The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Good morning.

Last week's football pool was the first I'd ever won. Ever. So I decided to celebrate with a bottle of wine.
It wasn't a real big pool, so I didn't have a lot of cash to work with. I headed down to our local supermarket and browsed through the Cabernets. In the end, I picked a reasonably good-looking Cab with a ridiculously low price tag. I don't even remember the name, but I can get it for you.
Anyway, it seems that when it comes to wine, you get what you pay for. I mean, it tasted okay I guess, but this morning I'm somewhere between hangover and concussion. $3.49 for a bottle of wine is asking for trouble.
Bully Hill makes a red called Love My Goat that I like quite a bit. The price has gone up a lot this year though. Still, I should have panhandled for the difference. My head is killing me.

But anyway, I suspect there's a few of you out there who have something to say about wine. Gimme what you got!

Well, as I'm allergic to reds, I can't help you much these days. Man I miss good wine

But my sister in law, she drinks for a living, so I'll plug her efforts:
http://winesmarts.com/
http://taste-wine.com/

I like grape juice.

Italian whites (piedmonte region for a nice dry one) - South American reds - especially Chilean and Argentinian. Rose is the new black (or something)

I hope this helps

Love My Goat is pretty good, but there are better NY wineries than Bully Hill... however I can't name any right now, ha ha ha. Mostly I have bought stuff when visiting the wineries.
If you want something cheap and good, there's an Australian one called Opal... Shiraz. Tasty.
I could talk a lot about wine if you want. I made some a while back.
-bill

The bass player in my band owns a shop called Fermentation Station. I'm going down there on Friday to start a batch of wine to be given away as Christmas gifts. I've never made wine, but if it comes out better than the bottle I drank last night, I'll be money ahead.

my 2 favorite wines:

Fat Bastard Shiraz
Black Opal Cabernet Merlot

-craig

If you're looking for cheaper red wines, here are some great ones for bang/$:

* NOT Cabernet. They tend to be overpriced as a whole.
* Boxed wine! No, not Almaden and the like. There are some very good wines coming out from companies like Black Box and Delicato for around $5/bottle equivalent, and they stay fresh weeks after opening.
* Argentinian Malbecs are very interesting and underrated.
* Syrah/Shiraz (same thing) are powerful, and priced well. Try Aussie Shiraz if you're into big jammy wines.
* Zinfandels aren't as cheap as they used to be, but a good Cali Zin is a real pleasure.
* Some wineries that are great values: Cline (mmm), Rosemont, Lindemans, Sutter Home (the best of the cheap).

HeuristicsInc wrote:Love My Goat is pretty good, but there are better NY wineries than Bully Hill...

I don't need anything more in a wine than the "Love My Goat" label art.

http://whyohwhy.net/misc/lovemygoat.jpg

HeuristicsInc wrote: If you want something cheap and good, there's an Australian one called Opal... Shiraz.

I meant Black Opal, the same winery Starf mentioned.

joshw wrote: * Zinfandels aren't as cheap as they used to be, but a good Cali Zin is a real pleasure.

Note: Zinfandel != White Zinfandel and, in fact, Zinfandel >> White Zinfandel.

Good luck on making the wine, Mr. Tyrrell. It's fun. Also making beer. About to start a batch of Pinot Noir, almost out of my last one (Chilean Merlot), and am currently aging a Scottish Ale. Mmm home alcohol production
-bill

unfortunately, his name is dan doesn't partake in the comsumption of fire water in any form. but i do take nyquil to help me get to sleep every once in a while.

wine isn't fire water... it's smoooooooooth.
-bill

i'm not a fan of red... but most whites i can tolerate and especially blush. i haven't tried many because i don't drink wine much, but my favourite kind is white zinfandel, particularly beringer, or possibly the "principato" blush/rose at olive garden :>

as far as sparkling wine goes (well sparkling white wine plus malt beverage concoction), verdi spumante is very excellent and very cheap. they used to sell it in little individual bottles (like 12 oz or 10 oz or something) but recently started selling (well recently around these parts anyway) actual wine-sized bottles (750ml).

HeuristicsInc wrote:

HeuristicsInc wrote: If you want something cheap and good, there's an Australian one called Opal... Shiraz.

I meant Black Opal, the same winery Starf mentioned.

Hmmm....I'm not a full-on wine-tosser like a lot of my friends are, but I can't say that I've ever heard of "Black Opal Shiraz" in Australia. It must be the cheap stuff and dregs that we piss in then flog off to the Yanks as a joke. After all - you lot will only mix it with Coke and drink it with cheeseburgers anyway...


