Favorite wine, champagne, or asti

[pinkyphimu]

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.

[sigmagrrl]

Originally posted by pinkyphimu
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!!!

[aephi alum]

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

Yes!

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.

[ThetaGrrl]

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?

[sigmagrrl]

Originally posted by ThetaGrrl
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.

[AlphaSigOU]

James Bond: "Oh, it's lost its chill..."
Jill Masterson:"Oh, why you...."
James Bond: "Don't worry, there is another one in the fridge."
Jill Masterson: "Who needs it?"
James Bond: "My girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"
James Bond: "Now... where is that passion juice..."

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.

[CatStarESP4]

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

[MeLikey]

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

[AGDee]

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

[adpialumcsuc]

Originally posted by AGDee
These days, I prefer Chardonnay or Piesporter. I don't know if anybody has tried the Australian "Yellow Tail Chardonnay". It's quite good.

Dee

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

[Tom Earp]

Amazing wine tastes on this crew of Wine Drinkers!

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!

[cherub]

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

[Tom Earp]

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

Little produced and very over priced to stupidity!

[ucfcutie]

St Michelle, Riesling
Genesis, Cab
Hogue Riesling

[ThetaGrrl]

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