Vintage Wines

[Vannie]

I recommend a lovely crisp Boones Farm apple wine with roasted pork loin.

And a wonderfully precocious yet familiar Manischewitz grape wine with peanut butter cookies.

 

[me203]

I recommend a lovely crisp Boones Farm apple wine with roasted pork loin.

And a wonderfully precocious yet familiar Manischewitz grape wine with peanut butter cookies.

But the important question is this: what goes well with stuffed cabbage?

 

[NotHardUp1]

At one point in my life, I had a fantasy of "someday" having a small wine cellar--even if only a dark, cool corner of the basement of my tastefully furnished gay guy home. Sadly, said cellar--along with the tastefully furnished home--never materialized.

My reasoning is that we all inherit society's biases, and as we were coming of age, movies and literature imputed wine knowledge with gentility and therefore respect, specifically, middle class or upper class respect. The poor drank beer.

I'm going to ignore that indoctrination of class and just admire wine culture for what it is, the distillation of many cultures over thousands of years, with an ever-branching tree of new developments, growers, and markets.

As a foodie, wine is infinitely intriguing to me, as it is bifurcated along so many shading of nuance, so represents unlimited opportunity in serving or cooking.

And, contrary to the bourgeoise cult, one of the great pleasures is finding a wonderful wine that is NOT a small fortune for a bottle.

I always wanted to get into wines, sherries, ports, etc., but never bothered as I dislike the taste of alcohol in general. The little I do drink I prefer more of the fruit taste to the alcohol taste.

I am not much of a drinker either. My friend in New Mexico who owned a winery told me that New Mexicans liked to talk dry, but they drank sweet. America being America, I'm sure that isn't just a New Mexico pattern. We're taught that dry wines are more sophisticated, and maybe they are, but we have no apologies to make for liking what we like.

When I was a teen I liked Dago red a lot. I still have one of the glass gallon jugs that I use t backslop kefir in.

That's a whole other aspect of wines, the appeal of bottles, and the variety. Many people reuse wine bottles, from bottle trees to candle holders to piggy banks. They're fun.

Before I die I want to try champagne.

I was offered once but thought it was an odd offer so passed. A coworker at the time offered me some he got on his wedding day. It was close to his one year anniversary. His wife didn't want any and it just seemed inappropriate to me.

So, we'll need to keep you from trying champagne for many years unless you have another bucket list item to keep you going.

On a serious note, I like champagne for its lightness, but have had a terrible one a couple of years back. That led me to spend more so I don't do that again.

It really does have too much mystique built up around it, but that is just successful marketing by the French.

Back in the '80's, the advertising agency I worked for threw a retirement party for the CFO at Ivar's Salmon House restaurant.
The server suggested a White Zinfandel for me. Much too sweet, are all Zinfandel's sweet?

That sort of depends on where your sweet detector lies on the sweet/dry scale. Zins are known to be medium sweet to dry as a rule, but that doesn't mean you didn't get hold of one that was exceptionally sweet.

I tend to enjoy whites because they are not as tricky as all the tannin levels in reds, but I have found myself drowning in sugar from some Riesling at times, having read its description but found it to be far sweeter than described. Admittedly, I'm a guy who only drinks wine with food, so am not a good judge due to evaluating it as a complement.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I recommend a lovely crisp Boones Farm apple wine with roasted pork loin.

And a wonderfully precocious yet familiar Manischewitz grape wine with peanut butter cookies.

What? No Ripple? The last vintage was 1984, so should be well aged by now.

You can laugh, but as I picked out some cheap bottles at Trader Joe's yesterday, there was an apple wine that I considered, so there must still be a market for it.

I stopped at The Open Bottle to look for the white port, but it just didn't look promising. The sherry I bought there cost almost the same, but looked much better. The power of labels, I guess.

The Manischewitz reminded me of the several at Trader Joe's that were marked "Kosher". Seemed so unexpected in Huntsville, Alabama, although I have visited the synagogue here as a guest a few years back, so there are observing Jews here, even if few.

 

[NotHardUp1]

But the important question is this: what goes well with stuffed cabbage?

All joking aside, I'm certain if we Googled it, we'd find some stuffed cabbage recipes have white wine in the meat mixture, or red wine in the stock.

