Author Topic: Red, red wine  (Read 3659 times)

jeroly

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Red, red wine
« on: March 10, 2021, 02:55:25 PM »
I love good red wine.
I love buying things that aren't budget-stretchers.
How can I do both of those things at the same time?

When I was in spendypants mode for a few months after I came into some money around 15 years ago, I was buying what I felt were lovely wines for around $50/bottle.  I have mostly, though, bought 'nice' reds for around $15/bottle.  If I could approach the quality of what I was getting back then, I'd be willing to spend a little more, say $25/bottle on occasion, but haven't found the $25 bottle that bridges most of that gap in quality.

Does anybody have a suggestion for an excellent $25 red?  I'm not a wine snob, really - it doesn't have to be from Napa or Bordeaux or Tuscany but I do like Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Tempranillo grapes, amongst others.

Rosy

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2021, 03:30:42 PM »
LOL red, red wine - reminded me of that song long ago.:)
You asked the question I was just pondering. The last good bottle of red I had came from Hungary at around $22 a bottle ten years ago.
Not too sweet, not too  dry and not infused, not too light, not oaky either, not too dark and heavy and didn't hammer you in the morning either,
just a really good full-bodied red wine. Sigh...

jeroly

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2021, 03:34:26 PM »
LOL red, red wine - reminded me of that song long ago.:)
You asked the question I was just pondering. The last good bottle of red I had came from Hungary at around $22 a bottle ten years ago.
Not too sweet, not too  dry and not infused, not too light, not oaky either, not too dark and heavy and didn't hammer you in the morning either,
just a really good full-bodied red wine. Sigh...
Do you remember the vineyard / varietal / vintage?

314159

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2021, 04:54:29 PM »
Depends on your definition of "good". Seeing as you're asking for $25 bottles, maybe your taste buds are already too rich for boxed wine!

I have enjoyed plenty of 3 liter boxed wines such as Bota Box, and so has MMM. If you have not already tasted and rejected them, why not try a box of your preferred varietal? They also come in 750ml tetrapaks if you don't want to commit to 3L.

Preferably you would have some friends organize a double blinded taste test of a couple boxes versus some other, more expensive, unfamiliar wines and figure out how much better you really like them!

Metta

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2021, 06:10:26 PM »
We love all sorts of wine. We use CellarTracker to find people’s ratings and tasting notes to find good wines at reasonable prices, which is the best way we’ve found. Also less prestigious or well-known countries often have delightful wines. It’s hard to know what your palate is without more discussion, but I seriously recommend taking a look at CellarTracker: https://www.cellartracker.com/

SimpleCycle

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2021, 06:25:06 PM »
I like La Vieille Ferme boxed red wine.  It's on the lighter side for a red, so it depends on your tastes.  I also like Bota Box's Old Vine Zinfandel.

Telecaster

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2021, 06:26:53 PM »
Go into a good wine store and say "I'm looking for XYZ and I'd like to spend $X per bottle." 

jeroly

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2021, 06:40:42 PM »
I like La Vieille Ferme boxed red wine.  It's on the lighter side for a red, so it depends on your tastes.  I also like Bota Box's Old Vine Zinfandel.
Depends on your definition of "good". Seeing as you're asking for $25 bottles, maybe your taste buds are already too rich for boxed wine!

I have enjoyed plenty of 3 liter boxed wines such as Bota Box, and so has MMM. If you have not already tasted and rejected them, why not try a box of your preferred varietal? They also come in 750ml tetrapaks if you don't want to commit to 3L.

Preferably you would have some friends organize a double blinded taste test of a couple boxes versus some other, more expensive, unfamiliar wines and figure out how much better you really like them!
I have had boxed wine and enjoyed it, and agree that it is good value. 
The issue is that if I keep boxed wine around, I consume too much wine.
Same reason I rarely keep a keg of beer on tap.

Le North Dreamer

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2021, 06:58:15 PM »
Beer on tap....what a dream.

