottle I bought on Friday (which is long since gone). Do you actually research each wine? I get the distinct impression that I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here...

 

[Davidnic]

Here's a question that came to mind when reading your post...how does ones come to the point where you decide you like wines from a particular region in Italy?

I mean, when I go to the wine store, they have a seciton for Italian wines. But that's about all I know about the bottle I bought on Friday (which is long since gone). Do you actually research each wine? I get the distinct impression that I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here...

Ahh..the missing piece is I had to research it all recently. Most wines are Italian wines are Northern Italian wines. Southern does not really have alot of good/great ones. But I was doing a St. Joseph's day celebration in March and wanted to really go all out and since I was reviving alot of family traditions I wanted to get wine from the area where my family came from in Italy.

Since that is in Southern Italy I had to dig and dig and research the wine. I work in a library and I found a great book that broke everything down for me by region. That and going through genealogy has helped me to get used to identifying the regions.

 

[Rebekka]

I can not believe I missed that there was a Wine thread

That's what the flu will do.

Currently I am trying out some of the Southern Italian Wines. But I have more experience with French ones. As far as Italian wines I just had Cirò Riserva Duca San Felice 1999 from the Italian Region of Calabria.

I had to have it sent from a store elsewhere in the state but they delivered it. It was 16$ A bottle and very good. A soft fig and date taste and aroma. A very Mediterranean wine that blends a bit of Italian and Greek heritage. Very rustic and with a bite.

I like red more than whites usually.

Sadly the stuff I like usually costs more than I want or will spend. I like Southern Rhone Valley wines and I like the Grenache and Syrah grapes.

I can find some good ones with that in a well priced range in some California wines but I don't know a whole lot about the California wines. So I go with how close they are to the Rhone Valley ones I like.

Sorry to drag on but since I quit smoking I have been able to really enjoy a glass of wine every other night at a different level.

I love southern Italian wines (including Sicilian - Planeta wines are good), most of all Primitivo di Manduria from Puglia - very dark and spicy, and a bit sweet.

I also love Rhône wines - Vacqueyras and Gigondas are good, also had a lovely Crozes-Hermitage. Yesterday we had a nice Costières de Nîmes 2001, not exactly Rhône but close to it.

Southern Italian wines are often less refined than the northern ones, and they can be spicier, sweeter (without being a sweet wine), and stronger in alcohol. I'm talking about reds now - I've had two southern whites (Greco del Tufo I believe, and Lacryma Cristi, both from the Vesuvius region in Campania), but I didn't really like them. Too vulcanic perhaps.

Northern white that I like is Gavi di Gavi.

 

[Davidnic]

I love southern Italian wines (including Sicilian - Planeta wines are good), most of all Primitivo di Manduria from Puglia - very dark and spicy, and a bit sweet.

I also love Rhône wines - Vacqueyras and Gigondas are good, also had a lovely Crozes-Hermitage. Yesterday we had a nice Costières de Nîmes 2001, not exactly Rhône but close to it.

Southern Italian wines are often less refined than the northern ones, and they can be spicier, sweeter (without being a sweet wine), and stronger in alcohol. I'm talking about reds now - I've had two southern whites (Greco del Tufo I believe, and Lacryma Cristi, both from the Vesuvius region in Campania), but I didn't really like them. Too vulcanic perhaps.

Northern white that I like is Gavi di Gavi.

Southern Italian whites are tricky. I guess we are a red wine folk.

Jumping back to French, has anyone ever tried a Chateauneuf du Pape white wine. I never have but would like to, even though they (the region) are not known for them and due to producing so few they can be kind of pricy.

 

[Rebekka]

Southern Italian whites are tricky. I guess we are a red wine folk.

Jumping back to French, has anyone ever tried a Chateauneuf du Pape white wine. I never have but would like to, even though they (the region) are not known for them and due to producing so few they can be kind of pricy.

No, but have drank the red kind.

I've had a couple of white Vacqueyras, though, which is near Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They were lovely. Reminded me a bit of pears.

Haven't had other white Rhône wines. As you said, they can be expensive, especially Condrieu. Would love to, though.

 

[DivineFiliation]

Wow. Great thread. When I saw the title "wine" I thought somebody might be giving some away! How disappointed I am!

j/k


I didn't read through every page, but my history with wine started when I fell in love with Yellowtail's shiraz. Then I began to love Yellowtail's merlot better and then ventured to other merlots. I don't know if it was time that went by and changed my taste buds or what, but I cannot stand dry red wine anymore... NONE OF IT. Not even Yellowtail's merlot.

However, Copolla came out with a really good merlot that we drank in 2001 that was to die for. I don't know if they are that good anymore.

I tried a merlot called "Castillo" something last week. WAY TOO DRY. I don't know what happened to me.





I'm on to Rieslings now. My favorite is Twisted River's "Late Harvest." The problem with this wine, however, is that when I do drink it, it goes down so fast and smooth that I cannot just have one glass but rather two. One bottle of this stuff makes it 4 days in my house (luckily my husband likes beer better).

I've tried Yellowtail's Riesling and found it utterly disappointing. That wood flavor just doesn't fit a Riesling.

There's another brand out there that's ok... starts with an "F." I think it's called "Fetzer" or something like that. It's the only thing that's as smooth as Twisted River.

"Relax" is ok as well, but still not as good as Twisted River.



As you can see, I'm a little cheap. I don't like to spend $20 a bottle on something that I cannot savor and keep in the house longer than a week.

 

[DivineFiliation]

I should've asked in my previous post.

Base on my above rant, does anyone have any suggestions for a not too dry merlot that I might like and not spend more than $20? I would like to get back into the reds but cannot seem to find one I like that doesn't leave me rushing to the water fountain.

 

[RobNJ]

Here's a question that came to mind when reading your post...how does ones come to the point where you decide you like wines from a particular region in Italy?

I mean, when I go to the wine store, they have a seciton for Italian wines. But that's about all I know about the bottle I bought on Friday (which is long since gone). Do you actually research each wine? I get the distinct impression that I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here...

If you like the wine, soak the label off & put it in a notebook. Next time you look for wine, try one from the same region.

 

[RobNJ]

Wait a minute.... I haven't had anything to drink since early November.. WHY do I keep showing up in a wine thread????

 

[NDIrish]

I should've asked in my previous post.

Base on my above rant, does anyone have any suggestions for a not too dry merlot that I might like and not spend more than $20? I would like to get back into the reds but cannot seem to find one I like that doesn't leave me rushing to the water fountain.

Try Barefoot Merlot. I think it's around $10/bottle, and I thought it was pretty good for that price.

 

[NDIrish]

Wait a minute.... I haven't had anything to drink since early November.. WHY do I keep showing up in a wine thread????

I'm not nearly organized enough at home to pull something like that off.

 

[DivineFiliation]

Try Barefoot Merlot. I think it's around $10/bottle, and I thought it was pretty good for that price.

I will try, but it better not taste like bare feet!

 

[Rebekka]

I'm not nearly organized enough at home to pull something like that off.

you could also start a wine journal, like we did.

It's really nice to collect wine labels though, and when I have more time (in about 35 years, or 40), then I will start doing that, if I'm still alive then of course.

 

[DivineFiliation]

well, just as I was going to try a new wine, the husband came home with 4 bottles of Twisted River... I don't know if he's trying to get my drunk or what!!!