Digital insecurity?

[Trius]

George, you ARE intent at starting a grape war, aren't you? 😀

I'm not a Zin-o-phile, but my introduction to zin was with a former girlfriend and both were very nice. :angel:

My tastes, however, are not towards the young, fruit-forward wines that seem to be vogue now. I'd rather wait for the refinement to develop. When I want power, I go for cab franc or cab franc. But those need ample time to come into their own. The ultimate is a great Bourgogne, of course .... nope, didn't see myself in Sideways at all, not one bit, nah, I'm not like that at all....

Earl

 

[RJBender]

George, you ARE intent at starting a grape war, aren't you? 😀

I'm not a Zin-o-phile, but my introduction to zin was with a former girlfriend and both were very nice. :angel:

My tastes, however, are not towards the young, fruit-forward wines that seem to be vogue now. I'd rather wait for the refinement to develop. When I want power, I go for cab franc or cab franc. But those need ample time to come into their own. The ultimate is a great Bourgogne, of course .... nope, didn't see myself in Sideways at all, not one bit, nah, I'm not like that at all....

Earl

I used to drink Marques de Caceres Rioja Blanco

but my last bottle had a screw cap and it was not the same. When they went from a real cork to synthetic cork there was no change. When they went to the screw cap, it's really bad. I really liked that wine. Any suggestions for a replacement?

R.J.

 

[ch1]

RJ,

Interesting. That "Checkered Cab" (BTW: just figured out the "double ententre since it is a Cab Sauvignon) had a screw top too. I know that many "drink it young" vinters are moving that way.

I haven't drunk much Rioja in the past because the first ones I had years ago were "harsh" (probably a function of my low end budget at the time).

BTW, speaking of Iberia, our friends in Ontario/Quebec are "hot" on Portuguese reds - but you really have to know them. They get great ones in Ottawa and bring them to their place in the Laurentians - but they have an "in" with a Portugese restauranteur who buys "extra" for them.

As I said, we bought the Checkered Cab bottle more as a goof for the label (although it WAS drinkable) but guess I s, put off by a screw top too. I used to try to "keep a cellar" but found I could drink them faster than I could store them!

Trius:

No, not interested in wine wars at all. :angel: I know you like the ON wines from the Niagara Penisula and respect you for it. So enjoy! 😀

 

[Trius]

George: I was more referring to discussing the provenance, heritage and development of varietals. I am a rank amateur when it comes to zin, but I did like it. BTW, the 3 best pinots I've had have come from France (duh), Niagara Peninsula and Finger Lakes, the latter the biggest surprise. Anyone from Oregon or Sonoma want to chime in on pinot?

 

[ch1]

George: I was more referring to discussing the provenance, heritage and development of varietals. I am a rank amateur when it comes to zin, but I did like it. BTW, the 3 best pinots I've had have come from France (duh), Niagara Peninsula and Finger Lakes, the latter the biggest surprise. Anyone from Oregon or Sonoma want to chime in on pinot?

Trius,

The other grape types are now "world wide" which is good because you can compare how the terrior matters (as well as, of course, the vinting etc.).

Until recently, Zinfandel was strictly a California varietal. I recently saw a bottle of Chilean Zinfandel. This is the first time I know of where this varietal has been grown outside of CA.

I don't know if other regions will "adopt" it now (perhaps the Aussies?) and begin to see how far you can go with this grape.

As to "best" with Pinots, Cabs and such - without a doubt you enter into an area where the French have set the standard - although the "New World" style seems even there to becoming preferred.

Honestly, I cannot afford the top of the line $500+ bottle of California cabs and pinots to see how they stack up to the finest of similarly-priced French offerings - but I wish I could. And, since it's literally a moving target (year by year) there can never be an "ultimate" conclusion anyway! 😀

Now about how California vines saved the European wine industry - it all has to do with a parasite known as "phyloxxia" (sp?) which is what happened when the Europeans made the mistake of brining in vines from the eastern half of North America!

Because CA was "protected" from this parasite, it ultimately provided the root stock that saved the European vineyards (espescially in Bourdeaux). 😎

 

[Socke]

Intesting topic, I don't drink much vine and know even less about it.
If I drink vine it's mostly the less sweet german vines from the Mosel region and Franken. The grapes are called Scheurebe and Silvaner and the vine is usualy very young and you drink it cold. Black bread with cheddar type chease goes well with it.

 

[Andy K]

I only drink a couple of European and Australian wines. Californian leaves me cold although it's good to keep a bottle for cooking purposes.

 

[rover]

I don't drink enough wine to justify making it, but I have been making wines from this series for the past few years.

http://www.winexpert.com/index.cfm/...atname/Selection Limited Edition/products.cfm

This year I will make the Italian Piedmont Nebbiolo d’Aaba. The kits are created to produce very consistent satisfying results. Honestly, the results are pretty good. I opened a bottle of Chianti that I made and compared it with 3 others I purchased at a store. Mine was just as good as the best store bought wine and better than the other two. Granted, I didn't buy very expensive top shelf wines to compete against, but they weren't made in my basement which has to be an advantage for them I have to think.

 

[Trius]

George: I suspect you can afford more of the upscale bottles than I can, and I tend NOT to drink California wines because I find the good ones are, IMO, overpriced. Niagara is getting overpriced for the higher end bottles, but there is something about the terroir that keeps me budgeting for a few along with the more "popularly" priced bottles.

Yeah, the phylloxera story is a great one. I think there were some other varietals that survied in South America because of the isolation as well ... maybe malbec? BTW, if you have never had a good Argentinian malbec, treat yourself. It's a wine that opens up amazingly once you open the bottle. You can easily experience the difference after 20 minutes, 2 hours, even 24 hours.

 

[RJBender]

It looks like I killed this thread.

R.J.