I'm typically drinking 10-25$ bottles, which is a typical price range in Quebec for middle-range wines. My trick is to limit consumption so it does not hurt the budget too much. Same goes for craft beer and other alcohol types in general.

Watchmaker

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2021, 07:15:00 PM »
Of course it's largely down to individual taste, but a few specific wines I like:

Aglianico
Mastroberidino Mastro
Donnachiara Campania or Irpinia

Chianti
Cecchi
Bolla

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Villa di Farnese

Gragnano (Italian sparkling red)
Iovine Penisola Sorrentina

Bourdeaux
Camarsac

I can't drink any of the boxed red wines because they are all too sweet for my tastes.

TheFrenchCat

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #10 on: March 10, 2021, 07:26:38 PM »
Of course it's largely down to individual taste, but a few specific wines I like:

Aglianico
Mastroberidino Mastro
Donnachiara Campania or Irpinia

Chianti
Cecchi
Bolla

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Villa di Farnese

Gragnano (Italian sparkling red)
Iovine Penisola Sorrentina


Bourdeaux
Camarsac

I can't drink any of the boxed red wines because they are all too sweet for my tastes.

I didn't know sparkling reds were a thing; they sound delicious!  I mostly sip cheap bourbon, so I'm no help to the OP, but I'll look for that next time I want something fancy.

jeroly

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #11 on: March 10, 2021, 07:28:34 PM »
Of course it's largely down to individual taste, but a few specific wines I like:

Aglianico
Mastroberidino Mastro
Donnachiara Campania or Irpinia

Chianti
Cecchi
Bolla

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Villa di Farnese

Gragnano (Italian sparkling red)
Iovine Penisola Sorrentina

Bourdeaux
Camarsac

I can't drink any of the boxed red wines because they are all too sweet for my tastes.
Thanks for these recs!  I'll definitely check some out.

Metalcat

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #12 on: March 10, 2021, 07:29:02 PM »
In my experience, the $50 wines were older vintages made from grapes that are meant to be aged. You simply can replicate that flavour with less expensive wines because they're too young.

I solved this for a time by buying expensive wines very infrequently. I LOVED good wine.

Then I quit drinking all alcohol for 6 months and now all wine tastes like the gasoline that it actually is, so there's always that option.


firestarter2018

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #13 on: March 10, 2021, 08:24:03 PM »
I second whoever recommended finding a good wine shop with a staff that knows their stuff.  Sign up for their newsletter and they'll often highlight marked down bottles when they're trying to make room for new stuff.

Also - keep a wine journal!  Write the wine's name, year, grape type(s), winery, location, price, and some brief notes on color, smell and taste.  And rate them all on a scale of 1-10. Once you get some that are reasonably priced and you rated a 7+, consider buying a case of it as your "house red".  Most wine shops in my area will do 20% off of a case if it's all the same wine (and usually 15% off for mixed cases).

ObviouslyNotAGolfer

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #14 on: March 10, 2021, 09:22:59 PM »
Get some Bonny Doon Syrah X-Bloc Bien Nacido--if you can. Bonny Doon was Randall Grahm's winery in a spectacularly beautiful setting just north of Santa Cruz (California). Grahm is the extraordinarily erudite winemaker's winemaker, toying  with all sorts of wacky experiments, including growing new vines FROM SEED! We always used to stop by the tasting room, right off of HWY 1, while it was still open. It has been closed for a few years now, and is still greatly missed. It was just a few miles south of Swanton Berry Farm, the greatest place in the entire world!

Another recent favorite is this Valserrano Rioja at about 17$ from Total Wine. Very impressive complexity and minerality at this price point. Be sure to aerate for AT LEAST an hour before enjoying. It does not need to be decanted, but you should get yourself a good decanter if you don't have one, so that you can aerate reds before drinking. Serve at room temperature, if room temperature is below 60F.



