Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with wine

Napa tips?

drpynchon — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:38:58 -0800

Help me plan my romantic trip to Napa Valley. So I managed to book several days in wine country and I was hoping for any advice on making the best of our time there on a couple's getaway. We'll be there this week Monday-Thursday. Our main interests are of course food and drink, but we are hardly wine experts and I was hoping for tips on how best to sample what Napa has to offer. We will be in downtown Napa and we will have a car, though I'd definitely prefer to avoid its use if we'll be drinking wine. Is the wine train a bad idea? Are there any other fun things or interesting sights you'd recommend in the area?

For bonus points, I'd like to take the scenic coastal drive up to there from Los Angeles on the way in (I-5 coming back I guess). I'm willing to invest a whole day (starting early) for this, so if anyone has a good idea for stopping points (don't say San Francisco) or a route that won't run longer than about 10-12 hours I'd really appreciate it. Also let me know if PCH is just a bad idea to begin with.

Get our neighbors to the South drunk!

SassHat — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:56:58 -0800

Sending a gift of wine to Atlanta from Toronto - Atlanta companies that deliver wine/other solutions? One of my bosses wants to send some gift bottles of wine from Toronto to Georgia. It doesn't seem likely we will be able to buy here and ship across the border without huge hassles. Are there any companies within Atlanta that will deliver a gift basket of wine or just a bottle? Barring a local source, any national wine shipping companies that are legit and will ship to Georgia?

Liquor stores that ship to Georgia?

Fleebnork — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:03:08 -0800

Having difficulty finding an online liquor store that will ship to Georgia. My Google-fu has failed me. A few years ago, I ordered my wife some Porto Kopke Colheita, which is not sold in Georgia. Unfortunately, the store I ordered from no longer ships to Georgia. The way I understand it, stores outside Georgia can ship to Georgia if they have some sort of license to do so. Apparently the store's license lapsed or something to that effect.

All wines and spirits in Georgia must be approved and ordered through the state liquor board, so some smaller or rarer items just aren't sold here, and cannot be ordered from local stores unless the item is in the state-approved book.

I did some Google searching this afternoon, but it's very difficult to easily find online liquor stores that will ship to Georgia. I looked through several online retailers' shipping policies and even emailed a couple. No luck so far.

Help me, Hive Mind!

Wine & Fire?

bumbleintuit — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:46:01 -0800

Looking for an Austin-area restaurant or bar with an outdoor firepit. A decent winelist would be swell. Short and sweet. Thanks all.

thanksgiving minus turkey plus nyc

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:01:40 -0800

Will be in NYC for Thanksgiving: Will things be open? Anything cool going on? My mother and I are not too into the rituals of Thanksgiving. This year we're ditching the family dinners and, instead, meeting in New York City to take advantage of the city, our vacation time, and seeing each other (it's been about 6 months since we last hung out). We'll be there from Wednesday-Saturday.

We have specific thing on our agenda (eating at Momofuku, shopping at Desigual, going to MoMA for free on Friday, experiencing culture shock at Brighton Beach, going to bars with photobooths), but I'm wondering if most places will be open on Thanksgiving Day and/or if there is anything particularly fun happening then.

I'm pretty sure that neither of us is interested in watching the Thanksgiving parade (again, not too into Thanksgiving as a holiday), and this is her first time to NYC. We like art, walking around, food and wine, theatre, and various other funky things (Mom is hipper than I am...). But, neither of us wants to spend too much money, especially since we know that a fun time can be had in NYC without breaking the bank.

How do you solve a problem like syrah? (-grenache blend)?

fontophilic — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:18:32 -0800

What can I cook with a whole bottle of red wine? My dad bought me a bottle of red wine, that wasn't exactly what I like to drink, (not bad, just not my preference). I've got the whole bottle minus a few sips to cook with today. I'm getting stumped because I don't often cook with expensive ingredients and a recipe that lists "1 bottle of red wine" would normally be quickly passed over. I have braised beef and caramelized onions in red wine before and it was great, but I'd be interested in something different this time.

