The Official Wine Thread - Page 5

fail on their part. While everybody has their own taste, it has been scientifically proven that decanting red wines for a little is beneficial no matter how cheap or how expensive (the 'negative' compounds like sulfates, sulfides, etc. will break down by oxygen before the fruit compounds). I routinely decant inexpensive reds, and a CdR is certainly in that group. There would not be a need to decant for 15-20 hours, but IMO 2-3 hours would be doing it a whole lot of good.

Silverado is generally a well regarded winery. But I had a problem with their 2004 or 2005, I forget which vintage.

Overpriced, I agree. Overrated, I disagree. Tannins are an integral part of wine that occur naturally in the skins and stems of the grapes. To my understanding, tannins are not added to red wines, though they can sometimes be added to white wine (or whites can pick it up naturally by oak aging).

The amount of "chemicals" added to wine is quite small in most cases. Additives in the production process are typically not chemicals to begin with. Examples may include sugar (for under-ripened grapes or to add a boost of alcohol post fermentation. the process is called chaptalization), malic acid (to counter over-ripe grapes, achieved through malolactic fermentation), citric acid (mostly in whites), sulfites which are added sometimes to kill bacteria during fermentation (though they also occur naturally in wine), and tartaric acid. Finning is often done with egg whites in many parts of France and Italy.

Penfold typically adds tannin powder to Grange (and their other wines).


I appreciate that tannin is a component of wine but so is sugar (before fermentation) and so is alcohol - and I would not touch a wine that had sugar or alcohol added, either.

I'm just not in favour of frankenwines.

Haha, not if it is a Guigal "la-la"

I haven't tried the Gemtree, but have had crates of the Dead Arm in the past. It is a very good wine. I no longer like a big fruit-dominated Shiraz, and prefer the more subtle rhone style shiraz blends, unless I am drinking without food, or at a barbecue.

The problem was that was the first bottle of the night. The rest didn't taste so great after that one...

chaptalization is a pretty standard process in many parts of the world, include Alsace and Germany. And what about port??? IMO the use of oak should also be seen as an additive, and oak can be one of the largest factors in how a wine tastes and IMO ruins more wines than an imbalance of alcohol or acid.

It was a very nice bottle! The GF and I were sitting with our neighbors one evening and they came out with a bottle of this...they had just picked up a case...and the four of us knocked back two bottles before it was time to go home...but not before they refilled our glasses...shown in the photo...and gave us a bottle of this loverly CdR of our own...also featured in the photo...I will buy that one for myself for certain. It was one of the first wines from the other side of the Pyrenees that I have had thus far in my journey. The first was a neat little Fitou from a very small bottle to order vineyard.

So to answer your question in short about the glasses...nope that be the neighbors

I was pretty excited at the shot of a solid wine glass too. But alas, my hopes were crushed.



I'm hosting a housewarming party sometime next week to celebrate the new apartment. On tap I'm thinking about a 2005 Valpolicella Classico, a super Tuscan from Orenllaia, a Vermentino from the Antinori family, and I have an extremely young 2006 St. Emillion Grand Cru that I think would be nice to preview.