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Scorpio64

Wine Recommendations

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IIRC, we have several wine aficionados here.  I need some good tips  for moderately priced wines in the $20 to $30 range.  I buy two cases every year for gift baskets, nothing terribly fancy but it's like, my thing.  I'm not a wine drinker so I really have no clue as to what's good or not.  Red, white, whatever, as long as it's a decent wine.  Go.....

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download the vivino app.  You can do a sort by price, region and read tons of reviews and flavor profiles.  Great for the novice wine drinker.  Plus, if you're at the store, you can take a picture of the bottle and it will give you an immediate profile, reviews and fair price for it.  

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Oh this is such a personal taste question.

The vast majority of wines sold in the States are under $10.

There are bottles under $8 that I like far more than $100 bottles.

Are these for gifts?  To wine snobs or regular folks?

For gifts what I like, and have even taken a big interest drinking wise are local wineries, considering I live next to a few.  Generally you can find decent local wines under $20 all day long.  If you want some good PA wines, can give you a few examples.  Best of all, go do a winery tour and taste them.

More than half of the wine we drink (Shabbat dinners and so often) will be white, as we eat lots of fish.  Preference is towards Resilings, German or Australian, although one or two PA resilings I have tried are quite good.

When I am in the mood for slight sweeter but not overbearing, Moscato.  One of the best values in this category is the Yellowtail Moscato, about $6.50 per bottle.  REALLY good, and not just good for the money.  It is exceptional for the money.

If you like slightly sweeter stuff and want to venture out, try some ice wines.  Really good value in artificially frozen and one of my new favorites is the Vin de Glaciere Riesling by Pacific Rim Winery.  Around $14 for a half bottle which is exceptional for an "ice wine."

Going into the Reds it really is all about personal preference and subjective.

At this point though I do believe the California wines are generally overpriced, particularly in the States, and you can have a Bordeaux of equal or better value once you start paying more than $30 a bottle.  Here I prefer Cabs... but for pairing with a steak... Syrah/Shiraz!

One decent value Syrah is Liberty School Syrah (if still avail).  

Really, go find a local wine place like Canal Joes, and see when they have tastings.... that will be your best bet.

And yes... Vivino is a terrific app. 

28 minutes ago, Heronimo42 said:

download the vivino app.  You can do a sort by price, region and read tons of reviews and flavor profiles.  Great for the novice wine drinker.  Plus, if you're at the store, you can take a picture of the bottle and it will give you an immediate profile, reviews and fair price for it.  

This beats the Walking Dead wine I just saw about a week ago. :facepalm:

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Rodney Strong 2014 Alexander Valley Cabernet 

Rodney Strong Charlotte's Home Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Merlot

Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, Napa Valley

I could go on, but I won't. Don't let the price fool you. But Maksim is right. Wine can be very personal if someone is experienced. The wines I listed will not be rejected because of vineyard and year. Only if someone basically doesn't like that particular grape.

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17 minutes ago, 45Doll said:

Rodney Strong 2014 Alexander Valley Cabernet 

Rodney Strong Charlotte's Home Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Merlot

Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, Napa Valley

I could go on, but I won't. Don't let the price fool you. But Maksim is right. Wine can be very personal if someone is experienced. The wines I listed will not be rejected because of vineyard and year. Only if someone basically doesn't like that particular grape.

+1 to the Chateau St. Michelle... pretty good wines.  Their Rieslings are a fairly safe choice too. 

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Note to the OP: If you want your wine 'baskets' to be meaningful, you should know if the recipient(s) have a particular liking or aversion to specific grapes. That's really the baseline. Red vs. White are big demarks, followed by:

Cabernet, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Reisling, Chianti, Malbec, Pinot Noir etc.

If you find that out, your gifts will be more effective. I have friends who will salivate over almost any Cabernet, but can't stand Chardonnay.

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3 minutes ago, 45Doll said:

Note to the OP: If you want your wine 'baskets' to be meaningful,

I just want the wine to not taste like vinegar.  I usually go with a red table wine.  Honestly, I don't drink the stuff much.  If I have 6 glasses of wine a year, that's a lot.

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Well no chance of the wines I listed doing that. Good luck with the baskets.

I deliberately didn't even mention Champagne. That's another plateau.

As a side note, tonight it's just Bogle Chardonnay. One of our white daily drinkers. Around $7 at the Wine Library in Florham Park.

Hic!

 

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12 minutes ago, 45Doll said:

I deliberately didn't even mention Champagne. That's another plateau.

I have just 3 levels of use for sparkly.   Korbel if it's casual, Moet if I want to impress and Dom if something extra super ridiculously special is expected to happen ;)

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If you have a Costco membership you can pick up some decent exclusive wines there too.  My sister inlaw buys most of her wine there.

Personally I am not a fan of mediocre wines... particularly when gifted. lol.  The one exception is when there is a meaning behind the bottle... ie a bottle of Jamaican rum (on vacation there), etc.  This is why particularly as gifts, local vineyard wines are interesting.

When we moved here, our neighbor brought us a bottle of Catawba wine from a winery just 2 miles from our development, Franklin Hill Vineyards.  Even if the wine was horrible... would still be a great gift.  

Get a mediocre bottle of French, or Napa vine... just eh.... should of just given me a gift card. =)

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6 minutes ago, Scorpio64 said:

I have just 3 levels of use for sparkly.   Korbel if it's casual, Moet if I want to impress and Dom if something extra super ridiculously special is expected to happen ;)

My go-to top shelf is The Widow.

If you like Moet, do yourself a favor (if you haven't already) and try a bottle of Mumm Napa. I don't care if it's technically only sparking. It's a step up from Korbel (which I also like and drink; have a bottle of their Rose for NYE), and really tasty. And 1/3 of The Widow.

God, I'm getting really thirsty.

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5 minutes ago, Ray Ray said:

Winning

I did a lot of 'winning' with those in my 20's. But the absolute worst was the hangover from 2+ bottles of Andre's Cold Duck.

I think that's what explains my adult fascination with quantum mechanics. All the smart cells were killed off. You know, like the slow caribou in the herd.

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Just looking at my Vivino...

Out of the expensive stuff, my favorite is the Sine qua Non B 20 2008.  Amazing Syrah... $300.

Colgin IX Estate Syrah 2005 - not bad... but not worth the $300.

Joseph Phelps Insignia 2011 - was okay.

Interestingly, one of the best Cabs which I rated was Dante Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, should be around $13 a bottle. 

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7 minutes ago, Maksim said:

Out of the expensive stuff, my favorite is the Sine qua Non B 20 2008.  Amazing Syrah... $300.

If I'm spending $300 on a bottle of fermented fruit, I'm expecting something "bow chicka bow wow" to happen.  I'll be giving these bottles to family and that's just gross.  For god sake, we aren't in Kentucky.

Let's keep the limit to 30, where a kiss on the cheek is all that's gonna happen.

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