any wine drinkers here?

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SkyRider

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hi i'm quite new to red wine. always drank beer or vodka. so i tasted a $20 bottle of wine then tried a $500 bottle. frankly both taste the same to me. why the price difference? or will my taste become more sensitive the more i drink?
 
SkyRider said:
or will my taste become more sensitive the more i drink?
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Of course it will. Whether that's enough to cause you to spend $500 for a bottle of wine is quite another thing.. :-)
 
Best thing I did was attend a wine seminar at the Food & Beverage show years ago. Learning about the wines is a bit dry but what I took away from it has saved me thousands of dollars. The idea at one of these seminars is to sample each variety of wine and you note what you like and dislike while learning about it. Once you nail down what red/white wine you like (that is, Shiraz, Merlot, Pinot, Chardonnay, etc) you then know at least what type you like and what direction to go in once you are at the LCBO.

So at least you know what type you like, then you get to have fun of trying all the different regions that produce that type. This is a life experience, not something you learn at the seminar although they do advise you which regions are better known for the grape type.

You will be amazed that some of the lower cost products offered in a grape type may be the ones you enjoy the most.
 
SkyRider said:
hi i'm quite new to red wine. always drank beer or vodka. so i tasted a $20 bottle of wine then tried a $500 bottle. frankly both taste the same to me. why the price difference? or will my taste become more sensitive the more i drink?
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My grandpa makes wine that has the sting of vodka, if you can find similar I would recommend it.
 
I bought a Merlot, Shiraz, and Chardonnay of Yellow Tail. I figured out I love Merlot and hate Shiraz.
 
Love a good red! I'm partial to California, Australia full bodied reds. 14% or higher alcohol content. Strictly from the Vintage section of the LCBO. Mike the wine consultant is always hooking me up with some really good vintages each time and saves me some of the special order bottles and orders in the odd request for me. Always trying new ones as they come along...

One of my favorites, Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
Cheap red wines that i got back for

C'est la vie - Pinot Noir
Fusion reserva (older vintage)- Malbec
Casillero del Diablo - Shiraz

all under 15$ and very casual wines

my tip when you go for a cab sav is to spend the extra 10$, better quality of "dryness" in the taste
 
JZ67 said:
Best thing I did was attend a wine seminar at the Food & Beverage show years ago. Learning about the wines is a bit dry but what I took away from it has saved me thousands of dollars. The idea at one of these seminars is to sample each variety of wine and you note what you like and dislike while learning about it. Once you nail down what red/white wine you like (that is, Shiraz, Merlot, Pinot, Chardonnay, etc) you then know at least what type you like and what direction to go in once you are at the LCBO.

So at least you know what type you like, then you get to have fun of trying all the different regions that produce that type. This is a life experience, not something you learn at the seminar although they do advise you which regions are better known for the grape type.

You will be amazed that some of the lower cost products offered in a grape type may be the ones you enjoy the most.
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I don't know much about wine but I know some wine snobs and some plain wine lovers. The plain wine lovers pretty much have the same opinion you do. They like their specific type of wine..they'll get mid-priced wines..not too cheap..and they're good to go. They probably wouldn't spend a lot on wine unless they were Buffet-rich..
 
There is a restaurant in Ottawa that will serve you four different wines, an ounce or so of each so you can taste the difference. You get the general idea of what people are talking about when they mention the tones of tobacco, cherries etc.
My problem is that I'm the only wine drinker in the house and it doesn't make sense to open a bunch of bottles and compare them. I'll have to try one of the wine shows for that.
 
Unless you're a wine [FONT=arial, sans-serif]connoisseur, with a sensitive palate i can't imagine you'd be able to tell much of a difference.
I love red wine, and I can't tell a difference between a great $15 red (Chemin de Terre, fantastic, and no longer available) and a mediocre $50 (Robert Mondavi Costal Cab. Sauv.).

Keep an eye out for great reviews of sub $20 wines. It's all you need to spend.

This website has great reviews of wines coming into the LCBO: [/FONT]http://winecurrent.com/[FONT=arial, sans-serif]


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The Cosmopolitan Hotel has a restaurant inside it called '8 Wine Bar'. Every Friday at 5pm - 10 ish they pour about 20 different wines at $1 an ounce in 3, 5 or 8 ounce pours.
The best thing is that most of their wines are consignment, which means the public can't buy them and they are really good wines. So, if you are looking to try really good wines for very cheap and a bunch of different varietals go there on Fridays.
 
You're pretty much right. Yes, there is a difference...but you won't know the difference until you work your way through all the wines. Generally speaking, if you like your coffee light vs dark/bold, you'll almost always have the same wine preference.

Ontario (more specifically, Niagara & Beamsville) has some amazing wines that I think are competitive with the rest of the world. I can name a couple, if you'd like.

I could probably talk your ear off about wine, but I'm not that big of a wine lover, myself. The difference between a good middle-tier wine and a really expensive one is very marginal to me. But then again, some people have more sensitive palates and there IS a difference.

The problem with good wine-making is that the process gets more tedious and the wine just tastes marginally better as it gets more complicated.
 
Ignore wine snobs as taste is a very personal thing I find. Having said that certain countries and regions offer reasonably consistent wines and if you see "xxxx medal winner" on a bottle in the LCBO this is usually a pretty good thing and the wine should at least be reasonable. Also, some very expensive wines are not meant to be drunk now, they should be cellared so don't just go by price. However, if you really want a red wine journey then do the following....this will cost you about $120ish but you get to go through a few bottles....note these are all french:

Start with a Cotes du Rhone...then move to a Cotes du Rhone Villages....Crozes Hermitages, then Gigondas...then Chateauneuf du Pape. What you're doing here is moving up in quality within the same region in France with the same grape varieties. Note the price goes up as you move along...a Chateuneuf du Pape will set you back around $30ish and up but the best value in that list in my mind are the Cotes du Rhone Villages (under 20) and the Gigondas (about 25) which, if you like red wines, will absolutely blow your socks off. Gigondas is my fave red wine but again as it's personal this doesn't necessarily mean it will be yours.

I like wine but I don't generally drink reds from Canada as the conditions aren't quite right, Canada makes amazing whites though and some reds from the Okanagen are OK. I don't go for any reds east of BC though.

Best value at the LCBO comes from South America (particularly Chile and Argentina), South Africa and Australia as most of these are full bodied reds and nice whites that are ready to drink now. Worst value in my mind comes from some Californian wines that are just overpriced...there's some good stuff under $15 though.

My favourite white right now is a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand under the Kim Crawford brand, it's a vintages staple and it's $18ish. Also a fave is "Wallaroo Trail" Australian white that you can get from the wine rack stores in groceries etc. Don't be fooled by the bargain bin label..this is mostly for the Quebec market where they aren't allowed to put the grape variety on it so they can sell it in depanneurs due to SAQ rules...it's a very decent wine for the price, especially in Quebec where a litre bottle of it is $10.99 (it's $11.99 for a 750ml bottle in Ontario)...it's a pretty decent Chardonay.
 
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