Wines.... yum
- Thread starter Solari
- Start date
Man of Honour
Hehe it's a bit harder to spill wine down a CAT4 cable!
I was thinking of doing it like this:
1. Initially select two grape each grape in turn
2. Select (with a little discussion) particular bottles of wine (producer, year etc)
3. Allow time for people to purchase the bottles ahead of tasting (and organise if friends want to pop around too) whilst selecting the next grape and researching it.
4. Do the evening for wine tasting (and discuss on the forums)
By keeping it regular people can plan it. The main effort I think will be researching the wines available. We could alternate red and white.
Pouley Fume
Funnily enough I got a bottle of that from work for Xmas. Wasn't too bad but didn't rock my socks.
Soldato
For a cheap drinkable read, wolfblass cabernet sauvignon is very nice.
KaHn
KaHn
that sounds like a really good idea. my better half quite likes a glass of wine but I never know what to surprise her with. All I know is that she likes 100% pinot grigio so I normally just spend half an hour seeing which label I prefer that fits that criteria.
I do find that liking wine comes with a lot of snobbery, I love seeing the middle aged guys in rollnecks looking down their noses at me as I remark on how nice the label is for this one!
Soldato
While that sounds like a good idea in a way, it also smacks of... i dunno, but the thought of a bunch of guys sitting in front of their computers, swigging wine, and then posting messages about it on the internet all seems a bit sad, or something
While that sounds like a good idea in a way, it also smacks of... i dunno, but the thought of a bunch of guys sitting in front of their computers, swigging wine, and then posting messages about it on the internet all seems a bit sad, or something
No different to 80% of posts on this forum!
I can't really help co-organise due to time commitments (unless all you need me to do is buy a bottle of wine and taste it
!), but this is a great idea.Let me know what you were thinking and I'll see if I can help
.Actually I've an idea - set three price ranges of <£5, £5-£7, £7-£10. This I would, believe encapsulate the best "budget" ranges of supermarket wines.
Then, at the beginning of the month have a "panel" of tasters who review the wine for the forum, and people can look at them and see which one to try? Or nominate the wines, and then anyone can post a review (obviously they could anyway), but it has to be one of the six wines (a red/white from each).
An example month! said:
Then repeat for £5-£7.99 and £8-£10
.
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Soldato
Hmm, I would prefer to sign off a 'budget' for the month that means we can try a couple of wines then perhaps compare that with a slightly more expensive bottle without fear of breaking the individual bottle price bracket. I don't intend to go nuts on price but I think we should think about focusing on the wine with price being second.
I'm concious of not becoming just a bottle recommendation thread, with everyone trying the same thing as part of the 'panel' we can get a wide feel for it and those that want to wait and see can try them later.
It does not stop people comparing those 'panel' wines with additional wines if they want - infact this would help your recommendation idea!
The schedule I was thinking of was as follows over the month (allowing a week for each task for discussion):
W1 - Select grape(s) - perhaps 2 varieties each cycle
W2 - Research & Select wines - 2/3 bottles
W3 - gap to allow ordering
W4 - Begin taste & comment - this could take till the next week 4 to complete (meaning a bottle a week max - we drink responsibly!).
The purpose of each tasting could vary between:
a) Comparing grapes.
b) Comparing producers.
c) Comparing years.
d) Comparing prices.
I would start with (a) to start with perhaps (b).
Does sound a reasonable schedule?
So for example..
Week beginning:
02/02 - select grape(s)
= select Riesling and Gewurtraminer
09/02 - research and select wines
= select 200x Dr Loosen Riesling, 200x Trimbach Riesling, 200x another producer Gewurtraminer
16/02 - order gap
23/02 - start tasting
= people write their own summary giving each wine a score from 1-10. The summary will cover the look of the wine in the glass, the smell, the taste (very important
). So the wine could be dry or sweet, look pale, green etc.. bearing in mind the taste of the wine will change over the period of drinking so I'd expect some interesting comments.
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.
Sounds good, deciding exactly what we are comparing is the hard part.
You need to put some strict limits on things or it will be hard to get a balanced review, for instance just picking a grape could be a very broad test. But a grape from a specified country, year or price range will give some nice results.
I would say that the purpose of each test should be 1 or more of the following:
a) Comparing grapes.
b) Comparing producers.
c) Comparing years.
d) Comparing prices.
e) Comparing regions/country's
BTW i recommend the Penfolds BIN 128 Coonawarra Shiraz one of my favorite wines.
Associate
Must try that. Cheers for the link...even better since I am a Laithwaites customer too
Well I've just picked up the crate and I have one just warming up ready for decanting
I'm feeling tired, have a slight knee twinge and couldn't possibly go to kickboxing! Besides I have snowboarding at the weekend so that's enough exercise.
Ahem... I'll update shortly!
Well...
*don's Oz hat* warning - this is the first wine review I've written so.. I suppose I'd better start at the beginning. Starts up iTunes - Cream Strange Brew (figures!)
Pagos de Tahola Grand Reserva 1998
Decanting showed just how ruby a drink can be. Almost deep blood red ruby. Crystal clear too with only a minute amount of sediment left in the bottle.