For mine, you cant go wrong with Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet (Barossa Valley SA) or Houghtons White Burgundy (Swan Valley WA) - both at about AUD$10-$15, they more than suffice for my everyday drinking needs.

Otherwise I may lash out and spend up tp AUD$20 on one of the Sauvingon Blancs from Marlborough in New Zealand. It's not often I have anything good to say about the Kiwi's, but I can't fault their South Island wines. Or Steinlager beer.

The important thing to remember is, wine is to be drunk (often) and enjoyed. It is not a status symbol, nor should it be a topic of excessive conversation (I'm not referring to thread, I mean the people who drone on and on and on about good years and noble rot and ceramic corks blah blah blah).

Knock the top off a bottle and neck it - if it sucks, spit it out and knock the top of another one (..and repeat)

Re. Jim's comment: "...it seems that when it comes to wine, you get what you pay for" - that's definately true up to about the AUD$20 mark (although as mentioned above you can definately get great wine here for under $15). Beyond $20 we get into wine wanker territory. Better to spend the extra money on the food - fresh yellowfin tuna sashimi, good extra virgin olive oil, Sydney rock oysters, North Queensland mangos, barramundi, tom yum goong and larb moo, parma ham and rockmelon....mmmm....

(AUD$1 = roughly USD$0.60)

Caravan Ray wrote: Hmmm....I'm not a full-on wine-tosser like a lot of my friends are, but I can't say that I've ever heard of "Black Opal Shiraz" in Australia. It must be the cheap stuff and dregs that we piss in then flog off to the Yanks as a joke.

Well, note that I did say foremost that it was a cheap drinkable red wine, to replace the one that gave Jim a headache. It's definitely from Australia. But if ya wanna be all stuck up about Americans' tastes, go right ahead.

For mine, you cant go wrong with Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet (Barossa Valley SA) or Houghtons White Burgundy (Swan Valley WA) - both at about AUD$10-$15, they more than suffice for my everyday drinking needs.

Penfolds rocks. There was this Cabernet/Shiraz blend I got from them at a restaurant that was awesome. Some Bin number. Tasty stuff. But, here, pricier than the Black Opal.
-bill

- I don't wanna do my homework
- Just five more minutes
- Stop touching me

"What are things the babysitter says when I hit on her? I'll take Merlot for $2000, Alex."

</KenJen>

JimmyT~

If yer gonna make a batch, here's a coupla things I've discovered from making a few:

1-if you can, buy the most expensive kit. Here in the GWNorth, that makes a batch of 30 bottles around $4 each. Plus your bottle. By contrast, the lowest end kits are around $1.25 each +bottle.

But the wine experiences are as far apart as you can possibly imagine.

2-get yourself a little thing called the Wine Express. It's a magical little pedastal you place your opened bottle on and it really "ages" the wine in 15-20 min. Noticeable difference in enjoyability of the wine. Approx $25. Common complaint on homemade wine, it's "young" tasting. This helps alot. ESSENTIAL IF YOU BUY THE LOWEST KIT.

3-save save save. I'm not a wine expert, but I like what I like. Since making wine started in my family about 3 years ago, and now making them myself (at a WineKitz shop), I have a difficult time spending more money on "real" wine. I suppose I'd feel differently if I was more knowledgeable, but I can honestly say that my top grade Amarone or Migliore I'd stack up against any purchased wine, any time.

So stomp them grapes Jim! (well..have someone do it for ya...)

Two words:

Trader Joe's

Peaks In Valleys wrote:2-get yourself a little thing called the Wine Express. It's a magical little pedastal you place your opened bottle on and it really "ages" the wine in 15-20 min. Noticeable difference in enjoyability of the wine. Approx $25. Common complaint on homemade wine, it's "young" tasting. This helps alot. ESSENTIAL IF YOU BUY THE LOWEST KIT.

Oh no, my wine tastes young and my stereo interconnects sound like they're high in oxygen! Whatever shall I do?

Unless the "wine express" involves dropping tablets of sulfur compounds into the wine and/or setting it on fire, I have a hard time believing it could do anything to the flavor in just 15-20 minutes, especially by just being in some sort of close proximity to it. Feel free to disprove me though. I mean, does it involve quartz crystals and magnets? Or is it just fueled by wishful thinking, like most of these so-called "devices?"

available in silver or wood!

http://www.heartofwine.com/articles/Pro ... xpress.htm

ok, and then, there's this:

http://www.dansdata.com/wineclip.htm