Convert money to happiness by occasionally spending it on expensive wine

[Tree-dweller]

Uh-oh!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...-shortage-on-the-horizon-economists-warn.html

 

[kaudrey]

Maybe you could help, or another poster - but years ago, I recall being served a Zinfandel that was described as 'spicy', and I thought that description fit, and I loved that wine (of course I do not recall the label).

Lately, I don't seem to find Zins that I would call 'spicy' - -at least not to that level. A friend of mine claims they have mostly been 'dumbed down', and you have to pay some big bucks and ask around to find a truly spicy Zin.

Any truth to that? I suppose I should ask when I'm at a good wine store, I always forget.

-ERD50

ERD50 - it depends on what you want to spend, of course. If you buy an "old vines" zin, they tend to be spicier. Try Four Vines Zin. Frog's Leap is pretty good, and actually, Francis Ford Coppola's isn't bad.

 

[braumeister]

Threads like this always make me smile because I much prefer a great beer to a great wine, and the price difference is enormous.

 

[MichaelB]

Threads like this always make me smile because I much prefer a great beer to a great wine, and the price difference is enormous.

For me a good beer is just as enjoyable, each has it moment. Unfortunately I like beer more than it likes me. Still, to expand on an earlier unexplained link, it looks like there may soon be problems with wine prices rising due to shortage.

Economists have warned that the world is headed for a wine shortage as vineyards struggle to keep pace with steadily rising demand.

 

[NW-Bound]

But, but, but only a few years ago, there was a wine glut all around the world. In Europe, the gummint had to buy excess wine to distill into ethanol to help vintners, and paid around a dime for a liter. Even actor Depardieu's vineyard had problem selling anything.

What changed? Did we convince the Chinese to drink wine? After getting them to drink Coke instead of tea? And beer? Where's the demand coming from? This capitalist investor likes to know.

PS. OK, I saw the article. It's not demand going up, but supply going down.

 

[ERD50]

Threads like this always make me smile because I much prefer a great beer to a great wine, and the price difference is enormous.

There is just so much more variety and complexity in beer as opposed to wine. I occasionally have a Sauvignon blanc as it goes nicely with certain foods, and for some meals I might go from a Cab, up through a Zin or Syrah/Shiraz, a Merlot or maybe a Pinot Noir.

Reminds me of a keynote address I listened to on a podcast - might have been Sam Koch of Sam Adams, or Sam Calgione of Dogfish Head, but he said something like ' When a vintner starts his day, the only question is - skins or no skins'.

Obviously an exaggeration to make a point, but clearly beer has so much more variety, and I find it much more interesting.

Not so sure about the affordability difference - if you are happy with a $10 bottle of wine, that's 3-4 servings, or 2 generous servings. A $10 six-pack of craft brew - call it 3 servings? Not much difference. Of course, two cases (8 six-packs) brewed for $40 or less is half that.

-ERD50

 

[HFWR]

...if I cannot tell the difference, I will not pay for the difference.

+1000

Wine equals alcohol, which of course we probably wouldn't be drinking if we were good people.

Ha

So be it...

 

[NW-Bound]

I often think that my palate is defective. When I read descriptions of some wines, I would try to analyze the flavor to see if I would detect the various floral notes, the scents of fruits, various berries like they described. I failed!

Peasant's taste, peasant's budget, millionaire bank accounts. It works for me so far.

 

[ejman]

<SNIP>

Peasant's taste, peasant's budget, millionaire bank accounts. It works for me so far.

Wow, me thinks you be onto something pretty significant here NW -Bound -the essence of the ER philosophy.

 

[NW-Bound]

I've got to tell a real story here.

Not being a connaisseur of wine, I buy wine pretty much haphazardly from various grocery stores like Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Fresh & Easy, etc... And I rarely go above $10/bottle, so my wines are fairly lowbrow.

Then, one time I had a bottle of Chardonnay that I liked so much. Needless to say, I did not remember where I bought it, so I soaked the bottle to keep the label, so that I could buy another one. Remember that this is a guy who drinks wine somewhat indiscriminately. Yet, he found something that was personally memorable.

For the next few months, whenever I frequented our usual grocery stores, I would look for that bottle. Nope! So, I thought perhaps it was discontinued, and gave up the search.

