Wine?

[jeepgirl30]

I love wine. When it comes to adult beverages if I can't get wine I don't drink. I have become very picky over wine. I am also an event planner so I order wines for many people over many occassions.

Some things to consider, wine not only varies greatly in taste and cost but also alcohol content and sugar content. The more sugar the bigger hangover! The best hangover cure is to not get one. Drink lots of water in between glasses.

As others mentioned price is not the way to tell a "good" wine. I like either a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand for a white or in reds I like Cabs, Shiraz or Malbecs. I like some non california Chardonnays. My husband and his friend were going to the liquor store and asked if i wanted something, i said if you see Kim Crawford SB please grap it. I should have added, if not nothing please. His friend advised him to buy the Kendall Jackson SB instead. When they presented it to me his friend thought i was the biggest witch of all from the look on my face. California SB is heavily oaked and not at all my taste.

if you ask a good waiter to recommend a wine they should ask you what you like, if not don't trust them! wines are so personal, what is "good" to one person may not be to someone else.

wine flavors do change with food and even temperature. tasting several varities is a great suggestion. I would recommend trying different regions as well as different varities (California and New Zealand for example with a Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay)

good luck and enjoy!

 

[SpecialK]

Wine is a very personal taste. There are so many variations even between wines of the same type that you really just have to experiment.

Expensive is definately NOT better. Some of the best wines I have had were between $8.99-12.99 a bottle.

I have had a handful of wines that were $30-50 a bottle, and quite frankly, my personal taste enjoyed the $10 bottles better. I do find the cheap, cheap wines (Sutter Home etc.) to be kind of blah though. I have a few friends who swear by Barefoot but I've just had way better.

I find good starting points with white wines tend to either be the sweeter wines like Rieslings (Relax is one that even my non wine drinking friends like), Moscato (very sweet and often sparkly) or the Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigios. They just tend to be more fruity and go well with lots of things.

Reds are a bit harder to get used to if you aren't a wine fan. A nice Cabernet Sauvignon tends to be one all of my wine fan friends agree is a good starter. I personally like Spanish and South American wines for reds.

The only type of wine I have had that I did not like is Shiraz.

As for websites and guides, I don't know. I just pick up a different bottle once in a while and keep a journal of what I thought.

I agree with all of these suggestions and I'll add this. If you like pinot grigio, chances are you'll also like pinot noir in a red. It's a nice, light, low tannin red so it doesn't give me headaches. Trader Joe's has some really nice inexpensive choices. (No 2 buck chuck - it's nasty)

No cabernet for me - love the taste, but it's an instant headache. Same problem with chardonnay. I'd start light and move on to the heavier wines.