Wine Geekery

[Wrecked]

This is better than the 2017:

Been to that winery. It was pretty cool.

So you remember those commercials for Olive Garden where they claim their chefs spend 2 weeks in Italy training? Turns out they actually do this. And this winery is where they do it. So bizarre to walk up to a winery in siena and see the Olive Garden logo on the side of the building.

[skaredshtles]

Been to that winery. It was pretty cool.

So you remember those commercials for Olive Garden where they claim their chefs spend 2 weeks in Italy training? Turns out they actually do this. And this winery is where they do it. So bizarre to walk up to a winery in siena and see the Olive Garden logo on the side of the building.

My wife and I also visited this winery on our honeymoon in 2000. Small goddam world...

I believe our trip must have pre-dated the Olive Garden nonsense, as I don't remember any logo.

[Wrecked]

It was my honeymoon as well… 2017

[warthog]

This is one of the better $45 bottles that I have had recently.
8 Years in the Desert

[XXX-er]

Hah, my dad use to make his own wine

kit wine is not really making your own wine, all you are doing is thro-ing some water in with the concentrate, get the yeast going, 8 week later you got about a 10$ bottle of wine for 4 $ so I would say its > a chateau cardboard, also kit wine has much less sulphates so if yer sensitive to sulphates it might be better for ya/ less headaches. IME the reds were not worth making but the whites were ok also buy the best cuz you gotta drink it

are you dentists drinking 40$ a bottle wines every night or do you have an every day win, you know

for when you are not showing off to other dentists ?

[Buke]

are you dentists drinking 40$ a bottle wines every night or do you have an every day win, you know

for when you are not showing off to other dentists ?

I'm definitely not in the dentist category. I've got 3 little kids that I have to keep in skis and somehow figure out how to put through college. But, see my comment up thread about the sub $5 bottle of Portuguese wine at Costco. So cheap, simple and really easy to drink.

Also, I tend to find the cheaper Côtes du Rhone wines make a consistently good every day wine. Normally if I'm looking for a bottle to drink that night for any given weeknight at home, I just go to the French section and look for a Rhone wine in the sub $13 range. That's one thing that you get from all of the regulations in France around appelation de origine côntrolée. Sure, winemakers might have less room to innovate if they want the marketing advantages of the AoC but it also means that wines within an AoC will usually have similar characteristics. Once you figure out what you generally enjoy, you can just look for cheap options within that AoC.

[skaredshtles]

I'm definitely not in the dentist category. I've got 3 little kids that I have to keep in skis and somehow figure out how to put through college. But, see my comment up thread about the sub $5 bottle of Portuguese wine at Costco. So cheap, simple and really easy to drink.

Also, I tend to find the cheaper Côtes du Rhone wines make a consistently good every day wine. Normally if I'm looking for a bottle to drink that night for any given weeknight at home, I just go to the French section and look for a Rhone wine in the sub $13 range. That's one thing that you get from all of the regulations in France around appelation de origine côntrolée. Sure, winemakers might have less room to innovate if they want the marketing advantages of the AoC but it also means that wines within an AoC will usually have similar characteristics. Once you figure out what you generally enjoy, you can just look for cheap options within that AoC.

Yup. I do a similar thing, though my cap is about $20 and I go to the Italian section.

[stapes]

No mention of my favorite grape - Barbera...

Now I'm thirsty for a Barbera. Dammit.

My man.

This has been our ‘house red’ for awhile now

https://www.volioimports.com/wine/ca...barbera-dasti/

[skaredshtles]

My man.

This has been our ‘house red’ for awhile now

https://www.volioimports.com/wine/ca...barbera-dasti/

Goddammit.

I apparently can get that somewhat locally for $10/bottle.

Might have to go out soon and pick some up...

[Buster Highmen]

are you dentists drinking 40$ a bottle wines every night or do you have an every day win, you know

No, I don't drink every day, maybe 4 nights a week and if I do open a bottle, I consume about half.

It used to be that when I didn't have dinner guests, I'd drink the $20-25 bottles, and save the snootier ones for guests.

My only goal was to crush them with my coruscating superiority.

I've been so successful, we don't have friends around Seattle anymore, so now I drink the good stuff myself and share it elsewhere.

[doebedoe]

Drinking with Buster when he brings a bottle out is a special treat. Especially for us younger mags who've never had access to regions we're now priced out of.

Current value pick -- B.Y.O.B. red from Folk Machine. Smaller brand out of Cali, blending high-quality fruit, indigenous yeast fermentation only. This is not your "made to hit a specific taste" boxed crap with a bunch of mega-purple and residual sugar. Can be found for $30 for a 4L box and can be drunk happily alone and a huge variety of food.



The vast majority of my wine drinking is in the $10-20 range, mostly Old World, low-intervention style wines where I more commonly buy based more on importer/distributor than producer since I prefer to drink new things than repeats most the time. Faves are Louis/Dressner, Skurnik, Kermit Lynch, Eric Solomon, Rosenthal and Weygandt.

