Which wine?

[GhostMjr]

As i'm getting old in the tooth as you all no doubt know, i am beginning to walk through the wine aisles of tesco rather than nip straight to the beer section.

To be honest i haven't a clue as to what to try/ not to try.

I am more fond of white but will try red again on recommendation

Any recommendations?

I have tried the cheaper wines such as gallo, Liebfraumilch and blue nun, Lib's personal favorite i must add.

I find wines hard to choose and for me anyway its like picking a needle out of a hay stack.

Also, almost 75% off the wines i found in sainsbury's this afternoon are screw tops, even those above £10. Is this for convenience or a sign of a cheap wine? I prefer corked wine even if it is a pain. Half the fun is opening a bottle anyway.

Thanks for your input

[Anonymous]

For easy drinking whites I tend to go for Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio - if you want some VERY nice Sauv Blanc look for "Oyster Bay" from New Zealand; lovely stuff - Tescos often have it.

For reds I like Shiraz, Cab Sauv, Pinot Noir but the Shiraz and Pinot Noir can be a bit rich for some peoples tastes.

[GhostMjr]

For easy drinking whites I tend to go for Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio - if you want some VERY nice Sauv Blanc look for "Oyster Bay" from New Zealand; lovely stuff - Tescos often have it.

For reds I like Shiraz, Cab Sauv, Pinot Noir but the Shiraz and Pinot Noir can be a bit rich for some peoples tastes.

Thanks BB, I grabbed Shiraz earlier on as it was one of the few with a cork, i also chose Muscadet for the white.

Thanks again for your input

[DuVeL]

Ask Sheepy next LAN, the dude was a lasersalesman but also winesalesman!

[Penfold]

I recently stayed at a winery in Northern Italy with one of my clients (http://www.ascherihotel.it/welcome_eng.lasso) and we did a wine tour and tasting with its owner. Someone asked that question of him and he said that given the choice most wine makers would go for screw cap over cork every time. This is because there is more control over the wine than with a cork (or synthetic over cork). Most of the best vineyards in the world use screw caps. They have a zero fail rate which when compared to cork which can be as much as 15% make a big difference.

As for wine. ....

White:  Villa Maria - Sauvignon Blanc. Bit pricey at £9 a bottle but if you buy in bulk from Majestic it comes down to £6.99. sublimely drinkable and probably one of 3 whites I like - That, Ned Hill and Verdicchio. As BB says, Oyster Bay is nice. Just try not to confuse it with Cloudy Bay (which you'll notice when you get to the till as it's four times the price).

Red: I like light reds so prefer a Shiraz - I also really like Penfold's  (obviously). E&J's Turning Leaf in one of my favourites. my fav Penfold's Estate one is Koonunga Hill (Shiraz Cab) and is not too dear at 6 quid.

Personally I like New World wines for white and red all over. Bizarrely Chile does some really nice Red Wines.

There's no general rule, you just have to try some to find one you like. Look at alcohol content and try to avoid anything under 12.5%. Private Bin wines are nicer (hand picked grapes or premium grapes) and I hope you're joking about the Lieb and Blue Nun :wink:

[Liberator]

I have tried the cheaper wines such as gallo, Liebfraumilch and blue nun, Lib's personal favorite i must add.

:eyebrow:

E&J Gallo has its cheaper "Californian Red" grape (which is what I assume you are talking about) , but it's more known for its "Turning Leaf" range which is usually around £8-9 a bottle and very nice, grab a Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon if you can.

I usually stay away from European stuff and stick with Chilean, Australian, South African and Californian.

Shiraz and Zinfandel are light, Cab Sauv is richer and Merlot is lovely and rich.

Wolf Blass is a great Australian vinyard, their "Yellow Label" stuff is their mid range wine at around £8-9 and is very nice.

As for white wine, I will always go for a Semillion Chardonay first, I like the crisp refeshing taste, it's not dry and it's not sweet, Jacobs Creek have won a few awards for theirs, depending on the year.



But above all, read the labels.

[suicidal_monkey]

Also, almost 75% off the wines i found in sainsbury's this afternoon are screw tops, even those above £10. Is this for convenience or a sign of a cheap wine? I prefer corked wine even if it is a pain. Half the fun is opening a bottle anyway.

for future reference "corked" wine is wine that has "gone off", oxidised or basically gone all vinegary - not a good thing! Screw-caps are more efficient and lead to more predeictable yeilds for winemakers. Makes no difference other than being less traditional and a little less impressive. Much much easier for picnics when you've forgotten the corkscrew!

You can get Wolf Blass (an old favourite of mine) variants for around £4-5 in sales in the super markets - it's a nice reliable wine but there are many more interesting ones out there Find yourself a decent wine merchant is my advice. Supermarkets or offies /might/ have a knowledgeable person but Independents specialising in wine rather than just "alcohol" tend to be the best for getting personalised help. I know this shop in Staines that specialises in South African wines (my fav) and I just ring up to say I'm wanting to buy a case, 8 red, 4 white, and give an estimate of my price ranges and he sorts out an amazing range of stuff. Not cheap exactly but you can't beat it for service and you can't find those wines elsewhere!

European wines tend to be sold on the strength of the region or estate/vineyard. They blend the various grapes to try and produce a reliable wine that doesn't vary too much year-to-year. "New-world" tend to have bigger, younger wines, with more single-grape wines and often a harsher/more-raw drink (not in a bad way!). There's an awful lot of information out there and to know a fraction of it you need a lot of time on your hands.

Find a few wines you like, buy them as a staple, but try other wines as well. Everyone will like something a little different. Wine good :flirty:

[Jabbs]

Talking of wines, does anyone buy online?  If so, which retailer?  I'm looking at getting a mixed case soon so was wondering.

[Zootoxin]

Do not tend to drink much wine only with meals really.
This is my favourite red and goes really nice with a nice bit of lamb
Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon

[suicidal_monkey]

Talking of wines, does anyone buy online?  If so, which retailer?  I'm looking at getting a mixed case soon so was wondering.

any of the supermarkets will prob do online now. Plus there's virgin wines and all the laithwaites variants. I've probably bought from all of the above (though never cases from supermarkets... better deals when wandering about in the aisle) and all work out okay.

edit: actually I've got a few old virgin wines vouchers if people'd like the "codes" - look pretty generic. Dunno if they're still valid or work more than once: www.virginwines.co.uk/slurp (user=DADDY passw=CHAMPAGNE) and www.virginwines.com/lovefilm (user=LOVEFMJAN passw=WINEBANK). the latter may be a weird account thing. Doubtless there's a catch but be smart and quickly cancel any "subscriptions". I used to "subscribe" to quarterly cases from laithwaites, wait for the (heavily discounted) first case to arrive, then ring up and cancel the subscription. They let me do that quite a few times, still sent me advertising literature

[Toxteth]

I just go for anything that's reduced from £7+ and you usually can't get a bad one...