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KayJay1971

Any red wine loving geeks out there?

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I have been getting more into red wine over beer lately. When I go on a beer drinking binge I tend to get the gout. I can drink red wine until the cows come home with no adverse effects other than the whole blacking out thing. Anywho, what are some of your favorites? I recently bought a wine fridge ad have some good stuff in it. Looking for good table wines as well as some higher end bottles for special occasions and to open with friends to make them jealous. TIA. 

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borolo

nebbiolo

brunello

primitivo

nero d avola

amarone

 

 

Bordeaux blends

single vineyard burgundy

 

california cab and merlot

pinot from alexander valley/russian river

 

pinot from the northwest

 

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everything really depends upon your preferences.

you can find great table wines from almost any major region

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I would spend 10-20 on table wines and around 50 for a nice bottle. I tend to like Cabernet Sauvignon and red blends. Some Zinfandels are good too. I guess I would like to know what you all drink or have drank before. 

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13 minutes ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

Reds generally don’t need a fridge. How much do you want to spend per bottle? Dryer or sweeter?

Where I live it can get pretty warm. We keep the fridge set at 58-60 degrees so it’s not chilling the wine. Just more so keeping a consistent temp. I tend to like more dry wines. There is a wine region not far from where I live ( I live in a wine region as well) that tends to have sweeter wines. Many of them remind me of prunes which is not my favorite. 

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1 minute ago, KayJay1971 said:

Where I live it can get pretty warm. We keep the fridge set at 58-60 degrees so it’s not chilling the wine. Just more so keeping a consistent temp. I tend to like more dry wines. There is a wine region not far from where I live ( I live in a wine region as well) that tends to have sweeter wines. Many of them remind me of prunes which is not my favorite. 

I drink Cabs. I like Decoy, Sterling, Chateau St. Michelle. Would like to see if Conundrum from the same people who make Caymus is any good. 

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5 minutes ago, KayJay1971 said:

Where I live it can get pretty warm. We keep the fridge set at 58-60 degrees so it’s not chilling the wine. Just more so keeping a consistent temp. I tend to like more dry wines. There is a wine region not far from where I live ( I live in a wine region as well) that tends to have sweeter wines. Many of them remind me of prunes which is not my favorite.

I don't love the wines from livermore.

for the bolded it is worth noting that as wine ages it takes on notes of dried fruit (vs fresh).  Not sure if it is the prunes you dislike or dried fruit.  I like aged wines so seek them out.

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12 minutes ago, Bier Meister said:

I don't love the wines from livermore.

for the bolded it is worth noting that as wine ages it takes on notes of dried fruit (vs fresh).  Not sure if it is the prunes you dislike or dried fruit.  I like aged wines so seek them out.

I was referring to Lodi wines being sweeter. I live in Livermore and have tried a few dozen places. I like Ruby Hill, Rubino estates, Steven Kent, and Boaventura.

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23 minutes ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

I drink Cabs. I like Decoy, Sterling, Chateau St. Michelle. Would like to see if Conundrum from the same people who make Caymus is any good. 

I have had Decoy and Chateau St. Michelle. I will check into the others. Thanks. 

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9 minutes ago, KayJay1971 said:

I was referring to Lodi wines being sweeter. I live in Livermore and have tried a few dozen places. I like Ruby Hill, Rubino estates, Steven Kent, and Boaventura.

I am almost always going to find wines i like from different areas, but can be drawn or deterred based on regional tendencies. I also enjoy dessert wines (and other sweeter varieties), but need them with food to tame sugars.

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General traits

 

This might help you hone in what you enjoy.  Keep in mind terroir is going to impact the wines so a cab from california is different from a cab from bordeaux, australia, washington, etc...and even further...cab from specific parts of california are different based on winemaking technique, region, and climate

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10 minutes ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

I have started to use the Vivino app. Seems to be decent in a pinch

I use that as well. I like the option to keep your wines in your “cellar”. I’ve started adding things to my wish list as well. 