« Last Edit: March 10, 2021, 09:28:09 PM by ObviouslyNotAGolfer »

Watchmaker

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #15 on: March 10, 2021, 10:16:23 PM »
I didn't know sparkling reds were a thing; they sound delicious!  I mostly sip cheap bourbon, so I'm no help to the OP, but I'll look for that next time I want something fancy.

Goes great with pizza.

UnleashHell

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #16 on: March 11, 2021, 03:51:02 AM »
Plan de Dieu.
Cote du Rhone

made of a very similar mix to Chateau neuf du pape - in the same area but hasn't been established long enough to acquire the neuf du pape appliation name.

so tastes the same but you get it for $15 a bottle instead of $40

give it a shot.

norajean

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #17 on: March 11, 2021, 06:07:38 AM »
There is an old saying that everyone can tell the difference between a $5 and a $15 bottle of wine,  but nobody can tell the difference between a $15 and $50 bottle.

Maybe you just haven’t found the good $15 wines?

jrhampt

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #18 on: March 11, 2021, 06:12:34 AM »
Costco has some good reds at great prices.

dcheesi

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #19 on: March 11, 2021, 06:29:42 AM »
There is an old saying that everyone can tell the difference between a $5 and a $15 bottle of wine,  but nobody can tell the difference between a $15 and $50 bottle.

Maybe you just haven’t found the good $15 wines?
Not universal. I remember one time my then-gf and I had a bottle of a local $25 wine that we really loved, and brought it to a dinner with her wine-snob dad.

After a while he opened up a bottle of one of his >$75 wines. It absolutely blew the doors off of the first wine, to the point that when we tried another glass of the former, we were like "how did we ever think this was good?!"

(Classic example of how chasing "refined" pleasures ruins one's enjoyment of simpler pleasures. Which is why Epicurus (as opposed to modern "epicureans") actually advised against it.)

bbates728

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #20 on: March 11, 2021, 03:53:06 PM »
@ObviouslyNotAGolfer

I remember my host family when I lived in Spain telling me that anything older than a Crianza (2-5 years) was overpriced. Crianzas are really just a sweet (poor choice of words) spot for Spanish reds.

norajean

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #21 on: March 11, 2021, 04:52:45 PM »
There is an old saying that everyone can tell the difference between a $5 and a $15 bottle of wine,  but nobody can tell the difference between a $15 and $50 bottle.

Maybe you just haven’t found the good $15 wines?
Not universal. I remember one time my then-gf and I had a bottle of a local $25 wine that we really loved, and brought it to a dinner with her wine-snob dad.

After a while he opened up a bottle of one of his >$75 wines. It absolutely blew the doors off of the first wine, to the point that when we tried another glass of the former, we were like "how did we ever think this was good?!"


I'm gonna guess he told you the price *before* you arrived at that conclusion??

markum9

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #22 on: March 11, 2021, 07:16:17 PM »
This is a short term solution, but a local winery in So Cal (DeLiese Cellars) that I really love is closing due to the pandemic as they had to shut down their tasting room for a long time.  They are having a going out of business sale on their website until March 31st: https://dlcwines.com/  Generally their wines are in the $25-50 range, and they are selling off their remaining bottles at cost ($6-12 plus ~$4-5 shipping/bottle if you order 6 or more).  Their Cabernet Sauvignon is not my favorite, but their Cab Franc, Tempranillo, GSM, and Red Blends are all really good (and their Rose/Whites as well).  It's extremely drinkable, tasty stuff.  I just received my order of 24 bottles that I'll slowly drink through. 

BussoV6

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #23 on: March 12, 2021, 02:32:48 AM »
This is a short term solution, but a local winery in So Cal (DeLiese Cellars) that I really love is closing due to the pandemic as they had to shut down their tasting room for a long time.  They are having a going out of business sale on their website until March 31st: https://dlcwines.com/  Generally their wines are in the $25-50 range, and they are selling off their remaining bottles at cost ($6-12 plus ~$4-5 shipping/bottle if you order 6 or more).  Their Cabernet Sauvignon is not my favorite, but their Cab Franc, Tempranillo, GSM, and Red Blends are all really good (and their Rose/Whites as well).  It's extremely drinkable, tasty stuff.  I just received my order of 24 bottles that I'll slowly drink through.

