What wine are you drinking today ?

Jonners posted:

ekfc63 posted:

Had a nice surprise at a work dinner last week.  The host and friend brought some very nice bottles.  The Ornellaia as off the restaurant's wine list so no choice of vintage.  It was way too young as expected and seriously outshone by the other mature bottles.  Of the others, the Monprivato, Corton and Margaux were all exceptional.

 

This must be a VERY good friend to hoik a Chateau Margaux out of his cellar for you! Have you tried the Beune yet? Drouhin is a good producer but I've always Beaune to be a bit on the thin side when it comes to Burgundy and Pinot Noir is an expensive grape to experiment with (on my finances anyway!). Regrettably I've not had much Barolo - does it need a good cellaring like Chateaneuf or Hermitage? I'm guessing it's a pretty big, inky wine.

The guy who brought the Margaux has 10,000+++ plus bottles in his cellar, no doubt all good bottles.  It was only the second time I'd met him.  I can only assume he drinks well all the time.  Must be nice! 

Barolos tend to need lots of ageing (what fine wine doesn't?).  Having said that, the 2005 we had was drinking beautifully with a short (+-1hr) decant.  I could tell that it could still use more bottle age (or air) since there was still some tightness.

If I had to pick a favourite it'd have to be the Corton.  I'm primarily a Bordeaux, Priorat and Italian drinker, but when you get a really good red Burg it really is quite an experience.  The trouble is the lower priced stuff generally isn't good at all.

ekfc63 posted

If I had to pick a favourite it'd have to be the Corton.  I'm primarily a Bordeaux, Priorat and Italian drinker, but when you get a really good red Burg it really is quite an experience.  The trouble is the lower priced stuff generally isn't good at all.

 

 

Not the French stuff anyway and the hype around Burgundy doesn't help the price either. As a lover of NZ Sav Blanc I was intrigued with the Pinot Noir coming out of Otago but I've yet to try a single one which can hold a candle to burgundy at any price, so when it comes to NZ I stick to white.

It's a similar thing with Chardonnay - Chablis is so overpriced (IMHO) for what is commonly available the only place I can trust to get a nice bottle is Laithwaite's which is where I get most of my booze from these days. That or Meursault which is definitely a notch about in terms of quality and hasn't been tarnished with the hype brush.

I have had 1 interesting Pinot from Romania, o.k - never going to be up there with the French Premier Cru and Cru Classe's but good throwing wine at a decent price. 

Yes fine wine is so overpriced these days.  In my neck of the woods an entry level Chablis runs UKP20 and a half decent one runs UKP30 and up.  Not everyday drinking money.  Bordeaux I used to buy a few years ago for UKP40 are now being released at 3 - 4 times that.  I guess its just good old supply and demand.   In my experience there's not much worldwide that can give you the same flavor profile as a good Burgundy or Bordeaux.  Drink good stuff but drink less is my MO!

Jonners posted:

.....the hype around Burgundy doesn't help the price either.

Jonners, Anyone, How would the slightly less monied drinker (say, a supermarket shopper) know which part of the hype was justified?

Christopher_M posted:

Jonners posted:

.....the hype around Burgundy doesn't help the price either.

Jonners, Anyone, How would the slightly less monied drinker (say, a supermarket shopper) know which part of the hype was justified?

I know, it is tricky - do you remember the race to see who could the first cases of Beaujolais Noveau into the UK? it was a triumph of marketing. The reason Beajolais was rushed out is because it goes off if it isn't drunk quickly! Fortunately, the French have a classification system for their wines and it is pretty rigid. Study and learn that and trust the label to know what you are buying, that is really the best way. As a rule of thumb good supermarket wines start from about £7.50. The reason is that at least £5 will have been spent on bottling, transportation and import duties. The rest is the actual wine itself and how good can a 2 quid bottle be? Try to stay away from the big brands and avoid labels with lots of medals - they are meaningless unless they have got bronze, silver or gold awards physically stuck on in which case buy with confidence.

The only advice I’d ever give is to forget the supermarkets and join The Wine Society. 

Jonners posted:

Christopher_M posted:

Jonners posted:

.....the hype around Burgundy doesn't help the price either.

