The Wine Thread

[AKAK]

Didn't mean to imply that at all, Apology extended. I've enjoyed the posts, but it's not something I internalized.

No apology necessary... at all. I was sort of making fun of myself for "going there"

And, "drink what you like" is exactly the right thing.

 

[THEWOOD]

Wife and I enjoyed a fantastic bottle of Kistler Pinot Noir on Saturday evening. Second time I have enjoyed a bottle and that stuff is legit.

 

[AKAK]

For the wines, I say stay with grapes instead of peaches, rhubarb or other fruits...don't thank me.

Well... at least peaches make okay stuff... sort of.

Rhubarb/strawberry isn't uncommon...

I've actually tasted in no particular order wine including as a primary component or completely made from jalapenos, onions, garlic, carrots, banana, watermelon, strawberry jam, guava, pomegranate, mango, pineapple, potatoes, obviously any berry you can imagine, dandelion- pretty common country wine... and if you really know what you're doing it's good....

Oh, forgot the herbs... sage will mess you up... umm... what's the purple stuff? Eh, nevermind you get the idea.

ANyway, there's more insane stuff out there... that's what I can think of right now that I've actually tried.

Oh, yes... I forgot about the paw paw wine...

Ceratinly the oddest thing I've ever had-- well-- other than stuff that people make that seems like it's planning ahead to be the cool winemaking guy in prison. (Note the Strawberry Jam wine... great... you can do it. Why?)

 

[DubCoffman62]

When I was in the Aleutian Islands back in the early 90's we used to make a home brew wine out of apples. It was first experience with projectile vomiting.

 

[PlanetFrnd]

I've learned a lot about Cali wines since I've been out here... here are some Cliff notes (as I take a mental break here at work)...

WOOD - Im not a huge Pinot Noir fan (often kinda thin for me), but SoCal has some good ones (esp. Santa Barbara through central coast)

All - If you like Zins, central valley (Paso Robles, Lodi) offers good deals on tasty Zins right now (not sure how many get to the Midwest though). There is a supermarket brand called "Plungerhead" ("old vine" Zin) that I've enjoyed lately, I think its from Lodi, CA.

For those of you looking to get very specific with Napa wines, Carneros is the good Pinot Noir and Chardonnay region of Napa. There is a great medium-priced ($20s in stores, I think - cheaper at the winery) chardonnay from Ceja, I don't see it that often though.

Rutherford is the Cabernet region of Napa generally speaking but Stags Leap (easier to find) and Howell Mountain (less easy to find) are specific parts of Rutherford that makes some very excellent, often big, cabs if that's your thing (and you don't mind paying a little)...

Recent "top-shelf" (read: overly pricey) wines I've enjoyed - a 2003 Silver Oak and the 2004 Opus One, both vintages [strike]of which[/strike] I got at "value" pricing from the wineries years ago, and [the vintages] are now starting to show up at some very expensive prices in restaurants and other places.

 

[sepia5]

Anyone have any recommendations for the Finger Lakes? I'll be up there end of July and want to hit up some can't miss vineyards. We'll be staying in Geneva, at the northern tip of Seneca Lake.

 

[osucollegebuck]

I really only buy Italian wines, especially from the Toscana region :)

 

[osucollegebuck]

Anyone have any recommendations for the Finger Lakes? I'll be up there end of July and want to hit up some can't miss vineyards. We'll be staying in Geneva, at the northern tip of Seneca Lake.

I'm from WNY and Bully Hill winery gives free tours.
http://www.bullyhill.com/visitorcenter/visitorcenter.asp

 

[knapplc]

I really only buy Italian wines, especially from the Toscana region :)

Any particular reason for this? Of course you're going to drink nice wines by focusing on Italy/Tuscany, but there are a LOT of great wines out there from many other regions. Many of the Cali red zins mentioned already are not to be missed.

 

[AKAK]

Anyone have any recommendations for the Finger Lakes? I'll be up there end of July and want to hit up some can't miss vineyards. We'll be staying in Geneva, at the northern tip of Seneca Lake.

I'm from WNY and Bully Hill winery gives free tours.
http://www.bullyhill.com/visitorcenter/visitorcenter.asp

Let me add to the recommedations for the next lake over...

Not to knock Seneca, I just "remember" the Keuka ones better.

Jeebus, there are 40 wineries on Seneca now... wow.

I'll spare you that and hope someone else here knows them well.

But for Keueka/Hammandsport/Penn Yan.

-There is the afforementioned Bully Hill, I don't like their stuff, but, they've been around forever and it's worth checking out, at least for the tour.

-Then you have Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera wine cellars. A bit snobby, but the bestr wine on the lake, period. Probably in the the whole finger lakes region. If you're going to Keuka, you have to go there, or you might as well not bother.

