Wine Connoisseurs
 

Hey all. I miss reading posts and threads and all like I used to when I was a freshman and didn't have anything to do in college. Now I'm a grown junior with many more responsibilities and leadership positions and things to do and grades to keep up and internships to apply to and interviews to prepare for and damn. I am a helluva lot busier than I was when I logged into the Cellar at age 18, December 2006. But that comes with the territory of college, getting involved and growing up. But enough of the feel good story bullshit.

So I walked to this liquor store a couple blocks away from me tonite (I left at 12 hah) and it was closed so I went to the Mobil gas station a block south and they don't sell alcohol after midnite. I walked four blocks east to the campus pantry and they don't either so I walked my ass home and I'm writing about it. Damn I feel like a loser :greenface

But anyway, this year I've gained an appreciation and taste for wine. At recent parties I had my friends buy Sangria. It turned my socks purple when it spilled but it was still great.

Wine connoisseurs, help a fledgling kid like me who just turned 21.

The most important rule to remember when you're on a budget is that cheap does not always mean nasty as far as wine goes. I don't know much about cheap local wines over there, but I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of dwellars who can help you out.

In your own backyard ...
 

There's an excellent resource for wine indoctrination in Chicago, Sam's Wines and Spirits, located at:

1720 N. Marcey St.
Chicago, IL 60614
(312) 664-4394

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The massive inventory of worldwide wines in this warehouse sized store may boggle your mind and humble you; but, don't let it scare you off. Just ask any rep to steer you to the $10 and under rack of recommended wines. They've made a fortune educating beginners who became repeat customers; so, they're very accommodating. Take some friends with you.

Be ready to tell them what you'd like to explore first (e.g. red, white, rose); also, what you can remember about wines you've tried and liked in the past. This will help them determine what your tastes are. Ask for information about their wine club and tasting events. Actually tasting different wines is key to determining your own preferences; also, what constitutes quality and value in any category of wine.

Buy based on the coolness of the label. Oh, and cheap.

I have done very well by buying Smoking Loon, Three Blind Moose, and Bored Doe from the Goats Do Roam Vineyard in South Africa.

Do not buy Bully Hill, which is a New York State Wine that tastes like the goat pictured on all of their labels peed straight into the bottle.

It's the most expensive hobby in the world. Maybe the best, though. There is no end to the amount of stuff you can learn about wine.

Heh...I've been to that winery...have a fridge magnet and a couple bumper stickers that have never been stuck. "Wine without guilt" and "Wine without sin." There were cool labels; years ago when I was there the original dude poured our wine.

Ex's sis and brother in law have a nice place on Seneca Lake, which is how we happened upon the winery.

I'm no connoisseur; a mid priced Pinot Noir is good for me.

Other finger lakes wineries are excellent, I've been there a few times.

One of the Bully Hill reds is the worst wine I've ever had. I doubt they're available in the middle of the country.

We went to one winery, no idea which one, that had some music thing going on. The cool part was we got bored and walked train tracks back to the cabin. Saw a wild turkey and heard some large critter crashing around in the woods.

HobNob Pinot Noir $10 4 rank on Snooth.com

excellent deal

Ask around for some wine tasting events, go to those! The reps are there to explain what you are tasting and I recommend you take a note book with you, after 10 different wines you might not remember what a Riesling tastes like or what a pinot blanc is.

We have several wine tasting events a year, and I am sure other cities do as well. Another option would be to take a tour of a local winery... they will most likely have many varietals for you to try.

A fun way to experience wine is have your own tasting. Invite several friends over, and have them each bring a bottle and an appy that goes with the wine. Co-ordinate it a bit so everyone brings something different. Then everyone gets to try 6 or 8 different wines, and make a meal out of the appetizers!

Friends of mine used to have a house on Van Cleef Lake, just above the locks in Seneca Falls. We would do the Wine Tour up there, but only make it through tastings at three or four wineries before we were no longer safe to drive.

I still have a bottle of port from one of those expeditions.

Start from the cheap end before you go spending any real money on wine. Go to the grocery store and buy a box of wine. Any brand. You may be surprised at how good it tastes. And it's not expensive. $10-$15 for 3 bottles worth of wine. Drink the cheap stuff for a little while so you have something to compare the more expensive bottles to. You may decide the more moderately priced bottles aren't worth double to triple the price of the box wine. If you decide you may want to move up in price, there's really no reason to ever pay more than $10 per bottle. There is a very large variety of very good wine for under $10/bottle.

I've had $100 bottles before that were gifts (well, once anyway), and it really wasn't much better than an $8 bottle.

One more example that the price of a wine is not, repeat not, an indication of its quality.

