I started drinking this stuff (for medecinal purposes) a couple years ago and I have discovered that the french really do make the best (tasting) red wines. Don't get me wrong Kalifornia makes some pretty good wine, but it just ain't French.
Now I understand that the difference between Fr and Ca is that California wines are remarkably consistent from year to year while french wines are either great or they are drain cleaner. I haven't run across any drain cleaner yet, but I have run across some pretty tasty wines.
Please don't ask me to name a brand because I can't. Or more like I just don't care. Me and my honey just like shopping for new wines and trying them. So far the french are winning followed closely by some South American wines, followed by P R of Ca. (Napa)
the only other is a desert wine called " Port of chamborcin" from a winery in Pa. Excellent. I usually go thru a few bottles during hunting season. After dinner, of course!

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Don't tread on me!
Pennsylvania Frank

Muga (rioja)........Spain.

Better than Viagra!

BV George La Tour Cabernet 1994 about $95-100 about is pretty good.

Cain 5 Meritage is pretty good about $35 a bottle.

If you walk into a high end grocery in No. California there a probably close to 150 different red wines alone. Figure 30-50 each in

Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfindel, Meritage...

Those are just the California's

You are kinda asking what is the best deer cartridge....cause anything from .243 to 35 Whelen is in the mix.

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MED

The sole purpose of a rifle is to please its owner

Draytons cabernet merlot for a red and their chardonnay for a white. From the Hunter Valley region in Australia.

Bakes

McQuigans Black Label Red,
Australian.

Any good Aussie Dry White.
New Zealand also make some excellent wines.

Some of the red wines from Chile are top sellers in the US, but some have gotten expensive lately. I remember not too long ago when I could by a bottle of "Buena Vista" (Cabernet) for around $10.00, but now it costs nearly $20.00. Another low priced medicine is "Rufino" from Italy.

Annie Green Springs Apple Berry
vintage: three weeks older than date of purchase. In a pinch Boone's Farm will work.

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Handgun Hunter
LOVE THOSE .41s'

[This message has been edited by Crawfish (edited 03-13-2002).]

Chilean wines can be great, since they haven't had phyloxera, and, the original root stocks makes for great wines, like the old Bordeauxs.
Cheateau Petrus, and a certain Italian Merlot, are the best red wines I've ever had, along with a few Rommanee-Conti burgundies, La Tache being my favorite.

It used to be 30 bucks could buy you one of these, now, try 3000.

California wines are pretty much grossly over priced, as are the best french wines.

The best values are champagne, and Chateau D'Yquem, by far the best wine in the world, but, a desert wine.

If you can find a decent chilean wine, they are some of the best cab values.

The beauty of french wines is a blending of the different grapes makes a more rounded, more complex tasting wine, in most cases.

Since labels sell, merlot, and cabernet require 85% of the wine in the bottle match the label.

So, to protect the consumer, Kalifornia requires this, with the end result that Kalifornia wines tend to be one dimensional.

I could go into the difference of valley grapes, and mountain side grapes in Napa, the better vineyards, Heitz, BV, Mt. Eden Valley Vineyards, etc. if you like.

I am a big fan of BV, the latour series in particular.

Their 1951 was probably the best California red wine I've ever had.

The best bordeaux, 1953 Chateau Petrus, and I've had a couple 1870 Madiera's that would knock your socks off.

gs

"If you walk into a high end grocery in No. California there a probably close to 150 different red wines alone. Figure 30-50 each in

Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfindel, Meritage..."

And, 95 % of it is over priced garbage.

Course I think the same of most of the bordeauxs, but not champagnes, or sauternes.

gs

You gotta be kidding...its like asking for the best caliber or best rifle...
Besides, why would any fella in his right mind want to know the best wine...there would be no reason to keep trying all the different varietals and vintages...

If wine making is like hunting then my vote goes to Cretean wines made in the villages of Xania(Hania) and Sfakia. These are remote little places like the best hunting off the beaten path. For bottled wine many South African pinotages are better than most.

