Little ole wine drinker me (us?)

[MontyVeda]

Wine is better for middle-aged people, it gets you drunk on fewer calories.

...and generates far fewer trips to the loo than a 6 pack of beer

That, along with fewer trips to the fridge, is the reason i began drinking red wine at home.

I tend to go for a shiraz, but they're not created equal. Some are like warm treacle , others are like vinegar

I seldom pay more than £6 and on the odd occasion that i do, its taste doesn't justify the price. It's just a case of trial and error.

 

[Shadow]

Enjoying these tips

My pleasure. You keep enjoying them, I'll keep providing them!

Am I likely to see these wines in any supermarkets?

As I said upthread, supermarkets would not be my first choice to find wine. If you wanted a new bike, would you go to Halfords or your LBS? I like to think of your local wine merchant as the wine equivalent of your LBS. The more you talk to them, the more helpful they can be.
(I do not like to denigrate supermarkets too much, they have done a fantastic job in improving the quality and choice of wines to the UK public; some of their products are very good, only much of their range is formulaic and dull).

 

[Shadow]

I seldom pay more than £6 and on the odd occasion that i do, its taste doesn't justify the price.

If this is what suits you, then fine. I hope your hit rate exceeds your misses!
However, remember that at £6.20 (it is very close to this figure), then 50% of that goes directly into HM Treasury's coffers, via Duty and VAT. After profit to the seller, shipping, bottles and labelling, this leaves very little for the grape farmer and/or producer. By paying only £2 more, almost all of this goes into improved quality of wine.

 

[MontyVeda]

... By paying only £2 more, almost all of this goes into improved quality of wine.

what i was trying to say was... the more expensive wines tend to taste worse than the cheaper ones I purchase.

 

[Shadow]

It's been a couple of weeks since I've put an image up here but that does not mean I have not been drinking anything!

Very sad - this was my last (non-dessert) white wine from the last century. Clos Ste Hune is often considered to be the world's finest riesling. (And priced accordingly!) It requires cellaring, although is delicious young too. Some consider it austere, myself included, an acquired taste somewhat. I prefer the significantly cheaper Cuvée Frederick Emile from the same producer. Nonetheless, it is superb - powerful flavour, classic kerosene (in a good way!), seems slightly sweet at first but isn't, very long and dry as the proverbial bone. Needs food to be appreciated at its best - veal, chicken and pork work well, along with almost any veg, also proper Chinese and Thai dishes. But I would not waste this on my local chinese takeaway's chow mein! Like all good riesling, it has searing acidity, which means it works as a great counterbalance to any rich &/or creamy &/or fatty dishes.
Note the colour. It is a deep, deep golden yellow, the result of a few years maturation. It is maybe a touch darker in reality, it was difficult to achieve - see 'arty' image in 'My picture of the Day thread', which is obviously too dark!
This was drunk with last night roast chicken, roast potatoes and baked aubergine, courgette and red pepper, marinated in herbs for a while. Superlative.
The point of all this? You are missing out hugely if you do not try Alsace riesling - it is a wonderful thing. Expect to pay £12/13 and up.

 

[oldfatfool]

I used to be in the Times wine club and an elderly gent said as a rule of thumb said
Whatever wine you buy the first couple of quid would be bottle and shipping the next 20 - 30 quid would go on the actual quality of the wine, anything above was diminishing returns and the label. To an extent the likes of Lidl and aldi knock this apart, with some cracking wines under a tenner that would be 20+ in tesco etc. Wines on discount in big supermarkets tend to be selling still above or at best actual value.

 

[raleighnut]

My pleasure. You keep enjoying them, I'll keep providing them!

As I said upthread, supermarkets would not be my first choice to find wine. If you wanted a new bike, would you go to Halfords or your LBS? I like to think of your local wine merchant as the wine equivalent of your LBS. The more you talk to them, the more helpful they can be.
(I do not like to denigrate supermarkets too much, they have done a fantastic job in improving the quality and choice of wines to the UK public; some of their products are very good, only much of their range is formulaic and dull).

I remember when Bulgarian Wine first made it's appearance in the UK, the local Off-Licence (on the corner of Allandale Rd and Francis St i Stoneygate so a bit posh) had an 'open evening' wine tasting that the owner invited me to. So I duly turned up and there were half a dozen 'serving wenches' in traditional Bulgarian costume from the Importers doling out glasses of the various wines.

Anyway one of them gave me a 1/4 glass of the cheapest (well I was wearing Jeans, Baseball boots, a T-shirt and my Bike Leather) the owner spotted this and came rushing over all apologetic and gave me a full glass of the 'Oak Aged' Cabernet Sauvignon saying "try this" and when I'd finished that replenished my glass saying '"It's good this innit" and he was right, I ordered a couple of cases (well it was only a couple of quid a bottle once the promo discount had been applied) which quite shocked the girl who'd given me the 1/4 glass but she didn't know that I bought a couple of bottles of Single Malt every week from the shop along with my 'Old Holborn' baccy and probably 2 or 3 bottles of wine (we made a lot of Wine and Beer at home though too)

 

[figbat]

I have a few bottles in usually - nothing that old and nothing for keeps but usually a varied mix of all colours, mostly NZ, Spain, SA, Italy, bit of France, occasional South American.

Memorable favourites over the last few years:
Shiraz Viognier Reserve From Western Cape, South Africa
Picpoul de Pinet from Languedoc
Appassimento from Puglia (a Merlot blend)
Various Albariños (I can still remember the first time I had this, in a seafood restaurant in Galicia - any time I drink it I am transported straight back there).

In fact looking back over my wine ordering history I realise just how much I/we have drunk!

 

[Eziemnaik]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-08080-0
Why expensive wine is usually better than the cheap one

 

[Gunk]

As my daughter turned 18 yesterday, we opened the bottle of Chateau Canon 1995 I bought the day she was born, luckily it wasn’t corked and was very agreeable.

 

[stephec]

Can anyone here confirm something that I read a few years ago please?

And that was - really good quality red wine doesn't give you a hangover.

 

[mistyoptic]

Can anyone here confirm something that I read a few years ago please?

And that was - really good quality red wine doesn't give you a hangover.

It’s because you can’t afford to drink as much of it 🤣

 

[Shadow]

As my daughter turned 18 yesterday, we opened the bottle of Chateau Canon 1995 I bought the day she was born, luckily it wasn’t corked and was very agreeable.

Hope your daughter enjoyed it too! And appreciated your sentiment. No reason why it should have been corked. 'Very agreeable'? I would have hoped it was a bit more than just 'agreeable'!
And may we ask what you had to eat with eat?

 

[Gunk]

Hope your daughter enjoyed it too! And appreciated your sentiment. No reason why it should have been corked. 'Very agreeable'? I would have hoped it was a bit more than just 'agreeable'!
And may we ask what you had to eat with eat?

Spag Boll

 

[Shadow]

And that was - really good quality red wine doesn't give you a hangover.

All alcoholic drinks will give you a hangover if you consume enough of them!!!
However, most better quality wines - red and white - tend to have less sulphur dioxide added; some will not add SO2 at all. This is commonly used in winemaking to act as a preservative. There are roolz as to how much may be added. Sulphites cause headaches/hangovers among other reactions.