Wine tasting.

[Xithras]

There are few things more fun than watching someones prejudices get crushed.

I've been trying to get a liberal friend of mine to go wine tasting with me for weeks. He's given me all kinds of excuses as to why he didn't want to, but they all basically boiled down to: "Wine tasting is the hobby of the snobby elite." Well, he finally broke this past weekend, and we took a trip up to Lodi to sample some Zin's.

At the first winery we visited, he got out of the car with a sigh and a "I can't believe you talked me into this bourgeois crap."

He had to eat his words a few seconds later when we walked in, and he saw five leather-clad bikers lined up at the counter drinking Zin's. That's when I pointed out to him that, for the past several years, wine has outsold beer in the U.S. He was as crushed as the grapejuice we sampled :)

So...what's your favorite wine?

I'm a huge fan of the Van Ruiten Old Vine Zin's.

[baldguy]

1. Amarone della Valpolicella

Though lately I've been drinking a lot of Pinot Noir.

[Swede]

2. I find the red wine goes really well with the white wine.

:shrug:

[GoneOffShore]

3. It's summer - Rosé rules!

Preferably Bandol rosé.

[Xithras]

4. While I'm not a rosé fan....

I had a Bandol Mourvèdre recently that was pretty incredible.

Are the Bandol Rosé's dry? I don't care for sweet rosé's, but they seem to dominate the market nowadays (especially among the California wineries in my region). I usually avoid rosé's in general because of it.

If I want something cold on a hot day, I'll usually pull a pinot gris.

[GoneOffShore]

14. Not familiar with many California rosé's - bad memories of White Zinfandel

The Bandol wines are excellent - Domaine Tempier and Chateau Pibarnon are two examples.

Most Provençal rosé's are dry which is why I love them. Easier to get on the east coast than in California.

Even that old standby, Rosé d'Anjou is pretty good these days. The "White Zinfandel", of sacred memory, turned many people off of rosé. It's a wine that made well, is truly versatile and easy to drink. There are even some that rise above the "picnic wine" ethos. A good Provençal rosé is more than vodka with Kool-Aid.

http://www.provencewineusa.com/

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Any red from Thomas Coyne or Eckert wineries

in the Livermore Valley.

[Xithras]

6. You know, it's funny....

I live 30 minutes from Livermore and used to drive through it every day on my way to work in Pleasanton, but I've never been wine tasting there. It's been on my to-do list for years.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. There's a great range of wines in the valley but the general feel is pretty laid back.

There are at least a dozen wineries worth the trip. Some are higher end ($50+ per bottle) but many are still small scale family operations like Eckert.

[Xithras]

8. I'll get over there one of these days.

The peril of being a wine lover in Northern California is that there's too many options...Napa, Sonoma, the Gold Country, Lodi, North Coast, Paso, Livermore Valley, and about a dozen other appellations, all within an afternoon's drive. Sooner or later, I'll get to them all.

For what it's worth, I do prefer the smaller, family owned wineries as well. If you ever get a chance to go to Lodi, try the Lucas Family Winery. The wines are phenomenal, and when they explain their harvesting methods, you'll understand why. If you visit during the growing season, they'll even walk you out to the vineyard behind the winery as part of the tasting, show you the grapes, and give you a lesson in grape growing!

They only make a few hundred cases a year though, so it's a very low-volume place. I don't think they sell via retailers at all.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Lodi's on my list.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[one_voice]

10. I know I'm gonna get grief over this.....

I don't like wine. Until recently I've never tasted a wine that wasn't totally nasty to me. I've tasted cheap and expensive...YUCK to all. Now, recently I tasted Moscato...that I do like...very much. I now keep a bottle in the fridge.

Other than Moscato, there's no wine I like. I will continue to taste and who knows maybe I'll find another one I enjoy.

Now here's the part that's really gonna get me flamed...I like wine coolers. :hide:

[Xithras]

11. Everyone likes wine...

...it's just a matter of finding the wine you like. Whenever anyone says they "don't like wine", that simply tells me that they haven't tasted enough to find one that suited their palate. That, or they're drinking cheap or improperly stored wines that have gone bitter.

Few wine drinkers like all wines. Many wine drinkers only like a few. There are eight major types of red wine, even more types of white, and hundreds of wine grape varieties. Each tastes different, and they run the gamut from "mellow as water" to "can strip paint", and from "tastes like earthy bark" to "tastes like fruits and berries".

You just have to keep trying until you find one you like. That's actually the beauty of wine tasting...you get tiny samples of many types of wine, and can figure out which you like and which you don't without investing in hundreds of bottles :)

[libodem]

12. Red

Mostly. By the box.

[GoneOffShore]

15. Try Big House Red - good box wine.

[Chan790]

13. I really like Mad Dog 20/20.

The green one is the bomb!!

[opiate69]

16. Can't just narrow it down to one favorite...

I do love the Chateau Ste Michelle Gerwurtztraminer, the Dona Florencia Chardonnay ( a great wine from Chile), and we recently had a Bulgarian red I can't recall the name of right now. We're subscribed to the wine of the month club, so we get some really good wines each month....
http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com/