Wine. Do you know it?

I hate ***** alcohol.

If you can't taste the difference between a £2.50 bottle of urine and a £20 decent bottle then you may have a serious problem. You might as well drink white lightning.
If you can stomach cheap alcohol by all means go for it, i've always found cheap alcohol to taste nasty though. I tried a tesco value whisky at a mates a while back, I actually accused him of urinating in the bottle to trick me.
 
Tell you what, I found buying wine in France difficult - your general UK preconceptions of "Fiver a bottle or so will be alright, Tenner will be nice, twenty will be very good" go out of the window.

The cheapest bottle we tried there was a €1.20 Bordeaux just to see what it was like - and was perfectly drinkable if not mind-blowingly awesome.
 
£10-25 Cabernet Sauvignons i.e. wolf blass yellow label are the best wines imo... below that they can taste quite nasty... and I've drunk wines tasting 10x as much that haven't had as pleasing a taste. (Plus you feel kinda guilty sipping down £~70 worth and thinking "this tastes quite ordinary")
 
Dogoid said:
This article states just what i have always thought regarding the differences between cheap and expensive wines. Myself, have always been happy to buy the cheapo bottles, 2.50 a bottle etc, generally sub fiver price range.
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I usually spend < £5 on a bottle of wine and normally it's pretty good. For the most part, expensive wine is for people that want to flash their cash.
 
jp_bl_68 said:
I usually spend < £5 on a bottle of wine and normally it's pretty good. For the most part, expensive wine is for people that want to flash their cash.
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Cheap wine is drinkable and good but expensive wine is not just splashing the cash. Some of it is just incredible and lots of it is head and shoulders above cheap stuff.
 
I haven't drunk any excessively expensive wine, I think the priciest wine I've had went for about £100 a bottle and it didn't taste any better than £5/£10 bottle.
 
I have been on a few wine tasting sessions that I organised with work and the quality between a £3.00 bottle of wine and a £5.00 is immense. They said that for an average £3.00 bottle, around £2.70 of it will be on duty, corkage and bottle. So only £0.30 is for actual wine. Whereas a £5.00 bottle means your actually getting close to 50% of what you spend on wine rather than duty.

So even if you only pay an extra £1.00 you should taste a noticeable difference. Or to look at it another way, a £3.00 bottle of Bordeaux here would cost around a Euro in France.

They also went onto say that if your pallet likes the cheaper brand then your wasting your time and money trying to like a more expensive bottle.

Personally I am big fan of red wine and a bottle of around £4.00-£5.00 suits me fine. Last weekend I got a beautiful bottle of Argentinian Trivento Otra Vida Malbec from Tesco for £4.50 down from £9.00 a bottle. Fantastic stuff.
 
vaultingSlinky said:
You guys are missing the point somewhat.

There was a recent study, which that article refers to. It found that if you serve say a £5 bottle of wine to a table - but tell them it is a £50 bottle of wine, and then serve the same wine as a £5 bottle of wine - they will rate the wine more highly if they believe it is worth more than it actually is.
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Were people imagining it tasted better or were they patronising their hosts. If someone invited me to their home and poured me a glass of expensive wine that tasted like the cheap stuff I wouldn't let on.
 
Didn't someone on here order a case of expensive red wine, expensive as in about £300 per bottle, quite a while back or am I confusing it with another forum?
 
Rroff said:
£10-25 Cabernet Sauvignons i.e. wolf blass yellow label are the best wines imo... below that they can taste quite nasty... and I've drunk wines tasting 10x as much that haven't had as pleasing a taste. (Plus you feel kinda guilty sipping down £~70 worth and thinking "this tastes quite ordinary")
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lol, but only because the RRP of Wolf Blass Yellow labels is about £8.

Wine is like anything else, you like what you like. In the same way that some people prefer red to white or dry to sweet some people prefer the more industrial flavour of cheap wines. On a like for like basis though (eg a varietal Sauvignon Blanc for a fiver against a varietal Sauvignon Blanc for £40) you should be able to tell the difference..........assuming the retailer has priced them honestly.
 
