(Part 3) Top products from r/wine

1966 Chateau Lafite Rothschild

This was originally bought in futures and has been held in only two different cellars since. You’ll see from pictures the bottle condition is good, but more importantly the fill level is excellent.

I did some prior research to opening this. ’66 was a decent year for Bordeaux, but nothing outstanding. Most suggestions and reviews had this as ‘drink’ a number of years ago.

We opened both wines using a corkpop original (https://www.amazon.com/Cork-Pops-CECOMINHK08859-CorkPops-Original/dp/B0006IJV0Q/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_79_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S8HKRHZ0J3KGJZE90XTQ). We’ve found these work excellently with very old bottles, sliding brittle corks out with ease and keeping them intact.

We decided to decant to remove sediment. The wine poured from the bottle with definite browning, but appear a good claret colour in the decanter (pictures).

First nose and taste had some corked elements, but everyone found these burned off quickly. It then started to show very dark prune and clove notes. The classic leather, tar and pencil shavings smells came through. One guest described it as girls leather bicycle seat haha

The palate showed acidity, but fruit was lacking for the most part, more of a steeped tea flavour. It was something special, but would have definitely been better a decade ago.

We drank this alongside oven roasted veal chops with a cherry balsamic reduction, side of farro with pine nuts and capers.

1986 Penfolds Grange Bin 95

This is my sisters birth year and was bought 15 years ago at a small wineshop in Quebec. Again, the bottle was in fantastic condition with a superb fill level.

1986 is rated as an outstanding vintage for Grange, named the best year of the 80’s. Penfolds has awarded ’86 a red star rating, which is given to those wines which are considered an exceptional vintage.

I checked my local wine store retail price for Grange, they sell the 2014 vintage for $711.

We decanted this and took our time with it.

The nose didn’t give away much, some fruit and alcohol, we found it fairly muted overall.

The taste on the other hand! Lets just say everyone was blown away. This wine had length that persisted on your palate for a good couple minutes. You could saver every sip and let it play in your mouth. Major elements of liquorice, cedar and smoke. You basically had to chew it down, and I say that in a great sense. There was a good balance of fruit that came out over time.

The wine continued to evolve and left our party disappointed we had to split it 6 ways. We all agreed this was outstanding and one of the best wines we have all ever tasted.

Wine is a huge beast, but a lot of fun. You can't really sit down in one weekend and completely understand everything.

Your first step is trying different red and white wines - red wines being red grapes soaked with their grape skins before fermentation, and whites being white grapes drained off immediately. The extra skin contact lets tannins enter the liquid, and creates the bitter/dry taste (think what your mouth feels like after eating a slightly too-ripe banana).

Your local wine store is going to be your best friend in your experimentation - those clerks are very knowledgeable (unlike the ones at the grocery store, for example), and can help guide you when you tell them what you thought of each wine you try.

As for actual recommendation: go to your local wine shop and ask for a good budget Riesling and Shiraz/Syrah that aren't blended. Expect to spend about $15 on each. Chill the Riesling when you get home.

When you're ready to try the wines, get a notepad out so you can remember what you thought weeks later (I ran into this problem when I first started). Open one, pour a glass, and smell it. The bouquet is extremely important in wine. Sniff it for a good minute and write down what you smell. Different fruits, foods, not-foods (rubber is a common aroma in some varietals). Then taste it, hold it in your mouth for a second and make sure it gets your whole tongue. Again, write down what you taste and what you think of it. If you want to try both wines at the same time (actually a great idea), I'd do the white one first, and make sure to drink some water between the tastings (the traditional cleansing of one's palate).

Wine doesn't have to be snooty - this is supposed to be fun. I swear I had a wine that reminded me of a meat-lovers pizza.

If you really enjoy it, I picked up a book recently: Drink This. Very down to earth and good information for beginners.

When you sign up for the Level I course, you'll receive a copy of Sales and Service for the Wine Professional by Brian Julyan. Much of the Level I course will be taught from this book, so it will be helpful to familiarize yourself with it.

I'm a big fan of the World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Janis Robinson, since it focuses on regions and appellations and explores wine from there. Great for getting to know the smaller sub-regions that you'll be expected to know for future exams.