Doubt you can go wrong with the apple, as every pork dish goes with apples.

 

[Alistair]

I always wanted to get into wines, sherries, ports, etc., but never bothered as I dislike the taste of alcohol in general. The little I do drink I prefer more of the fruit taste to the alcohol taste.

Same for me. I love sangria and get it whenever I’m out to eat.

 

[me203]

Back in the '80's, the advertising agency I worked for threw a retirement party for the CFO at Ivar's Salmon House restaurant.
The server suggested a White Zinfandel for me. Much too sweet, are all Zinfandel's sweet?

Limited experience, but I don't recall red Zinfandels being too sweet. White Zinfandel does seem like it could be too sweet.

From what I recall, White Zinfandel is a fairly recent development, and IIRC was suggested by one article as a wine that people with little wine experience might like. Possibly because it can tend towards sweetness?

In my experience, cheaper wine often seems to end up sweetish, and all too often too sweet. (Again, my limited experience, but less limited than something with a fancy French label, since my buying historically has needed to be kept as cheap as possible.) I speculate--but only speculate--that having it sweet might make more appealing to the masses. Plus it's probably easier to choke down a bad wine that's sweet.

 

[Vannie]

But the important question is this: what goes well with stuffed cabbage?

A hearty robust Chianti. But don't drink too much.

Last time I forgot my manners,passed gas repeatedly and didn't care.

 

[me203]

A hearty robust Chianti. But don't drink too much.

Last time I forgot my manners,passed gas repeatedly and didn't care.

This is a bit unclear. You apparently drank too much. But if you hadn't, would that mean that you wouldn't have passed gas repeatedly? Or that you would have done it, but cared about doing it?

And, oh, yes, would Livingstone Cellars Chianti be robust enough?

 

[EddMarkStarr]

I recommend a lovely crisp Boones Farm apple wine with roasted pork loin.

And a wonderfully precocious yet familiar Manischewitz grape wine with peanut butter cookies.

From high school to collage, the goal was to move away from Kool-Aid by moving to wine (that tasted like Kool-Aid).

 

[Alistair]

A hearty robust Chianti. But don't drink too much.

Last time I forgot my manners,passed gas repeatedly and didn't care.

Thank god you only passed gas and you didn’t eat your guest

 

[Vannie]

Who remembers.

Riunite on ice! That's nice!

 

[me203]

Before I die I want to try champagne.

I'd like to try Champagne, too...but the way the prices are...I'll have to make do with Andre.

And I cringed the current cost of Andre, having thought of getting a bottle for New Year's Eve, just to have something festive. I took one look at the current price, and decided "NO!"

I've seen mini bottles of Chandon sparkling wine, which have tempted me from time to time. It's not "real" Champagne, but--as I understand it--it is made with the traditional Champagne method. The pricing is still too high for me, but more obtainable. But...even so, I'd like the real Champagne once.

 

[me203]

My reasoning is that we all inherit society's biases, and as we were coming of age, movies and literature imputed wine knowledge with gentility and therefore respect, specifically, middle class or upper class respect.

These would be US biases, but I gather it's different in other countries, where wine is just a normal part of life

The poor drank beer.

Not necessarily the case any more-have you seen how much craft beers can go for?

I am not much of a drinker either. My friend in New Mexico who owned a winery told me that New Mexicans liked to talk dry, but they drank sweet. America being America, I'm sure that isn't just a New Mexico pattern. We're taught that dry wines are more sophisticated, and maybe they are, but we have no apologies to make for liking what we like.

I think I remember reading something written in the 80s talking about this bias vs. reality.

On a practical level, it seems like a lot of US consumption is just having a glass of wine alone. It seems like sweet might work better to that use case than a wine that will be drunk with a meal.

That's a whole other aspect of wines, the appeal of bottles, and the variety. Many people reuse wine bottles, from bottle trees to candle holders to piggy banks. They're fun.

I remember a high school teacher had a wine jug on top of a bookcase that he used to hold something upright. It worked perfectly for him, and he'd had it for years,. At some point, our district went crazy with banning stuff that even hinted at alcohol. Foreign language teachers were forced to take down posters that any normal person would look at and see as nothing more than something showing another culture--but the district honed in on some small detail that made this poster a promotion of alcohol.

