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How topical. Just tonight someone staying in our high end suites was drinking 2000 Petrus. They had the butler bring it to our restaurant so us two sommeliers could try it, because they believed it was a counterfeit bottle. It tasted like the cheapest, most nondescript generic Bordeaux AOC wine, almost definitely a fake. Like an even worse Mouton Cadet. The first time I've ever seen that, at least knowingly.
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Feb 20, 2013 09:50
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I think if I were to make a fake bottle like that I'd use hella oxidized or corked wine so the fakeness of the wine isn't immediately apparent and any shortcomings are blamed on the cork.
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Feb 20, 2013 11:00
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Gurus, could you recommend sweet wines for my wife? She is a big fan of Port, likes Ice wine and recently has discovered Sauternes, which so far is her favorite. Anything of the same nature, worth trying?
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Feb 26, 2013 22:47
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Exergy posted:Gurus, could you recommend sweet wines for my wife? She is a big fan of Port, likes Ice wine and recently has discovered Sauternes, which so far is her favorite. Anything of the same nature, worth trying? She would probably like Tokaji (5 or 6 puttonyos, or eszencia if you want to drop some bank). There are some great Loire whites that would be up her alley as well: Quarts de Chaume, etc. German TBA's (bank, again). All of these are sweet, botrytized wines not unlike Sauternes. Edit: Double checked: looks like Chaume is the nobly rotten one; Quarts de Chaume, maybe/maybe not. CleverHans fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Feb 27, 2013 03:18
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Exergy posted:Gurus, could you recommend sweet wines for my wife? She is a big fan of Port, likes Ice wine and recently has discovered Sauternes, which so far is her favorite. Anything of the same nature, worth trying? She'll probably love the above examples. Tokaji is a real crowd pleaser, I pour it for dessert wine pairings instead of Sauternes. You could also go further along the Port route and have her try some Pedro Ximenez Sherry or Madeira. PX Sherry will be pretty thick and have a maple syrup type sweetness to it, whereas a Madeira will have a sweet prune/raisin mixed with caramel thing going on. I personally love Madeira, but to be honest most women don't.
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Feb 27, 2013 07:22
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Exergy posted:Gurus, could you recommend sweet wines for my wife? She is a big fan of Port, likes Ice wine and recently has discovered Sauternes, which so far is her favorite. Anything of the same nature, worth trying? Has she tried German Riesling? A good Spatlese or Auslese should be plenty sweet for her, but be balanced by enough acidity to drink with dinner rather than dessert.
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Feb 27, 2013 07:48
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Thank you all for your suggestions.CleverHans posted:She would probably like Tokaji (5 or 6 puttonyos, or eszencia if you want to drop some bank). There are some great Loire whites that would be up her alley as well: Quarts de Chaume, etc. German TBA's (bank, again). All of these are sweet, botrytized wines not unlike Sauternes. First time I hear about Loire and TBA. Will definitely look for it next time. Thanks for the tip. Crimson posted:She'll probably love the above examples. Tokaji is a real crowd pleaser, I pour it for dessert wine pairings instead of Sauternes. You could also go further along the Port route and have her try some Pedro Ximenez Sherry or Madeira. PX Sherry will be pretty thick and have a maple syrup type sweetness to it, whereas a Madeira will have a sweet prune/raisin mixed with caramel thing going on. I personally love Madeira, but to be honest most women don't. We tried these. She likes the finish of sherry, but otherwise not really and can't explain why. I personally like all of these, so probably you are right that those are mostly men wines. Perfectly Cromulent posted:Has she tried German Riesling? A good Spatlese or Auslese should be plenty sweet for her, but be balanced by enough acidity to drink with dinner rather than dessert. Yes, we tried Riesling few times, but not the "sweet" versions you mentioned. Will get it as well.
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Feb 27, 2013 16:46
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Exergy posted:
You could also try a decent Gewurztraminer as well. I find it best as a summer evening bottle, but it's a little sweeter than a Riesling.
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Feb 27, 2013 21:20
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Exergy posted:Gurus, could you recommend sweet wines for my wife?
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Feb 28, 2013 02:08
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Drinking a 2008 DuMOL Chardonnay clare tonight. It's been awhile since I last had a good white wine, and this certainly does the trick. I'm trying to describe it on my own, but looking at their notes as well for aid. The oak flavor is quite nice. The nose is on the smokey side. A body on the thick side? The fruit flavor of whites always seems to be apple and/or pear for me.