Jonners, Anyone, How would the slightly less monied drinker (say, a supermarket shopper) know which part of the hype was justified?

I know, it is tricky - do you remember the race to see who could the first cases of Beaujolais Noveau into the UK? it was a triumph of marketing. The reason Beajolais was rushed out is because it goes off if it isn't drunk quickly! Fortunately, the French have a classification system for their wines and it is pretty rigid. Study and learn that and trust the label to know what you are buying, that is really the best way. As a rule of thumb good supermarket wines start from about £7.50. The reason is that at least £5 will have been spent on bottling, transportation and import duties. The rest is the actual wine itself and how good can a 2 quid bottle be? Try to stay away from the big brands and avoid labels with lots of medals - they are meaningless unless they have got bronze, silver or gold awards physically stuck on in which case buy with confidence.

Thanks. I find I'm fine with anything by Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Perrin & Fils etc. when i'm looking for something good.

Christopher_M posted:

Jonners posted:

Christopher_M posted:

Jonners posted:

.....the hype around Burgundy doesn't help the price either.

Jonners, Anyone, How would the slightly less monied drinker (say, a supermarket shopper) know which part of the hype was justified?

I know, it is tricky - do you remember the race to see who could the first cases of Beaujolais Noveau into the UK? it was a triumph of marketing. The reason Beajolais was rushed out is because it goes off if it isn't drunk quickly! Fortunately, the French have a classification system for their wines and it is pretty rigid. Study and learn that and trust the label to know what you are buying, that is really the best way. As a rule of thumb good supermarket wines start from about £7.50. The reason is that at least £5 will have been spent on bottling, transportation and import duties. The rest is the actual wine itself and how good can a 2 quid bottle be? Try to stay away from the big brands and avoid labels with lots of medals - they are meaningless unless they have got bronze, silver or gold awards physically stuck on in which case buy with confidence.

Thanks. I find I'm fine with anything by Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Perrin & Fils etc. when i'm looking for something good.

I apologise if I came across as patronising Christopher, it was not intentional. There is so much snobbery around wine, I was trying to pass on some useful tips. Very sorry.

Thank you Jonners, totally understood.

Probably just as well you didn’t take and pass the Master Sommelier exam this year. 

I can only begin to imagine how those people feel, and how difficult a decision this must have been...

https://www.thedrinksbusiness....results-invalidated/

And

And

But I have been teaching, honest...

(And the eagle-eyed of you may spot that I have been teaching at the Yacht Club de Monaco - there's posh!!!)

rodwsmith posted:

And

And

But I have been teaching, honest...

(And the eagle-eyed of you may spot that I have been teaching at the Yacht Club de Monaco - there's posh!!!)

Wow, Rod, that’s a varied range of wines.

1998 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots Domaine Confuron-Coteditot

Hour in decanter, nice nose of red fruits, slightly unfocused. The palate is again lovely, red fruits, strawberries, cherries, raspberry sharpness, good structure, quite rich, but again slightly unfocused, lacks a bit of length, but nice creamy red fruit perfume. I picked up 3 of these a while ago, this is my last, it’s a very nice and good wine, lacks the purity of fruit and concentration of the fine vintages from this maker’s wines from this vineyard, the vintage showing I think, but still a very good bottle of wine, frustrating because it’s so close to being fine, but lacks the purity.

Responding to an earlier comment on this thread, how do you know which Burgundies are worthy of the hype? Incredibly tricky, the vineyards are small and shared between many makers. Although I think the general quality of winemaking has gone up a lot in my 30 years of drinking Burgundy, it’s much rarer to find a maker who makes a genuinely bad wine from a great vineyard, relying on the classification doesn’t work for me. Even within the same rank of vineyards in a village, there is huge variation, compare a Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses with a Les Charmes, the former will be vastly more concentrated and have more lovely flavours. But for me the maker is key in Burgundy, top domaines (and the best merchants) will have great vine keeping and grape picking leading to great fruit, then they’ll vinify well  and make the most of the grapes. It’s now expensive to do it, but for me the answer is to taste a lot of Domaines, work out which ones you like the style of, then check the vintage reports and buy wines in your price range from the makers you like. Most fine Burgundy makers make good wines from the bottom of their range upward, and the style is recognisable through the range, so you can do it by starting with their Bourgogne level wines, but even those tend to be £15+ these days.

rodwsmith posted:

And

And

But I have been teaching, honest...