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Can’t go wrong with French wines. Even their bad ones are decent.
As far as recommendations, I’d have to go look and I’m too lazy right now, so you’re SOL...

Left bank Bordeaux and Burgundy are excellent choices. And for a good cheap French wine, Trader Joe’s has a GSM blend that is awesome-I believe it’s called Pontificis. 
 

Not huge on California wine, but Coppola Diamond collection has a good price point and doesn’t taste like a California wine to me. Their Cab is always in my rotation and the new Pinot Noir (in the netting) is also a must try. The Red blend and Malbec are good, too.

Also, Wine Folly is a good site if you want to learn more about wine.

 

 

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Why don't you just wake me up in the desert with the light and heat of 1000 suns by smashing me in the face with a hammer until about an afternoon later.

That's a redwine hangover for me.  Fockoff... 😠

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I mentioned in another thread I am not a big wine drinker but Caymus was awesome- like butter. PFB also mentioned it in this thread. Check it out. 

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I have had Caymus on a few occasions. We get to hang out with a couple that are members at places like Chappelet, Duckhorn, and Rombaur. Got to tag along a few times. Duckhorn is beautiful. 

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Decoy is an offshoot of duck horn.  
 

if caymus is our price point, and you want to stay with California cab... 

 

silver oak

stags leap 

Joseph phelps

far niente

shafer

Pahlmeyer

nickel & nickel

a value blend compared to these is the prisoner from Orin swift

odette

Opus

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

I drink Cabs. I like Decoy, Sterling, Chateau St. Michelle. Would like to see if Conundrum from the same people who make Caymus is any good. 

I have 2 wine fridges, one for the nice stuff and one for table wines. I lean California and my GF is more into the Italian wines.

For a nice inexpensive wine, E. GUIGAL Cotes Du Rhone. Easy to drink and consistent as hell.

On the flip side, my GF has about a dozen wines she is putting on hold for a couple years and I have a bunch of Caymus Napa Cabs and Silver Oaks that I just love. Those are pricier though for sure. But holy cow are they good.

I went through a phase of drinking the high end stuff regularly and then thought about it. It is hard to justify spending that kind of money on a bottle (over $70) on a regular basis unless you have $10 million in the bank doing nothing. I try  not to buy wine necessary for a special occasion, but rather to have around when the time arises. Special occasions don't always live up to what you expect them to be, but, often time the real special occasions happen in the moment. And that is why it's nice to have the good ones on hand.

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It's hard to recommend wines because everyone's taste is different.   I tend to favor drier reds, not a fan of the sweet stuff.

What I've done is looked up wine enthusiast or another wine ranking mag, picked out a few that seemed to do well in their ratings, usually with a price point of around $15.  Then I will head to my local wine shop and see if I can find them.  Have had some great success with that.

But that being said...for a very solid table cabernet, the Costco one in the 1.75ML bottle is really good.  In Michigan I think it's $7.99.

Wine doesn't need to be expensive to be good.

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8 hours ago, Bier Meister said:

Decoy is an offshoot of duck horn.  
 

if caymus is our price point, and you want to stay with California cab... 

 

silver oak

stags leap 

Joseph phelps

far niente

shafer

Pahlmeyer

nickel & nickel

a value blend compared to these is the prisoner from Orin swift

odette

Opus

 

 

 

Well, yeah those are good, but above he said more like $20 for everyday, $50 for special.

Wife and I like bold dry red wines.  Occasionally we'll stock up at Total Wine and More.  We look for those types of wines, with 90+ ratings or a recommendation from the staff, and a decent price point (typically $20 or less, we may get a bottle or two a little bit more).  Can't go wrong.  Just looked in our wine fridge, the stock is low but we have Chateau St. Michelle and Gnarly Head.  There are a bunch we tend to get from the grocery store (Fry's, or Kroger on the east coast tends to have a large selection) but I'm drawing a blank.

We keep a few nicer bottles for special occasions.  While in Napa 1.5 years ago (met Bier, he hooked us up with a Silver Oak tour, good times!) we joined the Hall wine club which sends a few bottles each quarter.  Still have a Silver Oak, Del Dotto, and Whitehall (all cabs) from that trip.