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Feb 28, 2013 03:12
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The Proper Gander posted:You could give Moscato a try. I second this. I never really hear much about Moscato from people but to me it's the best sweet wine varietal. A good one can be had for cheap but it's usually not so insanely sweet as some other dessert wines I've heard. I also use it to introduce people to wine and I've yet to find someone who doesn't like it. Moscato, I salute you!
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Feb 28, 2013 08:44
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Bryce Rankine died today. For those who don't know he was one of the most influential people in the Australian wine industry and the science he taught as head of Roseworthy is probably partly responsible for the wine boom here.
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Feb 28, 2013 10:37
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PST posted:You could also try a decent Gewurztraminer as well. I find it best as a summer evening bottle, but it's a little sweeter than a Riesling. Gewurztraminer is not necessarily more or less sweet than Riesling. It depends on the wine. There are sweet and dry Gewurztraminers and Rieslings.
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Feb 28, 2013 10:42
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So we went and bought Loire Chaume and some Auslese yesterday. Chaume was really good with a long and nice finish, although extremely sweet compared to Sauternes. We don't do this usually but adding few ice cubes helped a lot. Definitely will add it in our shopping list. Auslese had a good balance and I can imagine it being a great summer wine, although finish had some bitterness. I suspect it's a quality problem because 500ml bottle was only $15, which for Canada is low. Tokaji 4 puttonyos is $50 here, but it should be worth it.
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Feb 28, 2013 21:56
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So I'm not the best with wine but I've resolved to actually talk about them rather than drink and forget. Tonight I had a nice Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. Castillo de Molina Reserve 2009 by San Pedro. Really good, with a nice acidic bite while remaining zesty and tangy. A slight sweetness to be expected of most whites, but the finish left no bitter or sour notes in my mouth, just a nice tang. For AU$17 I highly recommend it, and will definitely be picking up a replacement bottle. Not the most refined of bottles so I wouldn't bother saving it for a special occasion (As you'd expect from the price) but as a table/drinking wine? Terrific. Also I now feel stupid typing that and not knowing but what do people mean by "finish"? Just how long the taste lingers?
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Mar 1, 2013 13:36
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Yes. "Finish" just means how it ends in it's flavor evolution. Some wines have very little evolution, though the flavor they put out may be perfectly pleasant. Others can go on for a full minute or more.
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Mar 1, 2013 16:22
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So I passed my CMS Level 1 exam earlier this week, and i have to say, it really de-mystified the prospect of being a Master. I had always figured that I would never be able to go further than Certified level, because blind tasting always baffled me. I could pick out a California Chard/Cab or a Willamette Pinot, but everything between was a challenge. I am amazed how much better I taste now. I can pick out more distinct flavors, and with a bit more training/learning, I will be able to assign a varietal/terroir to those characteristics. I'm not sure if I would be in a place where the effort/reward to attain master would beworth it, but I definitely see advanced level in my future.
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Mar 2, 2013 06:59
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I bought several bottles of red from Côtes du Rhône to start my French wine journey. Before serving them, should I cool them down to the low 60s and decant them about thirty minutes in advance? Also, I noticed one is from 2011, two from 2010, another from 2009. Is the 2011 a bit too new to be drinking?
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Mar 9, 2013 23:56
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For a basic CDR, 2011 is not too young, though a couple more years would be nice. Sadly, this is the industry we work in. Slap it in the bottle and get it to market pronto, or should I say toute de suite in this case. Nonetheless, there aren't many CDRs that demand you age them. So drinking your 2011 now is in no way a sin.
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Mar 10, 2013 01:34
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There's been some talk, mostly people worrying, that the wildfires in Washington state last year are going to cause smoke taint in red wines made from those grapes. Is this bad because it's not the way the wine is supposed to be (but otherwise just tastes different) or is it something that actually tastes bad? Why does it only apply to red wines? I'm quite fond of smokey scotch and even though I doubt it's anywhere near the same I'm looking forward to trying a few bottles to see if I can taste anything different.
