Any wine connoisseurs here at Club Polk?

aaharvel

i'm looking to go down this road/five course restaurant for Valentines with my girl.. neither of us are experienced with wines. About the best i've had is our local Biltmore Estate winery, which to me is very good.. but is prob. small-time to most others.

I know how it generally goes.. Red with redmeat, White w/seafood & cheeses.

george daniel

Cakebread cellers has a very good white(chard.)
Jordan has a good cab. or,,if in doubt, you can go with a merlot

heiney9

I dabble in Wine. Nothing too outrageous. My best advice is talk to the Sommelier at the restaurant. If you are going to a classy place chances are there is someone there who can give you some suggestions if they don't have a full time sommelier. Be specific, ask questions, and let them know you have no experience with wine and let them know up front what you want to spend. A good restaurant will steer you into a pleasureable experience.

Also many times I prefer to do a flight of wines, which are usually paired together and go with each course of the meal. Flights are a good way to try a few different wines. These are usually middle of the road and won't cost an arm and a leg. Pairing the right wine with the right food with the right company is wonderful.

H9

Tour2ma

Good advice, h9... H-town's only 5-star restaurant (French) features the "Chef's table". It's all you say and the wine and food flows from there and continues for nearly three hours.

Andrew,
If the above is not an option, then consider working with the "by-the-glass" menu. The plus is that mistakes are less costly that route. The minus is that the best wines are normally not available that way.

If you go by the bottle, then whatever you do enjoy, e.g., your Biltmore, might help the Sommelier in your selection. Also, if you have a price range, state it up front.

Wine opinions will vary here as widely as audio gear, e.g., I think Jordan is overrated, but agree that Cakebread's Reserve Chard, is about as good as Chard's get.

And the red with/ white with thing.... not cast in stone.

Relax and enjoy...

Tour2ma

Oh, and don't get stuck on Cab's, Merlots and Chard's... Lots of other great varietals out there.

On the red side there are Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Syrahs and Meritage (blends). In the latter category one that sticks out is Cain Curvee'... just marvelous.... it beats the pants off of Opus One, a "top" Meritage at less than half the price.

On the white side there are Pinot Griggio and Chenin Blanc choices that are worth considering. If you must "Chardonnay", try an "unoaked". So many Chard's today scream "OAK" and do little more. (Cakebread is not one of the screamers.)

Of course, if you are going Italian, even more options arise...

Just for grins here's a couple of old threads:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14791&highlight=wine

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7323&highlight=wine

EDIT: and I am not a connoisseur... just an enthusiast...

TroyD

****, man, grab a handle of Beam....make her take a few tugs and git-r-done.

BDT

Tour2ma

Effin' Romantic SOB... or is that how "The Lovely" gets her man in the mood?

dorokusai

Another comment to attach is don't think that because it's expensive, it's good. I love wine, but as mentioned previously, just a fan...not a connoisseur.

When I travel I always get local and regional wines over "import" selections. I like to taste different wines that are somewhat regional to where I am located at the time.

There's nothing like a quality meal, good wine and a nice whiskey and cigar to finish off the evening. Be sure to blow all the smoke in her face....Happy Valentines sweetheart.

george daniel

Well, there, you have it, a free online tutorial-advice & recommendations from our wine panel @ club polk.Name another forum, where you get that personal "warm & fuzzy" feeling Enjoy your evening, I'm going to the fridge to get more of that "box" wine that's been chillin' I did not know that wine had corks until I got married, hell, I thought they all had the caps that twisted off.

VR3

Call Polk's CS...

And ask a question about wine....

You thought you got detailed responses about speakers???? LOL HA!

george daniel

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Call Polk's CS...

And ask a question about wine....

You thought you got detailed responses about speakers???? LOL HA!

Ask for Clive

VR3

Seriously...

Back in 03 I believe it was...

When I went down there for the first HQ gathering... Matt Polk spent more time talking about Wine than audio...

aaharvel

hey thanks alot for all of the advice everyone.

george daniel

Enjoy your evening with your sweetie

cfrizz

My favorite wine for the moment is Reisling. All of last year is was white merlot.

george daniel

Some good reislings are coming from washington state

Willow

From my experiences, my wife and I prefer, bold,full body,earthy spicy wines (red of course) We quite enjoy wines from Chili and Australia. I am not a big fan of North American wines. But the ones we enjoy maybe an acquired taste.
The old thoughts of reds with meet and white with fish and seafood...is all old BS.
There are so many varieteis of reds and whites, it's more of a personal preference.

