This thread is not meant to appeal to those who would rather drink wine that is fashionable and pricey as opposed to enjoying an excellent wine that is reasonably priced. I drink wine to enjoy not to impress.

I am not an American (California) wine enthusiast. Dollar for dollar I find them unremarkable and over priced. My favorite wines are as follows:
Argentina
Spain
Italy
South Africa (although of late their prices have been creeping up).

I like red wine and partake regularly...my tastes are not particularly refined however.

I have found that my favorites typically come from:
British Columbia (Okanagan)
Chile
Australia
South Africa
A couple from California (Robert Mondavi in particular)

I have not tried any Argentinian wines. Not really a fan of most Italian wines I have tried. French wines...really hit and miss for me in my price range, based on whats available here anyway..

Cheers,
Canuck

French wines are nice because of the vinicultural areas. A grape from a certain area will have certain characteristics-so you have a chance of knowing what a wine will taste like before buying it. They are horribly over priced. A trick is to find a wine close to a great area that is marked- "enlevee a etc." such as enlevee a chateauneuf du pape. This means the vinyard is negotiating to have it's wine elevated to a higher status. So if you look at the map and like a burgundy or chateau neuf du pape (my favourtie) you look around the map and find wineries that are on the border of your chosen area. Their wines will be very similar to the "great areas" but much cheaper.

B.C. has some great reds- unfortunately they are no cheaper to buy in BC, than other areas of Canada. What a shame wine is so pricey it's healthy and it gets me really really drunk!!!

When we were introduced to Spanish wines back in the '60s you could get a truly comparable wine to the French for HALF the price !! Italian wines have over the years improved greatly due to their regulations -better quality, very consistant.Today wines are produced in many places and the choice is great. The wine "testers" have notoriously been full of BS !! They only way is to taste them yourself and pick a wine that YOU like and is appropriate for the food served !

The last time I bought French wine in the USA I found that there were better deals on the French wines than the California wines. I have no idea what they go for today but there is a tendency to push the most expensive French wines on the American buyer but I'll bet there are still some good deals around. Look for wines you may not be familiar with such as wines from the Sancerre region, both reds and whites. Also look for Beaujolais wines like Brouilly, Morgon and Julienas. The Loire valley wines are also relatively unknown by most Americans. Look for a St. Nicholas de Bourgueil or a simple Bourgueil. All of the wines above are inexpensive in France, from 5 to 15 Euros. They may also be reasonably priced in the USA if you can find them.

Specifically for CalgaryChef, maybe you can find a Gigondas, also from the Chateauneuf du Pape wineries but usually cheaper. I have a case of 2004 Gigondas from the Domaine de Boissan. It just gets better waiting for an AR member to stop here and taste it. For those of you with no budget limitations, look for a bottle of 1998 Chambolle-Musigny. I've got two bottles left.

Wink, you hit an important point. A country usually imports the better wines from another. It doesn't make sense for a broker to import a cheap French wine and make a buck off a bottle if he could get three bucks off a more expensive item.

Thanks for the wine suggestion. I'll probably try a bottle Saturday night. Gonna be a gatherin' on the old chef's deck. Plenty of food and lotsa booze.

cheers

Surprise, no surprise. I just heard that "two buck Chuck," Charles Shaw's Chardonnay won the California State Fair judging....by wine experts....as against 300+ other Chardonnays. Some of the "well known" and high end stuff did not even make honorable mention.
I am not a white wine fan, but this proves my point.....And, by the way, Trader Joe's carries some fine Argentines as well as two buck Chuck. What a world.

Try some Cavit Merlot, Italian, not expensive.

It is usually found in 1.5 liter bottles.

I find good wines nearly everywhere now, except India.

My preference is Chilean, followed by Argentina; although my two favorite wines are French red Chateauneuf du Pape, and Californian white, Kendall-Jackson.

I like what I like. Taste is the only thing that matters.

I find descriptions of wine silly. If in doubt, I pick the wine with the lesser percent of alcohol. It seems less dry to me.

If I don't find the wine above on a menu I will look for South African or Australian.

If nothing looks good, I go for a rosee.

Calgarychef1, you have it backwards. Countries don't import the best from other countries, those countries export their best whether it is bananas, coffe or wine. It's been true everywhere I've lived.

Good wines are also really hard to find in Khartoum.

Gidday Guys,

New Zealand whites are probably the best available but very expensive.

The Aussie reds are magnificent and a lot more affordable than the Kiwi reds.

The only European reds that I like are Portugese and the South American wines are similar and again more affordable.

The Californians make a reasonable Chablis but thats about it for me.

As long as you enjoy what you are drinking and can afford it no one is wrong with there own choices.

