The Official Wine Thread

Originally Posted by audiophilia

Click to expand...

Two great posts, Pand. Your love of wine shows through the prose and the care in your descriptions shine. I have the former and I shall try to replicate the latter.

Cheers, Anthony




Just trying to do the best I can in helping to spread the vinho love Sometimes I find it just as enjoyable writting a descriptive ode to a beautiful bottle of wine as I do drinking it

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Click to expand...

I usually just take them out of the case, snap a picture, add them into Cellar Tracker, and toss them into the cellar. Drinking a few select 05s now, will have them all gone by 2012.

Man I'd love to see your cellar!!! LOL Those Pinots look delish

Pio's Turley pics show off more bottles than I have in my cellar

+1

Lol

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Click to expand...

Turley is pretty much credited for making Zin a "serious" wine. For quite some time, it was the standard for Zin.

I really loved zins in the mid 90's, but today many are way too fruit bomby for me. I've been largely ignoring them now, favoring the southern Rhones for the spicy/peppery thing I used to love getting from zins back then.

How's the Turley with respect to fruit bomby-ness? I had a Ridge zin a few months ago that was much better as blackberry jam than as wine. I swear it had some residual sugar . . .

Originally Posted by Bartolo

Click to expand...

I really loved zins in the mid 90's, but today many are way too fruit bomby for me. I've been largely ignoring them now, favoring the southern Rhones for the spicy/peppery thing I used to love getting from zins back then.

How's the Turley with respect to fruit bomby-ness? I had a Ridge zin a few months ago that was much better as blackberry jam than as wine. I swear it had some residual sugar . . .

It depends on the vintage and the vineyard, but Turley doesn't usually taste "hot," the way so many CA Zins do. While it is certainly fruit forward, you can get nice spice, pepper, smoke, and leather. Turley is the only Zin allocation I get, and since its prices are getting out of line, I only buy a six pack or so. The case I have pictured was purchased on the secondary market.

Originally Posted by Bartolo

Click to expand...

I had a Ridge zin a few months ago that was much better as blackberry jam than as wine. I swear it had some residual sugar . . .

I had the Ridge Geyserville (70% Zin) on the weekend. I didn't find that at all. Mind you, I dont mind a bit of jammy goodness. But, like you, I really dislike fruit bombs.

Ridge is an excellent producer, usually right up there on my list if I have to have a California wine.

I tasted a 2006 Wild Hog Vineyard Zinfandel Estate over the weekend that seemed quite nice...my first Zin tasting though...bare that in mind

I've had these Zins lately. Inexpensive to the Ridge. Enjoyed them all.

Artezin
Gundlach Bundschu
Four Vines
Ridge
Beaulieu

Even an Ironstone Old Vines $10 bottle.

As to the question of merlots, it's hard to put my finger on it. A good merlot has an amzingly smooth, velvetty feel to it. But the flavor is a little lacking. I either want the jammy, spicy, zesty punch you in the face flavor of a Shiraz, Zin or Cab, or I want a subtle and nuanced Pinot. Merlot falls in between these two and doesn't do much for me. I will say this. I don't touch the French wines much as I just don't know much about them. I can spend the rest of my life drinking nothing but Californian and Australian wines and never regret it. The Frenches seem almost overwhelming of an undertaking to learn. Maybe I just don't want to step out of my comfort zone or I'm intimidated. I did have a great French recently. Domaine La Garrigue - Vacqueyras Red Rhone. About $22/bottle here in St. Louis and paired perfectly with the grilled meatloaf I did. Yeah, I grill just about everything (Chicken Cordon Bleu, Crostinis, Romaine Lettuce, among others, along with old stand bys of steak, ribs, brisket, etc). Back to the wine. This stuff was amazing: And yes my kitchen table does have grape vines custom stenciled onto it. I was actually looking for a merlot to pair with the meat loaf as I felt a Shiraz/Zin/Cab might over power it and it would overpower a Pinot. This is what was recommended to me and I enjoyed it. But I don't normally go this route.

You might like that Claar Cellar Cabernet-Merlot I posted today. It just might be the middle ground you are looking for and at $13.99 it is easy on the budget.

Great thread...I look forward to sampling some of these suggestions.

I always pick up things that seem unusual or something I wouldn't normally try. This stuff is awesome and should definitely be picked up if you guys can find it in your area. [/IMG]

Tonight, Etude 2006 Pinot Noir, Carneros ~ Estate.

Probably the best PN I've had since the Merry Edwards at the last SF in SF meetup. It started off nicely, but after an hour in the decant it started opening up nicely and after two hours it's really, really good.