My favourites are among French C�tes-du-Rh�ne, especially Ch�teauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Tricastin (just try "Domaine du Vieux Micocoulier", near from my place... the inconvenient is that you can only get it at the farm). All of these thick, strong - 13-14% (!) - red wines do great with venison! But I don't know if you can purchase them in the States. There are so many good wines on earth, I also enjoy Spanish Riojas.

I will admit I'm a little biased being in the Australian wine industry but...

Barossa Valley Shiraz (or Syrah). Try some of the old vine shiraz. Numerous ones to try. Send me an email if you are interested.

And then a good Cabernet Sauvignon is very nice, or a well made varietal grenache or grenache blend goes down well. A nicely chilled crisp Riesling, a buttery caramel Semillon, a ......... I could keep going.

From elsewhere I love Rioja and Cava from Spain. And many many Italian and French wines.....

The good thing about wine is that every variety, every region, every country, every vintage and every bottle can be a little bit different. So you always have to keep trying them, a new one or one you've had many times.

Also good to see the Ozzie hunters sticking up for the local drop.

Enjoy!

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Nitro@NitroExpress.com
NitroExpress.com

Although France and California are excellent, the good ones tend to be quite expensive.

The best wines for my money are from Chile. One of my favorite Chilean is Los Vascos (from the Maipo Valley), a superb wine that has many flavors dancing on your palate yet is inexpensive enough to use as a regular table wine (it is excellent with venison)

King Baboon... you took my response! Any Cotes-du-Rhone... Chateuneuf-de-Pape being at the top.

I disagree that 95% of California wines are junk. California is making some very good wines these days, as are the Aussies. There are outstanding wines from all-over... depends what you like. I like the "flinty" flavor of the southern French over the "full-bodied, oaky" flavor of the Californian.

Little Known Fact: The state of Missouri "saved" the French wine industry around the turn of the century after the vineyards (in the south) were wiped out by some sort of blight... the state shiped tens-of-thousands of grape-vines to France. There's a nice memorial to the good people of Missouri in Montpellier.

Another Fact: Missouri, in the 19th century, was the largest producer of wine in the US.

Brad

Pa.Frank,

I know a little bit in wine. There are some new great countries in good wine field such as Australia, Argentina, Chile and USA (California).

Don't forget one thing nearly all vineyards in France are US vines because of "phyloxera" --> vines illness in 19th century.

I have visited some french areas for good wines. Alsace for white wines, Bourgogne for red wines,.... I'm 29 and I have the rest of my life to discover others wine areas in France (mainly).

All these areas are great because if have the luck to meet some "real" producers not sellers.

In France there is two kinds of wine producers who propose their wines for free dinks
one for tourists (american, japanese,...) and the others for local poeple (and me).
That take time and you need to know a little bit the area to find a good producer with good quality of wine.

The most famous castel name in wine isn't necessarily the best wine. But only the highest purchase price.

I love all french wines but not "table wines". I prefer to drink good quality wine sometimes than bad wine every days. IMHO.

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

I have to agree with NitroExpress, Barossa Walley do really turn out exeptional whines!!

I had the plesure to get a guided tour in Barossa by a benchrest mate down in OZ last Dec.

I had some really outstanding whines that day Among lots of exellent whines I tried the basket press at Rockfords. I have to say that I really whish I could get my hands on a few bottles of that whine here in Sweden... I got the impression that it was very hard to get even in Australia due to very limited numbers of bottles turned out every year.

I can get some really good Australian whines here in Sweden. One is the Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz. It�s about $14 US here but a really enjoyable drop! At least in my opinion

Cheers!

Stefan.

I hope you all will not mind a plug for the wine I make. I will not claim it is the best by any means but thought you all might be interested to try the wine of one of the members. I studied winemaking at the University of Califonia at Davis, one of the few places in the world to study winemaking. I am the production manager of Waterbrook Winery near Walla Walla, WA. The wineries in this area have a very good reputation. We make a Chardonnay that is quite often a Wine Spectator Best Buy and we make Sauvignon blanc and Viognier. For the reds we make Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and also a lower priced red blend that we call Melange and an upper end red blend labeled as Meritage. Yesterday we bottled our first Sangiovese from the 2000 vintage. It was only 140 cases. Check us out at www.waterbrook.com, Thanks, Rufous.

