Getting wasted under the guise of sophistication -- The goony wine thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Getting wasted under the guise of sophistication -- The goony wine thread

smn: Feb 15, 2005; tutkalla

I'm a whisky/dark spirits lover but I do like a wine now and then also. I'm not too well-versed in wine in general as there is just too much stuff out there, but lately I've tended to gravitate towards Australian/Chilean shiraz or malbec when I want something heavy (and Amarone if I'm feeling rich), and French/Spanish cheaper stuff when I want something lighter.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a truly magic moment with wine. I mean something well above the usual, something that just tasted incredibly awesome, like all the good things about a 30yo sherried Speysider condensed into a wine glass. Interestingly enough, it was a 2007 Californian with 80% Zinfandel and the rest of something else (didn't pay too much attention when it was poured). The combination which made the effect was drinking it with pork ribs in a heavily caramelized sauce. Pure bliss.

This made me way more curious towards what the world of wine has to offer.How are the Zinfandels regarded in general? Was this a one-off or something that can be expected to happen again? What are your 'magical combinations' of food & wine?

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smn: Feb 15, 2005; tutkalla

pork never goes bad posted:

I read this post a few days ago and have been thinking about how to respond. There's a lot of space to talk about the questions you brought up! Down the rabbit hole and all that.

Zinfandel, like pretty much any grape, can make very nice wine. American Zins, especially in the low end of the market, can be pretty uninspired - flabby, jammy, sweet, and hot. But Zinfandel grown and vinified with care can be really excellent. I tend to prefer zin blends to straight zin. Ridge is a classic Zin producer, held in high esteem by almost everyone who is into wine. Their Geyserville bottling, usually 55-80% zinfandel, is probably the most regarded, but all are good. If you like the rich, inky extraction that Zinfandel is capable of, but want it without the jamminess in cheap zin, Robert Biale makes excellent wine of that kind. To be honest, from reading the pairing you describe, I think Biale might be right up your alley. I don't think we have exactly the same tastes! Zinfandel is called Primitivo in Italy, typically grown in Puglia. I am largely unfamiliar with it, honestly.

Thanks for your reply, for some reason I forgot about posting in this thread and didn't check back until now!

I've tried a couple of Zinfandels since,quite ok but nothing spectacular, seemed to work nicely with beef seasoned with black pepper though. Ridge sounds familiar but when checking a few of their bottles on their site, I didn't recognize the shape so maybe it wasn't that after all. I'll keep on looking, although I'm not sure if the experience can really be reproduced without the food 'key'.

pork never goes bad posted:

One thing to keep in mind when pairing wine and food is that often we have a fairly simple formula - white wine, fish; red wine, meat. This is not a great way to do things. Oily fish, like Cod, can often do well with red wine, especially if said Cod was salted, dried, and made into Bacalao.

This is most interesting - I have lived by the 'white for fish, red for anything else' mantra until now. Thinking about it, a fatty salmon with black pepper seasoning sounds like a good match for a red.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 21:15

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