Wine thread

[Anonymous No.13237218]

>Be me
>Be winelet
How the fuck am I supposed to choose a wine from all of the wines in the average liquor store? How much of it is just plain awful?

[Anonymous No.13237226]

>>13237218
choose the one with the least meme/least flashy label. also most wines at your average store are going to be shit anyway. google your local wine specialty shop and you can basically just tell them your budget and they'll guide you towards some good shit. even if you're a novice just tell them that, they're pros

[Anonymous No.13237322]

I like reds. Start with Franzia. Appreciate the fact that box wine is of a higher quality than most wine in human history.

Then get an even shittier wine, I'm talking dollar store off-brand or carlo rossi and then one that costs you 7-12 dollars. Drink a sip of one, then the other. Understand the meaning of "two buck chuck" and then the next step up is great.

No one pays more then 25$ a bottle unless they're trying to impress, your average drinkable wine should hover near 6-12$ a bottle.

[Anonymous No.13237333]

Buy any bottle with at least 13.5% alcohol content that was made within the last two years and isn't the absolute cheapest but isn't actually expensive. When choosing an expensive wine you want something older, but the cheap stuff is better newer and when you're inexperienced it is better to start cheap.

[Anonymous No.13237483]

Why do people hate stuff like sweet wines?
What about Merlot and Pinot Noir?
What makes a bad wine anyway?

[Anonymous No.13237485]

Get rioja. Bitches love rioja.

[Anonymous No.13237506]

>13237226
Absolute brainlet post.
Store bought wine is perfectly fine
Since there is a billion producers you usually go by country/region and whatever berry suits you.

French/Italian are usually the more expensive ones but worth their money usually unless you buy the meme products with 15€+
My personal favorite is Spanish wine. Quite cheap and absolutely fantastic in quality.
Austria/Swiss has some good products too but it's not that widely available.
German wine is a meme I'll have to admit.

[Anonymous No.13237542]

>>13237218
just dont buy them in plastic container or something that has higher voltage than a wine. Its that simple. You just start buying random ones until you know what you like.

[Anonymous No.13238149]

>>13237542
>higher voltage than a wine
what?

[Anonymous No.13238258]

>>13237218
pinot noir or pinot grigio
you're done

[Anonymous No.13238580]

>>13237218
Frankly just buy anything to get a general sense of what it taste like, chances are if you hate everything about it than no one will really work for you.
Also, try port, much higher alcohol and a shit ton sweeter, good alternative if you find wine way too dry.

[Anonymous No.13238594]

>>13237322
>noone pays more than $25
>average drinkable wine is $6

ignore this anon

[Anonymous No.13238737]

>>13237218
Ignore so called experts, taste is subjective. Just get what you like. Go to a place where they let you taste.
Also, price doesn't correlate to taste.

Personally I prefer more fruity (red) wine.

>>13237483
>What makes a bad wine anyway?
It's a meme. People have created a standard of what is supposed to be good, of what is supposed to go with what dishes, ect... And they just follow it blindly like it's some holy scripture.
Like it think keeping red wine at room temperature is fucking disgusting. I prefer it refrigerated. Especially if it it's a more dry wine.

Generally you could say a wine is bad if it doesn't have much taste at all.

[Anonymous No.13238748]

>>13237483
>Why do people hate stuff like sweet wines?
SWEET FOOD CHILDISH!
Or at least that's what we're supposed to believe.
People have been sweetening their wines all throughout history.

[Anonymous No.13238771]

>>13237218
I would recommend going to some good wine bar, explain your situation, and ask to get to taste different one through the night.

>>13238737
I somewhat agree with you, but you are taking it a bit to far. If a wine taste like puke and cat piss, then it's a bad wine no sane person would want to touch. And if it's a best seller does not change the fact. In cases like this, it's legitimate to talk about bad taste. A subjective preference for sweet wines that are unbalanced too, does not make it a good wine. And often, these same people will love a good wine when it's served them. They just never got served a good wine, and therefore stick to some sweet gooey wine.

Wine tasting notes are good to know what tastes and style to expect. Because these people are trained at finding the right smells and tastes. The number score is often dubious though. But as you say, this should not be treated as a holy scripture.

