Any Wine Connoisseurs on GAF?

Plies

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Thought it would be kind of cool to see what everyone likes as far as different wines go. I am always trying new bottles and impulse buy if they have cool-looking labels or funny names.

I am by no means an expert however I do enjoy a nice glass every once in a while and am always looking for those great wines that do not cost a lot.

That being said...

If you like Olive Garden they have a fantastic house wine. I prefer their red over the others, its called Principato red. Its not very expensive and the taste is awesome. The only problem is if you want to buy a bottle and go you have to let them open it at the restaurant.

Macaroni Grill too has a great house wine, I prefer their chianti. What is nice about Macaroni Grill wines is they are available at liquor stores and its really cheap. I think its about $8 for 1.5 liters.


Anyway, please share your experiences especially if you have found great bargains because I love trying new wines and especially now that its getting hotter a nice glass is a good way to wind down a little!
 
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I drink a lot by of it but wouldn't call myself a connoisseur!

I drink mostly Australian wines (being Australian).

Enjoy NZ (Central Otago and Marlborough) Pinot Noir, South Australian (McLaren Vale and Coonawarra) Shiraz and West Australian (Margaret River) Chardonnay.
 
Thought it would be kind of cool to see what everyone likes as far as different wines go. I am always trying new bottles and impulse buy if they have cool-looking labels or funny names.

I am by no means an expert however I do enjoy a nice glass every once in a while and am always looking for those great wines that do not cost a lot.

That being said...

If you like Olive Garden they have a fantastic house wine. I prefer their red over the others, its called Principato red. Its not very expensive and the taste is awesome. The only problem is if you want to buy a bottle and go you have to let them open it at the restaurant.

Macaroni Grill too has a great house wine, I prefer their chianti. What is nice about Macaroni Grill wines is they are available at liquor stores and its really cheap. I think its about $8 for 1.5 liters.


Anyway, please share your experiences especially if you have found great bargains because I love trying new wines and especially now that its getting hotter a nice glass is a good way to wind down a little!
Where about in the states are you? I'll see if I can find any good value wines I know of near you
 
I like Malbecs. Real strong mouth feel. There are some Napa zinfandels that are pretty good, most everything from Napa is good.

For whites, I like gewurztraminer, though its pretty rare that I ask for a white these days.
 
Where about in the states are you? I'll see if I can find any good value wines I know of near you
Southern California.

though its pretty rare that I ask for a white these days.

I'm eating more fish and chicken dishes these days, so my consumption of white wines has seen a significant increase.
And I love using white wine to make delectable pan sauces as well.



Gordon Ramsay Food GIF by Masterchef


If you want a dry white, go with a chardonnay or sauvignon blanc. Pinot grigio and riesling are generally sweeter and fruitier. It all depends on the dish.
 
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Sake...lots and lots of sake.

My wife and I have been to several sake breweries in Japan (before we had kids, our vacations to Japan revolved around seeing the family, going to onsens, and hitting whatever breweries were in the area.)

Sake here is so damn expensive because of taxes. A $50 is like around $20 there. Before 9/11, my wife and I would bring a carry on full of bottles of sake. Now we can only bring back 3 bottles each. =/

I really don't care for "regular" (meaning grapes) but I like sake probably better than any other alcohol besides scotch.
 
Do like a nice drop of red. Normally a claret (Bordeaux) around the £10 to £15 a bottle if its just a weekend.

Christmas is usually Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Nuits-Saint-Georges - depending on cost for either.
 
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Not a connoisseur, but I enjoy my bottles of wine. Especially the ones that are quite fun. One of my favourites is this cheap Californian one:

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Wonderful tastes that I enjoy without food.
 
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Alcohol is poison, I quit drinking a long time ago. But when I was living in Barcelona, I always bought this piece of shit solely because of the name and label:

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Wine is nice, wine IS culture since it's also one of the oldest/most ancient drinks, BUT, the above gif encapsulates perfectly why I hate this culture and especially cunts like these - it's more about showing off and trying to show how sophisticated you are than actually enjoying the product.

ALL the people I know personally are like that - and it makes it 10x worse since this is a small town where ignorance reigns supreme with 99% of people not having any hobbies/any interests whatsoever besides their friggin spoiled kids and work, but sure enough, every weekend everyone turns into a fucking sommelier 'cause of the "sophistication ®".

Personally, since moving to the south of Italy, I've been enjoying lots both the Primitivo and Negramaro varieties.

TLDNR: wine is a nice commodity to have but fuck everything else around it.
 
I cant get into wine. I can get into whisky but wine just is not nice to me. I could tolerate a nice rose on the promise of sexy time, but the rest nah. It's like posh cider.