[chaka]

I Highly recommend signing up for Garagiste wines daily offers. Based out of Seattle area, if you are local you can arrange pickup from their Renton warehouse, otherwise they store in controlled conditions and ship 2x a year during weather windows. We've been with them for probably 15 years now and have discovered an awful lot of great wines during that time. Range from $6 to a rare >$1000 per bottle offering for you extreme dentists. The founder/owner John Rimmerman does a great job describing the wine so that after awhile you can align your tastes and interests well to the offers. He is well connected with wineries large and small throughout the top Europe appellations as well as NZ, OR, etc. and the volume he can move is rewarded with great discounted lots.

[schindlerpiste]

Everyday summer bottles:
White: Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio
Rose: Tavel
Red Burgundy: Les Granges des Papes Chateauneuf du pape
Claret: Krug

All good. All in the $20s

[Grange]

I think the Kirkland Cab. Sauv. box wine is pretty good.

I'm headed to Bordeaux for a few days in 2022. We'll be planning on visiting some winery while we're there.

[skaredshtles]

I think the Kirkland Cab. Sauv. box wine is pretty good.

I'm headed to Bordeaux for a few days in 2022. We'll be planning on visiting some winery while we're there.

Tell me you're going to St. Emilion... that town is really quite something special. At least... it was back in '99.

[doebedoe]

Tell me you're going to St. Emilion... that town is really quite something special. At least... it was back in '99.

Pretty sure it is a World Heritage Site so I can't imagine it's any less something now.

Bordeaux can be dope. It can be crazy expensive and dope. But there is sooo much quality wine around there at smaller, less-known producers that are amazing qprs.

[skaredshtles]

Pretty sure it is a World Heritage Site so I can't imagine it's any less something now.

Well... it was a quiet place when we went. Gobs of fat Americans would make it less something (for me).

[alpinevibes]

I Highly recommend signing up for Garagiste wines daily offers. Based out of Seattle area, if you are local you can arrange pickup from their Renton warehouse, otherwise they store in controlled conditions and ship 2x a year during weather windows. We've been with them for probably 15 years now and have discovered an awful lot of great wines during that time. Range from $6 to a rare >$1000 per bottle offering for you extreme dentists. The founder/owner John Rimmerman does a great job describing the wine so that after awhile you can align your tastes and interests well to the offers. He is well connected with wineries large and small throughout the top Europe appellations as well as NZ, OR, etc. and the volume he can move is rewarded with great discounted lots.

Garagiste junky checking in.

I’d say 2/3 of our 2-3 bottles a week is from them. Great value and interesting variety, though we usually stick to our guns. By this point I’ve probably flown 200+ garagiste bottles home in checked bags and driven another 200 or so down.

[schindlerpiste]

Pretty sure it is a World Heritage Site so I can't imagine it's any less something now.

Bordeaux can be dope. It can be crazy expensive and dope. But there is sooo much quality wine around there at smaller, less-known producers that are amazing qprs.

Yes, along with Pauillac, Margaux, Medoc, St. Julien and maybe St. Estephen

[Wrecked]

Surprised nobody has mentioned WTSO yet.

It’s an app… wines til they sell out.

You can get some pretty fantastic stuff drastically discounted. Although drastically discounted doesn’t always mean cheap.

[ex-powderbroker]

Anyone drinking natty wines?

[doebedoe]

Anyone drinking natty wines?

Yes and no. I try to almost exclusively drink what most would call "natural" wines. E.g. low-intervention farming and wine making, indigenous yeast fermentations only, respect for local winemaking techniques (amphora hell yeah), and grapes (love me some Romarotin).

I don't care if there's a bit of brett on my wines. Although I'd prefer for it to blow off after awhile -- good cru beaujolais comes to mind, and a lot of italians. I jam on a lot of stuff from the Loire Austria, Georgia, and the like. One of my fave tastings ever was with Thierry at Clos tue Boeuf who makes a bunch of weird shit.



But wines that are just mousy to be mousy and get by on cool to excuse poor wine making -- can fuck right off. But if you're into this sorta thing -- you should go to Barcelona. There are a bunch of straight up natty wine bars crawling with gorgeous, young Catalan women chugging goblets of glou-glou. And I am into that.

[ex-powderbroker]

Yup, I'll have what you're having.

eta: sure, spain, france, greece, italy, slovenia, and georgia. sign me up for the tour!

there’s good juice btw in bc and ontario, they just can’t hit the same price point. and ontario girls don’t quite have the same appeal as the catalan’s although the sister in letterkenny isn’t bad.

[schindlerpiste]

A buddy of mine owns a small vineyard in Napa. It is called Larkin Vineyards. He is big-time into Cab. Franc and now he is doing canned wine.

He is doing well. I think that it is cheap-ish and is ok. If you see it give it a try.

[doebedoe]

Yup, I'll have what you're having....

Na...have whatever Buster serves....



This was a helluva a fun lineup we had one night in Spain. Almost full pours of 5 Tschida cuvees each for 15eu per person. Luckily we went to Monvinic before we just got fucked on this.



Fave wine experience ever though is probably La Venecia in Madrid. It's a sherry bar. Had no idea I loved sherry. One example of every main sherry type available. $1.80 for fino or manzanilla. $2.20 for everything else. Straight from the cask. No labels. No bullshit. No other bibations for sale. Simple tapas--free olives, cheese, meat. Cash only, no tipping allowed. No photos or phone conversations. Your tab is kept on chalk on the bar. If I could live in a bar, I'd live there. Of our 4 nights in Madrid, we closed it down at 2am on 3.