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Mar 10, 2013 04:07
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Smoke taint doesn't taste like the rich smokey flavour you might get from a scotch or bacon or something. It is bitter and has a flavour like wet ashes. So definitely a bad thing. It affects reds more than whites becasue the chemicals responible for the taint are absorbed into the skins and as you know, red grapes are fermented on skins to extract colour and during the time on skins the taint is extracted into the wine. Whites are pressed straight after crushing which minimizes the extraction of bitter phenols, and also minimizes smoke taint if the grapes are affected. It can be tricky to detect in young wines because the chemical responsible becomes glycosylated (bound to a sugar molecule) in the grape, and it can take several months to several years for the taint to become apparent because the chemical bond takes some time to break. It's a huge problem in Australia because of our hot, dry climate and highly flammable trees so there has been quite a bit of research done on the subject but as yet they have only managed to find out what chemical creates the taint so it's presence can be tested for in grapes before they're picked; a 'cure' is a long way off. gay picnic defence fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Mar 10, 2013 |
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Mar 10, 2013 04:59
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Cpt.Wacky posted:There's been some talk, mostly people worrying, that the wildfires in Washington state last year are going to cause smoke taint in red wines made from those grapes.
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Mar 10, 2013 05:49
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Looking at California as a analog, the smoke taint effect seemed to be more localized than you might think based on prevailing winds and convection zones etc. So I'm hoping that most vineyards were spared. However, some probably lost a good deal of their production, which is sad. I was talking to an Tuscan winemaker yesterday (MAD NAMEDROPPING) about the guy that opened up the tonnes of high end Brunello and destroyed multiple vintages. The Tuscan winemaker said that the guy that owned the winery has a bit of a bad reputation in the area. But he and I both agreed that wine is sort of an innocent bystander in these cases. No one deserves to have their entire crops/vintages destroyed.
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Mar 10, 2013 17:57
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Overwined posted:For a basic CDR, 2011 is not too young, though a couple more years would be nice. Sadly, this is the industry we work in. Slap it in the bottle and get it to market pronto, or should I say toute de suite in this case. I also tried a 2010 Domaine La Bastide from Pays d'Hauterive. If Wikipedia is accurate, it's from a region known for cheap bulk wines. I believe it, since I'm not really liking this wine. Almost everything about it is alright, but there's a harsh metallic aftertaste the ruins it. Could that be a sign of being made in a metal container?
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Mar 11, 2013 04:04
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No. Stainless steel doesn't leech anything and I've never heard of anything else being used outside of cement and copper, which is the old fashioned standard. More than likely what you're tasting is either a chemical additive to treat/stabilize a wine or perhaps a fertilizer or pesticide has worked its way into the wine. It could also be the result of ferric (iron-rich) soils, but in a wine so cheap, I sort of doubt it. La Bastide is located near the village of Visan, which is prominently allowed to affix the name of the village to their AOC Cotes-du-Rhone-Villages, which is to say the wines around Visan are known to be slightly better than average. So, don't be too hasty to judge these appellations. Some really phenomenal values can be found in VDP wines.
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Mar 11, 2013 14:53
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Brett can give a metallic character to wine.
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Mar 12, 2013 06:00
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I've tried two more Cotes du Rhone wines. One was a 2009 Domaine Grand Veneur "Les Champauvins" from Alain Jaume & Fils, and the other was a 2010 Cairanne from Catherine le Goeuil. They were pretty different. The Cairanne reminded me of Chateauneuf du Pape wines, with a noticeable acidity. Now I need to decide on the next region to sample.
that Vai sound fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Mar 14, 2013 |
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Mar 14, 2013 04:34
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A mate just put this on facebook: Someone forgot to open the top before pumping the wine out of it.
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Mar 16, 2013 04:48
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I am going to spend 10 days in Nimes in October. I would like to educate myself about the region before I go. Any recommendations on reading that might useful? Anyone been to the region? Also, any recommendations on wines I can try here (and ones I cannot get here, but should be on the lookout for there?). I have never actively sought out Languedoc wines as nothing I have ever tried has really jumped out at me, but I am hoping I have just had bad luck up to this point.
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Mar 18, 2013 07:17
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Tai-Pan posted:I am going to spend 10 days in Nimes in October. There's plenty of great wine from the Languedoc. Having a good look at the region in the World Atlas of Wine will give you a general feel for it. My favourite appellations at the moment are Saint Chinian and Minervois but as with every wine region - you can get awful stuff and amazing stuff. I had a fantastic wine from St Chinian a few weeks ago - from low yielding vines, hand harvested, unfined, unfiltered, extended oak ageing. Because it was from the Languedoc (which doesn't have that much prestige) it was only £15. Make sure you read up on French wine terms before you go - because if you get lucky and find a bottle with a back label it certainly won't be in English!
