Fine wines for the booze hound.

[cbfb]

Go to supermarket, have a look at the offers and work out the difference between the normal and 'special' price. Whichever has the most knocked off is the best bargain and therefore bound to impress everyone (who am I kidding I like to drink alone). Or will just taste like stale piss.

Sensible answer: Thyme Hill merlot is my favourite. A little vineyard near Wanaka. I haven't been there for a few years (used to live there) and can't find it up here on N.I., but I thought it was really wonderful stuff. A shade over $20 but worth it. Cheaper if you buy it direct by the box.

[oldrider]

There are currently some nice local wines being produced in the Waitaki valley that may be worth giving a try!

"Ostler" vineyards LTD [ www.ostlerwine.co.nz ] Jim and Annie Jerram.

We are not wine buffs but find Osler's Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris quite nice and easy to drink!

Kurow wineries and Cellar Door [ http://kurowwinery.co.nz/news.html ] is worth a look too, we have been there for wine tasting and nibbles when meeting travelling friends and found their products quite agreeable!

Could be worth your while taking a look at their link.

[ynot slow]

Either Old Coach Road or Siegfreid(sp)from Nelson,their reds are beaut,and around sub $20.00

[Oakie]

Velutto Rosso!.its in a box so wont roll around in the fridge, drink it cool while grazing on some puhoi blue/hummas and onion dip....thank me later...

First drank that 32 years ago on a Post Office training course in Dunedin. Threw away the dregs of a 3 year old cask of the stuff just a couple of weeks back.

[Oakie]

Either Old Coach Road or Siegfreid(sp)from Nelson,their reds are beaut,and around sub $20.00

Yeah. Siefried. Used to be based outside Christchurch but now resident in Nelson.

[ynot slow]

Yeah. Siefried. Used to be based outside Christchurch but now resident in Nelson.

Yep,they have vineyard in Nelson,and make under both labels,and nice whites as well,went on a tour about 16yrs ago,was interesting.

[Brian d marge]

Used to work many years ago for a fine wine merchant ( posh piss head ) many years ago

I asked him the question about the posh wines

he sold ?? me two bottles , one a cheap Merlot , the other and expensive Cabernet ( he didnt tell me the price at the time ) told me to come back and tell him which ones I liked

of course the merlot , he explained why

basically said get ya self a good example of a single grape and if ya like it ya home and hosed

oh and microwave cheap wines to kill tannins , heard that at a posh piss up ...seems to work

and I must say that , some of those NZ ( pretty sure it was ) Pinot Noirs are DAMN FINE

but el bluto rooto ...is the best for pickin up the birds

Stephen

[davebullet]

We've been quaffing a bit of Mud House Pinot Noir (Central Otago). Not bad stuff and can be had sub $20 from the supermarket.

[ynot slow]

My brother a few years ago had a bbq and wine tasting evening,along with us plebs were lawyer,accountant,and other plonkers,we placed our wines in a bag and poured,end of the tasting the best was a wine from an accountant who use a chateau d cardboard vintage.The best thing was reading the so-called experts words(we had a list of options i.e tannin,taste,aroma etc)and we knew who had which sheet,the bouque and aroma for said cask wastop on a few peoples minds,they really stuffed up,as comments were "I never drink cask,I wouldn't be seen dead drinking that stuff,much like the same guys drinking export lager and thinking it was Heinekin or similar as it was from a jug.

[Paul in NZ]

We've been quaffing a bit of Mud House Pinot Noir (Central Otago). Not bad stuff and can be had sub $20 from the supermarket.

Generally a safe bet!


Um - in a previous incarnation I was a head waiter / wine 'expert' at silver service restaurant in a posh english holiday hotel. I got a fair amount of training and sampled a lot of very (VERY) expensive wines and hung out with a lot of very knowledgable people. I also learnt how to sell a wine...

Its important not to get a wines 'quality' and its suitability mixed up.

The cellar I had the keys to housed wines going back to the 1930's but frankly they were just there for decoration. The really nice stuff was from a few glorious seasons in the 1950's and early 60's. We are talking maybe not the utter top shelf but Château Mouton Rothschild (late 50's early 60's) and a few Chateau Lafite Rothschilds and lots of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Whites were mostly german and if anything of better quality but less popular due mainly to snobbery.

Our best customer would have 2 weeks holiday every year and organise the wines well in advance with me so I could get them in and cellared in advance. he had an ecyclopeadic knowledge of wine and contrary to what you may think was neither rich nor a snob. He loved wine like we love motorcycles. His choices were often very surprising and often not expensive at all.