Just like rifles and calibres.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

There are much better wines around, but in the US if you just want a very drinkable wine for a relatively cheap price buy anything made by Bogle.

for California wines you need to stay away from mainsteam and try remote area wines from Mendocinio, Trinity, Lake, and Humboldt Counties. Napa, Sonoma etc are all high prices. Sometimes these remote counties have just red table wines that are AMAZING....being made from blends of thier other grapes that were overruns.

I always wish I kept a diary of wines...

I've found that French reds and German whites are reliable. Anything from the Mosel Valley is a good not-too-dry wine. I don't want to like screw-tops but they are hard to avoid if you're looking for a new vintners white...

My taste runs to the heavier, full-bodied reds - don't recall any white wine I really enjoyed.
And as one that spent some two years in France I was often vey surprised at just how good - great, actually - some of the house wines were (vin du cave) and usually very, very inexpensive.
An older French man became a very good friend of mine and introduced me to many of the better things to be found in France, including wines and foods. And one thing he told me many many times was that price had very little to do with anything re food and drink. Too true as I have paid good money for a meal and left hungry while enjoying all I could hold for little or nothing by haveing the daily 'Especiale' of endulging in so-called Peasant food. If the saucier if the most important person in the kitchen you probably should go womewhere else, much as you should do likewise if the sommilier tries to steer you 'up' (+$$$$$) after you order a wine you know you like.
Just my thoughts. And if you have an Aldi's near, be sure and try a bottle of their 'Winking Owl' probaly the best ultra-cheap wine I have ever tasted at some $2.99 per bottle. I'll even buy, so come on by and we'll try some. Bonne chance!

Hot Tip #1: there is a new rosé wine being sold in France under the "Fat Bastard" label, showing a hippo at the top of the label. This might be a good wine to take to RSA on my next trip. As usual, you will want a link:

http://www.fatbastardwine.com/

i'm to much up on brands, because i usually leave the bag on the bottle so i don't see the end coming

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
i'm to much up on brands, because i usually leave the bag on the bottle so i don't see the end coming

You might want to start drinking indoors as well. It reduces the need for the insulation provided by the brown bag and I understand it gets cold on the sidewalks in MN during the winter months.

I wish I had the taste buds that you guys seem to have. I have been to so many wine tasting parties where they put three or four or five glasses of similar wine in front of you and your supposed to pick the one that tastes the best. I can never tell the difference between any of them, nor can I smell all of these rasberry or cherry or lilac or whatever else fragrances coming out of the bottle. All of this might be a bad because I don't get to enjoy all of these exotic wines like you guys do, but on the other hand the good news is that I can get by as cheap as possible and not know the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I wish I had the taste buds that you guys seem to have. I have been to so many wine tasting parties where they put three or four or five glasses of similar wine in front of you and your supposed to pick the one that tastes the best. I can never tell the difference between any of them, nor can I smell all of these rasberry or cherry or lilac or whatever else fragrances coming out of the bottle. All of this might be a bad because I don't get to enjoy all of these exotic wines like you guys do, but on the other hand the good news is that I can get by as cheap as possible and not know the difference.

I've always been mostly a whisky and sometimes beer drinker so I never paid much attention to wines. Homebrewing beer hobby expanded to some tries at ciders and wines and now I can notice things I didn't used to. Mixed blessings on that. But I'm still also the guy that likes midgrade whisky better than the hunnerd+ dollar a bottle stuff. Couple wines the almost maybe wife finds tolerable I can get for 12 bucks a bottle which isn't too bad. Trimbach stuff from Alsace.

I put in for a job at a hill country, TX winery as a part time winemaker's apprentice to learn more about it and I was one of the two finalists. The Husband of ownership liked me because I know how to weld and run/fix machines and had homebrewing and home wine/cider making experience. I lost out though, to a poofter type that the Wife of ownership liked that was good at swirling glasses around, sniffing them, and making remarks like "Somewhat bold in a reserved way yet not cloying."

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I wish I had the taste buds that you guys seem to have. I have been to so many wine tasting parties where they put three or four or five glasses of similar wine in front of you and your supposed to pick the one that tastes the best. I can never tell the difference between any of them, nor can I smell all of these rasberry or cherry or lilac or whatever else fragrances coming out of the bottle. All of this might be a bad because I don't get to enjoy all of these exotic wines like you guys do, but on the other hand the good news is that I can get by as cheap as possible and not know the difference.

It's really just a matter of tasting enough so that your palate starts to recognize specific flavors. I tend to think that written or printed reviews are a bad thing sometimes, especially for people who are new to wine. It's easy to get locked-in on a numerical rating and wine catch-phrases/words.

What? Everybody buys; nobody makes their own?

I'm now enjoying a black currant wine from '05 with my smoked venison sausage.

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
What? Everybody buys; nobody makes their own?

I'm now enjoying a black currant wine from '05 with my smoked venison sausage.

Blackberry I made for me tonight with roasted pig haunch. But I still make more beers and ciders than I do wine...

I am going to have Mogen David Concord with my venison with roasted vegetables tonight.