Then, on an RV trip, while stopping at a Walmart, we walked through the store as we usually do, and I saw my favorite bottle there! So, what happened was that I picked up that bottle on an earlier RV trip and forgot about it. For some reasons, we do not shop for groceries at Walmart when we are at home, hence my search for that bottle was in vain.

I would be embarrassed to tell y'all what that inexpensive bottle was, so it shall remain unnamed.

PS. Just now, it occurs to me that I could have looked for it on the Web. I can be so absent-minded, it scares me sometimes.

 

[REWahoo]

I would be embarrassed to tell y'all what that inexpensive bottle was, so it shall remain unnamed.

Sutter Home, Arbor Mist, Woodbridge, or...heh...Oak Leaf Vineyards.

 

[NW-Bound]

Another personal story. When in Spain a few years ago, I picked up a bottle of inexpensive white wine in a grocery store. It was a few euros as I remember. It was so thin and lousy, which would make two-buck chuck here taste like a million buck. See! My palate is bad, but not that bad, and it could still tell something.

The above is not to say that Spain does not have good wine, but rather that due to higher COL, 2-buck chuck in the US beats the pants off 2-euro chuck on the other side of the pond.

 

[NW-Bound]

Sutter Home, Arbor Mist, Woodbridge, or...heh...Oak Leaf Vineyards.

I am not tellin'.

I still frequent this forum, and I have a bit of reputation left to protect, I think. I am a bit bashful that my taste is so pedestrian, that I like something so common.

 

[NW-Bound]

There is just so much more variety and complexity in beer as opposed to wine...

I do not drink everyday, but I give equal opportunity to all alcoholic beverages, and have to disagree with you although I am not an expert in anything.

I think a beer's taste and flavor is much more pronounced than that of a wine, which is subtler and may require a more delicate palate.

As for me, I usually drink with food, and I often pay more attention to the food. Perhaps I need to concentrate more on the drink to appreciate it appropriately.

 

[NW-Bound]

It appears that few people read the linked article in the OP's post.

The author does not say that the expensive wine makes the drinker happy because it is guaranteed to be good. It is mainly because it is expensive!

You can do a scientific analysis of more than 6,000 wine tastings, which found a negative correlation between price and quality. Or you can look at the wines which win medals at wine competitions, where it turns out that winning one competition gives you no greater likelihood of winning the next one, and where if you enter the same wine two or three times in the same competition, it can appear all over the place in the final results.

The more you spend on a wine, the more you like it. It really doesn’t matter what the wine is at all. But when you’re primed to taste a wine which you know a bit about, including the fact that you spent a significant amount of money on, then you’ll find things in that bottle which you love. You can call this Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome if you want, but I like to think that there’s something real going on. ​

The author went on to explain that if we spend a lot of money on a bottle, we would pay more attention when drinking it, and more readily discover its quality. And if we are happy, then that's money well spent.

But my frugal self think that, conversely, inexpensive wines also have qualities which we do not care to discover due to our prejudice. Remember a recent thread about movie going, where people oohh and aahh at Sandra Bullock's butts, which may belong to a body double?

As for me, I happened to like that bottle which I forgot that I got from Walmart. I have not tried it again, but wonder if my being conscious of its origin would adversely affect my enjoyment of it. If so, that would be sad.

 

[Meadbh]

Sometimes the wine tastes better when it is consumed in good company, too!

 

[haha]

It appears that few people read the linked article in the OP's post.

How completely without precedent! I certainly don't care whether you read articles that I post. I rather enjoy discussions completely tangent to the original idea.

Ha

 

[HFWR]

Sometimes the wine tastes better when it is consumed in good company, too!

Pretty much always!

I don't care for white wine, so I'll leave judging Chardonnay to others. Especially don't like [-]Oak Leaf[/-] oaky chardonnay...

Don't like champagne much either, but bought a bottle of Dom Perignon '92 for NYE 1999-2000 ( partied like it's 1999). Must say it was by far the best I've ever had, though a bottle purchased a few years later tasted like Korbel...

 

[NW-Bound]

How completely without precedent! I certainly don't care whether you read articles that I post. I rather enjoy discussions completely tangent to the original idea.