That is a bargain, I think. If I lived in the US, I'd order a LOT more.

dcheesi

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #24 on: March 12, 2021, 06:01:07 AM »
There is an old saying that everyone can tell the difference between a $5 and a $15 bottle of wine,  but nobody can tell the difference between a $15 and $50 bottle.

Maybe you just haven’t found the good $15 wines?
Not universal. I remember one time my then-gf and I had a bottle of a local $25 wine that we really loved, and brought it to a dinner with her wine-snob dad.

After a while he opened up a bottle of one of his >$75 wines. It absolutely blew the doors off of the first wine, to the point that when we tried another glass of the former, we were like "how did we ever think this was good?!"


I'm gonna guess he told you the price *before* you arrived at that conclusion??
IIRC, no, but then we knew his tastes so it wasn't hard to guess that it was more expensive than ours. Still, we went into it really believing that our favorite was a "hidden gem" that was probably worth more than we were paying (our wine region was/is less well known than some others, but makes some good wine).

jeroly

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #25 on: March 12, 2021, 08:03:53 AM »
This is a short term solution, but a local winery in So Cal (DeLiese Cellars) that I really love is closing due to the pandemic as they had to shut down their tasting room for a long time.  They are having a going out of business sale on their website until March 31st: https://dlcwines.com/  Generally their wines are in the $25-50 range, and they are selling off their remaining bottles at cost ($6-12 plus ~$4-5 shipping/bottle if you order 6 or more).  Their Cabernet Sauvignon is not my favorite, but their Cab Franc, Tempranillo, GSM, and Red Blends are all really good (and their Rose/Whites as well).  It's extremely drinkable, tasty stuff.  I just received my order of 24 bottles that I'll slowly drink through.

That is a bargain, I think. If I lived in the US, I'd order a LOT more.
They won’t ship to dc, but thanks for the flag.

Watchmaker

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #26 on: March 12, 2021, 09:25:31 AM »
This is a short term solution, but a local winery in So Cal (DeLiese Cellars) that I really love is closing due to the pandemic as they had to shut down their tasting room for a long time.  They are having a going out of business sale on their website until March 31st: https://dlcwines.com/  Generally their wines are in the $25-50 range, and they are selling off their remaining bottles at cost ($6-12 plus ~$4-5 shipping/bottle if you order 6 or more).  Their Cabernet Sauvignon is not my favorite, but their Cab Franc, Tempranillo, GSM, and Red Blends are all really good (and their Rose/Whites as well).  It's extremely drinkable, tasty stuff.  I just received my order of 24 bottles that I'll slowly drink through.

That is a bargain, I think. If I lived in the US, I'd order a LOT more.
They won’t ship to dc, but thanks for the flag.

I think  Total Wine has stores in DC, right? That's my second favorite wine store (after Binny's in Illinois).

jeroly

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #27 on: March 12, 2021, 11:45:35 AM »
This is a short term solution, but a local winery in So Cal (DeLiese Cellars) that I really love is closing due to the pandemic as they had to shut down their tasting room for a long time.  They are having a going out of business sale on their website until March 31st: https://dlcwines.com/  Generally their wines are in the $25-50 range, and they are selling off their remaining bottles at cost ($6-12 plus ~$4-5 shipping/bottle if you order 6 or more).  Their Cabernet Sauvignon is not my favorite, but their Cab Franc, Tempranillo, GSM, and Red Blends are all really good (and their Rose/Whites as well).  It's extremely drinkable, tasty stuff.  I just received my order of 24 bottles that I'll slowly drink through.