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vaultingSlinky said:
You guys are missing the point somewhat.

.
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It's a 4 bottle sample ad as this is very much to do wit personal taste you really can't draw anything from this. Were they wine fans, did they know about tastes, where they reguler drinkers? or just anyone pulled of a street and asked. As cheap wines can be better for beginners as they tend to pack less punch. Seeing as the people weren't even consistent it would imply they could not taste.

Also you say this is what you've always known that cheap wine is as good. Some is a hell of a lot isn't, this study does not support that view. if they tested 200 cheap wines vs 200 medium priced and 200 expensive and found cheap wine was rated on par or above, then that would support that view.
I can not identify an expensive wine, however I know from what I buy I am much more likely to fined a nice wine the more I send.
 
Freefaller said:
How can they say that cheap wines are just as good as expensive ones?! :/ Don't get me wrong there are a lot of very good "cheap" wines... but there are a lot of superior wines which are a little bit dearer too.
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depends what they mean by cheap really

anyone who's tried some bargain basement really really cheapo wine knows its pretty guff.... but I'd probably agree that there are plenty of wines for say a £4 that are as good as wines costing 10 times as much
 
Rroff said:
£10-25 Cabernet Sauvignons i.e. wolf blass yellow label are the best wines imo...
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I've neve been a fan of Oz wines but my mates who have moved there have found it a revelation; especially in realising the stuff they export is complete ****.

I used to drink Chilean, but now it just gives me heartburn. Californian I find to be rough around the edges but my experiance isn't great. Generally I find French to be the most rounded and complete wines, my preference being Chablis and Sancerre for white and Bordeaux for the reds. Recently came back from France with 100 bottles in the boot. Some drinkable now, but most of them need 5 years.

I'm drinking a Tempranillo now and it's ok, surprises me actually because I'm not a fan of Rioja and it's the same grape. Was only about £6 and it's alright, actually better now it's been open for 24hrs.
 
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Rioja is great, but not really a wine the ages in the same way as french.

Riojas are great 'drink now' wines, even grand reservas. 1997 is my favourite year but now, alas, it's beauty is diminishing. I have one 1997 Grand Reserva from 100 yo vines left slowly gathering dust. I know it's probably past it's best now but it's a great old wine.

The french wines from St.Emillion and Pomerol just capture standalone drinkable wines for me. The stuff from the supermarkets has nothing on a good chateau and the Cheval Blanc blew even the best wines I've tasted away you could taste the three distinct tastes - characteristic Pomerol, characteristic ST.Emillion underpinned by the third slate/mineral taste. As I said before the 3D effect was mind blowing and redefined my red wine scale. Absolutely stunning.

Unfortunately I don't have another bottle which will have to wait until I have a new job.. so will my bottle of Bolly RD 1996 that's sat forlorn in the wine rack awaiting good news..

It takes time to appreciate and to be able to detect the differences - so if you went from £3-4 supermarket wines then you'd not know the difference between 10 and 70 pound but if you give me a chilean wine and I would be the beginner! Pomerol/St.Emillion is where my taste lies for reds and Chablis for whites.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;15212535 said:
I've neve been a fan of Oz wines but my mates who have moved there have found it a revelation; especially in realising the stuff they export is complete ****.
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The same with french wines. No frenchman would, in their right mind, serve bad wine. It's something ingrained in their cultural being. Now if you're english then they'll treat you like dirt and possibly give you the cheaper stuff but it's still miles better than supermarket!
 
The one that I tried was the 2003, which was opened miles early but I wanted to get a taste.. that would be be happy to sit into 2020s..

I tried looking for a link, it seems it's 5000 bottles are rare, but the only one is this one for £186 when bought in a case of 12 bottles.
 
malfunkshun said:
Couple of hundred quid for a 'poor' vintage
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However it's scale of "poor" is something completely different to normal! Even that was superb. The 2003 has signs of early maturity.

Other vintages for Cheval Blanc range from 1K to priceless (1947 for example).
 
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