It's Friday night and you just want to unwind and enjoy a nice glass of wine. What is your go-to wine: French Bordeaux, Cali Red, or a nice Argentine Malbec? Do you stick with the same vineyard? Any specific vintage, or do you just buy and open the bottle the same day. Do you decant or aerate. or just pour? Any serious wine snobs in here with deep cellars, what are your recommendations for unwinding with wine?
Cheers!
Sit with a bottle for a couple hours. Pour tiny pours and sip slowly, watch the wine evolve in the bottle/glass as it aerates.
Cabernet is obviously a good place to start, but I think a good brunello or barolo is where it's at.
fragmented milk
sounds about right for a mfing chimp
I bought one of those Coravin things and it's been great if I'm not interested in drinking the whole bottle.
I'll aerate into a decanter, which is probably wrong, but I like what it does.
As far as actual wines go, I'll try and buy a new one once a week or every other week and just try it. I'll also pick up one of the lastbottlewine ones when they have something that looks interesting.
Malbec
Napa Cab never disappoints.
A few favorites are The Sum, Synthesis, Volunteer, Chase, Clay Shannon and there are all between like $25-50
Stags Leap?
For everyday a ~$15 bottle of Campo Viejo Rioja
I’m a fan of wine, not to the level where I am a snob about it (don’t think so at least), but enjoy it.
I keep ~200-250 bottles at home (properly stored) that are a mix of “drink now” and “drink in 10+ years”.
My go to used to be cab, but lately drink more Malbec and some Pinots. Never got into Zin or Syrah (with a few exceptions) - and mostly just focused on reds as that’s what the OP seems to be referencing. What I drink depends on the day (and if I’m drinking with friends and what they like). But I try to keep the older bottles for special occasions or to enjoy with friends, I’ll normally go with something 5-10 years old and lighter if just having a glass with some food. More casual drinking will be white wine.
I jump around pretty often, recently it's been a mix: Cab Franc, Tempranillo, Monastrell, Granache, Syrah (really... just wines from the Rhone Valley), Montepulciano, Nebbiolo and then some mid priced red blends. Can't tell you why, but some of the Zin heavy blends just taste good recently. I have really enjoyed Merlot's recently - depending on the producer/vintage, some of the Napa merlot's are better than their cab counterparts.. and definitely cheaper.
I've had an odd affair with cabs lately - I was subscribing to this off label type website and blasted through a ton of Washington and Napa cabs. All at reasonable prices, all with varying results. Burned myself out. Certainly Napa cabs are delicious - Odette, Cade, Silver Oak, Duckhorn, Peju, Trefethen (was a wine club member there) along with 50 others. Had a bottle of caymus recently...didn't sit right for some reason. Anyway.. moving onto cab/sangiovese from Italy for the time being. South America has some good cabs as well.
Generally will decant, aerate, etc. but it really depends. Most stuff can be poured 20 minutes early, let sit in the right glass and is good enough. Others like a Barolo you might as well leave out all afternoon before it's opened up. One thing I do recommend to everyone - invest in proper varietal glasses. Yes they are expensive. Yes they might make you feel snobbish. Yes they enhance the experience, taste and smell.
Don't drink much white - If I'm going there, guilty pleasure is Napa Chardonnay. It's ludicrously overpriced IMO - but something like a Duckhorn, Trefethen or any other random big name producer generally fits the bill ~$40 a bottle. Outside of that... everyone once in a while I'll get really excited over random things. Like Gewürztraminer or dry Rieslings. Maybe a Bordeaux blanc or a blanc cotes du rhone. Admittedly this is probably next on my list.
Wild card recently that I'm all about - Champagne. Made the mistake of venturing outside the Veuve, Moet, etc. and it's painful. Happy to hear recommendations on other options for sparkling or champagnes - I've been venturing down the Cremant and Lambrusco aisles, but always open to suggestions.
>>really... just wines from the Rhone Valley
How do you compare French reds vs California reds? I haven't had much luck with French wines, something just tastes off and very different vs California reds. I have been told French reds tend to need more age, whereas new world reds can be drank much earlier. But.... how do you know what to buy when you pop into the wine store? Are there standard rules and guides for different regions on what to buy and when you can drink?