That is a bargain, I think. If I lived in the US, I'd order a LOT more.
They won’t ship to dc, but thanks for the flag.

I think  Total Wine has stores in DC, right? That's my second favorite wine store (after Binny's in Illinois).
They’re all over the suburbs here. I’m definitely going to pick up that Valserrano soon!

ObviouslyNotAGolfer

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #28 on: March 12, 2021, 02:39:35 PM »
@ObviouslyNotAGolfer

I remember my host family when I lived in Spain telling me that anything older than a Crianza (2-5 years) was overpriced. Crianzas are really just a sweet (poor choice of words) spot for Spanish reds.

Very interesting--and it makes sense! We have found--innumerable times--that we often get drawn into a certain winery's tasting room by having tried their moderately priced offerings purchased from a store. Then, we try the more expensive stuff and don't care for it much at all. A few summers ago, we had a great trip through Marin and Sonoma Counties (north of the SF Bay area in California). We went into a few of the very highly rated wineries ($$$) and did not care for much of anything. Certainly, many of these wines are meant to be cellared and enjoyed years later--but we are not into that--yet!

dcheesi

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #29 on: March 13, 2021, 06:38:25 AM »
@ObviouslyNotAGolfer

I remember my host family when I lived in Spain telling me that anything older than a Crianza (2-5 years) was overpriced. Crianzas are really just a sweet (poor choice of words) spot for Spanish reds.

Very interesting--and it makes sense! We have found--innumerable times--that we often get drawn into a certain winery's tasting room by having tried their moderately priced offerings purchased from a store. Then, we try the more expensive stuff and don't care for it much at all. A few summers ago, we had a great trip through Marin and Sonoma Counties (north of the SF Bay area in California). We went into a few of the very highly rated wineries ($$$) and did not care for much of anything. Certainly, many of these wines are meant to be cellared and enjoyed years later--but we are not into that--yet!
Depends on your specific taste; if you're into lighter or sweeter wines, or if you're just not a fan of the additional flavors that barrel aging impacts, then you're not going to enjoy the more expensive "reserve" wines as much.

I have a similar thing with scotch (esp. single malts). I enjoy the standard ~10yr offerings, but then for most brands the next step up is essentially the same thing but aged in some special type of barrel ("sherry cask", some special wood, etc.). Personally I'm not a fan of strong oak/barrel flavors, so I'd much rather have just the basic version, which also happens to save me money. (I do generally like their top tier versions that are traditionally aged for longer periods, but I'm too cheap to pay for those.)

Coming back to wines, I find that I have the same issue with white wines; even when the barrel aging is well done to avoid the overt "oaky" flavor, I still tend to prefer the cheaper steel-aged or lightly barrel aged equivalents. OTOH, red wines are the one place where I seem to enjoy substantial barrel aging, which makes my tastes there rather expensive :-/
« Last Edit: March 13, 2021, 06:40:57 AM by dcheesi »

use2betrix

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #30 on: March 13, 2021, 07:18:06 AM »
I’m not a wine connoisseur by any stretch, but for cheap Cabernet (all I really drink is Cabernet) I always go back to my 14 hands. It’s cheap (like $12-$15) and like it as much as more expensive wines. When going places that are BYOB (parties, friends, etc, I might spring for Justin or Prisoner..

Metalcat

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #31 on: March 13, 2021, 07:18:25 AM »
@ObviouslyNotAGolfer

I remember my host family when I lived in Spain telling me that anything older than a Crianza (2-5 years) was overpriced. Crianzas are really just a sweet (poor choice of words) spot for Spanish reds.

Very interesting--and it makes sense! We have found--innumerable times--that we often get drawn into a certain winery's tasting room by having tried their moderately priced offerings purchased from a store. Then, we try the more expensive stuff and don't care for it much at all. A few summers ago, we had a great trip through Marin and Sonoma Counties (north of the SF Bay area in California). We went into a few of the very highly rated wineries ($$$) and did not care for much of anything. Certainly, many of these wines are meant to be cellared and enjoyed years later--but we are not into that--yet!
Depends on your specific taste; if you're into lighter or sweeter wines, or if you're just not a fan of the additional flavors that barrel aging impacts, then you're not going to enjoy the more expensive "reserve" wines as much.