I also have a copy of the Oxford Companion to Wine by Janis Robinson. It's more of a reference manual than a book you can read straight through, but if you come across a term or a region you're unfamiliar with, this will be a great reference.

I also recommend Karen McNeil's Wine Bible and Wine for Dummies for a more conversational, digestible overview of wine. They won't delve too deeply into the Master-Level details, but for Levels I and II, they'll help immensely.

See this link for the Level I syllabus and recommended reading list from the Court of Masters. Hope that helps out. I took and passed Level I about two years ago, and will be sitting for Level II this year. PM me if you have specific questions about the test. Level I is pretty easy if you've been working with wine for a while, so October/November should be an attainable goal.

Drink This - Wine Made Simple - Great book for beginners

The Wine Bible

The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert - Seems like it's a joke, and it sooort of is, but there's some good information there, and the scratch and sniff thing is actually quite useful.

The World Atlas of Wine - Pretty much the ultimate wine book. If you don't want to spend that much on it, consider buying a used copy of the older edition. You can get it for just a few bucks. Obviously it won't be as up to date, but it's still extremely useful.

Pairing Food and Wine for Dummies - John Szabo is legit

Great Wine Made Simple

Up until recently I worked at a book store, these were the books I recommended most frequently to people. If you want ones about specific regions, there are some good ones out there too. These are all more general.

Week 1 Follow Up:

Beautiful pairing of the Louis Michel “Montee De Tonnerre” 1er Cru 2015 with Beef Tartare and grilled sesame bread. The acid and overall richness of the wine was a perfect match for the meat and fat and it really benefited from having some food with it, naturally.

We paired the Moreau-Naudet “Forets” 1er Cru 2014 with a Mouclade and the same grilled bread and unsurprisingly after tasting it all week and dreaming of what to pair with it the wine absolutely crushed it. The acidity of the “Forets” was perfect counterpoint for the rich cream and the brininess of the mussels. That acid quality that was so pronounced tasting it alone seamlessly morphed into the dish while staying very much present throughout with it’s intense lemon quality. Perhaps one of the best food wine pairings of the year so far. Just fucking awesome.

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Picking the region and wines for this week was tough as I’m realizing finding the best expressions of a region is both subjective and potentially very expensive. We’re going to Basque Country for our honeymoon so this was a good excuse to explore a few more Rioja’s we hadn’t tried yet. I thought the Lopez de Heredia would be a great representation of a classically-styled Rioja and the Remelluri would be an interesting counterpoint as the more modern interpretation of Rioja that has become a classic in it’s own right. This also provided an opportunity to taste a house style wine versus an estate wine and a well aged wine versus something that’s just starting to show it’s potential.

I used The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwest Spain as my guide to select these wines.

In the book the Bosconia was described as having “more body and riper fruit, and longer life” than it’s Tondonia brother. Also, interestingly the Burgundy shape of the bottle is owed to the fact that the “predecessor was called Rioja Cepa Borgona and included a small proportion of Pinot Noir”.

Remelluri was in the process of converting to biodynamic winemaking in the 2010 vintage and “The methods applied in the cellar are closer to those of Burgundy” where fermentation is carried out in large oak “tinas or conos and the cap is punched down by foot rather than pumped over” to give it more “polished tannins”. Malolactic is carried out in oak vats with minimal taking place in barrique.

For those interested Jancis Robinson.com has nice, general overview of the region.

Notes:

Rioja wines are often characterized as full bodied with strawberry and stewed fruit notes

R. Lopéz de Heredia Vina Bosconia Reserva 2005
Pomegranate, walnut paste, roasted eggplant and earth on the nose. Macerated strawberries and cedar on the palate. Medium acidity. I tasted upon pouring and gave it about 30 minutes to breathe before tasting again and it opened up even more with some leather and mushroom notes with more pronounced acid.

Remelluri Rioja Reserva 2010
Natural wine funk on the nose. Barnyard, moss, damp cellar, cherries and dried fig. Forest floor and tart cherries on the tongue. Reminds me of Cru Bojo (Lapierre specifically) but with more backbone and tannin. A chewy and dense wine that I think this has some serious aging potential. Finish was a little soft. Medium acidity. Delicious.