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you can find some value for cab in freemark abbey and markham

for a table zin= 7 deadly zins

 

but i think we find many more good, lower priced wine from europe, south america, and australia

just note that old world wines (europe) are more earth forward, while new world (pretty much everywhere else) are more fruit forward.

if you have a bevmo near you grab a bottle of bordeaux cab and a californian ($10-15 each).  drink them side by side with some cheese and crackers and the differentiation will be apparent. 

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Just had a very nice Caymus Cab with a prime filet at home.

I also bought a Conundrum to try out another day. It was $23 a bottle, so a little more than I like to spend for a regular wine.

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On 2/12/2020 at 5:20 PM, KayJay1971 said:

I was referring to Lodi wines being sweeter. I live in Livermore and have tried a few dozen places. I like Ruby Hill, Rubino estates, Steven Kent, and Boaventura.

We just bought 4 bottles of Freakshow from Lodi; two zins and two red blends.  We've liked all of their stuff in the past and probably have had these but I don't recall.  Retails for $20 at our grocery store but they had a few sales stacked up so it was $12.50/bottle.

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14 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

We just bought 4 bottles of Freakshow from Lodi; two zins and two red blends.  We've liked all of their stuff in the past and probably have had these but I don't recall.  Retails for $20 at our grocery store but they had a few sales stacked up so it was $12.50/bottle.

It is $14 for a Freakshow Cab. I think we will give that a try. 👍

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Had a DAMN good Pinot last night at the French restaurant we went to. I love a good red

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30 minutes ago, Djgb13 said:

Had a DAMN good Pinot last night at the French restaurant we went to. I love a good red

That doesn’t really tell us much. Who was the vintner?

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On 2/12/2020 at 10:20 PM, mmmmm...beer said:

Why don't you just wake me up in the desert with the light and heat of 1000 suns by smashing me in the face with a hammer until about an afternoon later.

That's a redwine hangover for me.  Fockoff... 😠

Reading through the thread had me wanting to get into red wine for dinner. That hangover comment squashed that thought quickly :wall:

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33 minutes ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

That doesn’t really tell us much. Who was the vintner?

ar-16.. He knows his stuff 

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1 hour ago, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

That doesn’t really tell us much. Who was the vintner?

Maison Louis Latour 

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Loving it right now actually.

Cheap Chianti is just right after a full day of coaching youth basketball. 

My 12 yr old led his team to an undefeated regular season and 1st place in the the tourney.

It’s great seeing these kids play so well as a team   

 

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4 hours ago, jerryskids said:

We just bought 4 bottles of Freakshow from Lodi; two zins and two red blends.  We've liked all of their stuff in the past and probably have had these but I don't recall.  Retails for $20 at our grocery store but they had a few sales stacked up so it was $12.50/bottle.

Michael David wines are one of the better wines out of Lodi. I have had the Freakshow Cab and enjoyed it. 

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On 2/12/2020 at 6:28 PM, KayJay1971 said:

I have been getting more into red wine over beer lately. When I go on a beer drinking binge I tend to get the gout. I can drink red wine until the cows come home with no adverse effects other than the whole blacking out thing. Anywho, what are some of your favorites? I recently bought a wine fridge ad have some good stuff in it. Looking for good table wines as well as some higher end bottles for special occasions and to open with friends to make them jealous. TIA. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/16/business/grape-surplus-cheap-wine-trnd/index.html

Grape surplus ...low prices forecast to be 5 yr lows

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On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 3:57 PM, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

I drink Cabs. I like Decoy, Sterling, Chateau St. Michelle. Would like to see if Conundrum from the same people who make Caymus is any good. 

Had a bottle of Conundrum this last weekend and I really enjoyed it.

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Just now, KayJay1971 said:

Had a bottle of Conundrum this last weekend and I really enjoyed it.

I bought a bottle on Saturday when I bought a Caymus.  I will be giving it a shot.  They had a good sale on Hess Select Cab, which is another that I like drinking.  

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