Favorite wine, champagne, or asti
 

What is your favorite wine, champagne, or asti?

My favorite light wine is defintely Bella Rosa sparkling red. :)
My favorite heavy is a nice Lindeman 2001 reserve Shiraz.
My favorite champagne is actually not champagne at all; I adore Spinelli Asti Spumante.
:)
Silver

I dont really have particular brands, but i rather enjoy muscadines, rieslings, chardonnays, merlots, and specialty wines only sold at wineries.

There are so many i have yet to taste still though, but I will say White Zinfindel is gay! :)

I only drink white wine as red makes me sick.

I drink Chateau Ste. Michelle. Its a Johannisberg Riesling.

Its pretty good with fish, which is when I usually drink wine.

Sunset Blush or Cabernet Sauvingon is always a favorite. I also like Riunitie Lambrusco!!!! Yummy!

I love Asti Spumante - I drank a whole bottle and a half on my own for New Years when I was in Texas...then I moved onto the hard stuff! SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!

Franzia: One box will get at least 5 people drunk and it's only about 7 bucks.

Chateau Ste. Michelle actually makes solid midrange wines in every white catagory; their Chardonnay is particularly well rated.

As per their Jo Riesling, have you tried the Eroica? Supposedly excellent, but I can't get it in stock . . .

I enjoy a good Merlot.

I have tried the chardonnay. It was good, but still will drink the riesling if I have a choice between the two. I have found that its 50/50 as for restauraunts having a riesling, much less CSM. If I cant get that I usually go for a Gewurztraminer or a Piesporter. Of those two, I am not particularly vinyard loyal.

I have heard of the Eroica and its reputation. Would like to try it, but wont drive cross country to try it. If I come across it, I'll go for it.

But I aint that high-brow; I'll take a Keystone anyday. Also, most of the wines I drink are under $12 bucks a bottle. (not that price necessarily equates to quality) Secondly, I have tasted and actually like moonshine. lol.

My personal favorite is Pinotage. It's only made in South Africa. I tried to form a wine club in Buffalo State, but the admin shut us down. We still had one, but it would have been cool to be funded by the USG.

If your interested which pinotage to get, here are my suggestions for 2002:

Stark Pinotage 2002
Sentinel Reserve Pinotage 2002
Rawsons Pinotage 2002
Groene Cloof Pinotage 2002
Diemersfontein Pinotage 2002
Diemersfontein Carpe Diem Pinotage 2002
Bon Cap Organic Pinotage 2002
Beyerskloof Pinotage 2002

chablis or chardonnay. i can't do red wine it makes me sick.

Something about red wine just makes me want to gag. I think it's all those years going to Catholic mass drinking the wine out of that communal cup. :eek: I'll only drink reds while downing a fat juicy steak.

My favorite wine has to either be the DeLoach Pinot Gris or their Chardonnay. But then I also like Trefethen Chardonnay and the Australian Rosemont Riesling.

As far as the bubblies go, sure, I'd like to drink Dom Perignon more often...but realistically speaking, Vueve Clicquot is friendlier to the wallet and tastes great too.

And that is why I always look forward to our annual alumnae fundraiser...The Grape Escape. :D Last March no one wanted to drink the French wines because of political reasons. Oh well it didn't matter...I ended up taking home a few bottles anyway.

It's cliche, but for a very good reason: Martini & Rossi's Asti Spumante!

AMEN SISTER!!!

Good stuff: sweet, bubbly, refreshing!

I prefer red wines to white. Most American chardonnays make me gag (too sweet).

Favorite winery: Rodney Strong. Someone recommended their cabernet to me a long time ago. All their wines that I've tried are wonderful - they make the only American chardonnay that I will drink.

As for the bubbly, it's all about Veuve Clicquot :)

See? Great minds think alike.

has anyone taken wine tasting classes? i would like to, but they are always held when i can't go...lol.

i love anything by robert mondavi.

I'd love to do that! There are so many offered, as well as Martini and Margarita classes, that I want to take...

ONE DAY!!!:D

Yes! :D

My school calls January "Independent Activities Period" - a time between semesters when people (anyone - students, faculty, or staff) can offer and participate in various noncredit activities. There's a professor who runs a course every IAP called "In Vino Veritas". It is very popular - the trick is to sign up the year you turn 20, get on the waiting list, then you'll be able to get into the class the year you turn 21. I got into the class during my senior year.