Plus drinking wine from our backgrounds? Class traitors right now
 
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I photo the wines I really like, so these are some of the best I've had, the very best would be the 98 Urbina, we had it paired with one of our courses at a Michelin restaurant, it was one of the nicest reds I've ever had so i asked the waiter to bring me the bottle to photograph and can I fuck find it for sale anywhere :-(

Fog Mountain was a really nice red we had just last night down at our local wine + cheese place, they had a great curated section at the back, you get a card, load it with money and can then can sample upto 20 different bottles, cool wee spot if you like your wines
 
Wine is nice, wine IS culture since it's also one of the oldest/most ancient drinks, BUT, the above gif encapsulates perfectly why I hate this culture and especially cunts like these - it's more about showing off and trying to show how sophisticated you are than actually enjoying the product.

ALL the people I know personally are like that - and it makes it 10x worse since this is a small town where ignorance reigns supreme with 99% of people not having any hobbies/any interests whatsoever besides their friggin spoiled kids and work, but sure enough, every weekend everyone turns into a fucking sommelier 'cause of the "sophistication ®".

Personally, since moving to the south of Italy, I've been enjoying lots both the Primitivo and Negramaro varieties.

TLDNR: wine is a nice commodity to have but fuck everything else around it.

Yeah this guy is a giant cunt. His sons are also insufferable. I agree with the culture. My old friend group turned into wine lovers but also turned in a bunch of 'juppen' as we call them.
 
I drink a lot by of it but wouldn't call myself a connoisseur!

I drink mostly Australian wines (being Australian).

Enjoy NZ (Central Otago and Marlborough) Pinot Noir, South Australian (McLaren Vale and Coonawarra) Shiraz and West Australian (Margaret River) Chardonnay.

Central Otago is fantastic. Rippon - Emma's Block and Felton Road - Block 5 are top of the world pinot noirs at a very decent price. Also from New Zealand, Kumeu River - Mate's Vineyard wins top Burgundy chardonnays at a fraction of the price.

Another under rated high quality value region is Chile. Their top tier wines - Clos Apalta, Neyen and Vik - are some of the best wines in the world, at reasonable prices.
 
I too hate the "culture" around wine snobbery, it's fucking stupid and above all else utterly cringe laughable when they swoosh it and come off with "wisps of mountain air settling on fresh turd" or some other shit, wine like whiskey or beer is to be enjoyed and shared, I take photos cause I can't remember shit so when I'm sent to get a bottle of red I'm at least not going in blind, personally I only really enjoy wine when paired with a steak or maybe a midweek movie, it's not something I can just drink 2 bottles off to get hammered, cold beers will always be my choice of drink
 
Central Otago is fantastic. Rippon - Emma's Block and Felton Road - Block 5 are top of the world pinot noirs at a very decent price. Also from New Zealand, Kumeu River - Mate's Vineyard wins top Burgundy chardonnays at a fraction of the price.

Another under rated high quality value region is Chile. Their top tier wines - Clos Apalta, Neyen and Vik - are some of the best wines in the world, at reasonable prices.
They look very nice indeed. Will keep an eye out!

I've recently joined up at a wine club a local deli run near to me. The last one they featured South African wines, really enjoyed the Pinotage which is a variety I hadn't tried before. The next one is focusing on Argentinian wines, will post if there's anything of note.
 
Southern California.



I'm eating more fish and chicken dishes these days, so my consumption of white wines has seen a significant increase.
And I love using white wine to make delectable pan sauces as well.



Gordon Ramsay Food GIF by Masterchef


If you want a dry white, go with a chardonnay or sauvignon blanc. Pinot grigio and riesling are generally sweeter and fruitier. It all depends on the dish.
If you like a Sauvignon Blanc try a Pouilly-Fume. Doesn't have to be this particular one, but a cut above the standard SB wines you get off the shelf.

qKdGntSlYTA8VFdC.png
 
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Yes. Just a sip and I can tell you if it's white or red.

Not really a connoisseur. I prefer red wines; most white wines will make my stomach burn, but those that don't are invariably excellent (like the Lunae vermentino).

I can tell a good wine from a bad one. I've tasted some outstanding wines here and there, that's one of the perks of being Italian. Last year my uncle brought a bottle of Sassicaia and it was as good as they say.
 
My wife got me into wine when we first started dating. I'm not a connoisseur but I've found that I generally prefer a glass of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or a red wine blend over beer or whiskey at this point.

We've both significantly reduced our drinking since having kids, though. Maybe 1-2 glasses a week. We went a few years drinking 2-3 glasses a night. We'd buy the Nighthawk box wines and drain them in just a few days. Now they last us a month or more.

We've got a $200+ bottle that we're saving for a "special occasion." No idea when we'll actually open it, but it will probably need to be soon because most wines peak a lot sooner than you think. My wife's cousin's husband died a few years ago, and when we went to visit her, she let us pick out whatever we wanted from his wine collection. We drank a 30+ year old red that was actually awful because it was so far past its peak. I always thought the older the better for wine, but that's only for very specific varietals. Most of them start to turn for the worse after just a few years of being corked.
 
