[WINE]

You had my interest right up to 'we'll end up with white wine'. May have to try to get over my initial repulsion to whites. I'm more likely to join in on the reds, though if everyone starts saying a particular white is exceptional I may give it a go, and at least I know the missus would happily polish it off.

@Adz. Red wine and chocolate go brilliantly together, anyone who thinks otherwise is just missing out.
 
branddaly said:
You had my interest right up to 'we'll end up with white wine'. May have to try to get over my initial repulsion to whites. I'm more likely to join in on the reds, though if everyone starts saying a particular white is exceptional I may give it a go, and at least I know the missus would happily polish it off.
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I have more red wine that I have white, over 10 vs 2 in the rack! I have a female house mate that is a white winer only too.

I was thinking of looking first at whites, next simple accessible red in the initial stages.

Solari said:
Sounds good to me... had some lovely Sancerre last night, yum.
Novice here but I know what I like :D
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Fantastic :D Sancerre is a town on the banks of the Loire next to the Pouilly-Fume region. The grape variety grown there is normally Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir.
The Terroir (the ground make up) is the reason for the taste difference between Sancerre and other wines that are mode from Sauvignon Blanc.
 
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I'm drinking a 2003 Rioja at the moment... it's alright but wouldn't say it blows my socks off. "Vego del Rio - Crianza". I left it for an hour to breathe but I must say I preferred the CDP I had last week.
 
InvaderGIR said:
What?! :confused:

You DO NOT chill red! :mad:

InvG
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Normally I wouldnt, however the best exception I have found to this rule is Brown Brothers Cienna which tbh I wasnt expecting much. However I was most supprised, normally go for a decent full bodied red but it was great. Very strong strawberry flavour and a slight sweetness too.
 
NickK said:
I was thinking of the following grapes to start with:
* Riesling
* Chardonnay
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I suggest you stick with a single grape and demonstrate the wide range of variations between country, production method and price. You could spend weeks on Chardonnay alone.

To make this a really useful project you're first going to need to educate people about wine before letting them loose on the booze, and the reason I'd suggest sticking with a single grape is that there's so much choice within a single variety that you'll be able to show people just what the grape can offer and hopefully bury some prejudices towards it - especially when we're talking about Chardonnay!

If I was learning about wine my goal would be to understand what I like and what I don't, understand why I like/dislike it therefore be able to select a bottle from the supermarket or from the wine list at a restaurant based on the vintage, region and variety rather than having to look for names that I know.
 
glitch - good points, and very true.

My initial thoughts where to cover the range of grapes, perhaps with a couple of bottles of one particular grape (the only thing fixed is the max budget). That way we can try one grape+multiple producers, or multiple grapes with one producer etc.

I'd like to cover the grapes just to bring people into contact with the main grapes. We can elaborate around that with producers/years to show just how much something like a tescos value bottle verses a proper lightly oaked chardonnay can differ.

Riesling is another one that really differs - Dr Loosen 2004 is like a spritzer whereas Trimbach is bone dry in comparison.

I was thinking of a bottle of cheap.vs.mid range for each grape. We can make overtones against others as suggestions (although something that people can themselves outside the monthly budget).

I know this is a bit busy compared to tasting a specific grape variety but I think we'd not get the uptake by doing this straight off. Once we find what people like we can dig deeper.


edit: although I do see your point and I'm very tempted just to cover a single grape..
 
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Adz said:
Although I must admit I do like red wine + chocolate as a combo which I fear would make me somewhat of a pariah in wine circles :p.
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I'm also a fan of the red wine + chocolate combination (depending on the wine itself).

Not overly keen on white wine but may be interesting in taking part when we move on to discussing red wines.
 
NickK said:
My initial thoughts where to cover the range of grapes, perhaps with a couple of bottles of one particular grape (the only thing fixed is the max budget). That way we can try one grape+multiple producers, or multiple grapes with one producer etc.
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I guess you mean just the 'popular' varieties rather than literally everything, but even covering the main grapes would take months and you'd never do them justice.

NickK said:
I'd like to cover the grapes just to bring people into contact with the main grapes. We can elaborate around that with producers/years to show just how much something like a tescos value bottle verses a proper lightly oaked chardonnay can differ.
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By all means cover the main grapes, but stick to one at a time. I'd say spend a month or two on both Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon (or whatever red you choose, assuming you want to do both a red and white at once) and go through the entire range. You need to cover vintages (good ones and bad ones) countries, regions, production methods and producers in detail before you can move to another grape, or I fear you'll be spreading yourself too thin and not really giving people useful, real-world knowledge that they can use.

NickK said:
Riesling is another one that really differs - Dr Loosen 2004 is like a spritzer whereas Trimbach is bone dry in comparison.
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Everything differs, it's how and why that would be useful to know. I'm sure you know the difference, but can you teach the rest of them?

NickK said:
I was thinking of a bottle of cheap.vs.mid range for each grape. We can make overtones against others as suggestions (although something that people can themselves outside the monthly budget).
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Can't argue with that, but I'd say you need to get people into the habit of paying good money for good wine. All wine costs roughly the same to bottle, label and ship, so there's an entry point at which you start paying for the wine and aren't simply paying for transportation and bottling costs. I'd say you could select bottles from the £6 - £12 mark and really show off what each grape is capable of and teach people how to spot what they'll enjoy without having to resort to the generic producers.

Also remember that a lot of people will want to use this knowledge in restaurants and bars, and with the ridiculous mark-ups they add on it would be great if people could select based on knowing what they'll like rather than sticking to a price point and hoping for something good.

NickK said:
I know this is a bit busy compared to tasting a specific grape variety but I think we'd not get the uptake by doing this straight off. Once we find what people like we can dig deeper.
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It's your little project here and I'll be happy to support you if you need any assistance, but I fear you'll lose peoples interest if you keep jumping around between the varieties.
 
I have the oxford companion to wine sat on my shelf, also by Jancis Robinson. Haven't spent hours pouring over it (bdum tish) but I'm guessing it will cover similar stuff to the atlas.
 
I'm on the Louis Jadot 2006 "Couvent des Jacobins" Bourgogne Chardonnay tonight...

it's absolutely lovely - one of my favourites and a regular buy. I usually try to get the more mature stuff though (2005 and before). Very crisp and fruity. Yum.

Another one I had a while ago was the Louis Jadot "St Aubin" Chardonnay (2002 I think it was) - that was very oaky and rocked my socks.
 
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