Are you a wine aficionado?

The wines we get are always red and what’s called house wine. Cheap but not the cheapest, young: this years or last. The sort of thing that doesn’t need to breathe. I’m absolutely fine with that. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I am not a fan of sweet wine or dry wine. When ever the miss has a glass of wine, I normally finish the bottle. Not wanting it to go bad and all.:wink:

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@Bretrick No I’m not, but I do know what I like. :point_right: A good round Barollo with my beef and a fresh crisp Frascati with my fish. . :+1::clap:

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The nearest I have ever got to being a “wine aficionado” was a two week walking tour in the Bordeaux region of France. We took a day off from walking to attend a wine tasting school in St Emilion- a lot of that involved using your sense of smell rather than taste - it didn’t involve swigging copious amounts of wine - more’s the pity! :rofl:

The rest of our walking trip did involve stopping off at different vineyards along our walking route and sampling their fine wines.
It was all very enjoyable (apart from the food - if you are a vegetarian, I would not recommend the food in the Bordeaux region of France! :confounded:)

I must confess that French wines are not my favourite - I like Champagne but mostly I prefer a dry Italian Prosecco, a New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a soft Spanish Red, a Portugese Vinho Verde or a slightly frizzante Italian white.
Not that I drink much, of course!
Cheers! :champagne: :clinking_glasses:

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I’ve heard people in France offering chicken to vegetarians as its not much of an animal. Or noting bits of ham in a quiche or omelette and claiming they don’t count as they just a few bits. And the notion is being vegan is not understood, so you often get cheese in a vegan pizza.
I would note that 90% of the Bordeaux region is fairly average, volume produced wine. The good stuff in the dedicated posh wine regions is excellent but there the tasting tends to be by appointment, or even invitation only. Fronsac is one of my favourites.

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I’m not a wine drinker but if people are coming here for a meal, I often go by the alcohol volume written on the bottle. I noticed over the years that the wine drinkers might say what a good wine it is if it’s above 12%. I’m sure there must be good wines below that but I look out for ones at around 13.5% and that seems to be thought a good one.

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In the Summer, I usually prefer white wine - Chardonnay, Pinot, Soave, or our local Falanghina, well-chilled from the fridge.
There’s nothing like a good red wine though. I’d choose a Cabernet, Merlot, Barbera. A Barolo if I wanna be left with “empty pockets” :grin:

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I’d never heard of falanghina, so I had to look it up. That certainly looks like an interesting grape and wine. Is it sharp like a soave or more fruity?
It’s mid-summer so my early evening tipple tends to be rose. Round me, there’s lots of local production of rose and, luckily for me, a couple of excellent dry and very, very pale rose wines.

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Never thought I’d be, but it’s amazing how much difference there is in taste now I’ve been drinking red wine for a while :lol:

Also may be of interest:

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A good Barolo or Primitivo takes a bit of bearish

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Yes, Falanghina is more fruity and has a more intense aroma.Goes well with light Summer pasta dishes, fish and white meats, just like other white wines.

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Bearish? Meaning?

I’ve been away too long, not up-to-date with English conversational language/colloquialisms :smile:

Yes, with red wine, you can really taste the difference between a lousy, cheap one and a good wine, whereas with white wines, not so much.

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With white wines not so much?
Are you sure? Locally we can get really cheap but really quite sharp white wines. Often using colombard grape or the local ugni blanc grape. Not to my taste. However good local producers make excellent blends that are very drinkable for between 6 - 10 euro a bottle. And one or two make drinkable single variety wines (sauvignon or chardonnay usually) for about the same price. A few weeks ago I shared a magnum of one these blends, cost 24 euros, and it was very, very good. Notably different and better from even the good 10 euro bottles.
Yesterday in a restaurant, I had a Graves white wine (semillion I think) that was significantly better than most local wines. Very well balanced fruit / acid taste. And a little more pricey. Back when working and when I’d money (or an expense budget) I used to enjoy very good white burgundy wines. Lightly oaked chardonnay. Incredibly delicious. But at restaurant prices of 70 to 100 euros they bleeding well should have been.
So I do think, when comparing good to very good white wines, you can still tell the difference/

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Well, at those prices yes, I’m sure we can, or at least, we should do, otherwise I’d want my money back!
Seems a bit over the top, 100 euros, these are obviously from the “luxury” category, for a special occasion.

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Luxury / special occasion … or quite normal business dinner in London. I remember way back in 2001 doing a piece of work with a finance data firm. They sold into the banks, the hedge funds, etc. One day a sales manager was a bit annoyed as he had specifically told his sales guys to rein in the client entertainment a bit. One sales guy had just posted a huge expense claim for dinner with a few clients. Not one bottle of wine under £200. Sales guy just mentioned the name of the very big bank and said “hey, they’re a big client and that was what they asked for.”

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Fraid i,m not in this class, i can,t afford a crust of bread

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I don’t drink alcohol, but I did take a wine tasting class when I was younger. It was the only time I drank besides a glass of wine at a wedding. The class was interesting. It was good to know what people are talking about when they’re talking about wine.

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I’ve also found I really can’t stand screw-tops, I think out of all I have tried only one has been acceptable…

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I agree mart, anything less than 13% and your paying through the nose for pop.

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