Choosing wine

[KarmaPolice]

I love beer. Oh boy oh boy do I love my beer. For the longest time I did not like it and now I love the most tasteful of tasteful beers.

Wine...I still don't like it that much. When I was in Japan my parents came to visit. We visited some friends and they had some really expensive wine. I gave it a try and actually liked it to some extent...so i guess I like good wine.

Tonight I went to a friends house and had a little yellow tail and while I didn't like it, I could withstand the taste. I really enjoy tasting beer and have it as kind of a hobby, and I would really like the same experience with wine...not to mention its healthier!

Any suggestions on wines to start off on? Maybe some wines that are extra sweet that taste more like juice then wine...or something that people seem to find as kind of mild and not that acquired of a taste.

I am also a college student, so lets try to stick with some cheap stuff(I realize that good and cheap might not go together...but there are some cheap beers that don't taste half bad so there must be some wine as well!)

thanks!

CLIFFS:

Suggest me a wine to start off on...i don't like wine.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Carlo Rossi! Top of the line wine. I prefer the rhine, served over ice while I'm getting hyphy.

 

[ethebubbeth]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Carlo Rossi! Top of the line wine. I prefer the rhine, served over ice while I'm getting hyphy.

ROFLMAO :laugh:

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Yellow Tail (I prefer the merlot) is a wonderful cheap wine.

 

[KarmaPolice]

bump?

 

[Czar]

I opened up a bottle of Vina Maipo Reserva, Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 from chile last saturday, excelent red wine

 

[Codewiz]

I recommend going to watch a bunch of the WineLibrary TV podcasts. http://tv.winelibrary.com

 

[DivideBYZero]

Any Cabernet Sauvignon with 14% abv or greater.

 

[Qwest]

Top 100 Best Buy Wines

 

[Kelemvor]

Get what wine comes in the right size box to fit neatly in your fridge.

 

[Descartes]

I say this a lot in wine-related threads, but I genuinely think it's the only way to go for your situation.

1) Ignore specific labels, varietals, etc. At this point you're just trying to educate yourself. Obviously there are great producers, bad producers and everything in between. Developing an affinity for any of them will only limit your experiences.

2) Find a wine shop with knowledgeable staff. They'll know what's good, what's available, etc. They'll be able to help you along the way. Contrary to what most people think, asking an opinion on a good bottle doesn't make you a rube. There are thousands of wine producers around the world. There's simply no way you can be familiar with each one. Ask someone who is knowledgeable and has actually tasted the bottle you're interested in. Sometimes sites like Wine Tracker are helpful for this. Robert Parker, Wine Enthusiast, etc. are less helpful, imo.

3) Taste as many bottles as you can and, most importantly, take notes! Learn to really appreciate the qualities of specific varietals and the different between regions and price points. Drink a Cali cab at a $40 price point (if you can) and contrast it with a Washington Cab at a $15 price point. Do the same with Chile. Learn to really taste the character of the wine style and the qualities of the grape itself. This could be anything from the taste of currants to tobacco. If you want a helpful method on doing this in a systematic manner, let me know. I employ the same method as used by the enology program at UCD.

I think that's it. If you ignore 90% of what I said, at least take the "Ignore the specific producer" comment seriously. You'll be wasting your time. You have to have a proper foundation first.

 

[jrenz]

You can get some Gewürztraminer or Riesling if you're looking for a very sweet wine... or if you have the money, any variety of ice wine (very sweet white wines). Chardonnay is also pretty mild as far as wines go, and you can get a lot of variety of flavor in them.

As far as red wines, there are tons and tons of red wine varieties from different countries so it is really just a matter of trying different kinds to see what fits your tastes. Pinot noir is very mild and fruity, merlot and cabernet sauvignon are slightly stronger, shiraz is strong and fruity.

There are lots of regions too which you can pick from, be they domestic or international. If you're in N Carolina, they have a few decent varieties there that you can try. Wines from anywhere south of you are mostly muscadinian, which are very mild and fruity, almost like grape juice. The Ohio river valley is a big wine making area, with a lot of hybrids. Michigan and the northeast have some good varieties too. Obviously, most domestic wines are from California, but a lot of them are made by large corporations and it can be hard to tell where it actually came from... a vineyard or a factory. Stay away from boxed wine.