The grapes we enjoy are a mixture of Cab-shiraz, shiraz,shiraz-cab-merlot and GRRRRR I can't remember the grapes from Chili...ahhh found it Caman

george daniel

Excellent, other thans reasons stated in the above post,,,what is the OTHER reason for the gentleman to recieve the first tasting? :cool:

Willow

george daniel wrote:

Excellent, other thans reasons stated in the above post,,,what is the OTHER reason for the gentleman to recieve the first tasting? :cool:

Funny...I usually ask them to pour it in my wife's glass, she is more picky than I.

What I don't get is why leave me the cork? Am I to bring it homw as a souvenir?

jdhdiggs

Uh, no, the tasting isn't to tell whether you like it or not but to ensure the bottle didn't go bad. Unless it's starting to turn to vinager, you will have a VERY hard time sending it back.

Pio Cesere is a decent winery that isn't too expensive if you like bold wines. Stag's Leap is very good across the board but $$$$$

As for recommendations, what do you like? What are you willing to spend? Does your state have effed up liquor laws?

White vs. red? Those rules went out a long time ago. Typically you want the wine to be as strong as the food. So say having a cab or syrah with fish, well, you won't taste the fish. Also you can contrast the wine to the food. If it is a spicy/peppery dish, a reisling would be a nice shift of pallet were a strong red would match. If she orders a lightly flavoured dish and you order a stronger flavoured dish, I would highly recommend the Reisling. THey are usually strong enough for beef, tai, chinese, etc... and clean enough to handle fish, scallops, etc...

Willow

jdhdiggs wrote:

Uh, no, the tasting isn't to tell whether you like it or not but to ensure the bottle didn't go bad. Unless it's starting to turn to vinager, you will have a VERY hard time sending it back.

QUOTE]

I'd love to see them stop me. You could say if it taste like **** take it back no matter if it's gone bad. You don't have to tell them what is wrong. if they argue get up and leave.

dbartol1

Despite what advise your getting here the truth is that the finest restaurants prefer that you smuggle in your own wine in a plastic thermos and drink it out of paper or styrofoam cups. It shows that your a take-charge kind of guy who's responsible and sensible. Restaurants LOVE that. I use Dixie cups to chug my ripple down.

Willow

dbartol1 wrote:

Despite what advise your getting here the truth is that the finest restaurants prefer that you smuggle in your own wine in a plastic thermos and drink it out of paper or styrofoam cups. It shows that your a take-charge kind of guy who's responsible and sensible. Restaurants LOVE that. I use Dixie cups to chug my ripple down.

Would those be the dixie cups with Jem and the Hollograms on them ?

heiney9

dorokusai wrote:

Another comment to attach is don't think that because it's expensive, it's good. I love wine, but as mentioned previously, just a fan...not a connoisseur.

When I travel I always get local and regional wines over "import" selections. I like to taste different wines that are somewhat regional to where I am located at the time.

There's nothing like a quality meal, good wine and a nice whiskey and cigar to finish off the evening. Be sure to blow all the smoke in her face....Happy Valentines sweetheart.

Exactly!!! Part of my personal adventure is to seek out wine's that are good values. Some of those tend to be smaller local wines. My rule of thumb for me personally is $12-15 for everyday drinking wine, $15-40 for a dinner party, $40-75 for a special occasion (per bottle). Of course you pay a huge premium at a restaurant. Price certainly isn't always an indication, especially if you don't have the palette to enjoy it. Also agree with Tour2ma, don't just stick to the basic 3 (Cab, Chard, Merlot). There are some fantastic Pinot Noir, Zinfindel, and a favorite white of mine lately is a good Savignon Blanc. There are some great Chliean wines also. Spain makes some great wine as well as Australia, New Zeland and even Italy has some outstanding wine. With French wine you need a mini degree to decipher the label and French wines although very good don't have the cachet they once carried. There are some outstanding French wines, however.

Wine has really taken off in the last 5-7 years in that there is a $hitload of types and brands on the market. This also means the quality of even the lower tier of wine is better than it used to be many years ago. California and France used to be the leaders of wine output that's not so anymore. Another standby favorite of mine is anything from Greg Norman Estates, very good wine and it's reasonably priced.

