The Official Wine Thread

Originally Posted by jaydc7

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I don't really know much about wine, but I had this bottle and enjoyed it over the weekend.

2003 Silverado Cab

<drool>

Bastard!

Originally Posted by PandArts

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Well I did a quick google and this is what I came up with, which pretty much sums it really:



It's a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, which also explains why I liked it so much as it has two of my favourite varitals in it.

Man, I love the Rhone wines. The Gigondas was excellent. I love the Perrin Vacquyras. Had a Guigal Cote de Rhone tonite. The guest said not to decant. Hmmm?

Originally Posted by Aus_MD

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I don't like the style of Grange or the other big Penfolds wines, which I think are overpriced and over rated. I certainly would not knowingly drink wine that has tannin (and who knows what other chemicals) added to it. There are much better shiraz and shiraz blends available for a better price.


Have you tried Gemtree Uncut Shiraz (CAD$27.00) or D'Arenberg's The Dead Arm Shiraz (CAD$55.00)? The former excellent, the latter effing brilliant!

Originally Posted by audiophilia

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Man, I love the Rhone wines. The Gigondas was excellent. I love the Perrin Vacquyras. Had a Guigal Cote de Rhone tonite. The guest said not to decant. Hmmm?

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.

Originally Posted by Aus_MD

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I don't like the style of Grange or the other big Penfolds wines, which I think are overpriced and over rated. I certainly would not knowingly drink wine that has tannin (and who knows what other chemicals) added to it. There are much better shiraz and shiraz blends available for a better price.

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.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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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.

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

But in Australia, powdered tannins are added to some of the country's best wines. John Duval, chief winemaker at Penfolds, adds it after fermentation to the legendary Grange Hermitage. "It stabilizes the structure," he explains, noting that tannin additions were a basic tenet of the winemaking philosophy of Max Schubert, first winemaker of the Grange.

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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.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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I routinely decant inexpensive reds, and a CdR is certainly in that group. .
Haha, not if it is a Guigal "la-la"

Originally Posted by audiophilia

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Have you tried Gemtree Uncut Shiraz (CAD$27.00) or D'Arenberg's The Dead Arm Shiraz (CAD$55.00)? The former excellent, the latter effing brilliant!

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.

Originally Posted by audiophilia

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<drool>

Bastard!

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

Originally Posted by Aus_MD

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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.
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.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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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.

+1

But, I was not about to contradict my guest. Wanted to, though! LOL

Originally Posted by PandArts

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Ahhh! Cheers! I really liked the Clos du Mont-Olivet, Font de Blanche a friend gave me a while back. It was a very warm and well rounded pour!

Looks lovely. New glasses, Pand?

Originally Posted by audiophilia

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Looks lovely.

New glasses, Pand?


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.