Internationally, you can get wines from all over. Obviously France, Italy, Germany, and most of the rest of Europe. Other places include Australia, which has the fastest growing wine industry in the world. Shiraz is a proprietary variety which is a hybrid of the European sirah variety. South America has Chili and Argentina with the Mendoza variety, which is pretty nice. South Africa has some if you can find them at the store.

Other types of wine like sherry, port, burgundy, Bordeaux, etc., are all unique and regional, so you just need to try them yourself.

The easiest thing to do would be to find a store with a large wine section and a knowledgeable staff and ask for recommendations, then start trying a different kind every so often until you get a feel for what you like. There are more than you'll ever be able to try, but every one is different.

Should you ever want any more advice or whatnot, feel free to PM me. Enjoy!

 

[KB]

Try any Lambrusco. I recommend Reggiano, but Ruinite is the easiest to find. Lambrusco is a nice slightly sweet wine with lights hints of oak and berry. Once you start to like the flavor you can move on to slightly drier wines like Shiraz and Merlot. Your taste of Cabernet with its higher tannins will take a while.

 

[davestar]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Tonight I went to a friends house and had a little yellow tail and while I didn't like it, I could withstand the taste.

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
Yellow Tail (I prefer the merlot) is a wonderful cheap wine.

good suggestion

 

[krunchykrome]

Maryland has some very good wineries. Basignani and Boordy are very good.

Too bad I missed Wine in the Woods this last weekend.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: KB
Try any Lambrusco. I recommend Reggiano, but Ruinite is the easiest to find. Lambrusco is a nice slightly sweet wine with lights hints of oak and berry. Once you start to like the flavor you can move on to slightly drier wines like Shiraz and Merlot. Your taste of Cabernet with its higher tannins will take a while.

One generally shouldn't be drinking Cab when the tannins are that pronounced anyway. You don't drink a 1 year old Cabernet, for example, and hotter Cab-producing regions often take a decade or more in the bottle before they're really drinkable. Exceptions are those blended with Merlot, or those from more temperate climates like Washington.

 

[KarmaPolice]

My parents are pretty well off and they drink wine in a box pretty much every night....is it really that bad?

 

[jrenz]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: KB
Try any Lambrusco. I recommend Reggiano, but Ruinite is the easiest to find. Lambrusco is a nice slightly sweet wine with lights hints of oak and berry. Once you start to like the flavor you can move on to slightly drier wines like Shiraz and Merlot. Your taste of Cabernet with its higher tannins will take a while.

One generally shouldn't be drinking Cab when the tannins are that pronounced anyway. You don't drink a 1 year old Cabernet, for example, and hotter Cab-producing regions often take a decade or more in the bottle before they're really drinkable. Exceptions are those blended with Merlot, or those from more temperate climates like Washington.

Unless I am mistaken... most red wines (other than fortified) only last maybe 10-12 years in the bottle?

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: jrenz

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: KB
Try any Lambrusco. I recommend Reggiano, but Ruinite is the easiest to find. Lambrusco is a nice slightly sweet wine with lights hints of oak and berry. Once you start to like the flavor you can move on to slightly drier wines like Shiraz and Merlot. Your taste of Cabernet with its higher tannins will take a while.

One generally shouldn't be drinking Cab when the tannins are that pronounced anyway. You don't drink a 1 year old Cabernet, for example, and hotter Cab-producing regions often take a decade or more in the bottle before they're really drinkable. Exceptions are those blended with Merlot, or those from more temperate climates like Washington.

Unless I am mistaken... most red wines (other than fortified) only last maybe 10-12 years in the bottle?

I've got quite a few in the cellar that beg to differ, including some 22 year old Heitz Cab.