[Anonymous No.13238782]

>>13237483
>What about Merlot and Pinot Noir?

Merlot and Pinot Noir are not comparable. Merlot is trash and Pinot Noir is god teir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXXDC5FarhE

[Anonymous No.13238790]

>>13238748
It's because many wines sweet wines are bad. They are made this way to mask bad flavours and appeal to certain demographics, not to make good wine.

There are plenty of sweet wines that are excellent. But these cost more and aren't so popular among the "sweet wine lovers". Personally I love a good sauternes. But these tend to be perfectly balanced wines that are a true pleasure to drink.

It's sweet unbalanced wines with weird flavours that remind you of things like puke and cat piss, that are hated on.

[Anonymous No.13238820]

>>13238258
This is it. All you need to know.

[Anonymous No.13238829]

Pinot noir has a special haunting quality that I fell in love with.

The skins of the grape are very thin and this makes the wine lighter and more transparent than other varieties.

[Anonymous No.13238839]

>>13237483
>What makes a bad wine anyway?
As in, what are the causes for bad wine? unhealthy grapes, lazy/bad work while fermenting the wine.

Or if you mean "how do I know a wine is bad", in general you can tell because it smells of strong alcohol/acetone, or taste/smell rotten. Or it can be very watery and insipid.

[Anonymous No.13238853]

>>13238748
>People have been sweetening their wines all throughout history.
What's with this shift toward dry wines in the past half century anyway?

[Anonymous No.13238860]

>>13238258
>>13238820
>This is it. All you need to know.
Not quiet
>noir with meat
>grigio with chicken, fish, and veggies
>2nd cheapest bottle available
Now you're done.

[Anonymous No.13238872]

>>13237218
>how am I supposed to get good at choosing wine?

Like all things, with practice. You can't just go straight into this and know what is good and what is swill. You need to develop your pallat. Experience will teach you to be discerning.

By all means, start cheap and move up in price - discover for yourself what quality wine has over cheap wine.

[Anonymous No.13238904]

You can find great red wine in many places. Spain, Germany, Italy, France (the French have the best in the world). However, when it comes to white wine, the best ones are concentrated on a few spots like Alsace in France, or Mosel, Rhine, Saar region in Germany. Dry Riesling is god tier stuff.

[Anonymous No.13238920]

>>13238860
How can you not mention shellfish made in a "natural" way, the one food were grigio really shines because it's so subtle that it does not overpower the subtle tastes of shellfish?

I would not pair it with chicken, and with fish, but it depends a lot. If you make it very natural then yes but if you serve fish with for example beurre blanc, something stronger with more acid to hold up against the sauce can be very good.

I love pinot noir and can drink it to things where it's not supposed to be "best" for. I don't love grigio the same way, but I perfectly understand someone that loves grigio could drink it to "everything that goes with white wine".

Btw, good Pinot Noir costs. There are many bad cheap ones. Grigio (italian name) is cheap, but gris (it's french name) is expensive.

[Anonymous No.13238926]

>>13238904
Riesling is a love or hate thing. So if you read this comment, buy a riesling, and don't understand why you hate it when it's said to be "god tier", then now you know why.

[Anonymous No.13238964]

>>13238920
>Btw, good Pinot Noir costs

$10 a bottle for stuff that is drinkable but also at that price you can come across bad brands you should never buy again.

I bought a $20 bottle once of some stuff and it had a very nice smooth quality and almost a strawberry fruit first flavor. Meiomi Pinot Noir.

[Anonymous No.13238965]

>>13237218
buying wine is easy, I recommend starting with random online rec pages like "12 great wines under 20 USD" (or whatever your cunt's currency is), and go from there. Get an idea for what you like, and then see what you get from higher-end stuff. DESU I pretty much never spend more than 20 USD on wines, I am not that discerning of taste, I just get something that I think would pair well with what I'm eating, and I don't feel that I do poorly.

The only thing I can tell you is never, ever buy the cheapest wine at a place (unless you're somewhere crazy overpriced I guess). That shit isn't even worth the bottle it's sold in.

[Anonymous No.13239022]

>>13238920
But I'm a winelet and so is OP. This is supposed to be a basic guide and I was always told:
>red with meat
>white with fish/seafood, chicken, veggies

But, you've demonstrated you are versed in wine but you didn't help us winelets much.