-Hunt Country- Worst wine on the lake... hahaha... but, by far the coolest people, very relaxed. Though they do have a kick ass vidal ice wine if that's your thing.

-Heron Hill- Don't remember much about their wines, but, its a cool facility, if a bit touristy. I think htey might have a Cabernet Franc that's not bad IIRC. (Look, decent Red is hard to come by up there)

-McGregor- If you must have Red, go here. The Grapes are imported, but, so what? It's good.

The reality is of course that you're going to get a lot of whites. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Vignoles, Vidal, Seyval (uggh) and lots of others.... If they have Reds, they are Usually FA hybrids... sometimes they're ok, but, I've never heard the sentence come out of my mouth, "Oh, that De Chaunac is pretty good!" But, at the end of the day, when in Rome...

So, having said all that... the real jewel of Keuka Lake is this place...

http://www.villagetaverninn.com/index.php

If you can set it up to have lunch or dinner there, just do it. Thank me later.

 

[BB73]

Anyone have any recommendations for the Finger Lakes? I'll be up there end of July and want to hit up some can't miss vineyards. We'll be staying in Geneva, at the northern tip of Seneca Lake.

On the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, I liked Americana, Cayuga Ridge, Hosmer, and Lucas. There are plenty of good Reislings and Cayuga white wines in the area.

And if you see any place that has ice wine - try it, even if you have to pay a couple of bucks for a tasting.

 

[sepia5]

I'm from WNY and Bully Hill winery gives free tours.
http://www.bullyhill.com/visitorcenter/visitorcenter.asp

Let me add to the recommedations for the next lake over...

Not to knock Seneca, I just "remember" the Keuka ones better.

Jeebus, there are 40 wineries on Seneca now... wow.

I'll spare you that and hope someone else here knows them well.

But for Keueka/Hammandsport/Penn Yan.

-There is the afforementioned Bully Hill, I don't like their stuff, but, they've been around forever and it's worth checking out, at least for the tour.

-Then you have Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera wine cellars. A bit snobby, but the bestr wine on the lake, period. Probably in the the whole finger lakes region. If you're going to Keuka, you have to go there, or you might as well not bother.

-Hunt Country- Worst wine on the lake... hahaha... but, by far the coolest people, very relaxed. Though they do have a kick ass vidal ice wine if that's your thing.

-Heron Hill- Don't remember much about their wines, but, its a cool facility, if a bit touristy. I think htey might have a Cabernet Franc that's not bad IIRC. (Look, decent Red is hard to come by up there)

-McGregor- If you must have Red, go here. The Grapes are imported, but, so what? It's good.

The reality is of course that you're going to get a lot of whites. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Vignoles, Vidal, Seyval (uggh) and lots of others.... If they have Reds, they are Usually FA hybrids... sometimes they're ok, but, I've never heard the sentence come out of my mouth, "Oh, that De Chaunac is pretty good!" But, at the end of the day, when in Rome...

So, having said all that... the real jewel of Keuka Lake is this place...

http://www.villagetaverninn.com/index.php

If you can set it up to have lunch or dinner there, just do it. Thank me later.

On the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, I liked Americana, Cayuga Ridge, Hosmer, and Lucas. There are plenty of good Reislings and Cayuga white wines in the area.

And if you see any place that has ice wine - try it, even if you have to pay a couple of bucks for a tasting.

Fantastic! Thanks for all the recs, guys. I will report back.

 

[AKAK]

Shameless

http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...r-develops-crush-on-fresh-grapes.html?sid=101

Okay that's not working really.

So... breaking forum rules...

With wine, the juice is worth the squeeze.
Which explains why Mike Grimm -- owner of WineMakers Guild, a Dublin winery where customers, too, make wine -- ordered 4,500 pounds of Chilean grapes during the spring to crush into juice, then be made into wine.
Harvested in the Curico Valley, the fruit journeyed by boat through the Panama Canal before it was packed into refrigerated trucks in New Jersey and driven to Columbus.
So, after a trip of more than a month, the grapes turned up on his back patio in early June.
He got to work immediately.
"As soon as they're here, I start crushing," Grimm said.
His plan to create wine from the grapes distinguishes WineMakers Guild as one of the few such wineries in the nation to use the custom-crush process.
And, for the first time, he is relying on grapes not grown in the United States.
He had the idea two years ago after helping an eager home winemaker use fresh grapes to produce wine.

 

[AKAK]

Damn, post an article about yourself and kills the conversation. Sorry about that guys. I was just excited about it. My apologies.

 

[Buck Nasty]

In reading the entire article and doing some basic math it seems as if you are trying to actually make money off this endeavor. Have you gotten yourself into some kind of profit deal?