Just want to wine a bit...

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by HoneyRose

My favorite whine?

"I wanna go to Miami!"

Funny!

[cgrman]

great thread and lots of information..thanks everyone....some of my favorite pinots are siduri, loring, pali, williams-selyem, walter hansel, roessler, lorca...single vineyards would be gary's , rosella's, keefer ranch, turner, durell, pisoni, ...i have found all these on the internet much cheaper than local retail,,,and most are not avail here for retail....i really like turley zins also (many different single vineyard designations) as well as vieux-os by schrader.. the double diamond cabs by schrader are nice also...for a great napa cab at value pricing look for waterstone...if anyone wants the websites i shop please pm me and i will be glad to share them.....enoy and be safe.....

[SeaDog]

Some GREAT info here! Special thanks to rekcaSxt for sharing and educating.

Cgrman - can you give us a primer on buying internet wine? Price / value vs. wine shops? Scams? Is WYS actually WYG? Packaging / shipping concerns? What should we be concerned about? What FAQ's are really non-issues? And thanks for the PM.

[cgrman]

i would be glad to share what little knowledge i have....when you find a website that you want to shop on check to see if they ship to your state...if they do then check to see if they actually have a physical address and not just an internet presence...always make sure they have the wine in stock until you know if they are reputable or not....one website that will help is www.wine-searcher.com they will tell you who has a particular wine and what price the are selling it for (both retail and auction sites will be listed).

i dont want to write a novel here but if you would like some trusted sites that i have been using for several years please pm me and i will be glad to share them....most all of them have mailings they send out and specials ie free shipping,,,,plus there are many wineries that are going broke and have to move the wine fast....their loss if your gain.

one other thing.....check to see if they charge sales tax .....some people will and some wont....and some will hold your orders until you get a case for better shipping rates or if the weather is too hot or cold they will offer free storage.....i almost forgot...you will always have to have an adult over 21 to sign for the package when its delivered....pm me with any other questions.....im sure i have left something out i should have said....

[AdelleAshcroft]

I think that Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel is a must!

[TexTushHog]

Originally Posted by rekcaSxT

CharlesTudor pm'd me and asked me to talk a little here about white wine.


-Another style of Chardonnay is the French White Burgundy. These are almost always completely un-oaked, and NEVER go through Malolactic Fermentation. Do not worry about brands with French wine too much, if they government allows the label to say Burgundy (or any other AOC) it is fit to drink, and you should be able to find good white Burgundy for less than $30 easily.

Well, not exactly. What you write is true for Chablis and most wines from the Macon. However, for the best regarded wines of the Cote d'Or, you are a bit off. While they are indeed Chardonnay grapes, they are aged in wood barrels with varying degrees of toast and varying percentages of new wood, depending on the producer. And all go through malolactic fermentation.

As for the $30 price range, you well be extremely hard pressed to get any white wines from the Cote d'Or other than perhaps a bourgogne blanc from a middle level producer for that price. Bourgogne blanc from better producers like LeRoy, Leflaive, Domaine A. et P. de Villaine, Arnaud Ente, etc. will likely set you back more than $30. Village wines or lesser premier crus will run $45 - 200+, depending on the producer. (I saw a Meursault Perrieres 1er cru 2007 from Coche Dury at a discounter just yesterday for $599. So the sky is the limit.) But if you stick with a good value, middle negocicant like Vincent Girardin, you should be able to snag premier crus under $75 if you're careful.

[rekcaSxT]

Well in the Cote d'Or they might have to use such wine engineering techniques because of the shorter growing season to cover up the unripe fruit. Though there may be some producers who allow malolactic fermentation in the Cote d'Or, I doubt it is "all". Did I say "none" well yes I did. But the reality is very very few.

This is also a primer for wine under $30. We may dissagree on which bottle is better, but my statement was that you can find good White Burgundy for less than $30 and that holds true in my opinion. I had a Macon-Uchizy last weekend that I spend less than $20 on and was one of the better bottles I have had. I prefer the steely/flinty whites to oak, butter lathered wines. And even the new world chardonnays would still not compare to the oak aged white burgundies in that the burgundian chardonnay grows at cooler temperatures, the flavors are not tropical, and the wines is more tight and complex than just grape jelly on buttered toast.

And to those of you googling any of this and you see articles on Burgundy that mention wines going through Malolactic Fermentation, remember almost all red wine goes through Malolactic fermentation.

I could sit and pontificate on DRC's, Cheval Blanc's, CDP's, That really nice bottle of Amarone I am holding on to for the right occaision etc... and on and on. But like I said earlier this was a simple primer on affordable wine.