I'd say I'm fairly experienced in the kitchen. I can run to the store for anything, and have a few hours to cook. I've got just about every kitchen gadget imaginable minus crock-pot and food processor, but I do have a blender. Bonus points if your recipe includes parsnips, fresh basil, turkey drumsticks, or thai-asian condiments, all of which are in my fridge right now. Meat and non-meat recipes are welcome. Also, it does not need to be a main dish, it just needs to use up this wine. (sauces? marinades? dessert?)

Notes about the wine:

It was much lighter and less complex than the wine (malbec, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir), that I usually enjoy drinking. The bottle I've got is a grenache-syrah blend. I'd say it has almost no forward notes, a berry middle, and a light finish, with almost no tannins. If dry was a 0, and sweet was a 10, this would be a 6. It wasn't particularly expensive.

Help me cook hivemind!

Quiet Uncrowded London Sweet Spots

ElmerFishpaw — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:30:50 -0800

LondonFilter: Looking for a place almost exactly like Gordon's Wine Bar without the crowds. Somewhere in central London. I love Gordon's but Im looking for a wine bar or bistro that is quieter where I can have a conversation without having to yell. Subterranian, candlelit, intimate-feeling, good food and wine. Any suggestions?

I'm glad to accept your personal Central London Secret Spots- quiet, dark, small, hidden, bars, pubs, bistros that arent crowded at night.

How do you market and sell wine?

compound eye — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:49:55 -0800

my parents are in danger of losing their farm, because they aren't selling any wine. People say the wine is great but the marketing and name are ugly and cheap. My brother and I need to learn about pinot noir wines and the wine industry quickly to see if we can help. I don't really drink very often, and really know bugger all about wine. I grew up on farm in south gippsland, victoria, australia.
After I left home 20 years ago my parents began growing pinot noir grapes establishing and maintaining the winery has been very expensive.
It has been a difficult journey for them and a massive drain on their finances.

Now after 20 years of trying they are finally producing
what are said by others to be really great wines.
Oddly, I think this has been the final straw,
that they are producing great wine and still the winery is not profitable
and they are talking about selling up.

Why isn't the wine selling?
Marketing has been handled by a friend who is doing a lacklustre job.
It's only for sale in one restaurant (who love it), but it has a silly name with an embarrassing label.
It's not selling because it isn't for sale anywhere.

A wine maker and the restaurant owner have told us one batch should be selling for over $50, and the other one for a bit under, but the label and name are so bad that it makes it look like a supermarket chain's generic brand.

There is a cellar full of unlabeled wine.
My brother and I have made a new label and are preparing a website,
We want to try and get the wine some publicity and into some bottle shops, there would be no profit for us involved, we just don't want mum and dad to sell the farm. I am about to have a child and I really want to take h--* there.

But I know nothing about wine.
How can I get a trustworthy appraisal of whether it really is good wine?

My plan for going to boutique bottle shops is to be honest, without disclosing everything, and say that it has only been for sale exclusively through a restaurant, and that we have given it a new name to sell through a few boutique wine shops.

but I really don't know what I am doing

so i put my problems before the hive an call for guidance

*(promised my partner i won't disclose the gender)

Pancake notes with a hint of beans

emelenjr — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:49:16 -0800

When a wine is described as having flavor "notes" is there any science behind that? When a wine is described as having flavor "notes" is there any science behind that, or is it a bit of pretention coupled with the power of suggestion? For example, if a wine is described as having "blackberry notes", is that ever because the same components that combine to create the flavor of a blackberry can be found in that wine, or is it purely psychological--you read the description of the flavor, and that influences the taste buds?

Wine Advocate?

furiousxgeorge — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:11:03 -0800

Are there any wine review sites similar to Beer Advocate or Rate Beer? I'm looking for a site with a database that hits nearly everything in the world with a good amount of user reviews for reasonably popular wines.

BA and Rate Beer really helped me when learning about beer and how to appreciate it. They gave me a frame of reference for what I was tasting and what others tasted in the beer.

When I try to find reviews for wines I maybe find one or two and otherwise just links to online liquor stores or generic epinions type crap.

Found a bunch of some really pretty, nicely shaped clear colored with rainbow streaks, wine bottles. Any ideas what they can be used for?

watercarrier — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:24:13 -0800

Creative ideas for old opalescent bottles?