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Mar 18, 2013 22:13
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mikeh269 posted:There's plenty of great wine from the Languedoc. Having a good look at the region in the World Atlas of Wine will give you a general feel for it. What about Burgundy? The girlfriend and I are going there for two weeks in June.
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Mar 30, 2013 20:49
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Enjoying one of the better Hunter Valley Shiraz today... Mount Pleasant Old Paddock and Old Hill. Bit early for drinking the 2010 vintage but not my choice after I gifted the bottle to my uncle at Christmas. Still fantastic!
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Mar 31, 2013 02:55
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4liters posted:A mate just put this on facebook: Ouch. That's an expensive mistake.
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Mar 31, 2013 16:45
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I'm loving nuts about Sauternes. Does anyone have any favorite brands for around $30 a half-bottle (or less)? I've only had a few types.
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Apr 4, 2013 01:17
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I've a quick question that's been bothering me for years. What does it mean when a wine is "travelled"? It's a bit of an old term, I'm British, and I've never really understood it. I assume it means that it's a wine from far away, but that seems too simplistic. Google isn't very helpful because of the amount of sites/blogs that combine travel and wine. Can you help?
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Apr 4, 2013 04:14
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simplefish posted:I've a quick question that's been bothering me for years. If you mean when used when someone says, "This wine doesn't travel well," it means wines that don't take to the sloshing around of an ocean voyage and that will usually oxidize at an increased rate. Varietals have vastly different propensities to oxidize. However, with modern technology and cleaner more precise vinification techniques, this is not really an issue any longer. There are still some things to watch out for with hyper-traditional European producers and vintages transported when already quite old, but those aren't things you are likely to run into unless you already are aware of them. In fact, there are many varietals that had such a propensity to oxidize that they were near extinct and are now making a comeback. EDIT: When looking at long term ageing, it is very important that a wine remain mostly stable. Even small vibrations can interfere with the natural ageing process. Noting a wine as "travelled" could also be to indicate that it has not been as stable as it should optimally be.
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Apr 4, 2013 04:34
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Overwined posted:If you mean when used when someone says, "This wine doesn't travel well," it means wines that don't take to the sloshing around of an ocean voyage and that will usually oxidize at an increased rate. Varietals have vastly different propensities to oxidize. However, with modern technology and cleaner more precise vinification techniques, this is not really an issue any longer. There are still some things to watch out for with hyper-traditional European producers and vintages transported when already quite old, but those aren't things you are likely to run into unless you already are aware of them. Best response I could have hoped for. Thank you very much
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Apr 4, 2013 04:39
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No Wave posted:I'm loving nuts about Sauternes. Does anyone have any favorite brands for around $30 a half-bottle (or less)? I've only had a few types. Chateau Roumieu Lacoste is tasty and inexpensive.
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Apr 4, 2013 05:24
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Overwined posted:If you mean when used when someone says, "This wine doesn't travel well," it means wines that don't take to the sloshing around of an ocean voyage and that will usually oxidize at an increased rate. Varietals have vastly different propensities to oxidize. However, with modern technology and cleaner more precise vinification techniques, this is not really an issue any longer. There are still some things to watch out for with hyper-traditional European producers and vintages transported when already quite old, but those aren't things you are likely to run into unless you already are aware of them. Can't it also refer to how far any wine has leaked up alongside the cork?
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Apr 4, 2013 09:38
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4liters posted:Can't it also refer to how far any wine has leaked up alongside the cork? I've never heard it used that way, but it would make sense if some people do. I most commonly use "seepage" terminology for that. Seepage is a good thing to talk about when buying a wine of unknown provenance. Or hell, if if you think you know the provenance, looking for seepage can confirm or deny what you think you know. For those that don't know, it's natural for a little seepage to occur in older wines. However you generally don't want to see it ever get to the top quarter of the cork or god forbid leak out. It's a sign that the cork at some time has had a prolonged period where it was not in contact with juice and has contracted through drying. Then the wine was stored on its side again and wine has seeped out along the contracted cork. This indicates a cork that MAY HAVE failed and let too much oxygen in. This is not often too terrible. I have had wines that have seeped out the top of the cork and the wines themselves were fine. There is another way seepage can occur, though, and this tends to be much more fatal. If wine gets too hot it will expand and push out of the cork. Here we're not worried about the oxidation as much as the fact that the juice has been cooked. I've seen young wines standing upright start busting out of their corks after being in direct sunlight for an hour. Of course you should never let this happen. It illustrates how fast heat damage can occur.
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Apr 4, 2013 17:53
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