What are you Drinking . . . Wine?

I'm not reading every post, since I really don't have time to "respond" to each one, so here is a little summary for my upcoming long weekend at "the cottage"...

GeneW and Marion have invited me up to a cottage they're renting at Sauble Beach, Lake Huron.... famous for its 10-km sandy beach, fabulous sunsets and, I presume quite luscious vertical ambulatory "scenery" at this time of year. It's the Canada Day long weekend, so everyone will be in a celebratory mood, I'm sure.

I'm taking two bottles of Hillebrand Estates Showcase Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon 2002. When I tasted form the barrel in Oct. '03, this wine showed a lot of promise to be superb (International Wine Challenge tasting notes,) and I have not opened any since.

Gene is not big on reds even though red is good for the heart, so here's a little secret (don't tell him!) ... I'll pick up a very fine white from Hillebrand on the way up so that he is not excluded. But my guess is that once he tastes the cab, he'll understand what all the fuss is about. 😀
 
Have a couple of nice sangiovese's sitting in the rack, waiting for my marinated flank steaks this weekend.

Otherwise, we have really been enjoying some of the Shiraz blends coming out now. One called "Layer Cake" is quite nice for the price.

However, it is summer... and my drinks of choice are gin & tonic, or a nice bright swiss style verte absinthe (Montemartre, or Duplais Balance are good for summer).
 
micromontenegro said:
Pepe: Cardenal Mendoza is simply wond'rous!

Superbus: Sadly, Tokaj wines are becoming hard to obtain in my part of the world. When and if I find a bottle, it tends to be one with very few "baskets" (I don`t know the proper English word for it). I think good ones are right up with the very best wines in the world
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According the wine&spirit the best wine (or better to say: 100 ) was a Royal Tokaji 1999 Essency - like to drink tokaji from the same willage (Mád) that this one came from.

You are right, more baskets is better but of course there are other things especially the place and the person who made the wine.

But wines or food are so personal I do not believe in specialist's opinion, only my taste is important. For example a lot of people loves truffle, just because it is rare and expensive. I hate it.


I also like wines from South America, especially from Argentina, Mendoza.
 
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FrankS said:
I have to admit to having a taste for cheap red wine. After the 2nd glass, it all tastes the same to me.
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Frank says it all here.....

Wine is like photography, lots of people buy the expensive sort just because of the name, they do not actually get anything out of the taste, just a label to show your friends......
 
Did someone say "Absinthe"?
I brought a bottle home from Europe last summer, but still haven't gotten into it yet.
What's with the ritual you are supposed to go through to drink it? With the sugar and all. Is that mandatory? Or can you just drink it as is?

Gary
 
gns said:
Did someone say "Absinthe"?
I brought a bottle home from Europe last summer, but still haven't gotten into it yet.
What's with the ritual you are supposed to go through to drink it? With the sugar and all. Is that mandatory? Or can you just drink it as is?

Gary
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Absinthe is part of cultural history and I think is not allowed to make "real" absinth like in the 30's but I've heard you can buy it in Prague I think its a lighter version than the original but I just want to taste it!

Is it good, do you like it?
 
Superbus,
I haven't tried it yet. I had heard stories about it and knew that you cannot buy it in the US, so when I saw it in a shop (in Germany), I bought one. Don't know if it is any good. I think it cost about 25 Euros.

Gary
 
Absinthe..... it's like the original Mexican "Mezcal" gets one into a genuine high when you overdo it... no one would drink it because of it's refined taste... very hard to get the original stuff though, in germany you can find it, as you can the original Mezcal... but it'l be expensive and sold under the counter.

There is however a shop in Belgium, actually on the border of holland and belgium where they sell both the original Mezcal and Asinthe, the place is called Hulst.... I have a number of bottles in my cellar, it did motivate some of the greatest artist of the past century ... it probably killed a lot more .... I have tried/had some binges, it sort of resembles the "paper-trips" back form the 60' and early 70'ties and probably later .....
 