Beaujolais not-so-nouveau

Sara Anne — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:09:40 -0800

Beaujolais Nouveau 2007: drinkable still? Or should I use it to deglaze a pan?

Sites that sell wine shipped by wineries

aburd — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:16:06 -0800

Is there another site that sells wine that is shipped by wineries aside from wine.woot.com? I live in Tennessee which allows wineries to ship to TN residents, but online wine shops can't ship to us. Wine.Woot sells for wineries so it works. But I would like other options. It's too difficult to find individual wineries that have paid the Tennessee tax in order to ship to us so a reseller would be great. Are there other services that do sell wine for wineries?

Do the Frenchs really make a better red?

fantasticninety — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:13:10 -0800

I find that French red wine has a very distinctive body and aftertaste. Is this truly specific to French wine, or have I not found some equivalents elsewhere in the world? I'll be very specific in my observations.

Much wine I've tasted has had a nice nose, and even a nice initial hit in the palette. However, it's once the wine goes towards the back of the mouth that it is easy to spot the difference between French wine and other countries.

Once the wine hits the back of the palette, non-French red wine starts to break up, and the individual elements start to separate in the sense that one can almost feel the water separate from the alcohol and from the flavours. It's not a pleasant experience. I find it especially disagreeable the sensation of the water separating from the wine, if that makes sense.

Secondly, with the aftertaste, there is often a kind of bitter or sharp nose that comes back through the palette. I find with French red wine there is sometimes a tannic hit, but rarely that sharp reflex. If anything, sometimes it feels slightly gravelly, or earthy.

Ok, so these are some vast generalisations, and I've definitely drunk crappy French wine. My main sample regions from France are St. Emilion and Cahors, but by no means only these areas.

To summarise, of all the wine I've drunk from around the world, I've yet to find non-French wine (except for some nice Italians) which avoid those two main pitfalls listed above.

This is defiinitely not just exaggeration or hyperbole, or whatever. I would super appreciate any input from other readers who have made an effort to really analyse red wine and especially some of the distinct characteristics between new world and old world wine.

I'll add, that one other nice thing I've noticed with some French wine is a kind of floral richness which isn't just sweet, but full. Some French has a nice round tone or ovalness to it, but others have this very full and rich palette to it. Again, I've yet to find this elsewhere (except for the richness part which I've found sometimes with Italian reds).

Disclaimer: I've never drunk a bottle worth more than a 100 dollars (give or take) and I'm ignoring stuff cheaper than 5 bucks.

Thanks!

What's a good cookbook for braising with something other than alcohol?

boombot — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:27:17 -0800

I love cooking with my new dutch oven, but have never liked the taste of alcohol in food. I know I can always substitute, but is there a good braising cookbook that minimizes alcohol use in the recipes?

Port wine, less-sweet, $35-ish?

everichon — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:49:26 -0800

At a wine tasting last year, I tried a port that was notably less sweet than any other I have had. I liked it a lot, and I totally forget who made it or what it's name was. It wasn't tawny, and it wasn't white. It might have been vintage. That's all I remember. So: recommendations for less-sweet ports that retail for $35 or so?

Participating in a Wine Crush

amanda — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:24:52 -0800

Have you ever participated in a winery's grape crush? Or do you know what that entails? What happens at the winery? How hard is the work? How long does it take? Tell me what you know about crush!

Alternative holiday ideas for New Zealand?

dinoworx — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:46:26 -0800

It's a common enough question, what should I do on my holidays in New Zealand? But we're not regular folks so finding good information has been difficult. We have 10 days in late October and we fly in and out of Auckland. We're Australian but well traveled and will most likely stay on the North Island unless some compelling information arises. We've hired a campervan and intend to travel about and camp where we can. Maybe a bed and breakfast or two. Though we are on a budget the main goal is to relax and enjoy the scenery rather than try and cram in too much. With our particular interests can mefites offer some good advice on where to see and do things that we'd find appealing. We're reasonably fit but not hiking all day up mountains fit.

I have a keen interest in permaculture and city farms/community gardens. My partner loves alpacas and all sorts of animals whose fleece can be shorn spun and knitted, ideas for seeing spring, lambs? She also has a keen interest in Neil Finn so the museum is on our list. Any excellent craft and/or local food markets?