From the decant, sticking my nose in briefly and it smells like an old rioja too
Deeper than the Campo 200x, redder than the Laguilla 1998 (a fantastic bottle that has a good ripe berry taste and a strong under pinning of tannins which manifest themselves as a vanilla/ripe bananas).
After leaving 50 minutes in the decanter.. the first pour. Deep red...
I swirl the wine around in the glass and stick my nose in and take a deep breathe - berries, deep old red berries with the smell of old oak.
First taste. I take air in through the wine. swallow and slowly breathe in through my mouth. I then take another.
No surprise - simple ripe fruit bigtime - bold red current, berries, subtle vanilla. It tastes like an older wine. It's not sugar juiciness. It reminds me of a Syrah in term of weight.
It's like you'd expect from Spain - bold, hearty very ready to go along side a good hearty meal with red meat. Just as I'm about to have
I remember the Lagunilla 1998 being smoother however on my second glass I'm not so sure - I think that this has a higher alcohol content giving a little more initial punch.
*don's Oz hat* warning - this is the first wine review I've written so.. I suppose I'd better start at the beginning. Starts up iTunes - Cream Strange Brew (figures!)
Pagos de Tahola Grand Reserva 1998
Decanting showed just how ruby a drink can be. Almost deep blood red ruby. Crystal clear too with only a minute amount of sediment left in the bottle.
From the decant, sticking my nose in briefly and it smells like an old rioja too
Deeper than the Campo 200x, redder than the Laguilla 1998 (a fantastic bottle that has a good ripe berry taste and a strong under pinning of tannins which manifest themselves as a vanilla/ripe bananas).
After leaving 50 minutes in the decanter.. the first pour. Deep red...
I swirl the wine around in the glass and stick my nose in and take a deep breathe - berries, deep old red berries with the smell of old oak.
First taste. I take air in through the wine. swallow and slowly breathe in through my mouth. I then take another.
No surprise - simple ripe fruit bigtime - bold red current, berries, subtle vanilla. It tastes like an older wine. It's not sugar juiciness. It reminds me of a Syrah in term of weight.
It's like you'd expect from Spain - bold, hearty very ready to go along side a good hearty meal with red meat. Just as I'm about to have
I remember the Lagunilla 1998 being smoother however on my second glass I'm not so sure - I think that this has a higher alcohol content giving a little more initial punch.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
ive tried the dr loosen riesling, i dunno but all white wines taste the same to me, same with reds, all reds taste hot asn in warm and disgusting, whites on the other hand taste disgusting but refreshing at the same time, im not much of a wine expert, i dont know how anyone can taste the difference,
i have never drank a "cheap" bottle though, my family owns a restaurant, and all the wines they have taste the same to me, for some reason though, pinot grigio is the one i normally drink - as every restaurant on the planet has it
if you guys could reccomend nice whites, im willing to give them a go, reds arent my thing
i have never drank a "cheap" bottle though, my family owns a restaurant, and all the wines they have taste the same to me, for some reason though, pinot grigio is the one i normally drink - as every restaurant on the planet has it
if you guys could reccomend nice whites, im willing to give them a go, reds arent my thing
I suppose it depends on the grower
I had an absolutely excellent bottle of Swiss Chasselas the other day;
http://www.nickdobsonwines.co.uk/acatalog/Lavaux.html (top most is the same variety but a different vineyard).
Can heartily recommend, I've had a lot of whites in my time some of which have been near £500 a bottle, but that has to be the best I've ever tasted.
Associate
Well...
*don's Oz hat* warning - this is the first wine review I've written so.. I suppose I'd better start at the beginning. Starts up iTunes - Cream Strange Brew (figures!)
Pagos de Tahola Grand Reserva 1998
Decanting showed just how ruby a drink can be. Almost deep blood red ruby. Crystal clear too with only a minute amount of sediment left in the bottle.
From the decant, sticking my nose in briefly and it smells like an old rioja too
Deeper than the Campo 200x, redder than the Laguilla 1998 (a fantastic bottle that has a good ripe berry taste and a strong under pinning of tannins which manifest themselves as a vanilla/ripe bananas).
After leaving 50 minutes in the decanter.. the first pour. Deep red...
I swirl the wine around in the glass and stick my nose in and take a deep breathe - berries, deep old red berries with the smell of old oak.
First taste. I take air in through the wine. swallow and slowly breathe in through my mouth. I then take another.
No surprise - simple ripe fruit bigtime - bold red current, berries, subtle vanilla. It tastes like an older wine. It's not sugar juiciness. It reminds me of a Syrah in term of weight.
It's like you'd expect from Spain - bold, hearty very ready to go along side a good hearty meal with red meat. Just as I'm about to have
I remember the Lagunilla 1998 being smoother however on my second glass I'm not so sure - I think that this has a higher alcohol content giving a little more initial punch.
You gotta love that Oz Clarke & James May proggy on recently!
Permabanned
Well I have just had a bottle of Luis Felipe Edwards Gran Reserva Shiraz 2006. It got better as the bottle went on but there was still that sensation of the old "alcohol judder" that I seem to experience with red wine although it was better than the Wolf Blass Cabernet Sauvignon "Yellow Label" I had over Christmas.
I am just putting an order in online at Waitrose, did anyone decide on a wine we would taste?
I am just putting an order in online at Waitrose, did anyone decide on a wine we would taste?