I'm very much open to suggestions of regions to target next and specific producers that typify the region the occupy.

I use a glass similar to a Glencairn for doing side-by-side comparisons and tastings, but I wouldn't say that they work all that well for true wine glasses.

The Gabriel Glas options are outstanding. The Golds are a staple for me along with the Riedel Vinum Bordeaux and Vinum Burgundy. Between those three glasses, I have everything that I need to maximise my drinking pleasure. If you're wanting something cheaper and that work fairly well for many wines, take a look at Riedel's Ouverture Magnum Red.

See, I feel the same way except I prefer Bordeaux over Burgundy.

Spiegelau Vino Vino Bordeaux Glass

This will obviously come to to preference but I think Bordeaux is the most versatile and ubiquitous glass style around. Most people will be comfortable and familiar with it; it also shows most varietals (white and red) pretty well with the possible exception of heavily oaked chardonnay. The shape of the bowl is a little tighter and directs the aroma a little more intensely in my opinion.

I vote for Spiegelau over Riedel because they use slightly thicker, sturdier glass while still being thin and elegant enough at the right price. Spiegelau is actually owned by Riedel anyways.

I personally use the Schott Zwiesel Cabernet glasses at home and they are great. I personally like the design more than Riedel (I have their whiskey glasses as well, and they have a very nice feel).

Pretty much any appropriately designed wine glass will work though. Beyond that, it's personal taste (hah) and the feel of the glass.

Here are a few threads where we have discussed wine reading. There are some good technical/teaching resources in there but the value of great, impassioned wine writing like Kermit Lynch's Adventures on the Wine Route and Kladstrup's Wine and War cannot be overstated.

Since wine glasses have been mentioned, I'd like to plug Spiegelau glassware. The "Vino Vino" or "Vino Grande" Bordeaux stems are both good, and they can be had for a very good price on Amazon. If she gets into light-bodied reds, you may want to consider also picking up Burgundy stems. Cheers!

Probably an intro book that's not particularly necessary for most folks reading this, but as a newbie myself, I quite enjoyed The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert that my wife got me as a gift last year.

I always recommend these Riedel's - 8 glasses for $60. I've had great luck with them over the last few years and have given them as gifts.

Here are my initial thoughts

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Wire cutter the NYT recommendation arm suggests these. https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wine-glass/

I was looking for of the Bordeaux style with the tapered mouth. But those are $60 each which seems excessive.

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Wine Enthusiast has these Fusion infinity which looks like my jam.

https://www.wineenthusiast.com/fusion-infinity-cabernet-wine-glasses-(set-of-4).asp

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And Finally these burg glasses from Amazon also look awesome. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LI35EO/ref=psdc_13218541_t2_B00O0V29RW?th=1

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So I don't know. Any amazing deals out there that people are looking at?

First, it's not going to go "bad" in the sense of "unsafe." It'll just taste unappealing.

Second, the answer to this depends on a ton of variables, but the largest one is YOUR palate. In other words, how much you notice/care about changes in taste. Your wine will usually not be the SAME tasting after a day of storage, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

Without getting too bogged down into details and variations, a wine that is stored in the refrigerator after opening (yes, even red wine) with a cork or stopper can probably get most people 2-4 days. Try and see. Some people are happily drinking a wine 7 days later. For me personally, I'll usually drink a wine one day after but no longer.

If you want to extend the storage life of wine, you can try a cheap vacuum sealer. When I used to use one, I think it probably gave an extra day of drinking. Nothing drastic, but noticeable.

If you want to go a little more advanced, there are systems that will fairly cheaply add a layer of gas on top of the wine to preserve it. At the very high end, there's the Coravin and similar systems, but these are expensive ($200 plus expensive argon canisters), though they can keep a wine stored for months with little to no change.

I'd be much happier with a new decanter, a nice wine key, and some cheese and cured meat.

EDIT: Wine shipping is super expensive and annoying, because you actually have to be there to sign for the delivery. So if you do ship wine, ship it to the office and not the gift recipient's house.

Well to be fair, despite collecting a ton of it, and his generals very much enjoying it, Hitler did not really drink wine. So who knows?

source, and very cool book (note it is cool, full of interesting stories, but kind of unorganized and not the best written book ever. Still very much worth a read if one has not read it.)