[Anonymous No.13239095]

Since i only sometimes drink wine (mostly just red, usually pinot noir) everytime i take the first sip or smell i always go oh yeah i fucking love this shit a lot. Pairs well with almost everything i cook

[Anonymous No.13239147]

>>13239022
I guess you are right. I would say though, you have passed the winelet-stage. I think it's very sound advice to start out experimenting with pinot noir for meat, and pinot grigio for seafood/white meat.

Now, how to choose a pinto noir og pinot grigio from all the alternatives? It's a learning experience. Big part of it is to make research before you buy. Take a pic of the wines available to you at the store, and then google each wine. Read about them, even though you don't understand. Then buy what seems best. If it's bad wine, there is still something to learn. Sometimes buy two different pinot noirs, and compare them. Sometimes buy two different grapes, but from same country. Sometimes buy the same grape from two different countries.

It takes time and effort to learn wine. If you can't dedicate study time every day and try several wines every day, it will take years. But if you start now and just start making good food and try your best to find a wine, then in just a year you will be able to have some safe combos for guests and dates. In 10 years you will be able to impress people and show them wines so good they didn't know it was possible.

>>13238965
Indeed you can find many good wines this way. Just be aware of possible hidden connections between producers, exporter/importers and wine tasters.

[Anonymous No.13239155]

>>13239147
Continuing this post:
>>13237322
It's good advice to compare a really cheap wine, with something decent, to understand the difference. But:

>No one pays more then 25$ a bottle unless they're trying to impress, your average drinkable wine should hover near 6-12$ a bottle.

This is just not true at all. Even though 25$ might be much to you, for other people this is nothing. How for example is someone that collects ferraris going to be impressed by a 30$ wine?

It might be difficult to understand, but there are a lot of people in the world that has enough money to be able to buy high priced wine with no other goal than to enjoy a high quality wine. Of course though, there are probably even more people that buy high priced wine to impress.

I think if you can afford it, then go for high priced wine. They are special and it's very nice to be able to enjoy high quality alcohol. At the same time, if you do not know how to appreciate it, it's a waste.

[Anonymous No.13239170]

>>13239155
honestly i don't know how to ""properly"" ""appreciate"" quality wine, but the difference between a $20-$30 wine from a quality importer and a $15 wine from the supermarket is noticable on first sip.

[Anonymous No.13239175]

>>13237218
either find a local wine tasting or a bar that serves good wine by the glass and get to know what you like before buying a bottle

[Anonymous No.13239512]

>>13239170
>>13239170
Yes, if you can notice difference in wine and appreciate quality in wine, then you can appreciate good wine.

The last parapgraph here was not directed to anyone in particular. I can illustrate with an example: If someone gets to taste many kinds of good wine, but still prefer cheap unbalanced sweet wine, then what's the point of quality wine, except for status?

[Anonymous No.13240701]

>>13237218
anybody got book recommendations for wines?

I don't wanna become a snob, just learn what different types there are and how to drink/enjoy it properly.

[Anonymous No.13240830]

>>13237322
Lol no
>>13237333
Trolltastic mix of half truths, ignorant nonsense, and actual good advice
>>13237483
Because low-end sweet wine is unbalanced sugary garbage with no acidity to balance things out, and plebs who have only ever shopped for bottom shelf alcoholic beverages interpret all beverages through the lens of the cheap garbage they've tried
>>13238737
t. has no taste buds
>>13238771
This is the best advice in the thread

[Anonymous No.13240863]

>>13240701
Until you've tasted a reasonably broad spectrum of wines in different styles, in adequate quantity for you to start developing a memory of what they taste like (butter, cherries, plums, lemons, plus the different expressions of tannins and so on), reading about wine will just turn you into an annoying pedant

[Anonymous No.13241066]

>>13238737
>bad wine
>It's a meme

You're either trolling or an absolute tastelet. A 2€ bottle of "wine" can't even be considered to be the same type of drink as a good 12€ bottle of bordeaux, they are lightyears away from each other in taste. And red wine is served below room temperature but you kill all taste if you serve it staright from the refrigerator. With that said far from all expensive wines are good but there are profound differences in wine.

