[jjbrr]

Phil, on Aug 3 2009, 06:12 PM, said:

I understand that to an outsider the "tasting the wine" thing can be rather silly.

What percentage of bottles are legitimately turned away after tasting? I would think most respectable establishments take care of their bottles enough to make this ~0%

[jjbrr]

matmat, on Aug 3 2009, 04:51 PM, said:

0) fortify with vodka and alter flavor with some juice. Enjoy.

BTW you just summed up the past 5 years of my life quite nicely, imo.

The first and last step of any task worth doing.

[Phil]

jjbrr, on Aug 3 2009, 07:06 PM, said:

Phil, on Aug 3 2009, 06:12 PM, said:

I understand that to an outsider the "tasting the wine" thing can be rather silly.

What percentage of bottles are legitimately turned away after tasting? I would think most respectable establishments take care of their bottles enough to make this ~0%

I've heard corked bottles can be as high as 5-10%. No way a restaurant would really know.

I've turned back two. Another I was at a dinner and we should have, but dinner was being bought for us, so it would have been gauche to send it back.

If you are tempted to, ask the waiter to try it.

[JoAnneM]

I hate to disillusion you, Phil, but even wines from Napa/Sonoma could be grapes from the Central Valley.

[Phil]

JoAnneM, on Aug 3 2009, 08:15 PM, said:

I hate to disillusion you, Phil, but even wines from Napa/Sonoma could be grapes from the Central Valley.

75%of the grapes have to be from the appellation on the label I think.

[jjbrr]

Bump.

Bought a bottle of cab, a bottle of merlot, and a bottle of pinot noir from the store yesterday. All of them ~$10, and I didn't really know what to look for, but that's not important. fwiw i avoided anything with a colorful label or the name of an animal in the brand, as per advice on a different forum. I think I was not unsuccessful in buying some stuff I'll enjoy, though I was hoping to find a chianti but didn't want to spend all night in the wine store, so I abandoned that goal.

I had planned to make fettucine alfredo with spicy italian sausage and brocolli for dinner, but didnt want to buy a white to go with it. I concluded the pinot would go best with this particular meal. The impression I've gotten from some research is that cabs go particularly well with meals with very strong flavors, and the merlot would go best with something a bit lighter but still heavier than pasta. I'm making a conscious effort to try to identify the various flavors and smells provided by the wine, but I wonder if I just don't know what to look for, or if I need more guidance in identifying different notes, or if my nose/palate just isn't refined enough yet.

Sorry the progress has been slow. I've been planning to do a sort of wine tasting/double blind taste test of a bunch of wines with friends. The idea is everyone brings a bottle of whatever they like <$20 and we taste and discuss and go through all of them before we pick our favorites and decide which one is the best value and so forth. I think this will be a great starting point for comparing/contrasting flavors and determining what our overall preferences are. It also sounds like a heckuva lot of fun.

Hopefully I can do this in the next couple of weekends since I'm finally starting to settle in. Stay tuned for updates.

(Off topic. Bought myself a crockpot. Looking for baller recipes for stuff I can make Sunday nights and keep dining on throughout the week. Preferably something that goes particularly well with a cab or merlot )

One final observation from a newb. As a very, very general statement, I've noticed 2001 and 2002 wines are some of the more expensive selections on wine lists. Were 2001 and 2002 particularly good years in general, or is that a good amount of aging for a wine to be consumed around now, or is it too complicated to nail it to just one or two factors, or am I just completely mistaken and '01/'02 were undeniably terrible years all around?

Edit: Reread some of the early posts in this thread. I have to give kenberg credit for the advice of avoiding animals in the label. I also read it somewhere else, but given those two sources it must be fairly reliable. Thanks, Ken. Appreciate all the advice from everyone else as well.

[blackshoe]

Sounds to me like you're on the right track. OTOH, I'm no wine expert either.

Crockpots are great. You might try a Beef Bourgonoine (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong). Last time I did it I put a couple pounds of decent sirloin (cubes) in the 'pot, poured in a bottle of cab, and let it cook for several hours. Then I tossed in some veggies and cooked for another hour or so. All the recipes I had said "several cups of water and half a glass of wine" or some such. Hell with that. Maybe it was wasteful, or not optimum, or whatever, but as I recall it tasted pretty good - over several days.

[Phil]

blackshoe, on Nov 11 2009, 11:35 AM, said:

Sounds to me like you're on the right track. OTOH, I'm no wine expert either.

Crockpots are great. You might try a Beef Bourgonoine (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong). Last time I did it I put a couple pounds of decent sirloin (cubes) in the 'pot, poured in a bottle of cab, and let it cook for several hours. Then I tossed in some veggies and cooked for another hour or so. All the recipes I had said "several cups of water and half a glass of wine" or some such. Hell with that. Maybe it was wasteful, or not optimum, or whatever, but as I recall it tasted pretty good - over several days.

I've never had a problem with adding too much much wine to a meat dish. It just gives it more of a reduction and take a little longer to cook. Also remember that you shouldn't cook with rotgut although that doesn't mean you need a $50 bottle either to make sauce with.