In all seriousness, you're generally correct. Most Cabs, especially non-French Cabs, aren't designed to last decades. There are some notable exceptions, but most are probably drinkable around 5-7 years or so. My point was just that if a Cab you're drinking is too tannic, then it's not something you should be drinking. Most people get their hands on Cab 5 or so years after vintage, so that would put it drinkable at an estimated 10 years or so. It really depends on a lot of factors of course.

Obviously, west bank Bordeaux can last decades in your upper crus. Right bank, my preference in price and taste, is drinkable at about the same time as your Cali Cabs.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
My parents are pretty well off and they drink wine in a box pretty much every night....is it really that bad?

Has nothing to do with being "well off." People drink what they like. If they like wine in a box, then more power to them. There are much better wines to be had at only a pittance more though, imo.

 

[KarmaPolice]

how long does wine last after you open the bottle.

 

[jrenz]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
how long does wine last after you open the bottle.

White wines last maybe 2 or 3 days if you refrigerate. Red wines, about 10. If left out on the counter, white wines will go bad within a day, and red will last maybe a couple before they start fermenting.

Edit: Again, this is for non-fortified. Wines like sherry and port stay good for just about forever.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
how long does wine last after you open the bottle.

I have opened bottles that last more than a month. I own part of a vineyard out of Oregon and made my own wine for several years (Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir mostly, but do a lot of "country" wines like Blackberry, Blueberry, etc. as well). As part of the process, we blind tested several preservation methods:

1) Nitrogen purging. This purges the headspace of a bottle with nitrogen in order to reduce the interaction of oxygen with the wine.

2) "Vacuum" methods. This is similar in purpose to the nitrogen purpose. All just try to reduce the amount of oxygen that interacts with the wine.

3) Reducing the headspace using creative methods. This includes filling the wine with something to increase the volume (like marbles... seriously) or simply using a smaller bottle.

I don't want to waste time and get into all of the details, but the winner by a large margin was #3. It makes sense, really; you're just trying to reduce the headspace and thus the amount of oxygen available to the wine, so it follows that increasing the volume of the wine or decreasing the volume of the container will accomplish that. Simply pour a fresh bottle into two half bottles and recork. That's it. Serve out of one of the half bottles and you'll be fine for a few days. If you want to have that half bottle last for a while, you could even split it among two quarter bottles, but that's a bit too much work. Refrigeration will do add a few days of life to the half bottle.

I should note that, in my experience, the vacuum methods and nitrogen purging methods do almost nothing whatsoever in terms of preservation. In almost all cases there was a marked difference between the fresh bottle and the preserved bottle.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

My dad and his wife drink this cheap ****** called "Red Truck" and it's just a bottle with a red pickup truck on it. The white version is called "Yellow Truck"

Classy stuff

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: jrenz

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
how long does wine last after you open the bottle.

White wines last maybe 2 or 3 days if you refrigerate. Red wines, about 10. If left out on the counter, white wines will go bad within a day, and red will last maybe a couple before they start fermenting.

Edit: Again, this is for non-fortified. Wines like sherry and port stay good for just about forever.

Say what? That's almost an impossibility for a lot of reasons:

1) Most wines you're finding are probably filtered. This means that the lees (which contains yeast) upon which the wine sat for some time was filtered out.

2) Almost all red wines are fermented dry. There comes a point where two things happen:
2a) The available sugars to the yeast are exhausted. This doesn't always happen, so sometimes there is a very, very tiny amount of sugar still lefty in the wine. Even so, these wines are still considered dry.
2b) The yeast "die." Yeast have a lifetime governed by a lot of factors, including nutrition (namely nitrogen content from either the grapes (which is contingent upon the soil in which the grapes were grown), temperature of the fermentation, etc.). An "arrested fermentation" as they call it can be a large problem, but there's generally a point where they arrest naturally, and at this point there is usually very little residual sugar and thus the wine is dry.

So, the possibility of a wine fermenting in the bottle is very slight. You're almost certainly not going to have this happen in any commercial bottles. If that happened, you'd have corks popping off all over the place. This is still an occurrence for some sparkling wines for obvious reasons, but definitely not still wines.