The WINE thread

[seafoid]

Bordeaux is more expensive than wine from other regions just because it's Bordeaux.
It doesn't necessarily have the best price/quality ratio.

Baron de Lestac is a Bordeaux blend that's quite good if you want a Bordeaux taste and not too expensive  . Very dependable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_de_Lestac

You can also get cases of less in demand Bordeaux from wine merchants for around E 120 to E150 a case of 12 .These are better value than bottles bought individually. Eg Chateau de Fonbel

There are loads of sites with info if you find one and are not sure about it .
The market is skewed towards names, not necessarily the best quality.

Jancis Robinson occasionally writes about good value wines to look out for

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/b1a7dca8-41be-11e3-b064-00144feabdc0.html

"Wines that have fallen in price at the cellar door, or stagnated for some time, include Côtes du Rhône, Beaujolais, much of the Loire (Muscadet prices recently rose a little simply to keep growers in business), Bordeaux below classed-growth level, typical Languedoc-Roussillon wines, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, most Italian whites and some Piemontese reds, virtually all Portuguese wines, sherry and many Spanish wines, particularly Rioja."

I also like Minervois especially those by Anne Gros. She is from Burgundy and brought her expertise to the South of France. 

http://www.anne-gros.com/en/minervois-3.html

[Harold Disgracey]

I mostly drink Italian red wines, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Barbaresco, Barolo etc. I'm particularly fond of Nero d'Avola from Sicily.

I got the loveliest bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2004, from the Bekka Valley in Lebanon, as a Christmas Present last year. Check it out if you can, you won't be disappointed.

[Milltown Row2]

The Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc I mentioned above is Chilean and it doesn't give me a sore head.

I never drink Red, what would someone recommend for an intro to red wine? or just take a lucky dip in the wine isle some day based on how I like the look of the label

You can't go wrong with the Campo Viejo range, the Rioja Tempranillo has a nice spice to it




Or if you want to get off your head there are some real strong German wines that will feck you up lol

get on it sir

http://www.tesco.com/wine/product/details/default.aspx?id=250218971

Just ordered it!! I'm away all next week so that should last...... providing my wife doesn't hand them out as xmas gifts ffs!  Good man cheers

[Milltown Row2]

I mostly drink Italian red wines, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Barbaresco, Barolo etc. I'm particularly fond of Nero d'Avola from Sicily.

I got the loveliest bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2004, from the Bekka Valley in Lebanon, as a Christmas Present last year. Check it out if you can, you won't be disappointed.

A girl (gorgeous Macedonian) at the course I'm on has promised me a bottle of her favourite Italian wine Barolo, hoping to taste it this week, then try the wine after 

[illdecide]

I mostly drink Italian red wines, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Barbaresco, Barolo etc. I'm particularly fond of Nero d'Avola from Sicily.

I got the loveliest bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2004, from the Bekka Valley in Lebanon, as a Christmas Present last year. Check it out if you can, you won't be disappointed.

A girl (gorgeous Macedonian) at the course I'm on has promised me a bottle of her favourite Italian wine Barolo, hoping to taste it this week, then try the wine after 

Now now...you know the rules..."Photo"

[Milltown Row2]

I mostly drink Italian red wines, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Barbaresco, Barolo etc. I'm particularly fond of Nero d'Avola from Sicily.

I got the loveliest bottle of Chateau Musar Gaston Hochar 2004, from the Bekka Valley in Lebanon, as a Christmas Present last year. Check it out if you can, you won't be disappointed.

A girl (gorgeous Macedonian) at the course I'm on has promised me a bottle of her favourite Italian wine Barolo, hoping to taste it this week, then try the wine after 

Now now...you know the rules..."Photo"

lol

[LeoMc]

The Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc I mentioned above is Chilean and it doesn't give me a sore head.

I never drink Red, what would someone recommend for an intro to red wine? or just take a lucky dip in the wine isle some day based on how I like the look of the label

try Brown Brothers Tarango. Very few tanins so it is very light, almost like a white.

[LeoMc]

To certain extent I have to agree with laoislad here!  Unless you truly are an expert no need to be spending big dough on wines.  One of the best value for money wines you can get is, Yellow Tail shiraz.  Really nice, and its a bout £6 usually a bottle on offer.