Wine For Dummies is a great option to create a solid foundation of basic wine knowledge. It costs about $15 + shipping on amazon for a new version, but I'm sure you could find a used copy at a local book store for much cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Dummies-Ed-McCarthy/dp/0470045795/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I have one of these, think we got it as a wedding present. I like it because we tend to drink wines with 5-10 years of bottle age (unlike most people under 35, I actually age my wine) and I don't want them to get as much air. We have a couple others that are more funky shaped, but that's the one I use the most.

But no matter what decanter you get, these cleaning devices are super clutch. Little water, a drop or two of soap and the decanter is clean as a whistle, and you don't have to worry about jamming a dish brush or some other odd object to get the scuzz out.

Also, re: lead - don't worry about it. The amount of time the liquid would have to sit in the decanter to actually get a measurable amount of lead is far longer than it will take you to consume the wine.

Opened a bottle of 1977 vintage port this past weekend. Took three tries to get get all the cork. I'd say it held up pretty well.

I wonder if those CorkPops would work well with these old corks?

When I took the WSET, I actually purchased the CSW Workbook and used their blank maps. Helped me! Used transparency paper and went over everything over and over. Cost me like $30, well worth it for me.

https://www.amazon.com/2019-Certified-Specialist-Wine-Workbook/dp/1794385304/

I'm with everyone else-- decant! Here's some decanters in your price range.

• Govino, $12: http://amzn.com/B008CPO49S
  
• Wine Enthusiast U, $20: http://amzn.com/B0014TTV4W
  
• Luigi Bormioli Magnifico 35-ounce, $25 (with prime): http://amzn.com/B0012M6590
  
• WE Vivid, $40: http://amzn.com/B000P7O518
  

Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LI35EO?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Great glasses.

I bought the Spiegelau burgundy and bordeaux glasses recently and have really liked them. I got them to replace some broken riedels. They're crystal, decently thick/durable and a great size.

Here is the link http://www.amazon.com/Spiegelau-Vino-Grande-Burgundy-Glasses/dp/B00004SUIF

Here’s a few to get started

Enjoy!

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!


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I looks like my glasses. Schott-Zweisel Pure burgundy glass.

Makes sense. Thank you very much for your advice. I have decided to go with the following choice:

Spiegelau Vino Grande Burgundy Wine Glasses, Set of 6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004SUIF/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_82KPub1P2ACWG

Well, you can buy it from Amazon...

These are the only wine glasses you'll ever need:

http://www.amazon.com/Vinum-Bordeaux-Set-of-2/dp/B000VZZ56I

A little spendy, but not as bad as having 4 or 5 different cheap glasses.

Kindle version: https://www.amazon.com/2019-Certified-Specilast-Study-Guide-ebook/dp/B07QG7XKPH/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3MX71P86YZQEE&keywords=certified+specialist+of+wine+study+guide+2019&qid=1571939287&sprefix=Certified+special%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-4

Paperback: (on sale from $34 bucks today): https://www.amazon.com/2019-Certified-Specialist-Study-Guide/dp/1794385010/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MX71P86YZQEE&keywords=certified+specialist+of+wine+study+guide+2019&qid=1571939326&sprefix=Certified+special%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1

Teaching Company Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan

Jancis Robinson Wine Course


Grape Radio

Mondovino

Jancis Robinson on YouTube

Gary Vaynerchuck

I use these:

Schott Zwiesel Tritan Pure for Burgundy - Pinot Noir, Burg, many Chards, Barolo, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Schott-Zwiesel-Stemware-Collection-23-4-Ounce/dp/B01JGSP31M?th=1&psc=1

Riedel Vinum for Bordeaux - everything else

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000VZZ56I?ref_=mw_olp_product_details

Vacuum pumps will usually give you a couple extra days. Alternatively you could look for smaller bottles, but the selection will be worse. Some box wines aren't too bad, and they don't let air in. You could also get cheaper wine that you won't mind wasting. Or you could just split the bottle with friend(s). Save smaller bottles or drink beer when you're alone. Also if a red is starting to go bad you can always just make sangria.