There were four evenings. One evening featured various white wines, another was red wines. The third evening was comparisons by location and by year - we tasted wines from neighboring vineyards, wines from consecutive years, and wines produced by the same winery several decades apart. The fourth evening was "non-standard" wines like champagne and dessert wines. That last night was very nice - we were told to dress formally and the tasting was done by candlelight. :)

I adore wine, and drink it frequently with my family, but I always end up with really bad headaches the next day... does that happen to anyone else?

Here is what I found:
Headaches resulting from wine are almost certainly not the result of sulfites, which occur naturally in all wines and are added to wines as a natural preservative by wine makers around the world. You can't buy a wine without sulfites; and if you were one of the 1 in 1 million people who has an allergy to sulfites, you wouldn't suffer headaches but serious, life-threatening breathing difficulties if you consumed any product containing them.
If you suffer headaches after drinking wine, here are some thoughts to consider:

Have you noticed any relationship between headaches and the amount of wine you consume? Even if you're only having a glass or two, sometimes a second or third glass will leave you with a headache aftereffect even if you didn't drink enough for impairment. Many people tell me that they get wine headaches at home but not when traveling. If you're like me, the sense of excitement and fun while traveling is sufficient to give you an extra shot of adrenaline that might carry you through that third glass without feeling the effects as much as you might at home.

Do your wine-consuming habits vary? For example, if you normally get headaches after drinking wine as a cocktail, without food, try having your wine with dinner instead; consuming wine and food together will certainly make a difference in its effects on you.

Finally, do you have seasonal pollen allergies? If so, you may be sensitive to "histamines," which also occur naturally in wines. Histamines are more concentrated in red wines than whites, so you might try switching to whites to see if this brings relief.

Friends who are highly sensitive to histamines tell me that common over-the-counter antihistimane allergy products work well to alleviate their symptoms. I would recommend carefully reading the cautions, particularly as they may relate to mixing the medication with alcohol (!), and if you're the cautious type, you might even want to seek your doctor's advice -- assuming your doctor approves of wine.

In fact, any time you have questions about your health and the effect of food and drink on your body, a chat with your family doctor is always a good idea.

Yours truly can't afford a '53 Dom Perignon, so I hafta settle with some lesser-priced but just-as good brands! :) I draw the line at drinking Jacques Bonet California Champagne - it is the cheapest and nastiest-tasting piss on earth! (And what we all got drunk on the night I was initiated.)

When it comes to wines, I'm very partial to the German Mosel-Saar-Ruwer variety of white wines; light in body and don't pack an alcoholic wallop like California wines do (most are in the 6-8% strength). If I can find it (and the price isn't through the roof) the best of the bunch is the famous Bernkasteler Doktor, made only in one vineyard owned by the town doctor, and a favorite of the late German chancellor Konrad Adenauer (a native of Bernkastel).

German wines have very complicated labels to distinguish the various qualities, but once you learn 'em it really isn't hard. Even the shape and color of the bottle tells you which wine region the wine's from: long-necked green ones are Mosel wines, brown bottles are from the Rhine region.

Here are my favorite wines:
Red: Merlot
White: Chardonnay and Riesling
Blush: White Zinfandel (SP?)
Champagne: Whatever brand I buy!


http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...party/juul.gif

I prefer red wine (in my few wine drinking experiences).

These days, I prefer Chardonnay or Piesporter. I don't know if anybody has tried the Australian "Yellow Tail Chardonnay". It's quite good. I can only have a glass once in a great while for medical reasons though.

I grew up on a very heavy sweet red wine that our family affectionately referred to as "Dago Red". We drank it every Sunday with pasta, from the time we were no longer drinking from a bottle! My grandfather made it himself with help from us grandchildren. He would supervise the washing of the feet and then have us STOMP. It was a riot! He made a huge carafe of his wine for each of us for our wedding day toast too.

Dee

I actually tried this not to long ago and really liked it. I like Chardonnay's

Amazing wine tastes on this crew of Wine Drinkers!:D

Chards and Peisporters, two total different tastes. Dry and sweet.;)

Champagne can only be callled that from a treaty signed in China. America did not sign that treaty.

Asti Spumante was changed to Spumante by the Italian Govt. Asti is a region in italy. Spumante means sparkling wine. Greatest was Fontana Fredda, dont think it is available any more in the USA! M&R to appley tasteing.

For Dry Red, Bertani, Valpollicelli, one of my favorites. Again no longer available in the USA!:(

Fousch, no longer bottled in Kansas, have 3 bottles just for me, HollyField Winery, Ks. big Dry Red. Most call them sour, no, just the Tanin in the wind. Lay down for at least 15 years.

