Wine - Discussion, Travel & More

[Sojourner]

We recently had what I think is the best “cheap” wine. Widely available. It’s a red blend of two grapes, 90% Carignane and 10% Syrah. $11 at my local wine shop. Old world balance with enough complexity to keep it interesting.

Mint, plum and licorice notes. Medium to light bodied.

Les Heretiques, from the Languedoc region in France.

Hmm, interesting. Never seen that label before. Will have to look for it.

My best "cheap wine" find recently is J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. What an amazing value at only $13/bottle. It's by far the best California cab I've ever had for under $20. Available pretty much everywhere. It has become my go-to for taking to dinner parties and as an "everyday" table wine. Highly recommended.

 

[COcheesehead]

Hmm, interesting. Never seen that label before. Will have to look for it.

My best "cheap wine" find recently is J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. What an amazing value at only $13/bottle. It's by far the best California cab I've ever had for under $20. Available pretty much everywhere. It has become my go-to for taking to dinner parties and as an "everyday" table wine. Highly recommended.

I just looked up the tasting notes on this one on Cellartracker. The first note called it the “go to party wine.” LOL. You guys must be onto something.

The Les Heretiques is usually on the bottom shelf - cheaper wines - in the French section. I have seen it so many places. It should be pretty widely distributed.

 

[Winemaker]

While I make and drink my own, I used to really like Layer Cake Malbec from Argentina about 12 years ago. I really like mine better, from California.
My barrel logos are covered up in pic.

 

[2017ish]

...
My barrel logos are covered up in pic.

Nice cellar! Puts our climate controlled "utility closet" to shame.

 

[2017ish]

NEW ZEALAND

Any wineries that anyone considers a "must do"? We are doing right at 60 days driving/hiking in March/April, and will be hitting most of the wine regions....

 

[Palmtree]

On Saturday, I had a bottle of Tempranillo aged in cedar from a local winery. Tasted pretty good. Has anyone ever had a wine aged i cedar? I had some Italian wines aged in cherry or acacia barrels, but never cedar. Has anyone here had a cedar aged wine?

My neighbor is a big fan of Tempranillo. He has a wine cellar in both of his homes with over 400 bottles of wine. According to him over 90% are Tempranillos.

 

[Palmtree]

My best "cheap wine" find recently is J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. What an amazing value at only $13/bottle. It's by far the best California cab I've ever had for under $20.

Thanks. We like Zins and Cabs from Paso Robles so this is now on my "to buy" list.

 

[Winemaker]

My neighbor is a big fan of Tempranillo. He has a wine cellar in both of his homes with over 400 bottles of wine. According to him over 90% are Tempranillos.

If you have the chance, ask him about having his Temps having any cedar, please, if you don't mind. I made 20 gallons of it last year and my friends want me to make more, next year for our barrel share. It would be an interesting twist.

 

[ronin]

In Italy, we always drink the "house" wine, and it is always good with dinner. After dinner we ask about Limoncello, and that usually separates us from the usual tourists because somebody there probably makes their own and are happy to share!

 

[COcheesehead]

If you ever had a wine and thought it had some veggie, bell pepper, grassy notes, it’s pyrazines. Interesting article.

https://daily.sevenfifty.com/the-sc...BLxd7_pI6GH4_x-EN36vaOu8QIG3v8pcimRc4oxrp0C1U

 

[brett]

What I find interesting is the impact that climate change is having on a number of wine producing areas. Well known and....up and coming. A few degrees makes a difference. Less less rain, more rain, less heat, more heat....

We stayed at a B$B on a farm/vineyard in the Douro Valley of Portugal. Way up, at the top of the ridge.. The family's English was as good as our Portuguese. There were 8 other couples from around the world. Italy. SA, America, France, etc. Heaven on only knows how we, or they, found our way up there. It was marvelous.

The family offered an option of dinner which we grabbed. In part because we knew if we drove down to find a place to eat we might never find our way back. The meal was a feast of the farms bounty. The roast pork kept on coming, along with everything else. Unlimited farm baked breads and deserts. The wine was plentiful....never ending in fact. Several types in including a fortified wine. We settled on communicating in French and in English with each other since each couple could understand at least one of those languages.

Absolutely one of our best travel experiences.

We also did the Moet et Chandon tour years earlier. All I remember is the miles of underground tunnels stacked with champagne and the constant tinging of bottles as workers manually turned each bottle in every rack along those tunnels a quarter turn.

 

[Winemaker]

Nice cellar! Puts our climate controlled "utility closet" to shame.

Thanks, the pics show 2/3 of the cellar, the other 1/3 has our logo on boxes, which I want to keep private. I am allowed to make 200 gallons a year per the ATF, and I don't need them around here to check and taste. I keep records.

I thought about climate controlling the wine cellar, but it pretty much stays at 66 degrees year round, and I watch the humidity, especially with the barrels there. I try to keep the humidity above 50% but the doggone angels still find a way to sip/gulp form my barrels.

 

[Winemaker]

What I find interesting is the impact that climate change is having on a number of wine producing areas. Well known and....up and coming. A few degrees makes a difference. Less less rain, more rain, less heat, more heat....