Superbus_ said:
Absinthe is part of cultural history and I think is not allowed to make "real" absinth like in the 30's but I've heard you can buy it in Prague I think its a lighter version than the original but I just want to taste it!
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Superbus's right. In fact what you can buy now is a sort of Absynthe called also Versinthe (got a bottle of it). It has nothing to do with the real Absynthe. As for the sugar, its not mandatory, it's just fun ... and also good; but you can have a glass of Ab/versinthe alone, with water.
You can find some real Absynthe, though it's illegal, the border between France&Spain, in Andorra for instance. I strongly recommend you not to buy real Absynthe as it is very bad for your brain (at least if you drink a lot of it), reason why it has been forbidden.
Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud ... etc lost their brain drinking Absynthe.
Best,
Marc
 
gns said:
What exactly is different about the "Real" thing vs. the "So-called" absinthe?
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Gary,
The difference is a matter of distilling and of proof of the alcohol. I'm not an expert of distilling (sorry 🙂 ), I just drink from time to time a glass of Versinthe: my Versinthe is 45°, and the original Absynthe could be 75°; you can find some 75° Absynthe in Andorra (in Spain also) as I told you and in Czech Republic. I've never tasted a 75° liqueur; once I drank a 70° mint liqueur and it was already pretty strong.
Best,
Marc
 
Gary (with a tip of the hat to our Hungarian friends) - rarewineco.com here in Sonoma has (or maybe had) a small stock of some excellent tokaji essency 5 puttonyos - Hungary's answer to d'Yquem. Ask for Mark Krause.

Gavin was just a baby when I was out head banging :bang: !

I have heard that some folks are making absinthe with real wormwood extract but if I tell you I have to kill you 🙄 .

And it ain't all about wine! Lately I have been putting back a few Negronis of an afternoon. Local bar here makes a nice variation.

Cheers! - John
 
Next week at this time, I'll be in Upstate New York drinking Genny Cream Ale,
another cheap beer that tastes better out of a can than from a bottle...

Chris
 
JCedR & FrankS: Bull-f*ng-crap! No, NO, NO. Cheap is cheap and is generally crap, if I give you a cheap one then a REALLY good one thereafter, you WILL tell the difference. 😀

Now cheap needs to be defined. Cheaply made is different than inexpensive. I recently found a Macedonian pinot noir for $3.99USD that, while not earth-shaking, is quite drinkable and very pleasant. For the money, it is a steal. Now if I could only source some more.

I saw a documentary recently showing real absinthe still being produced in France. I want some.
 
Trius said:
JCedR & FrankS: Bull-f*ng-crap! No, NO, NO. Cheap is cheap and is generally crap, if I give you a cheap one then a REALLY good one thereafter, you WILL tell the difference. 😀
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I think people that say they can't tell the difference are just not interested in drinking wine, don't drink much of it ,and probably grew up in an environment where wine was not part of everyday life. Personally I think wine is one of the greatest gifts that civilization has to offer, but if people have no interest in this nectar of the gods and are not prepared to drink it mindfully, then it doesn't make much sense for them to imbibe (and a lot easier on the wallet).
Just my 2 sous, take it for what it's worth.
 
They just need the right time and right wines. I thought the same way until I tasted something and got it. Same as with RFs ... I was an SLR person for a long time before I got a good RF and all of a sudden it clicked.
 
[QUOTE:I have heard that some folks are making absinthe with real wormwood extract but if I tell you I have to kill you]

It sounds like if you tell me, IT might kill me.

I guess the stuff I bought in Germany maybe a fake (They should stick to cameras. ok und Beer. Uh... Autos. Und Riesling, auch).

Cheers,
Gary
 
Oatmeal Porter. (Highland Brewing Company, Asheville, NC.) Very dark and flavorful, but not too sweet or heavy. Slightly bitter aftertaste.

Richard
 
Ok - since I opened the proverbial can of worms. There is an entire forum devoted to absinthe. the real stuff. Which is not illegal anywhere in the world that alchohol is legal, except the United States. Yay us.

www.feeverte.net

There is lots of misinformation floating around, evidenced here. Anyone interested should go to the forum I linked. Poke around a bit, read the faq's, read the brand reviews, etc.

It won't make you high. It won't make you go mad. Unless you buy the czech stuff, which is overpriced and tastes like crap - and even then, you're just angry... not mad.

Sugar is optional - turn of the century france had more of a sweet tooth than most modern tastes. Just dilute slowly with water (about 4 parts water to one absinthe). It should cloud, and turn opaque as the herbs precipitate back out of the alchohol (it's much like a pastis, in flavor too). If this doesn't happen - you're not drinking the right stuff.

--

Now. Back to your regularly scheduled forum. 😀

Cheers.
 
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