WINE - Red, White, or Other - Discussed Here!

[Sean]

Sarge

Dude, you photoshopped that picture. I know you have better taste than that. I did a google search; found the original. So it was really Lafite Rothschild you were glugging! Ha!....busted!

Okay Sarge, I'm really a closet wine drinker- one to you...

[Parsifal]

Bai jiu is this Chinese national drink, made from a crop called sorghum, colourless and very strong. I drink a 56% brand but you can get 65%; regardless of strength it's smooth and drinkable. It's the best alcoholic drink in the entire world as it's free of impurities, likably pungent and very cheap seemingly without any tax. You can buy litres of it in huge plastic bottles for a few dollars or pounds if you like, enough to kill you many times over. It's pronounced By Jo but lost in transliteration.

In other words, it is cheap Vodka, so cheap that a glass bottle would be a superfluous luxury.

[Brian]

In other words, it is cheap Vodka, so cheap that a glass bottle would be a superfluous luxury.

Man, I just wasted like 5 minutes trying to find a Youtube clip of the Scene in Top Secret! where the waiter pours out a bottle of wine and the glass melts. Alas. Not online.

[Sean]

Man, I just wasted like 5 minutes trying to find a Youtube clip of the Scene in Top Secret! where the waiter pours out a bottle of wine and the glass melts. Alas. Not online.

Remember the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster? Briton Douglas Adams comic sci-fi books and film from early 1980s- the drink burns a hole in the table top while the consumers are referred to rehabilitation organizations...

[Sergeant Rock]

Remember the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster? Briton Douglas Adams comic sci-fi books and film from early 1980s- the drink burns a hole in the table top while the consumers are referred to rehabilitation organizations...

And in your own drinking you've been trying to achieve that effect ever since. Finally, we understand you 

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

'tis the season for Riesling, preferably in its dry form. It's been a few years since we tasted a Niersteiner. This 2012 Guntrum is a very good and inexpensive (€7.50) example. The grapes were grown in the renowned Roten Hang (the vineyards adjacent to and north of the village, and named for the red slate soil).






Sarge

[Sean]

Eh?

[The new erato]

'tis the season for Riesling, preferably in its dry form. It's been a few years since we tasted a Niersteiner. This 2012 Guntrum is a very good and inexpensive (€7.50) example. The grapes were grown in the renowned Roten Hang (the vineyards adjacent to and north of the village, and named for the red slate soil).

Sarge

This is not "Eh?". I've recently had a couple of wonderful Gunterloch 02's from Der Roter Hang.

[Sergeant Rock]

This is not "Eh?". I've recently had a couple of wonderful Gunterloch 02's from Der Roter Hang.

Yes, Gunderloch makes sensational wine.

If you're ever in the area in June, check out the Weinpräsentation which takes place in the vineyards overlooking Nierstein and the Rhine.

http://www.youtube.com/v/qRLIxe4OVqY


Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Eh?

I crave Riesling in the warmer months. Nothing quite so refreshing as a chilled jolt of fruit and acid.

Sarge

[Brian]

The American market is saturated with sweeter rieslings - I might head to the local wine warehouse (!) this weekend to see if I can find one or two more suitable examples of the art.

[The new erato]

The American market is saturated with sweeter rieslings - I might head to the local wine warehouse (!) this weekend to see if I can find one or two more suitable examples of the art.

Nothing wrong with sweeter Rieslings, try a Mosel (or even better Saar/Ruwer) kabinett suitably cooled. The slatey, limey aromas will drive you nuts, the acids will balance the slight sweetness perfectly, and the low alcohol will be an added bonus.

[jlaurson]

Nothing wrong with sweeter Rieslings, try a Mosel (or even better Saar/Ruwer) kabinett suitably cooled. The slatey, limey aromas will drive you nuts, the acids will balance the slight sweetness perfectly, and the low alcohol will be an added bonus.

While it's true that there's nothing wrong with sweeter Rieslings necessarily, it should be noted that sweet white wines, Rieslings especially, are what gave German wine a bad name in the US in the first place, and rightly so, because of the sadly dominant position of bonafide swill like "Liebfrauenmilch" and "Blue Nun".

It's not fool-proof, and exceptions obviously exist in either direction, but an inexpensive sweet Riesling is too likely to be of low quality for it to be worth risking it if you think that you're attitude towards Rieslings as such might be influenced by a (too-likely) bad experience.

The high quality German white wines that are sweet are almost all crowded together in the mid-expensive to very-expensive range... whereas superb (within reason), clean, quality Germans whites (Riesling and otherwise) can be had for very reasonable prices with a very reasonable chance of success.

[The new erato]

God beware us all from wine like Liebfraumilch, generic Piesporter and their likes.

I'm thinking more of wines along the lines of eg this:



which can be had in the US for around 20$.

[kishnevi]

Liebfraumilch may be swill, but it's superior swill in comparison to some other wines that used to populate the wine aisles of the grocery store two decades ago--and usually far better than the stuff Italian American pizza and spaghetti places were given to serve under the title of "house wine'.

[jlaurson]

Liebfraumilch may be swill, but it's superior swill in comparison to some other wines that used to populate the wine aisles of the grocery store two decades ago--and usually far better than the stuff Italian American pizza and spaghetti places were given to serve under the title of "house wine'.

But unlike Liebfraumilch & Co., Thunderbird et al. didn't ruin the name of a whole wine industry on an entire continent for a solid 30-50 years. :-)

[kishnevi]

But unlike Liebfraumilch & Co., Thunderbird et al. didn't ruin the name of a whole wine industry on an entire continent for a solid 30-50 years. :-)

The culprit I had in mind was Gallo.
And there was a time when the words "New York State vineyard" could be translated as "run away!"

[jlaurson]

The culprit I had in mind was Gallo.
And there was a time when the words "New York State vineyard" could be translated as "run away!"

But that's when they deserved that sobriquet, not?

I remember my Virginia wine-tasting days, in the late 90s, early Oughts... 19 out of 20 bottles were just atrocious. Woodchip solvent with overtones of Chardonnay...   

[kishnevi]

I remember my Virginia wine-tasting days, in the late 90s, early Oughts... 19 out of 20 bottles were just atrocious. Woodchip solvent with overtones of Chardonnay...   

Ah, the wines that were a step above Gallo....

[Brian]

The German Rieslings at my local shops - at least, those which aren't primarily dedicated to fine wine imports - tend to be the $8 kind with garish pink, green, or blue glass. One even actually says "TRY ME!"