Ha

I have enjoyed the bantering here too. Look at the readership of this thread. It's one of the "lively discussions" that are not under threat of Porky's appearance. But you'll never know when a poster gets offended...

But about people not reading the linked article, though you do not mind, it's the engineer in me who could not help saying "but excuse me..."

Don't like champagne much either, but bought a bottle of Dom Perignon '92 for NYE 1999-2000 ( partied like it's 1999). Must say it was by far the best I've ever had, though a bottle purchased a few years later tasted like Korbel...

Had a bottle of Dom Perignon. Did not remember the year. Did not find it really special, but then a peasant would need several tasting sessions to train his palate. His wallet overruled that possibility, of course.

 

[NW-Bound]

Sometimes the wine tastes better when it is consumed in good company, too!

We once hosted a dinner for two more couples, which lasted from 6 till near midnight. We emptied 6 (or was it 7) bottles of wine, and 1-1/2 bottles of Cognac. My wife did not drink, so that was for 5 people.

Same as the other couples, I do not remember what wine we drank, but when I talked about that dinner, my guests still remembered it. When we can get together again, I promise them an encore.

PS. I forget about the wines, but remember the two main courses I made: Cajun (blackened) mahi mahi, and cioppino.

 

[Meadbh]

We once hosted a dinner for two more couples, which lasted from 6 till near midnight. We emptied 6 (or was it 7) bottles of wine, and 1-1/2 bottles of Cognac. My wife did not drink, so that was for 5 people.

Same as the other couples, I do not remember what wine we drank, but when I talked about that dinner, my guests still remembered it. When we can get together again, I promise them an encore.

PS. I forget about the wines, but remember the two main courses I made: Cajun (blackened) mahi mahi, and cioppino.

Wow.....after that drunken evening, I hope that DW drove the guests home, or that they stayed overnight!

 

[NW-Bound]

This was up in my high-country home.

One couple's home was the next home down the hill, and I still wondered if they did not stumble, fall, and hurt themselves in the dark. The other couple had to drive 1/2 mile home on a dirt back road, and they assured me that they were up to it.

I was happy that I could just stumble into bed.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

This post is meant for all you wine experts out there. I am certainly not an expert but I have in my possession, one of the most expensive bottles of wine that I ever heard of. I think I might have posted this before but can't remember. Couple years ago I was at an estate sale and saw this bottle of wine that had the most interesting label. Bought it just for the hell of it and did a little research. The description on the label is as follows:

Sauternes-Appellation Controlee
Chateau d' Yquem
Lur Saluces
1953
mis en bouteille au chateau

Bordeaux White Wine
Product of France
Imported by
Browne Vintners Co., Inc
New York NY

Another label on the bottle reads:
Specially Selected and Shipped by
BARTON & GUESTIER
Bordeaux

Researching this on line I find that a bottle of this can go for as much as $3500. I'm certainly not going to open it as it makes for a great conversation piece. Who knows what it might taste like. It's just pretty and very unique.

 

[MooreBonds]

Had a bottle of Dom Perignon. Did not remember the year. Did not find it really special, but then a peasant would need several tasting sessions to train his palate. His wallet overruled that possibility, of course.

A past girlfriend who spent money like it was going out of style (one of hte two major deal breakers that ended things for me) traveled a lot for work, and had an obsession w/ buying at the Duty Free shop at the airports.

For our 1 month dating anniversary, she picked up an 'anniversary kit' of Dom Perignon (it came with 2 glasses....for the paltry sum of $550). We opened it up, and I was underwhelmed by it for my first (and likely last) experience with Dom. And here James Bond made it look so good when he casually ordered it all the time in the movies!

Of course, I have a pleasantly strong sweet tooth, and prefer things on the sweet to semi-sweet side, which is why it was probably like putting pearls with swine...but beverage preferences is entirely just like food preference. You like what you like and there's no "right" or "wrong". It makes no more sense to force a ghost chili pepper down your throat than it does a super buttery, super oaky chardonnay if you can't stand either of them - regardless of whether it's $2/bottle or $20/oz.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

I am intrigued. What were the symptoms of the wine allergy? Is there any chance it might have been a chemical reaction to sulfites?

The symptom is that if you drink too much of it, you have a headache the next morning.