Does anybody have a suggestion for a wine to go with Hamburger Helper (tm)?

If I were having hamburgers, I'd be having a nice fruity rose. Over here a good one is Banrock Station. It goes for under $10/bottle and is really quite good.

Pasta and red wines go well together, the bolder the spices in the dish, the bolder the wine.

If its a lasagna or saucy hamb. helper I would suggest merlot or a blend "dry red"

If its a creamy or gravy based... Rose or a blush might work better.

It is hard for me to suggest a brand, as I work in a Cold Beer and Wine store, and we always suggest one of our local wines first :)

Hmmm perhaps if you can find it, Jackson Triggs merlot They are under $10

buy it in a box, or a jug. drink it all. shit the bed.

repeat

For the lasagna, try a chianti. The Cheeseburger Macaroni really wants a beer, rather than wine.

Pretty much think about what kind of real food the Hamburger Helper is simulating, and then go for the appropriate wine.

Beaujolais is a good choice for hamburger helper

I'm not a connoisseur, but I notice that round here, Hamburger Helper seems to be most commonly paired with the "Why do I have to have Vegetables" whine.

Mad Dog 20/20 goes best with burgers, especially those little slimy burgers you get from White Castle type places.

Well I am going with what was already said, go with the cheaper ones until you find the ones that you personally love. Then work your way up from there. Then you will be able to distinguish cheap wine in an expensive bottle. lol!

Hamburger Helper? Two Buck Chuck -- Charles Shaw Cabernet.

Pleasant wines to learn on... hmm. Try any Bordeaux if you're buying French. "Meritage" -- a made-up word -- is the Californian idea of how to pronounce "Bordeaux." Similar, and tasty. A budget port, whatever's on special at Trader Joe's on the port shelves. Rhine wines, German whites, run to sweet and fruity. Good with sausage, good with fruit and cheese.

Any wine that isn't expensive is darn good to cook with. An expensive wine should be drunk from the glass, not hidden in food.

There's an awful lot of wine-bore cultiness that goes on, but frankly just ignore it. Let your own taste be your guide; for one thing it will evolve over the next ten years anyway. Drink those wines you like; the ones you don't take to can best go all the more to those who do appreciate them. Cook with the wines you like to drink.

Red wines age well when you've got a dark, preferably rather cool, undisturbed place to cellar them in, whenever that may be. Wines that age well are tannic, and reds are far more tannic than whites, which mainly should be drunk young as they won't age and smooth out very much more once in the bottle. Reds with a tannic content will slowly react in a bottle to become less puckery, smoother, and full of little complex flavor notes. Ravenswood wines, all mid-priced, cellar very handsomely. If you keep one resting for four or five years, it comes up nicely. I like doing that with their Merlot. I've moved rather from Merlots to Cabernets of late; there are about a bajillion Cabs, but they're just about always fun.

Most cooks/chefs I know suggest that if you wouldn't drink it from a glass, don't cook with it, and vice versa.

I think that's a good adage actually. After all, if you open a bottle to make a sauce, what're you going to do with the rest if not drink it? Can't put wine away till the next time you want to cook that particular dish can you? ;)

I made chicken fajitas the other night, and served them with a Sainburys Basics Rose - £2.49. It went down very well and a good time was had by all!

Seriously, you've been given some good advice here. I'm a big fan of tasting sessions, whether they're organised for you or you do it yourself. It's the best way to decide what your own personal preferences are. I can drink any wine except dessert wines (too sweet and syrupy for me) - cheap red wine is fine by me. But for preference I like a good Rioja. Rioja Gran Reserva if given my druthers. I'll pay about £20 for it and really enjoy the taste. Above £20? I wouldn't know - in fact I'd rather not know because if it was amazing it would spoil the wine I could afford. It's my decadent treat - I don't drink it to get drunk and I savour every mouthful. Haven't had it for a while ;)

I won't drink cheap champagne though. I'd rather have a decent Cava. Well - I say I won't drink it... if it's free I will :) But it's usually given out at work occasions, and if I'm there it means I have a job, and if I have a job I have the money not to salivate over free booze!

Have fun with it.
There is no right and wrong, it's all personal taste, like finding your way around the world of cheese. Some people are only ever going to enjoy processed slices by Kraft, some will travel miles to get just the right Camembert. If what tickles your fancy is squeezy cheese then just go with it - finding out you don't have expensive tastes doesn't make you plebian, it just saves you money.

Actually, you can. If used in cooking, you can freeze your left over wine in ice cube trays, then transfer into a ziplock bag. Each ice cube is more or less 1 ounce, so half a cup would be 4 cubes.

Ewwww!! !! !!