What he always told me was that the modern new world wines were not made like the old world ones from the 50's and 60's. Those older wines needed to kept to bring out the best and indeed were designed that way. Modern wine making requires a quicker cashflow and needs to be ready to drink sooner, the downside being it does not usually improve much once its reached its design target and indeed usually deteriorates.

A lot of the wine that reaches the supermarket at a discount price is not designed to keep.

The second thing I learnt is that wine is all about snobbery and secret information and its all mostly bollocks. The exception being that some select vintages are often amazingly good (and there is never ever a glut of these) and I'm sorry but you probably wont be able to afford them. I've tasted a few and I was just astonished. Like drinking liquid velvet and they are nothing like what we buy at pak n Save.

End of the day - try a few, write a few notes about what you like and why as after the first glass youre not making sense anyway.

Best of all enjoy them - I wish I still could ;-(

[Bikemad]

cold duck mate................

[Brian d marge]

Like drinking liquid velvet

;-(

I KNOW what you mean

Stephen

Sorry there is no smiley to say , Ive had the Same experience and know how u felt

[KiWiP]

A few years (ok many) a work colleague admitted to knowing nothing about wine but being able to choose perfectly acceptable wines purely by statistical method.
1. Choose how much you want to spend
2. Choose red or white (Rose didn't exist back then, well not in supermarkets anyway)
3. Go down the rack of wines looking for pretty labels (they impress girls) close to your price range
4. Select the wine with the highest alcohol content.

The method didn't disappoint but its usefulness faded as the alcohol content of all wines came up to being uniformally high. So I have changed the method for todays economic and vintneromic climate.
1. Your budget is $10-$12. You can go cheaper and get a nice wine but not by this method. <$10 you've got to go by word of mouth or personal experience.
2. Choose red or white (only go for rose if you know the girl you're trying to bed loves rose. If you're a girl and the guy you're trying to bed loves rose he's more interested in banging your brother)
3. Go down the rack of wines looking for wines discounted by more than $7 (so original price was >$17-$19
4. You will never have an awful wine. Some may not be to your favoured taste but they will be worth the spend and you will not feel cheated by the bottle
5. Keep note of the label (vinyard) as if you like one in their stock (e.g. Merlot) it is likely you will like the others (e.g. Cab Sauv, Chardonnay) Because the vintner and owner has a similar 'likey' palate to yours

N.B. Only works in the supermarket
Doesn't work for Pinot Noir (got to go over $30 before it starts to get worthwhile)

Other things I have learnt
1. Steer clear of stupid names (e.g. Dirty Cock, Drunk B'stard) Funny until the first mouthful.
2. Labels that give you a hangover before the tasting. Wine is for piss artists and real artists not cock jockey art students with an uncle with a vinyard
3. None fizzy Wine with a real cork will be
a. off if you give it as a present
b. the only bottle left when you don't have a corkscrew
4. Fizzy wine with a proper cork is guaranteed to get you laid. If the wine doesn't get them the heavy unbreakable bottle will.
5. If you're planning to do more than 4 bottles in one sitting it is advisable to leave all credit cards at home. If this is not possible make sure you also have your passport handy.
6. Rose is gay and stupid

[ellipsis]

.....i would be the most unqualified person to have any comment at all on wine...i was involved in the british beer industry for a while and got quite good at what i did and even got a job for one of the bigger London brewers as a roving cellarman , checking out and helping publicans get their beer and cellars in order....my only qualification...I liked beer and knew how it should taste....a job I had in one central London pub/eatery was to get the beer tasting right and to train their cellarman....it was owned by a South African couple who new wine....the wife was very qualified in the viticulture game , and that was their forte....hence the lack of beer knowledge....I will always remember her hosting an in house wine tasting and educational evening for other publicans/landlords.....at the end of the evening she had a poll on what wine they thought was the best of all they had tasted....she smiled a lot as she told them the object of her whole evening.....the wine that was most popular by far came from a tin and that is how they should go about stocking their wine racks....leave the bullshit to the bullshitters is fairly accurate quote of what she said....most non connoisseurs do not want to taste the hints and the nuances..they want a wine that tastes nice...i must have killed all my taste sensory receptors now....still dislike wine and drink speights....only because it seems to be the best of a fucking horrible lot of tasteless drivel...not talking boutique stuff...etc....

[KoroJ]

McQuigans Black Label

Can be $15 but often specials between $7 - $10

Consistantly smooth with or without food.