Merlot, Chenin Blanc, Petite Sarah were known as nice filler grapes to replace the Thompson seedless, In the grocery store grapes. Gallo Changed the total picture of grape growing, I know, I was there when the change took place and worked for them! One of the Finest Cabernets was Eleven Cellars, I worked for them! Gone now, to sad, Mario I am sure is rolling over in his grave.

I had some of the finest wines from around the world in my exploits in the wine industry! Chateauxs Lafite, St. Estiph, St emillion, then others as Grevey Chambertin and some of the Second French Growths.

What do I drink now: Franzia Box. Hell cant afford the cost of some these wines.


Oh the memories to when I gave wine tastings!
Damn, thank you for bringing tis back to me. I have found if you do not use it, you lose it!:D

I LOVE that James Bond quote - I actually have that sound bite on my computer at start-up!

My fav. champagne is Veuve Cliquot La Grande Dame (it's been years since I've been in French clas so my spelling is prob. off). I also like Dom Perignon. There's a really good lower-price champagne called Cafe De Paris. Don't know if it's avail. in the U.S. but my dad, who is totally a wine snob, loves serving it to his wine snob friends as they can't tell the difference btwn it and many of the more expensive bottles. Retails for $9.45 CAD but compares to a higher price bottle.

I also love wine - definitely my father's daughter. My BF an I spent a long wekend at Niagara on the Lake and I'm now really into Canadian wines. My fav. white is Laily Vidal 2002 - very fruity nose, clean finish. My fav. red is Rief Estates Cabernet-Merlot 2002. It has a very round body and a smooth finish, defintely good if you're not a fan of the red wine tannins.

Lindemans Bin 65 chardonnay is a household staple. Masi Soave is also very nice...

My. all time faves are sauternnes and ice wine. Yum. Pellitieri makes a fantastic ice wine as does Inniskillin. SO good with a little sweet and cheese course

Oh, Dom Perignon, stumbled onto by a French Monk!

Little produced and very over priced to stupidity!:rolleyes:

St Michelle, Riesling
Genesis, Cab
Hogue Riesling

Thanks for all that research, Sigmagrrl! I had never really looked into it before!

All that research is great, but it sounds like a common hangover to me... Here is what I would do...

Take the current amount you are drinking, and cut it in half. Works every time.

Big fan of chiante and shiraz. White wine tastes too much like candy...


My favorite brand is Franzia...

The thing is, I don't drink that much. Maybe a glass or two, and I always end up with a headache...

I have no problem admitting I like soda pop wines: Arbor Mist, etc...

BUT, I would like to learn to love higher quality wines! LOL

Mmm, Sangria. :D It's considered a wine, I think...I've only had it on the rocks, but my mom will get it frozen at certain restaurants, so as soon as I turn 21, I'll be trying it that way too!

Hold on... are you sure you are not referring to Margarita's???

Sangria is supposed to be served room temp, w/ fruit. It is red wine from Spain w/ certain citrus fruits/spices added to it. Maybe you are thinking of a Sangria flavored Margarita... I lived in Spain for a short time, this is what I learned.

That sounds delish! I've had sangria and margaritas, but never together... do you have a recipe?

Not now, but I can find a good one from the Sangria homeland if you give me a few days...

Why not do yor own wine tasting?

Couple of ways to do it:

Do only 5 wines at a time.

Taste like wines, Chards, Cabernets, Merloits or what every. Each vineyard has a differnt taste no matter which grape it is from.

Taste different types of wines:

Start with a Dry White, then a Dry red, next a Blush, then a Sparkling Dry, and lastly a Desert wine, very sweet. This gives you a gamut of what basic tastes are. Go from dry to sweeter as if you start with a Sweeter wine, it will cover the taste of the rest as is a heavier wine and will cover the others of which can be delicate.

Only give a small sip and then an unsalted cracker to clean the palate.

Have a note pad with remarks or just discuss each taste by the drinkers.

After the judgements are made, then the party is on!:D :)

Hey man, Not a bad idea for friday night.... printing post by earp...

Krazy thanks and be my guest!:D

Never put ice in a wine!:mad: It changes the Character of the wine.

A Sangaria, what a special treat.

Snow skiing, always had a bota bag with a semi sweet white wine on the slopes and then to the room for some kick back and sangria.

What most people do not realize, you can ferment almost anything to alcohol.

Wine can come from any Fruit grown!

Does anyone remember Boones Farm?:D It was an apple based wine with flavoring! Did not care for the Apple, but oh god the strawberry was fantastic. Drank enuff of that to flpat NY City!:)

Then for you who were a little older Chateau Ls Ripple! Vintage ed about a month ago!:D