Nope. Same goes for beer, it's just not for me. It tastes like absolute crap

And then you've got these clowns drinking 0% Heineken 'because they like the taste.' Seriously?"
 
I too hate the "culture" around wine snobbery, it's fucking stupid and above all else utterly cringe laughable when they swoosh it and come off with "wisps of mountain air settling on fresh turd" or some other shit, wine like whiskey or beer is to be enjoyed and shared, I take photos cause I can't remember shit so when I'm sent to get a bottle of red I'm at least not going in blind, personally I only really enjoy wine when paired with a steak or maybe a midweek movie, it's not something I can just drink 2 bottles off to get hammered, cold beers will always be my choice of drink

Fucking A brother, a good (medium rare steak) with a glass of good red wine is just...heavenly.

...not that I care that much though since I could accompany said steak with a good beer and it be (almost) the same, I'm a simple guy after all.

When it comes to the culture around fart- errrmmm - wine sniffing and general fucking snobbery though, I could slap these morons til kingdom come - my cousin, which is - generally speaking - a snobby, uncultured idiot, told me a couple of years ago - "this isn't that good" upon opening a 60 Eurodollars bottle to which I replied "just drink the damned thing you wanker" - obviously , he had to remind me that "I ToOk sOmMelLieR LeSsOnS ! " to which In turn i replied "only you care" which made him fucking furious (guy's ego is more fragile than a corn flake)😁

Fuck these people, fuck 'em in the ear, fuck 'em in the other ear®, fart sniffing smug assholes the lot of them, money really can't buy you class.
 
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I literally live 5 minutes away from Pauillac. Château Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Lafite-Rothschild, Pontet Canet, Haut-Batailley... Wine is a culture here.
 
High end friends. When I have people over it's minimum 3 bottles per person per evening so it adds up quickly.
You do realise the quality from a $5 bottle of Walmart Special to a nice $30 Red is huge, but from a $30 to $100 bottle is negligible if even noticeable, my neighbours are right into it with the whole refrigerated setup consisting of loads of some really nice and some really expensive wines and even they admit the expensive ones are simply a clout bottle and just for show, I've tasted a few in the £200+ range and honestly none of them came close to that Urbina tbh, they where all lovely but ain't nobody telling the difference between that and £20/30 bottle
 
You do realise the quality from a $5 bottle of Walmart Special to a nice $30 Red is huge, but from a $30 to $100 bottle is negligible if even noticeable, my neighbours are right into it with the whole refrigerated setup consisting of loads of some really nice and some really expensive wines and even they admit the expensive ones are simply a clout bottle and just for show, I've tasted a few in the £200+ range and honestly none of them came close to that Urbina tbh, they where all lovely but ain't nobody telling the difference between that and £20/30 bottle
Just champagne for a small group can easily be over 1k$ a night. And wine pairing is a thing too. You just don't drink wine on it's own (I do but it's alcholism from my part).
 
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Drinking that shit gives me too wile a hangover and puts the wife outa action for days, the last time we had a champagne bender was at a wedding in the Hôtel de Crillon Paris, I sunk god knows how many bottles (they where free thankfully) but oh boy did we pay for it the following day
 
And then you've got these clowns drinking 0% Heineken 'because they like the taste.' Seriously?"
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I do disagree about all beer and wine tasting like crap, but I'll never understand the 0% alcohol drinkers.
The alcohol is where the fun is.
You might as well drink kool-aid than to drink an alcohol-free beer.
 
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I do disagree about beer and wine tasting like crap, but I'll never understand the 0% alcohol drinkers. The alcohol is where the fun is.
You might as well drink kool-aid than to drink an alcohol-free beer.
Dude, I have this co-worker who cracks open a 0% beer during our lunch walks on Thursdays or Fridays just to get a head start on the weekend. And honestly, with a name like Keimpe, that says everything
 
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I do disagree about all beer and wine tasting like crap, but I'll never understand the 0% alcohol drinkers.
The alcohol is where the fun is.
You might as well drink kool-aid than to drink an alcohol-free beer.
I do drink 0% Heineken during the week.
 
Not a connoisseur but damn do I love a spot of purple.

My regular value go-to's are:
Cline Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2021:
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Weinert Carrascal 2021:
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Campolieti Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore 2022:
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Cune Gran Reserva 2018:
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Villa Antinori 2022:
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Fenocchio Langhe Nebbiolo 2022

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Nicer occasions:
Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino 2020:
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Borgogno No Name 2022

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Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino 2019:
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Special occasions:
Banfi Brunello di Montalcino 2019:
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Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2018:
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