I have a similar thing with scotch (esp. single malts). I enjoy the standard ~10yr offerings, but then for most brands the next step up is essentially the same thing but aged in some special type of barrel ("sherry cask", some special wood, etc.). Personally I'm not a fan of strong oak/barrel flavors, so I'd much rather have just the basic version, which also happens to save me money. (I do generally like their top tier versions that are traditionally aged for longer periods, but I'm too cheap to pay for those.)

Coming back to wines, I find that I have the same issue with white wines; even when the barrel aging is well done to avoid the overt "oaky" flavor, I still tend to prefer the cheaper steel-aged or lightly barrel aged equivalents. OTOH, red wines are the one place where I seem to enjoy substantial barrel aging, which makes my tastes there rather expensive :-/

Exactly.

I was always fascinated by people who said they can't tell the difference between inexpensive and very expensive wine, because to me, it was always obvious. Wines meant to be aged are made from different grapes, and the barrel taste is, IMO, unmistakable. It doesn't mean it's superior, a lot of people prefer younger wines, but it is definitely different, like young cheese vs aged cheese.

I could also immediately identify a more expensive sparkling wine vs a cheaper one, but I always generally preferred the lighter, cheaper ones, and really had to be in the mood for the intense, sharp flavour of the expensive ones.

Again, more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, that entirely depends on the person's taste, but for me, with my sense of smell, there was no mistaking them. They're just different because they are made differently.

As for a $15 wine vs a $30 wine, if they're both young wines, made in a similar fashion, then no, I probably wouldn't be able to tell which is more expensive if I wasn't overly familiar with the region.

Now that I've lost my taste for it though, I wouldn't be able to tell any of them apart. They all smell overwhelmingly like alcohol to me now.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2021, 09:54:52 AM by Malcat »

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2021, 08:14:25 AM »
I'm spoiled living here in Italy, 2-4 euros gets me a decent bottle of local wine. For reds, bardolino and valpolicella have become my favorite and are produced nearby.

Rosy

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #33 on: March 13, 2021, 09:45:58 AM »
Depends on your definition of "good". Seeing as you're asking for $25 bottles, maybe your taste buds are already too rich for boxed wine!

I have enjoyed plenty of 3 liter boxed wines such as Bota Box, and so has MMM. If you have not already tasted and rejected them, why not try a box of your preferred varietal? They also come in 750ml tetrapaks if you don't want to commit to 3L.

Preferably you would have some friends organize a double blinded taste test of a couple boxes versus some other, more expensive, unfamiliar wines and figure out how much better you really like them!

Ha - forget that:)! I come from a family that owned vineyards in the wine-growing region of Germany.
I had my own small wine glass at the Sunday dinner table at the age of eight.

So no, I know what I like and yes, I could tell you blindfolded which wine is crap regardless of the container or fancy bottle.
I do prefer white wine but a good red now and then is a wonderful indulgence.

What you like in the boxed stuff is the sugar and the additives which have nothing to do with the true taste of a good grape. Italy and other countries have often been in the news for adding gasoline to their wines, that and sugar.
Or not stating on the bottle when a wine is nothing but a mix of wines from different producers who dump their leftover dregs into one big vat.
Cheers!

Of course, tastes are completely individual, but I'd rather do without than drink bad wine - easy choice.

Ricochet

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #34 on: March 14, 2021, 08:02:28 PM »
I'm spoiled living here in Italy, 2-4 euros gets me a decent bottle of local wine. For reds, bardolino and valpolicella have become my favorite and are produced nearby.
that is nice! I wish we had good affordable wine I the states. I buy from a local wine shop that has standards! They has decent small producer wines for 12 bucks and up, but I’m happy with the lower end ones because they are vetted.

