Wine! All things wine

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by DFO

What are the favourite shops in town? I stick to Richmond Hill and Metrovino for the most part and pop into Costco once in a while.

Costco and Coop (on Southland). Coop often has great sales, so that's the time to pounce. J. Webb carries some wines that noone else can get.
I really don't know that much about wine yet - still learning. I got a wine cellar built as part of our reno, so now have fill the void.
Only started drinking whites this summer.

[kermitology]

About the only whites I’ll drink are Sauv Blanc from New Zealand.

I’d agree that my favourite reds are from Argentina. I love Zorzal. I tend to use Vivino and their wine quickscan to view a bunch of wines I’m choosing between.

For American wines, I like Pinot Noir, but I find you usually have to spend a lot to get a decent bottle other than Ballard Lane, which I love and is at a decent price.

For something cheap, I love a Spanish Tempranillo or Garnacha.

Edit: My favourite place for wine is craft Cellars in the NE.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Someone told me the same thing; that it was a starter wine. Therefore, I started

You pay $16-20 for that, right? To expand your horizon, go to Costco and grab a bottle of the 2011 (or 12 if no 11) Masi Amarone for $33. It's not expensive (by good wine standards) and will really show you what a wine 3 or 4 steps up is like. It's a good wine that's not too bold and not too light, so should be good for any taste. Just don't get the cheaper Masi for $19 - nowhere near as good.

[jeffporfirio]

Love wine, hate the hangovers associated with it.
How much truth is there in the claim that organic wines will give you less of a hangover?
Has anyone tried the Ullo wine filters?

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by kermitology

About the only whites I’ll drink are Sauv Blanc from New Zealand.

I’d agree that my favourite reds are from Argentina. I love Zorzal. I tend to use Vivino and their wine quickscan to view a bunch of wines I’m choosing between.

For American wines, I like Pinot Noir, but I find you usually have to spend a lot to get a decent bottle other than Ballard Lane, which I love and is at a decent price.
For something cheap, I love a Spanish Tempranillo or Garnacha.

It's really frustrating how much we have to pay here for American wine. You can get fantastic California pinots at Costco in US for 10-12 dollars. The best value for US Pinot I have seen here is the Central Carneros Pinot I got at Coop on sale for 27 and the Belle Glos Clark & Telephone at Costco for about $35.
For Spanish, Volver at Costco is excellent at $20.
I use Vivino as well. In addition to ratings, I use it to log and keep track of my collection. It also recommends food pairings for you.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Love wine, hate the hangovers associated with it.
How much truth is there in the claim that organic wines will give you less of a hangover?
Has anyone tried the Ullo wine filters?

It makes a massive difference. I tried a bunch from this place in Peachland...

http://www.hainle.com/

No hangovers. Lots of wine claims to be organic but may just be made with organically grown grapes. They still add all the crap that gives you headaches. Actual organic wine with no additives is much less common.

[calgarygeologist]

I don't think my palate is sophisticated enough for wine because I find that most wines taste the same especially red wine. That being said I usually go with a Barolo wine for red and I enjoy most German Rieslings. For local/Canadian stuff my go to is the Nk'Mip winery in Osoyoos. I have a bottle of Nk'Mip Icewine from 2010 that I've been aging and saving for the right time to drink. I'm not sure if ice wine gets better with age but from what I can remember their 2010 production was one of the best years.

[Chingas]

I thought this was an Oiler fan/Spector thread.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I don't drink wine. Or drink at all.

But this thread will come in handy, especially for Christmas season, so I can buy wine as a gift and then talk about it like I actually know wtf I'm talking about, have amazing taste and know all the gems.

So thanks in advance everyone!

[Chingas]

The best wine I have ever had is Penfold's bin 707. It is pricy but is the best of all the pricy bottles I have been able to taste. For a white, we have drank cases of cold cloudy Bay and really enjoy it on a hot day.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Love wine, hate the hangovers associated with it.
How much truth is there in the claim that organic wines will give you less of a hangover?
Has anyone tried the Ullo wine filters?

Less hangover the higher the quality. If you drink a lot of water - one glass of water per 5 Oz of wine - you will be fine. I have not had a hangover in years.

[JohnnyB]

I drink mostly wines from NZ (Hawkes Bay, Central Otago & Marlborough), Australia (Barossa and Margaret River) and France (Burgundy), but I love Okanagan wines. The Okanagan produces some really good wines and there's a lot of variety. Missed the summer back there for the first time in ages this year, but my parents brought me some wines from my cellar on a visit here in SH. Just holding them for a time to really enjoy them.

