JCC Vino Appreciation and Recommendation Thread

I had a port only once. I recall it being reminiscent of chocolate, thick and sweet. Wife didn't like it at all, and I honestly can't imagine drinking it regularly.

 

Meeker used to have their tasting room in a giant teepee, back in the day. Wonder if it's still there?

 

Tonight's wine:


Francis Coppola's Diamond Red Blend (California) -- about $20/bottle
Blend: 27% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 20% Petite Sirah, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot

My wife picked this up earlier today (the label must have attracted her somehow, though she's never seen any of the Godfather movies ). I've never tried any of the Coppola wines, though I've had the Diamond Merlot recommended to me. Some say that you're mostly paying for the name with these wines, but the positive word-of-mouth feedback I've heard overshadows the small criticisms I've come upon. Given the specific blend of grapes, I'm hoping for some nice spice notes and expecting that spice to be over an undercurrent of mild fruit/sweetness.

Seeing as how the sun's still up, though, the mood to open the bottle hasn't yet struck me, so I'm left pondering on the potential flavor(s) for the time being.

Also added to our wine rack this week:

Coppola Diamond Collection Claret: 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, and 3% Cabernet Franc (California)
About $20

The label itself inspires curiosity , and the specific blend promises some rich, full flavors. I'll probably use the il Decantino here, but I'm assuming that the Vinturi aerator might have an undesirable result with this particular wine. Nonetheless, I'll sample it with and without the Vinturi and eventually post my observations and recommendations.

 

Also new this week:


At close to $20, it's the most expensive wine-key I've ever bought...but so far pretty impressive. I don't know how/why I never bothered with a double-hinged wine key before. Five turns with the worm, one tug on the first lever, a second tug on the next lever, and BAM! The cork is removed with no fuss whatsoever. Those of you who've opened older/aged wines might have had similar experiences as I have with the cork insisting on disintegrating before you can fully remove it from the bottle. I've had this happen several times with older Italian wines.

But no more! This wine key promises very minimal fuss with the cork (giving you and the cork less opportunity to quickly develop a desperate conflict). I've put it to good use on a bottle of Old Vine Zinfandel (Gnarly Head, about $10 bottle and seriously benefits from the Il decantino decanter) and Sequoia Grove Cabernet (about $40-50--and surprisingly worth it as it's fairly well made Cab, imo). Each time, the cork slid right out of the bottle with flawless grace. Excellent wine key.

 

Alright, I'm no sommelier but my wife and I enjoy reds like pinot noirs and chiantis. Favorite brands are Menage A Trois (Californian), Louis Jadot and Saurus (Argentinean). I loved Apothic Red although she didn't and well probably buy another bottle just for little ol' me. I'm not too fond of overly dry wines and overly sweet ones like some roses

Now here's the question: we usually don't have that many visitors and when we open a bottle it's rare that we finish it. I have plastic corks that with which I seal whatever's left in the bottle and then put the bottle in the fridge, but this feels barbaric. Which is the better way to preserve that little bit of wine and how long should it keep before it's had to much breath to it?

 

You can get a wine pump to pull the air out of the bottle - or there are canisters to sparge the ullage with CO2. It'll last weeks if you do either of those things.



http://www.thefind.com/kitchen/info-private-preserve-wine

 

Yeah, that looks like the cork I use. Not sure if the pump still works, though.

 

Go by genuine taste and not being concerned as to whether it's the "correct" way or not. The wine snobs in this thread are full of such crap. As long as the wine hasn't been sitting out in the open or it's genuinely spoiled as a food product goes, it's fine. It's an alcoholic beverage just like anything else.


edit: And to justify my cruel honesty, I'm a pretty familiar with a good portion of the wines in this thread and I know when you're buying a $50 bottle and a $5 bottle, and the majority fall in the 5-10 $ range. Talking about letting your cheap wines breathe and spoiling them is such crap. It's cheap wine, it was spoiled to begin with.

 

There's a good Jadot my parents use as an all-purpose white for parties which I'll post when I'm somewhere I can post pictures.

I put whites back in the fridge and reds I leave out as long as it's not in direct sun; though I have a wine refridgerator for all prior to opening.

Also, I can post some of my favorites up in here, but if you have a specific price range I can prioritize in that zone (typically I don't spend more than $30 on a normal range bottle but I sometimes do go up)...

 

I'm not really much of a wine snob anyway, but sometimes a cheaper wine will do the job. I remember guzzling the Manischewitz when I was a tyke and loved the my favorite wine taste and good buzz it gave me.

But my absolute favorite "wine" was the Moet Chandon bubbly I had at my wedding. We bought crates of the stuff and everyone went nuts with it. Good times.

 

I swear on my G-d if you invoke Manischewitz again for anything other than "cheap synagogue wine" I will end you!

That stuff's terrible!!!

 

Got around to enjoying this with a friend tonight. Its flavor profile was essentially as I predicted, a mildly spicy wine with a fruity sweet finish. We paired it with a "Mediterranean" pizza (for no particular reason) and it worked well enough.

Decent wine, but whether or not it's worth the $20 price tag remains a grey area, as I've not experienced more enjoyment from this wine than, say, a Menage a Trois red blend (almost half the price as this). Used the il Decantino decanter from the get go, so there's no before and after tasting observations.