We both love coffee and tasting local delicacies. Especially wine! Mud baths and sulphur springs sounds cool as well. We're looking to experience some of the natural beauty that New Zealand has to offer.

As we are in Australia the odds of a second trip are probably high. But may be a few years off. This time of the year it looks like the weather will be cool and wet. So are there things to do that work well in that kind of weather? Many thanks in advance!

Help finding and renting apt west of Ancona, Italy.

avocade — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:12:27 -0800

Good inexpensive family apartments for rent inland from Ancona, Italy in end-October? Need some assistance. We're going with the family to Venice from Sweden by plane, then car down to Ancona (my dad is an accordion freak and wants to visit the famous maker there). We're thinking of heading straight inland from there, up the mountain range and hopefully stay in a nice, very italian apartment in some nice, very italian (see a pattern?) picturesque town where we can just enjoy life (gastronomically and wineonomically) for a week or so longer.

Any tips? Need to probably book asap, over the internet would be best. None of us speak italian (I know a few phrases), and only my mother has been to Italy for a week or so (Milan, Rome). We're five people, youngest is 22 yo. No smokers, no pets :)

Did the Brita filter spoil my homemade wine?

kturner — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:57:41 -0800

Does Brita filtered water work for making wine? My experiment got no yeast fermentation in four batches of wine using Brita filtered water and great yeast fermentation in three batches of unfiltered tap made similarly as a control. I know yeast needs trace nutrients to live and multiply. Does the Brita filter out enough of these that the fermentation will fail?
Due to the success vs. failure rate this seems like the likely reason.
Unless the filter leaves some type of inhibitor residue in the water?
I plan to add some unfiltered water and then more yeast culture.

Why doesn't my wine stopper work?

thisjax — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:39:28 -0800

I'm accustomed to wine stoppers that look like this, but last night at the LCBO I was sold one that looks like this. It doesn't fit in either of my (presumably standard) wine bottles. How do I work this thing?

Australian wine recommendation

tandemrepeat — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:59:02 -0800

Looking for wine recommendations to showcase good Australian wines. Background: I'm an Australian expat based in the US. Going to be in the Barossa Valley region for a few days. I work with a bunch of wine aficionados who don't have a high regard for Australian wine. This is because most exported Australian wine is average at best (called critter wine because of the cutesy native animal names and labels) and bordering on heinous at worst - at least that is the perception. I'm pretty sure the good stuff stays in-country...

So - looking for recommendations for non-export wines (red/white, whatever) from the Barossa Valley region in $A20 to $A50 range that I can bring back to refute the naysayers!

Swiss passport holder trying to do seasonal work in france

Raff — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:39:50 -0800

Australian holding a swiss passport and looking to do some seasonal work (less than 2 weeks) in france while travelling. I know france and switzerland have an agreement to streamline work permits but have not been able to find where to get the permit and how long it will take as my french is rusty. Also how easy the process is and if it is worth it for a 2 week stint. I have the job lined up just need the permit!

Something more special than, but similar to, Riccadonna

mjao — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:12:27 -0800

More expensive alternatives to Riccadonna? I looove the sweetness of Riccadonna but want something a bit less cheap and tacky. So something around the 30-50$ mark (Australian dollar) would be super. I hate dry and tart sparkling wines, but I have also tried some sweet sparkling wines that are too sweet and heavy almost -- like a mudcake that's too rich and sickly. Riccadonna seems light and sweet and fruity as opposed to cloying. Note: I know almost nothing about wines and champagnes, so feel free to teach me things. :)

To drink or to stop drinking so much

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:54:17 -0800

How bad is it to take Xanax with a glass or two of wine? I never used to drink. I hated the taste of wine and liquor. But now I've found a kind of wine I really like, and I've gone through three bottles of wine this week alone. Also, I like taking my Xanax (.25 mg) with it.

I don't drink until I throw up or am blitzed out of my mind. I haven't been able to learn to relax my whole life aand am prone to anxiety. This drinking wine and taking Xanax with it has really, really helped me when nothing else has.

Should I stop mixing the Xanax with alcohol? Should I not drink more than 1 glass of wine a night? If it matters, in figuring out how much I can drink without damaging myself, I'm 5'3 and about 107lbs.