Rufous,

Your chardonnay is good. Not Plumpjack good, but quite tasty.

Leonetti makes good wine, if you can get your hands on it.

If I do a very exclusive choice: Chateau La Tour, a very fine claret from Bourdeaux in France. The only bad to say about it is the cost of a bottle: at least $120. But it�s superior to anything put in a bottle.

Then there are some fine wines to more modest prices, which are quite enjoyable: Barbera and Barolo from Italy, Ch�teau-Neuf-du-Pape and C�te-du-Rh�ne from France or perhaps some Riserva from Rioja in Spain. They are all fine with game or cheese.

White wine with fish is preferably a Chablis from France or a Franconian white from Germany, and white wine for just drinking can be a sweet Sp�tlese from Rhine or Mosel in Germany. For sweet deserts I like a Hungarian Tokaji or - best! - a French Sauterne.

Best regards,

Fritz

[This message has been edited by Fritz Kraut (edited 03-13-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Fritz Kraut (edited 03-13-2002).]

Some of those guys over at the "MatchKing is not a hunting bullet thread".

Oh, you said wine, not WHINE. Sorry.

R-WEST

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"the spotlight of truth will cause the cockroaches of deceit to run for cover every time"
Rush Limbaugh

[This message has been edited by R-WEST (edited 03-14-2002).]

Aleko has a point with the home made Cretan wines, but only if you like wine that tastes suspiciously like scotch.
Within the realm of the mainstream, I always prefer more wine to slightly better. Remember, after the first few glasses, no one can really tell good from bad right? Anyway, a good wine that is reasonably priced is the Louis Jadot Beaujolais. It runs about $8 per bottle. Enjoy!

JohnTheGreek

I've never had a bad Spanish wine and the Australian wines these days are great and reasonably priced. South African wines are excellent, especially the Pinotage. Kalifornia wines are like a .30-06, good in their day as long as nothing else is available.(:

Kalifornia wines are often junk, over priced, because they claim to be great stuff, and then don't age.

I can't tell you how many cases I had to throw away, of 'great, vintage, cabernets' that turned out to be over oaked, out of balance garbage, after aging.

VERY few California cabs are well enough made to age well.

Generally, the better aging wines start out with a massive amount of fruit, masking the
other characteristics. Cali wines start out with oak, the fruit fades, and you get to chew on a splinter for some huge amount of money.

The rhones, Gigondas, in particular, are fantastic, but, they used to be MUCH cheaper.
LaTour, 1928, 45, 47, 59, 61, 53, 55, not 54,
62, was a fantastic value, 64, and 66 likewise, 69, good in a really off year, and cheap, those, are truly great wines.
The pre 45 vintages show the great difference the phyloxera grafting makes. Great stuff.

Chilean wines, if you find the right blend, rival great bordeauxs, for a fraction of the price. I'm not naming them, since, if I do, you guys are going to drive the price up by buying them.

My girlfriend is in Austria right now, raving about how cheap great wine is, because you don't have to pay tariffs.

YOu guys are just like your choice in firearms, big and robust, with the syrah, rhones, etc.

gs

Depending on the year, Pontet Canet can be a relative bargain.

Pichon-LaLande, Lynch-Bages, Cos D'Estournel,
Haut-brion, LaTour, come to mind when deals in bordeauxs are at issue.
Deal is a relative term...
gs

I have to agree with Socrates about Cos D'Estournel, I have never been disapointed. Cos du Moulin is another excellent one if you can find it.

My favorite french wines generally comes from the ste Estephe district

Chateau D'Yquem, is admitted by all, to be the absolute best french wine, and the only premiere grand cru, IIRC.

gs

[This message has been edited by Socrates (edited 03-16-2002).]