2nd Trimester
MadameFancyPants
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**DiscusCoach**
MadameFancyPants
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Do you and your husband collect wines? I'm thinking that I want to start a collection to age, but I have no idea where to start.
I have the habit of buying a few bottles, finishing them off, then buying a few more. When I saw "few" I mean a case. I want to break that!
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Re: **DiscusCoach**
We love wine! Do we collect them - no. Most wines produced in CA are not meant to be aged for more than a few years. They are created to be enjoyed within a couple of years of being bottled. You have to go w/ a super fancy Silver Oak or something to get any benefit from age ($100 category).
It is fun to have a circulating wine collection that rotates through every couple of years. I was on a white kick right before I got pg and you don't age those.
I'm trying to think of some great reds we have had recently (I sometimes will take a sip but usually I just stick my nose in DH's glass).
You know what we have right now? He he he! I can't wait to try this! We have a vertical set of 3 George de la Tour Cabs. I forget the years but it is box with three bottles three years in a row. That wine is particularly special to DH and I because the first time we went away together we went to Carmel by the Sea and had dinner at this fabulous steak place. We had that wine over dinner and it was just one of those magical, once in a life time evenings. I'm not sure what a single bottle goes for now but I think that was in the Silver Oak category or a little below. It will knock your socks off!!!! It was a gift from my mom and dad. My mom was working for that company at the time so she got her employee price.
I have such a hard time spending a lot on a bottle of wine for two reasons - 1, because there are so many good $20 bottles out there and 2, just because it was expensive doesn't mean your are going to like it.
Do you order wines from CA? That is cool! What do you like? We get all of ours through the restaurant so we don't pay much for it and that lets us try more things with out the worry.
I had some friends from Kansas out a few years ago and we went to Safeway. They actually took pictures of the wine isle. It runs the full depth of the store front to back and on both sides. I love living in wine country!!
Unfortunately, TN won't allow alcohol to be brought into the state, which means I'm not allowed to order.
I've been having a lot of fun with the wines from our local winery. I really enjoy tasting the variations in taste from year to year.
I'm like you, I have a hard time justifing spending a lot of money on a bottle. When my husband was deployed I'd go every few days to our wine store and buy a few bottles of different thing. I decided I buy the same wine twice! It was a lot of fun and I had a ton left over for DH to try with me when he came home.
Because of my "expirement" my taste preferances have changed which I find really interesting.
I think my best bet is to go to a big wine tasting and and actually start a dialogue with venders rather than just listening to what they have to offer. I bet if I find a wine I like and it's meant to be aged, I wouldn't want to drink it. Especially if I pay 2 arms and 3 legs for it!
I can't wait to move into a more permenant house so I can get a wine fridge! I have racks two racks right now and one holds 18 bottles (i know thats nothing in the grand scheme, but it's huge for me!)
We have like 7 bottles. That would be because we drink them all the time! (or "we" did now it is him)
We entertain A LOT. Often times twice a week!
With my husbands business card we get free tastings at all the regular wineries. They used to all be free but now they charge like $5 and put it towards your purchase. Makes sense!
By regular wineries I mean not the crazy elite ones like Sterling. I thing you have to take a gondola over the valley to get to that one.
We go to this wine tasting in the spring put on by our distributer. It is at a big fancy hotel in a vineyard. You walk in and in the foyer there is a huge table piled with cheeses and breads and grapes. If you go right and in to the grand ballroom it is packed w/ tables and all the different wineries have 3-10 bottles of wine on each. Some are crap. Some are $100 bottles. You get a special notebook to keep track. You spit most of it because if you drank every taste you would be blitzed in an hour. I love the champagnes and DH and I always make a point to have a sip of the "George" I mentioned earlier. If you turn left from the foyer they have fancy bottled waters, giant prawns, ceviche and all the hard liquor and mixes. I don't go near that as it all tastes the same to me.
If you are ever out this way let us know. We will play tour guide. We love that! I have been to TN and KY and they are fabulous! I want to go back with DH some day! The people there were so nice and the country was gorgeous. I'd love to live there but I think if I get too far from the ocean I might shrival up and die. I only visit inland. He he he.
The wineries near my house (I think there are 60 but these are only a few that I really like) are Benzinger (they are the best and they are great people), Cline, Cohn, Chateau St Jean, Ravenswood (kick you in the teeth reds), Sebastiani and too many others for me to mention.
Cool thing is - we also make famous cheese and sourdough. Really, I never have to leave!
OK Yeah I'm coming to live with you or at least visiting for your spring tasting! I've never been to CA.
I went to a type of boarding high school and twice a year they hosted a wine tasting as a fund raiser. The resident students had to "help" which really meant steal the almost empty bottle left behind! I wish I'd had the smarts to write down the ones I really liked, but oh well! I'll never forget filling water pitchers and emptying spittoons!
They'd have one ballet studio on each floor set up with vendors and food from local restaurants set up. Three floors of awesome! The best part was watching the people stumble down the stairs! I think the idea was to get all the parents and local people super blitzed and then ask them to write checks to the school!
I wish I could get DH to apprieciate wine as much as I do. He just drinks it and says "good" or "bad." The guy will fill finish a bottle that was left open in the back of the fridge two weeks prior!
Right now there are two very sad bottles in my house. Ecco Domani Merlot and Beachaven (the local one) Golden Rose. Golden Rose is made from concord grapes and is really fun.
I've had a few 1/2 glasses here and there but I feel bad opening a bottle and watching it possibly go to waste. My last glass that I had was Golan Moscato. I definitely recommend it for a light summery dessert wine.
When I started I liked sweet wine a lot more than I do now. A touch of Moscato is good now and then. I am on / was on a sauv. blanc kick or anything in the light, crisp category. I am not normally a chard. fan but some that aren't oaky or buttery are good for me.
I have found very very few pinots that I like. I am a zin. fan. There is a place up the road, St Francis Winery, and they have an old vine zin that is great. The 99 was one of the all time best wines I've had. I also like most cabs.
I worked weddings for an upscale restaurant for 3 years recently and we got to take home the half open bottles at the end of the night. That was nice!
We'd totally sneak you in to the tasting. We could say you were an employee! (It is a tasting only for restaurants but I don't work there and I go every year.) Out back there is a BBQ where they grill bacon wrapped figs on the grill, mini burgers with fancy dressings and piles and piles of fruit tarts and such. Last time I went I sat outside and ate most of the time.
I actually think it is funner to go to the wineries. Another thing we love is to go to restaurants that do "flights". At Willies Wine Bar you get 3 - 2 oz pours of different wines. You might get a Syrah and 2 pinots or a cab or something. Then you can ask them to pair cheeses with the wines and they bring you three cheeses. Since DH is lactose intollerant we go backwards and pick 3 goat or sheep cheeses and then ask them to find the wine. The cheeses come out with two different crackers, truffled honey and a fig onion marmalade.
OK - this conversation is killing me. It sounds so good and I had a Costco chicken bake for dinner.
I was about to say the same thing! All this food is sounding way to good!
I also started with the sweet wines and now like the drier ones. The drier, the better! Every once in a while I'll have something on the sweeter side. I think DH would rather have a sweet wine so we tend to have a lot of them. He has mentioned that he really likes one from our local winery (Beachaven) that is made from Muscadine grapes.
I found that I prefer full bodied wines. I think because it reminds me more of a juice rather than water. I'm the same way with milk, too. I can't handle skim milk!
Alrighty, I should head to bed before I go crazy from cravings! It's been fun talking wines!