(And the eagle-eyed of you may spot that I have been teaching at the Yacht Club de Monaco - there's posh!!!)

Rod, any wines of note here?  I certainly recognise some of them and many appear to be quite accessible.

Dr Loosen - Erdener Prälat Auslese 1995

When I pulled the Burgundy out of the Eurocave earlier, I had a quick look at the lower section piled with 30 or,so German Rieslings, and noticed this. It’s ridiculously lovely, honeyed sweetness, slate and grapefruit hit you on the nose. The palate follows with honey, grapefruit and tangerine, pineapple and peach, then slate and stone flavours, the perfume in the mouth Is honeyed peach and grapefruit. It’s a glorious wine, power, beautiful fruit and length, all from one glass.

One of the wonderful things about German Riesling is that the residual sugar seems to protect it, so I’ll have had one glass tonight, I’ll stick the cork back in and shove in the fridge, a glass a night during the week will show no deterioration. I hadn’t realised that until I did a tasting evening back in the ‘90s with Ernst Loosen (owner of Dr Loosen who made this wine) he said that and I tried it with much success, as a Riesling like this is 7.5% ABV a small glass is 1 unit, so it works out as.a great way to have a nice dessert for few calories and the booze isn’t bad. (Having once left a tasting evening with Ernie Loosen and his U.K. agent to go to a couple of wine bars and clubs, I’m not totally convinced he ever tried the one glass a day thing himself.)

Richard Dane posted:

rodwsmith posted:

And

And

But I have been teaching, honest...

(And the eagle-eyed of you may spot that I have been teaching at the Yacht Club de Monaco - there's posh!!!)

Rod, any wines of note here?  I certainly recognise some of them and many appear to be quite accessible.

I am mid-teaching a WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) Level 3 Advanced course, during which we taste around 75  different wines (over five days, have now finished days 1 - 3). There is a blind tasting exam as part of it, so we have done a few of those, but other than that last week was all Europe-based, and aimed to cover as much of the geography, styles, production methods and ages as possible.

The stand-outs were, unsurprisingly, the Giscours 2010, the Barolo, both German Rieslings (especially Axel Pauly's Trocken), the Tokaji, the Pfaffl Gruner Veltliner, and the wonderful (albeit pricey) wine from Chêne Bleu. The Larrivet Haut Brion Blanc was 2007, and delicious, but really fully mature. They didn't like it so much, so I got to bring it home. The two Burgundies were both pretty good, (but there are budget limitations) and of the cheapies, the the Sicilian Nero d'Avola from Morgante (less than €5) is delicious, and Campo ai Sassi Rosso di Montalcino is always very dependable (about €14 here).

But no real duffers (apart from one corked).

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, bless you Rod????

Great, thanks Rod.

enjoy/ken

Lovely Otago Pinot Noir. Medium bodied with luscious dark berry fruit and crisp balancing acidity. Still young but opulent and sweet on the palate. And cheaper than a burgundy of similar quality by a factor of 2-3.

Kiwi cat posted:

Lovely Otago Pinot Noir. Medium bodied with luscious dark berry fruit and crisp balancing acidity. Still young but opulent and sweet on the palate. And cheaper than a burgundy of similar quality by a factor of 2-3.

Lovely picture KC, and the wine sounds enticing. I’ll have a look and see if any makes it over to this side of the world.

Thank you for your kind words Eoink. It is lovely to share photos of our vinous hobby, and a privilege  to share them with such knowledgeable members such as yourself and Rod Smith, an MW no less. So more photo please!

Special occasion dinner with a wine agent friend.  All were excellent, but the standouts for me were the Vilmart bubbly, Chassagne Montrachet and the SHL.

I love Smith Haut Lafitte. It has such a good name for a start.

Actually I really like white Bordeaux done well in general.

I enjoyed finishing this off last week:

Mature, but lovely.

Yes Smith Haut Lafitte is always reliable and approachable young which is the reason I have so few in my cellar!