Remember watching Come dine with me.  A girl slAbbering about the wine all week.  Telling ones she wouldn't drink their cheap wine because it was like vinegar.  So in the last night one of the guys got the empty bottle of her favourite wine, which was about £50 a bottle.  Poured a £3 bottle in it, and watched her make a complete t**ser of herself, hadn't a clue! 

I'd say you could do this with a lot of wine snobs. Some just like to hear themselves talking

We pretty much always stick to white wine, sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio. I find chardonnay too sharp and leaves a sore head. I quite like the Yellow Tail sauignon blanc, hard to go wrong with it as most will like it
Some nice ones we'd get regularly are going for £5 atm in ASDA, often around £8-9;
Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc
Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc

Tried a Lidl wine for the first time at the weekend, think it was this;
Rosecreek NZL Sauvignon Blanc Malborough
Tried it with someone who could possibly be described as a wine snob, and all were impressed

Try the French Chardonnays, no comparison to the Australian stuff. Chablis is as far from the Hardys / Lindemans stuff as you can get. They get less sun and there is no oak taste.

[gerrykeegan]

6euro bottle of Pinot Grigio from Lidl does me fine 

I remember listening to a radio interview a few years ago with a fella who was supposed to be some sort of wine expert.
He was given 3 glasses of wine and was asked to describe each glass.
He went on for ages with bullshite about each glass about how it tasted.
Turned out all the glasses of wine were from the same bottle.
There is an awful lot of shite talked about wine IMO.

That must be three years now you are drinking the same stuff, as a treat to the wife buy the "Macon Villages" in Lidl, its 9.99 (I know for you that pricey) just try it.

[illdecide]

I know you guys are all referring to half decent wine but how bad are the Buckfast, Mundies, Thunderbird, Thunderbird etc. The Alco's obviously buy them as they're cheap but how bad do they taste?

[AZOffaly]

My father used to meet up with one of those 'wine snobs' in the course of business meetings, trips etc. He was a union rep, the wine snob - not my father, and was full of bluster about wine. He used to love making a show of the wine steward or waiter or whatever and make all them stupid comments about a 'good nose' etc.

Now my father wouldn't have a clue about wine other than it tastes nice, or it tastes bad. End of story. But he was sick of this fella's act, so he slipped the wine steward £10 (pre 2001) and told him he was going to ask for a 1993 whatever, but the steward was to bring out a 1995 instead.

So when the wine list was produced, my father said 'Sorry XXXXX, would it be okay if I ordered the wine, I think I saw something nice there' and he ordered the 1993 bottle.

The wine steward arrived out with the bottle, and poured the taste into the glass. My father sniffed it, hmmed and hawed a bit and then tasted it. He went 'Oh no, I'm very sorry, I asked for the 1993, not the 1995, I think you brought the wrong bottle'. The lad looked at the bottle, pretended to be all embarassed and went away to get the right bottle.

The other buck never opened his mouth about wine again that night, and he also never noticed that later on they drank the 1995 wine that was obviously paid for as well

[muppet]

I know you guys are all referring to half decent wine but how bad are the Buckfast, Mundies, Thunderbird, Thunderbird etc. The Alco's obviously buy them as they're cheap but how bad do they taste?

They taste going down, like proper wine coming up.

[seafoid]

We stayed in a hotel in Tipp a while ago that had a menu from the 60s framed on the wall. Nowadays they do mostly weddings and the current wine list reflected that - lots of dependable and drinkable Australian cabernet sauvignon and merlot with Sauvignon blanc for the ladies.

The thing on the wall included the 60s wine list and had Meursault, Sancerre, various Burgundy, Bordeaux and Sauternes. It was a very interesting insight into the type of client they would have had in the 60s - probably from a much smaller pool of people.   

The 60s menu looked nicer than the carvery stuff we had at the time as well. 

[Canalman]

Can't stand the taste of wine and the very few times I drank it I had a ferocious hangover.

Definitely "smooth and cosmopolitan"  to drink wine in recent years......... "especially a glass of wine with dinner".

Prefer the glass of tap water myself with dinner or with cordial as a treat.

[muppet]

Can't stand the taste of wine and the very few times I drank it I had a ferocious hangover.

Definitely "smooth and cosmopolitan"  to drink wine in recent years......... "especially a glass of wine with dinner".

Prefer the glass of tap water myself with dinner or with cordial as a treat.

Could it possibly be that some people just like it?