Didn't use the Vinturi aerator, however, as my son accidentally knocked the filter screen out of the device and it went missing. Ordered a new set of filter screens

No price range. Just post what you like. A good wine is a good wine, price be damned. I've had very enjoyable wines at $10 a bottle and merely decent wines at $20 a bottle. Like you, rarely do I go beyond $30 a bottle (as I've found the il Decantino can make some of those $10 bottles taste quite wonderful). On occasion we splurge on more expensive bottles.


Regarding your wine refrigerator...more information? You purchased a refrigeration unit dedicated to wines? You said you keep all your bottles in there before opening, so I assume you're storing your whites and reds at the same temperature. If that assumption is indeed true, what's your procedure for serving an unopened bottle of red that's been stored in said refrigeration unit? Do you just pour the bottle into a decanter and just wait for it to reach room/an acceptable temperature?

I ask because I've seen several methods for bringing chilled reds to drinkable temperatures, but haven't really experimented with any. I just keep all my reds on my wine rack, so they're always at room temp.


On the topic of storage, my wife opened a bottle of Gnarly Head merlot (around $10 and not one that I particularly cared for) and re-inserted the cork and tried to keep it for a few days to a week. Gnarly Head is a somewhat cheap wine, so the undesired effects of oxidization happened quite rapidly. Against my advice, she tried a glass after about 5 days and was rewarded with a mouthful of sour vinegar.

 

Coppola wine is on average $7 a bottle, I'd suggest looking for it in different stores in the future. $20 is outrageous.

 

I have two main methodologies of serving reds out of the wine fridge:

1) If I'm lazy, I use this: http://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-Aero-Full-Bottle-Aerator/dp/B00ACAFITG

I usually then do try and wait a bit before drinking but it sits out in the glass or bottle.

2) If I'm doing a dinner I use a decanter (it's lead crystal swiped from my grandparents' estate, so I feel judged!).

I still have the fridge manual at home somewhere, I'll post it up for you when I remember (and I'm home). It's basically probably not more than $150-200 and stores probably 16-20 bottles?

EDIT: SLG, that's normally true but this is like the Coppola "top shelf" stuff. Like the difference between Popov and Grey Goose.

EDIT2: I think I've had the wine fridge like 10 years, so there are a) almost certainly newer technologies on the market but b) I've gotten my money's worth.

 

What retailer are you buying from? I've not seen any of the Coppola Diamond Collection wines for under $18.

The only retailer I've seen selling them for cheaper was Totalwine.com (and then you're paying extra for shipping and handling).

The other Coppola lines sell for less, yes, and even the Diamond Merlot can retail for $15-20, but the rest of the Diamond Collection (everywhere I've seen it, anyway) retails for about $20.

 

That sounds like a pretty nice size fridge. Regardign your Brookstone aerator, how do you think it compares with the Vinturi aerator? They both claim to do the same thing, but the reviews seem to suggest that the Vinturi boasts less fuss.

You can't correct her! She's "cruelly honest" about her familiarity with a "good portion" of these wines!

 

Well, I admit it's been years since I've had the stuff. Perhaps now it might make me sick but, again, it did the trick back then as far as getting a good buzz on.

 

Oh I'm sorry Valyn and DP, I forgot that only you know about wine! Please, please go ahead and tell us more about your high quality goods that make such a statement of your yuppy status! Don't mind us in CA who buy our goods for much much less and have contrary opinions to yours! I know my dollar isn't as good as yours, and when I call **** when I smell it it's only because of my poor misinformed upbringing. I can't afford a $20 wine opener right now, but hopefully my $2 3 year old one will do the job to open all these highly overpriced "top shelf" wines that I'm about to pick up from "totalwine.com"!

 

Thunderbird is the highest quality wine out there.

 

Please spare me the righteous indignation. You know that's not what I'm talking about. But for Coppola wine, that's what they consider their top-shelf stuff. Even on wine. If you can get it cheaper at a place like totalwine.com -- great. I can't get that here because my state is lame, so it's about $20 (really, $18.99) but the cheaper stuff in the Coppola range is cheaper.

I'm sure if I owned a car and could get to a wholesaler I might get your cheap-ass California prices.

 

If I lived in Michigan, would I be granted some mystical and extensive knowledge about American car manufacturing, hopefully accompanied with as elaborate an understanding and appreciation of cars as, say, Ender, or the hosts of Top Gear?

At any rate, this thread is meant to serve as a resource for those JCers interested in wines (whether they be cheaper vintages or Opus One). It's a thread for users to discuss and recommend various vintages and varietals, not to judge others for their particular tastes in wine.

SLG: No one else has offered judgments or criticisms about anyone else's wine preferences except you. If you can't view this thread without a burning need to troll it and criticize others of enjoying vintages that cost more than $10 a bottle, I offer a simple solution: don't view the thread.

 

Back on the subject of roses on the first page, I wasn't a fan. Then I went to a dinner here specifically on summer fare with roses from Provence which was hugely eye-opening. I'm now a fan, especially in summer months.

EDIT: I also tried a rose champagne which I hated and another one which was pretty tasty. I couldn't remember those if I tried.

 

As I must have said before, I'm by no means a true fan of roses, but that Miraval was actually quite enjoyable. As I understand it, the industry has been gradually phasing out white zinfandels in favor of roses. It would seem that dry fruitiness has somehow become more popular than sweet fruitiness. Either way, both work well on a hot summer day. I imagine that I, like the industry at large, would side with the rose over the white zin, as I typically detect more engaging complexity from the former.