H9

cfrizz

I know, I'm drinking Covey Run! It's great, and it doesn't cost me an arm & leg!

george daniel wrote:

Some good reislings are coming from washington state

Willow

heiney9 wrote:

Exactly!!! Of course you pay a huge premium at a restaurant. Price certainly isn't always an indication, especially if you don't have the palette to enjoy it.
H9

I know it's a big part of business but I hate seeing the price of a 15$ bottle jacked up to 40-50$ :mad:

We do here have some restaurants where you can bring your own bottles...the catch...10-20$ corking fee :mad: :mad:

heiney9

Willow wrote:

I know it's a big part of business but I hate seeing the price of a 15$ bottle jacked up to 40-50$ :mad:

We do here have some restaurants where you can bring your own bottles...the catch...10-20$ corking fee :mad: :mad:

Yep, I was going to suggest he look around and see if he could bring his own. Take the typical store price of a bottle and multiply it 3-4 times that price and it's what you typically pay in a restaurant. We used to have a resaurant around here that once or twice during the week allowed you to bring your own wine and they only charged a $5 corking fee. Obviously a promotion to get more business during the week. It seemed to work for awhile.

Tour2ma

dorokusai wrote:

Another comment to attach is don't think that because it's expensive, it's good.

When I travel I always get local and regional wines over "import" selections. I like to taste different wines that are somewhat regional to where I am located at the time.

Yup... There are diminishing returns out on "the curve"... kinda like audio. It's fun finding a nice, inexpensive wine. My standby white that is available nationwide is Ecco Domani's Pinot Griggio. It's a Gallo subsidiary's and goes for about $10 a bottle.

I also like trying the local stuff. Mark introduced me to Maryland wine last year and I bought a couple very nice Long Island whites. Both when I was "East-Coasting" last May for my daughter's wedding.

Mark, I owe you a couple tastes of Texas. Llano does a couple everyday wines that are damn good. Beckers and Texas Hills get pretty upscale taste-wise while staying moderate price-wise. TH is one of the few Texas vineyards that does Italian... nice Sangiovese.

jdhdiggs wrote:

Uh, no, the tasting isn't to tell whether you like it or not but to ensure the bottle didn't go bad. Unless it's starting to turn to vinager, you will have a VERY hard time sending it back.

Pio Cesere is a decent winery that isn't too expensive if you like bold wines. Stag's Leap is very good across the board but $$$$$

+1 on the tasting's purpose. Rejection for, "Not liking it," is not an option.

And +1 on Stag's Leap as well. Their '89(?) Cab was the first great wine I ever tasted. My jaw hit the table. Then I found the '91 at Sam's Club of all places for about $24 a bottle. I bought "several". I need to try the Pio C...

A couple folks mentioned Chilean wines... There are some very good ones, e.g., San Fillepe Edwards, but nearly without exception you'd better enjoy tannins, as the Chilleans sure do.

Another area coming on now is South Africa. Could be they've been good for a while, but restrictions kept them unknown. They're similar to the Aussies in varieties and characterisitcs, but a cut above.

As for what to do with the cork...
1. Look at it for wine penetration,
2. Sniff the wine end of it (will tell you if the wine has oxidized), and
3. Squeeze it (test it for moist sponginess without being soft).
Unless it's one of the plastic encased foam "corks", 'cause that'd be silly... Those had to be pressed (no pun intended) into service a several years ago when good cork got scarce.

RuSsMaN

Boones Farm Apple Wine.

Tour2ma

Ah yes.. there was a day...

Strawberry Hill was a nice change of pace as well.

jdhdiggs

Tour2ma wrote:

As for what to do with the cork...
1. Look at it for wine penetration,
2. Sniff the wine end of it (will tell you if the wine has oxidized), and
3. Squeeze it (test it for moist sponginess without being soft).
Unless it's one of the plastic encased foam "corks", 'cause that'd be silly... Those had to be pressed (no pun intended) into service a several years ago when good cork got scarce.

Some other things to look for: The cork being dried out (Stored improperly) or mold. If either is present, you can return the bottle.

The Ecco is a good cheaper wine. Yellow Tail Syrah is mighty good at $7/bottle

Tour, if you try the Pio Cesere, try the 1999 or 2000 barollo-Warning! It must breathe (24 hrs is best if left in the bottle)