Agree with Jeremy's comments about the pinot>cab>merlot for the spicy dish, but a Zin or a Shiraz would be even better. "Big" reds tend to do well with spicy dishes.

[jjbrr]

It wasn't spicy. It was like normal alfredo. It just happened to have some sausage in it. And the dairy in the sauce neutralized any remaining spice anyway. I think I did well tbh.

Two thumbs way up on the Beef Bourguignon suggestion. I had planned to christen the crockpot with Italian beef served with crusty french bread. I likely will make a Bourguignon after that.

Edit: Er? Be patient with me. Would alfredo be considered a "heavy cream sauce" which can handle a fuller-bodied wine like a cab or a shiraz? So perhaps I was completely backwards in what I was supposed to be looking for? Ie, from wiki, most fish dishes or something like salad would have many subtle flavors and are best suited to light wines, unless that fish is served with a heavy cream sauce in which case it can stand up to a heavier wine. So take spice out of the equation, and where would that leave me?

[Echognome]

Crockpot ideas

-Chili

-Stew (cheap to buy the meat at the store as well, just throw in some potatoes, carrots, and stock and add some flour later)

-Pork Shoulder (pull apart with a fork after then throw in a pan with some enchilada sauce and brown sugar)

[jjbrr]

Bump.

Decanting for dummies. Is there some sort of age/decanting time ratio? I understand it depends on my own personal tastes, but are there any rules of thumb for a newbie?

[Al_U_Card]

When I was making my own wine, I would decant before serving to make sure deposits in the bottom didn't make it into the glasses.

For breathing purposes, once the wine has had 10 minutes to remove any off-odors, the decanting has done it's job there.

[Phil]

jjbrr, on Jan 11 2010, 03:59 PM, said:

Bump.

Decanting for dummies. Is there some sort of age/decanting time ratio? I understand it depends on my own personal tastes, but are there any rules of thumb for a newbie?

If you were locked up for five years, wouldn't you like a few minutes to get outside and breathe?

I've heard differing views on this. Old reds need time to oxidize and young reds (where the fruit is very 'tight') need air to open up.

I usually find a decanter opens a wine too fast. There's nothing like taking 20-30 minutes with a single glass and see how it changes as it gets swirled (swilled?)

But a cool decanter looks really nice on a table. Get one

[jjbrr]

You guys are clutch.

I've been opening the bottle of wine and letting it sit on the counter while I cook dinner, so it gets to breathe for 15 minutes or so usually. I wasn't sure how much surface area/air circulation mattered.

I'll do a taste-test this weekend on a couple bottles of the same wine to pick up on the differences.

I've gained a fondness for pinots fwiw.

[Phil]

jjbrr, on Jan 11 2010, 05:12 PM, said:

I've gained a fondness for pinots fwiw.

My Cambria Julia's Vineyard just got a 93 - w00t (sub $20!). Just got my shipment in from Lafond. Going to lock those up for a little bit.

[655321]

We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here, and we want them now!

[jjbrr]

Phil, on Jan 11 2010, 05:28 PM, said:

jjbrr, on Jan 11 2010, 05:12 PM, said:

I've gained a fondness for pinots fwiw.

My Cambria Julia's Vineyard just got a 93 - w00t (sub $20!). Just got my shipment in from Lafond. Going to lock those up for a little bit.

Any advice on ordering cases? Am I better off just stocking up from the local liquor store for now? Presumably economies of scale would apply, though is it worth it for the (relatively little) amount of money I'm willing to invest?

[Phil]

jjbrr, on Jan 11 2010, 05:51 PM, said:

Phil, on Jan 11 2010, 05:28 PM, said:

jjbrr, on Jan 11 2010, 05:12 PM, said:

I've gained a fondness for pinots fwiw.

My Cambria Julia's Vineyard just got a 93 - w00t (sub $20!). Just got my shipment in from Lafond. Going to lock those up for a little bit.

Any advice on ordering cases? Am I better off just stocking up from the local liquor store for now? Presumably economies of scale would apply, though is it worth it for the (relatively little) amount of money I'm willing to invest?

None except investing in wine takes a back seat to other more important uses of your spare caish.

[jjbrr]

I'll talk to someone at the liquor store, tell him I plan to be a good customer, and see if we can work out a deal.

[Winstonm]

Couple of things might help: in the U.S., wines are labeled by the type of grape used to produce the wine, i.e., merlot describes the family of grape, so in theory all merlots should have a similar taste. Red wines are made from grapes using the skin; white wines are made from pealed grapes; blush wines developed from an accidental combination.

The best grape growing regions in the world are in the south of France and in Napa Valley, California, as these areas receive sunshine from the same angle.

The best way I know to differentiate wines is to compare - buy a fairly expensive bottle of Napa Valley wine and then buy the same type wine made elsewhere and compare.

And generally speaking, the really high quality wines will still be bottled with real cork, although that is not as pervasive of truth as it once was due to dwindling supplies of cork trees.