>>13238853
Many sweet wines are disgusting since they use the sweetness to mask the bad grape quality and to hide other unwanted tastes such as sourness and oxidation.
I think however there is an increaseing popularity with good muscat wines and wines for dessert such as sauternes and port wine.

[Anonymous No.13241290]

What do people think about Australian wines? Are they bad? What are the good ones? I've heard people say the cheap stuff is drinkable and the expensive stuff is horrible

[Anonymous No.13241397]

>>13241290
There are no good ones. Australia has the same problem as California. It has good climate and maybe they produced a few good wines once, but they realigned their ENTIRE industry to cater to baboon palate. Everything is "punch me in the dick with 14.97% ABV and so much residual sugar it melts your teeth off"

[Anonymous No.13241470]

>>13241397
Well I live here, so I was hoping some other Aus anons had a better idea of what to look for beyond the jam that we export.

[Anonymous No.13241923]

Bump

[Anonymous No.13241956]

>>13241397
nah son, margaret river produces some killer bordeaux blends
tasmania has really good sparkling wines, pic related is the best sparkling rose in the 20-25 dollar range
parts of south-eastern australia are also known for semillon that ages for 30-50 years like a good riesling

[Anonymous No.13242162]

I just stick with Cabernet, never really ceases to disappoint outside of Yellow Tail.

[Anonymous No.13242203]

>>13242162
>never really ceases to disappoint
I know what you meant but I share the sentiment of what you said

fuck california cabernet, tannin-less fruit punch

[Anonymous No.13242398]

Is putting red wine in the fridge to keep it out of hot weather and then letting it warm up at the time of opening/drinking a bad idea? Is the difference between fridge and cellar temperature so bad that it will ruin the wine?

[Anonymous No.13242888]

bump

[Anonymous No.13242983]

>>13237218
got to taste these at work. turns out i'm not a wine person at all.

[Anonymous No.13243080]

Barbera guy inspired me to go get some barbera which I used to drink often. My goodness it certainly has gone up in price hasn't it. Even lowly dolcetto has gotten expensive, I remember it was the sub-$10 bottle, now it's the sub-$15 bottle and barbera can barely be had for less than $25.

I ended up getting the cheapest dolcetto and behold, it's mediocre. I don't know about this. It feels like these no-name north italian grapes got ruined by plebs.

[Anonymous No.13243387]

>>13242983
Quintessential rich boomer wines.

Would love to try them though.

[Anonymous No.13243396]

>>13243080
Piedmont is finally getting the recognition it deserves. The unfortunate results are a price hike and producers ripping up every grape that isn't Nebbiolo in good sites.

[Anonymous No.13243402]

>>13242398
Probably a bad idea, yeah. Still it's probably not as bad as leaving it out in the heat.

Just drink it now or invest in a wine fridge if you're serious about wine.

[Anonymous No.13243408]

>>13243396
>deserves
Fuck "deserves", let the plebs keep drinking california garbage

[Anonymous No.13243409]

>>13241956
>>13242162
Ok boomers.

[Anonymous No.13243424]

>>13243408
Most people won't drink anything over $10. It's only people who are actually into wine that are pushing Piedmontese wine prices up.

[Anonymous No.13243427]

>>13241470
Look for wine made by younger winemakers. They're generally looking to old world style wines for inspiration nowadays. To be fair, some of them are just making juice bombs, but at least they're dry and at 11% alcohol.

[Anonymous No.13243461]

>>13238926
If you hate Riesling you're most likely an utter pleb.

[Anonymous No.13243557]

>>13243461
Hating riesling is the eating blue rare hamburgers of wine

[Anonymous No.13243645]

>>13243461
The same could be said about those who love it. Riesling has it's place. It shines with very fatty food. But there is a lot of sweet unbalanced riesling that is just nasty and gives a bad reputation to quality riesling.

[Anonymous No.13243650]

>>13243557
I could probably find a good riesling to pair with this delicious blue cheese hamburger. My mouth is watering just by thinking of it.

[Anonymous No.13243685]

>>13237218
Spanish wine is at the same level as italian and french, I hope they don't skyrocket in prices like those two.