[OMG!WTF!]

I like all of the unusual varietals in BC. If they're bad, at least they will be uniquely bad. And you can sound cool asking someone if they'd like more oraniensteiner. Or mueller tergau.

One really unique wine that I loved was the Leon Millot at Saxon winery. It's a naturally blush colored wine grape so even without the skins it turns out beautifully rose colored. And no tannins. It's superb

[Amethyst]

Okay, wine people.... I need some suggestions for something new to try. I prefer a dry, white wine (reds give me a headache). This thread would have been more helpful last week as I just got a new 6 pack. I picked up a few favourites but wanted to try some others and was kind of at a loss (local Safeway, so no help from the staff).

[trew]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Love wine, hate the hangovers associated with it.
How much truth is there in the claim that organic wines will give you less of a hangover?
Has anyone tried the Ullo wine filters?

You'll hear people say that organic wine is better for hangovers because of sulfites, but that's a red-herring for most people. (Some people are sulfite sensitive, but if you are one of those people, you will also have issues with many types of dried fruits and foods, as the sulfite content in wine is lower than many other products). The wine filters claim to reduce sulfites, but really it's air exposure that will reduce sulfites, they rapidly bind with oxygen (which is why winemakers use them).

For most people, a wine headache is caused by fusel alcohol and acetaldehyde. Both are products of natural fermentation, but are often found in higher concentrations in wine; particularly wine fermented on the skins, and at a higher temperature. (Red wines). Cheaper wine probably also is higher in these components as hot ferments are more productive for extraction, and oxygen exposure may be increased with bulk handling of wine. (Two buck chuck is crushed with an auger, stems and all).

Ironically sulfites are used to protect against oxygen exposure (which increases acetaldehyde in wine), and there may actually be a negative correlation between sulfite levels and hangover incidence. So some of those organic wines may actually end up being worse.. (but there's lots of really good biodynamic producers that just make good wine, so I don't want to paint organic wine as "bad"). In theory finding a wine done with a cold ferment might be the best bet for locating a less headache prone wine.

In detail:

http://www.chemistryviews.org/detail...es_Part_3.html

More about acetaldehyde: http://www.wineland.co.za/acetaldehyde-in-wine/

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Okay, wine people.... I need some suggestions for something new to try. I prefer a dry, white wine (reds give me a headache). This thread would have been more helpful last week as I just got a new 6 pack. I picked up a few favourites but wanted to try some others and was kind of at a loss (local Safeway, so no help from the staff).

If you can get to Costco, Wente Chardonnay at $21 is superb.

[prarieboy]

Let's not forget to Decant!!

Seriously, if you have a Red that is say more than four years in the bottle try this little experiment.

Open the bottle and have a small taste as a baseline. Put the rest into a decanter and wait for it about 30 minutes.

Try it again and I'd be shocked if you didn't think improved a ton.

#Vlad , Zenato Amorone is your new best friend.

[Harry Lime]

Well, five paragraphs carefully addressing all of the wine related items raised so far, gone when I was asked to re-sign in. I like the idea of this thread, and I'll try to be a contributor when my irritation subsides.

Trew, absolutely right. The only way to discover what your particular sensitivity is would be through good old fashioned test and compare.

Organic : Fewer Sulphates.
High Altitude : Fewer Pesticides.
Small Batch : Fewer Your fancy chemistry jazz.

[terryclancy]

Out of the way for many here, but Vinestone in Cochrane is a fine wine store. We just moved to the Okanagan and we'll really miss that shop.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

You pay $16-20 for that, right? To expand your horizon, go to Costco and grab a bottle of the 2011 (or 12 if no 11) Masi Amarone for $33. It's not expensive (by good wine standards) and will really show you what a wine 3 or 4 steps up is like. It's a good wine that's not too bold and not too light, so should be good for any taste. Just don't get the cheaper Masi for $19 - nowhere near as good.

I picked up a bottle of Masi Amarone at costco and noticed it's 20 bucks cheaper there than at other liquor stores.

I got started really drinking wine when I started going to the young stars. I know I need to branch out, but I think there are a bunch of great wineries around Penticton. Currently loving the wineries on along the Namarata bench. I know it is a bit pricey, but I enjoy the Hillside Mosaic. Also stumbled upon a winery, Moraine estate, where we enjoyed a bunch of what they had.