French wines are heavily regional and largely terroir driven. I spent time in the Rhone valley where we visited or tasted a bunch of small, few hundred to a few thousand case producers - grandma outside smoking by the grape crushing vats type places. Our guide was local, and awesome, really gave a good overview of the entire region. There's a few levels of wine that comes out of there - the basic stuff, then there's a bunch of villages who can put their name on the wine label - Saint Joseph I believe is where we visited one. Then there's the cru setup - those are the cotie rotie's, crozes hermitage, etc. that are the 'best of the best' (or whatever). That knowledge is, generally, how I'd pick something when I'm in a store - it's hardly scientific - oh, Cotie Rotie at a decent price point... let's try it! Old world producers, especially France, you can have a generally good idea of the profile by the label as it's mandated.. requires a bit of work up front, but the cliff notes will suffice. That's my recommendation for getting your bearings - start with region, then go within the region, then different expressions/Cru's... gives you at least guideposts. Start nearest the profile you currently enjoy from California or wherever - and expand from there. E Guigal is a good producer from Rhone for example, that will let you try a variety of expressions of Rhone valley to start out.
Honestly - I try to avoid comparing them, because they are different. We did a judgement of Paris recreation tasting - 4 top end Napa, 4 top end French - and they are all over the place. You can pick out a fruit bomb from Napa, and at the extreme end of the French it tastes much like driving down a dirt road feels... and I'm not sure that's a compliment to either one. Generally this leads to the reality that Napa wines tend to be higher alcohol, more pronounced flavors and more 'in your face'. French tend to be lower alcohol, finnicky, more acerbic and minerally. I have a buddy that would spend anything on a Napa, but would flush a Rothschild if offered... to each their own really.
Age - I don't buy much aged wine. I've had a few bottles that are on the older side - 15 -20 years - mainly Bordeaux/Burgundy/Barolo - the heavily structured, commonly aged stuff. Personally I think you give most of the 'big reds' 5-10 years and they will be in pretty good shape to drink. Frankly much of the Napa stuff is ready to drink right now (cynically you might argue many producers engineer it to be such) and the same goes for many French producers. If you are buying the top 1% of wines constantly - really high end stuff that's made to be aged, absolutely, give it some time.
Last thought - if you can find a wine store with engaged owner, knowledgeable staff it is worth the premium you may pay. The absolute best way to dive into French, or any wines, is to get tastings or someone knowledgeable to help you out.
Pinot. It's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.
Underrated movie
Red guy here. Favorites are: Barolo, Brunello, Montepulciano, Sassicaia if I'm feeling something pricey though not much better than a good Barolo or Brunello, Napa Cab (most cabs from stags leap including the leap, artemis, and last but certainly not least the Cask 17; silver oak, shafer), french wines are typically chateauneuf-du-pape or a cheeky burgundy.
In terms of year, I'll usually see what my local wine shops have available / recommend so I'm not super particular but some wines I just like a certain year such as Cask 2017.
Always decant. Italian wines usually 30-40 min, heavy cabs 60-90 min, and everything else is more art than science.
We like fairly "commercial" wines at home: Our house red is La Crema's pinot noir (nice and light for casual drinking and reasonbly priced) or Meiomei, Stag's Leap or Cakebread cab sauv for a steak dinner or heavy tomato based pasta. Chateau Margeaux or Palmer if we have something to celebrate.
Whites are rarer at our home, but for a nice shrimp pasta or seafood dish, we favor Sancerres.
For any Canadians in the audience: Joie Farms Noble Blend (Vancouver) is a great white. I don't know if I was drunk, but when I did a tour at Tawse (Ontario), their reds were unusually delicious (I think I had a particular affinity for their Gamay). I like giving ice wine as unique and noteworthy gifts, but don't often drink it myself. It's so sweet, like giving someone alcoholic maple syrup.
Traders joes 2 buck chuck
$15 bottle of sauvignon blanc
I'm a pleb with francophilic tastes sue me
Any chilled white wine
I haven't seen the movie but I like Pinot Noir the most so far, but I haven't really expanded beyond that. I like the Oregon ones a lot, but I'm definitely like to explore other reds.
Prosecco or rose
Opus One, Solaia, Sassicaia…I tend to order or prepare dishes that demand a full bodied wine
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