Somehow, my teacher was able to evade the problem--at least as of the years I had him--by (IIRC) turning the jug so the label faced the wall. Maybe he removed the label, though. In any case, he was technically in compliance--at the moment--yet we all knew what the jug had once had. And I seriously doubt that the presence or absence of that jug--or the posters in the French classroom--made an iota of difference to anyone who planned to party with booze Friday night. (Which, I'd guess, would acutally have been cheap beer, anyway--I wouldn't know, never having had a chance of attending a party.)

 

[NotHardUp1]

These would be US biases, but I gather it's different in other countries, where wine is just a normal part of life.

Indeed, it was.

Not necessarily the case any more-have you seen how much craft beers can go for?

That brings up another thing, peer pressure. I was not vulnerable to teenage pressure to party and get drunk, and was a tea totaller until after college. Later, I figured it was more important not to make alcohol a taboo rather than drunkenness being the problem.

Still, I never developed a palate for beer, and have never drunk more than a taste. In Alaska, I sorely wanted to learn to appreciate the microbreweries, as it is a major part of the society there now, but I never succeeded. The man I dated was actually a problem drinker, and today brews his own, and still has a problem with drinking to excess, but the growth of craft beer has been a welcome change in American food culture.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I'd like to try Champagne, too...but the way the prices are...I'll have to make do with Andre.
And I cringed the current cost of Andre, having thought of getting a bottle for New Year's Eve, just to have something festive. I took one look at the current price, and decided "NO!"

I've seen mini bottles of Chandon sparkling wine, which have tempted me from time to time. It's not "real" Champagne, but--as I understand it--it is made with the traditional Champagne method. The pricing is still too high for me, but more obtainable. But...even so, I'd like the real Champagne once.

I've been fortunate enough to have Champagne several times over my decades, usually at wedding receptions, but sometimes as toasts at church (after the midnight Christmas Eve service), or at other celebrations.

And, admittedly my palate is not refined, but I cannot tell any difference between a fine sparkling wine from California, or Germany, and a genuine Champagne. France has a great deal at stake in protecting the French trademark for the Champagne they bottle. I support their jealous protection of the term, just as I do the Vidalia, Georgia farmers who fought to protect their name on the Vidalia onion. The Georgians did not develop that cultivar, but they did market it successfully. Other growers should not be able to appropriate the name.

I have given away the Champagnes and sparkling wines I had in my stock over the last year, so bought a replacement bottle yesterday, just to have if an occasion arises. I will add a bottle of Champagne to it later, but for now, I would not be ashamed to serve this German variant:



It is a very affordable sparkling wine, but not sweet, which may provide you the fun of a good sparkling wine without cramping your budget:

Schloss Biebrich Trocken | Vivino US

Trocken is a Sparkling wine. See reviews and pricing for this wine.

www.vivino.com

 

[rareboy]

Yes. It can sink below the mire. Better forgotten. I hope it doesn't taint the Amontillado when I do open it.

I honestly couldn't care less if someone doesn't bother to open one thread and then makes another thread about the same topic.

 

[purina]

Are there any good whine threads?

 

[Alistair]

Are there any good whine threads?

Thread 'This topic is whatever you want it to be, one size fits all'

Feb 25, 2018

Post whatever you want, but for fuck's sake POST

I choose gifs

• fabulouslyghetto
• Replies: 212
• Forum: Hot Topics

• 

Thread 'Venting Thread 2020?'

May 30, 2020

I know the last one was for 2017-2018-2019, but I thought it'd be good to start this one unless someone already did and I just missed it. If that's the case then obviously this can be combined with that or whatever.

--

Just wanted to vent. So the the last couple years with relationships, non-romantic ones, have been pretty crap. I haven't had contact with my blood related family for about a year or so now, and unfortunately that hasn't been because of a lack of trying. Just been ignored by them because of something someone decided to lie about and my family chose to believe.

It seems...

• ClubLevelVegan
• Replies: 188
• Forum: Hot Topics

 

[Peloso]

I don't like being wine drunk. It makes me feel sloppy and gives me a headache.