Poor Rod

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #35 on: March 14, 2021, 08:25:02 PM »
LOL red, red wine - reminded me of that song long ago.:)
You asked the question I was just pondering. The last good bottle of red I had came from Hungary at around $22 a bottle ten years ago.
Not too sweet, not too  dry and not infused, not too light, not oaky either, not too dark and heavy and didn't hammer you in the morning either,
just a really good full-bodied red wine. Sigh...

I'll suggest that Beaujolais fits the bill nicely. Total Wine has several in the $16-$25 range

Em-Dog

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #36 on: March 23, 2021, 01:45:40 PM »
For a Pino noir I like Meiomi a lot should be $17 per bottle and Poppy which is $11 at Trader Joes here!

Sugaree

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #37 on: March 23, 2021, 01:56:59 PM »
I'm not a wine snob, but I do appreciate a good red.  My favorite at the moment is probably Conundrum Red, which is a California blend.

ROF Expat

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #38 on: March 23, 2021, 03:24:10 PM »
I'd strongly recommend Domaine Grand Veneur "Les Champauvins" which you should be able to find for well under $20 per bottle, especially if you buy by the case.  I think it is consistently a very good wine by any standard, and a great bargain. 

Lately, I've been very focused on Spain's Riojas.  As far as I'm concerned, Gran Reservas give you a chance to drink well-aged wines comparable to high-end Bordeaux at a fraction of the price and without having to build a wine cellar and wait for years. 

As much as I enjoy a good glass of wine, the people and the occasion count for a lot more than the wine.  I have very fond memories of the dinner parties we hosted when I was in my 20s and cheap wine was what we could afford.  Today we all serve much better wine and our dinner parties are a lot fancier, but I don't think we're having more fun. 

partgypsy

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #39 on: March 24, 2021, 10:08:22 PM »
While I can't drink 2 buck chuck I am not a wine snob. For reds I've been picking up gnarley old red vin, a chianti I can't rember. I do like beuajolais once a year. I like the apothic (red blend) costco Brands like rioja or tempranillo, (ducks head). I do miss my dad bc whenever we would go out to eat he would pick out the wines and they were always very good-interesting. (In contrast I drink a number of red blends, and they all start to taste similar). I don't remember what they were but they were less common wine types or varietals from portugal, spain, argentina. So I would just go to a local wine export and explore with the help of person.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2021, 09:13:28 AM by partgypsy »

sixwings

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #40 on: March 25, 2021, 04:02:34 PM »
Look into some canadian (specifically BC) reds for something a bit different. They are starting to produce some good reds in the southern okanagan that are pretty different from anywhere else in the world. In the summer it gets to be 40+ (celcius) with quite cold nights (can go down to single digits), and this produces a finish on red wines that are hard to find anywhere else and that I find very enjoyable. Also, since it's in CAD the exchange rate will be quite favorable, although it may be hard to find in liquor stores so you may need to order or search a bit more.

The wineries that I find produce some great reds are Adega, Nk'mp, burrowing owl, desert hills, moon curser (they are IMO the best), black hills (also amazing but more $$$) are just a few. I go ther every year and buy my wine for the year.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2021, 04:06:48 PM by sixwings »

Fomerly known as something

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #41 on: March 29, 2021, 07:08:45 PM »
Starting last May, I joined one of my local restaurants wine clubs.  For $50 a month (they also had a $100 and $200 category) I get 3 wines, that I rarely see in stores around me.  Not all are red but I’ve enjoyed almost all of them especially the ones I’d likely never have picked off the shelf myself.

frugaldrummer

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Re: Red, red wine
« Reply #42 on: March 31, 2021, 02:59:34 PM »
My boyfriend is a wine lover and gets great deals at Costco. Most are from different good wineries on sale, but recently he got the Kirkland GSM for $14.99 and it was lovely.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!