Well, if climate change is real, then that means that other areas will warm up to produce great wine growing grapes. But this years harvest is already 4 weeks behind in California from last year's harvest. Paso started picking this year on the 14th, last year, they were 2/3 done on the 14th. This is a normal harvest, unless we get rain. Rain would be bad, very bad.

 

[Winemaker]

If you ever had a wine and thought it had some veggie, bell pepper, grassy notes, it’s pyrazines. Interesting article.

https://daily.sevenfifty.com/the-sc...BLxd7_pI6GH4_x-EN36vaOu8QIG3v8pcimRc4oxrp0C1U

In some wine competitions I have entered, PMs are considered a fault depending on the variety. Cab Franc, Carmenere, Sauv Blanc, YAY!, CA Cab Sauv, and Merlot, BOO!

 

[LateToFIRE]

Hmm, interesting. Never seen that label before. Will have to look for it.

My best "cheap wine" find recently is J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. What an amazing value at only $13/bottle. It's by far the best California cab I've ever had for under $20. Available pretty much everywhere. It has become my go-to for taking to dinner parties and as an "everyday" table wine. Highly recommended.

The J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cab is a classic - discovered it years ago, punches well above it's weight. Not complex, but very drinkable, tasty, consistent from year to year, and a great bargain.

 

[explanade]

NEW ZEALAND

Any wineries that anyone considers a "must do"? We are doing right at 60 days driving/hiking in March/April, and will be hitting most of the wine regions....

I don't generally visit wineries unless it's for views. So I visited Rippon Vineyard a couple of times. It overlooks Wanaka, seeing the rows of vines with the lake in the background.

https://www.rippon.co.nz

I don't know how well NZ wines are regarded but they're priced pretty high, despite the great exchange rate of the USD to the NZD.

I've looked in Viator and GetYourGuide and there are various winery tours in NZ, all pretty pricey, compared to my recollection of Chianti for instance.

For instance, I would think the Marlborough area would have potential for views but I don't believe the vineyards there have views overlooking the Sound.

 

[DrRoy]

Well, which are they? Thanks.

Cooper and Thief pinot noir and Caliveda pn.

 

[oiseux]

I don't generally visit wineries unless it's for views. So I visited Rippon Vineyard a couple of times. It overlooks Wanaka, seeing the rows of vines with the lake in the background.

https://www.rippon.co.nz

I don't know how well NZ wines are regarded but they're priced pretty high, despite the great exchange rate of the USD to the NZD.

I've looked in Viator and GetYourGuide and there are various winery tours in NZ, all pretty pricey, compared to my recollection of Chianti for instance.

For instance, I would think the Marlborough area would have potential for views but I don't believe the vineyards there have views overlooking the Sound.

I've been to that winery as well --- the views are just stunning by the lake, with the vineyard in the foreground. The wine was decent too. I remember going tasting in Otago but didn't make it to Marlborough.

 

[Palmtree]

Thanks for the heads up on J. Lohr. I can't find it locally for near $13 but it is an outstanding everyday drinker.

 

[Trailwalker]

Thanks for the heads up on J. Lohr. I can't find it locally for near $13 but it is an outstanding everyday drinker.

Do you have a Total Wine? $12.47 in Wisconsin.

 

[2017ish]

I've been to that winery [Rippon] as well --- the views are just stunning by the lake, with the vineyard in the foreground. The wine was decent too. I remember going tasting in Otago but didn't make it to Marlborough.

Thanks to this thread, we have booked a visit to the Rippon winery during our NZ travels next year. Looks amazing (even for NZ)!

(We are, I'm led to understand, going to hit wineries in each of the NZ wine regions. The advantage of a long trip.)

 

[Palmtree]

Do you have a Total Wine? $12.47 in Wisconsin.

Locally it runs around $18/ We have a total wine about an hour away.

 

[Palmtree]

Paso Robles is our favorite go to area for the past few years.

We love the J Dusi winery which has an amazing Zinfandel from vines that are almost 100 years old.

If you have never been to Paso Robles there are so many great wineries in the area. I highly recommend a visit.

We just bought a case of J Dusti Pinot Grigio on the advice of a friend who is a wine distributor. It was for a house party. Our go-to wines are Zins or Cabs from Paso Robles. We've been to Napa but not Paso yet!

 

[COcheesehead]

We just bought a case of J Dusti Pinot Grigio on the advice of a friend who is a wine distributor. It was for a house party. Our go-to wines are Zins or Cabs from Paso Robles. We've been to Napa but not Paso yet!

If you like Zins, seek Bedrock out of Sonoma for a more savory style. Turley from Paso for a bigger, riper, style. We like them both for different reasons.

 

[2017ish]

Has anyone else had such a bad experience at a tasting room that they and their friends never bought the company's wines thereafter?

We and two other couples did a walk-up tasting at Duckhorn in 2008. We went in, dressed relatively nicely, and were seated. Noticed that there were two other parties in the tasting room. We were provided with water... 40 minutes later, we walked out, without ever having anyone assist us (other than the water). As a result, we and our friends never bought a Duckhorn wine for 15 years. In fact, the orthopedic surgeon and his wife, when gifted a bottle, chose to regift it.

Last week, we attended a free duckhorn tasting and bought three of their less expensive blancs--the first time that any of us succumbed. (and we've been too ashamed to tell our friends!)