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Crimson
Nov 7, 2002

PT6A posted:

I'm going to try the gently caress out of this, thanks for the recommendation. It's counterintuitive to my mind, but some of the best pairings are.

The wine is salty, with fresh lime, lemon, slight green/vegetal notes, and a creme fraiche/creamy texture from lees contact. Sounds perfect to me, I'm gonna have to try that.

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PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Crimson posted:

The wine is salty, with fresh lime, lemon, slight green/vegetal notes, and a creme fraiche/creamy texture from lees contact. Sounds perfect to me, I'm gonna have to try that.

That makes more sense to me, I was thinking more about matching body to body, but I'd say your case is much stronger than mine.

Comb Your Beard
Sep 28, 2007

Chillin' like a villian.
Gonna hit a Bastille Day sale at a local wine shop tomorrow. Pretty psyched. Maybe I'll pick up some Sancerre.

got off on a technicality
Feb 7, 2007

oh dear

idiotsavant posted:

SF-wise Bi-Rite should have it right now and Ruby carries it most of the time. Terroir has had it but I don't know that they have any right now. Bay Grape carries it in Oakland, and so does Ordinaire. I just started working with a distributor in CA, so there should be a few more places on the list soon. If you're drinking lots of Beaujolais right now you'll probably like it. It's pretty juicy but in that lighter Bojo way, with a little bit of green in back.

I finally got round to buying a bottle of T&T 2013 (from Bi-Rite) and it was delicious. Intended to have a glass and ended up finishing the bottle haha. By the way are you talking to K&L?

Stitecin
Feb 6, 2004
Mayor of Stitecinopolis
Who was it that worked a vintage in Hungary? I think it was an Aussie goon.

idiotsavant
Jun 4, 2000

Admirable Gusto posted:

I finally got round to buying a bottle of T&T 2013 (from Bi-Rite) and it was delicious. Intended to have a glass and ended up finishing the bottle haha. By the way are you talking to K&L?

Rad, really glad you enjoyed it!! I feel like I got super, super lucky with the 2013 'cause that hasn't been an uncommon occurrence. I haven't talked to K&L - I just started working with a California distributor; hopefully they can make something happen down the road.

Looks like harvest is starting this Saturday with a half-ton of Sierra Foothills Syrah. The vineyard is getting rehabilitated so yields are pretty low this year. Hoping to get enough for a barrel... I'll try to take some pictures for y'all.

Archer2338
Mar 15, 2008

'Tis a screwed up world
I'm moving back to the States after a few years abroad, but the state I'm moving to is Pennsylvania.
Am I out of luck regarding online retailers for wines? I remember the few times I tried (a few years ago), a lot of them were based in CA (looong ship times) and/or would not ship to PA due to the legal issues.

Terminus
May 6, 2008
Not sure if this is in effect yet but it should be sometime soon.

New PA Wine Laws

Link posted:

Direct Shipping to PA

Wineries can now ship directly to consumers, up to 36 cases annually. The law does not allow retail wine stores to ship to PA, only wineries. This law puts PA law into line with the standards of wine shipping throughout the US, which has enormous benefits for the wine trade.

For a winery to ship to a customer in PA, they will have to obtain a a direct wine shipper license from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), which will cost $25o per year. There will be two taxes on the wines. First is a gallonage tax of $2.50 per gallon, which will add $0.43 per bottle to the price. Sales tax for PA will also have to be collects. In Philly, that tax is currently 10%.

The 18% Johnstown Flood tax will not be levied for direct shipments of wine.

Bottomline for the Consumer: Now we can have wine shipped to us, just like everyone else in America.

Comb Your Beard
Sep 28, 2007

Chillin' like a villian.
How do you successfully regift wine you don't want?

I have some Cali Chardonnay from my housewarming party. Really not my style. Should I bring it to a party? I'm afraid I may get put on the spot to drink it, but at the same time I might want to be drinking other stuff. Maybe bring 2 bottles one to open, one to leave?

Throwing it away would be too wasteful I feel.

Murgos
Oct 21, 2010

Comb Your Beard posted:

How do you successfully regift wine you don't want?

I have some Cali Chardonnay from my housewarming party. Really not my style. Should I bring it to a party? I'm afraid I may get put on the spot to drink it, but at the same time I might want to be drinking other stuff. Maybe bring 2 bottles one to open, one to leave?

Throwing it away would be too wasteful I feel.

Bring 2 bottles. One of something you want to drink and one of the thing you're trying to dump.

Then only drink the one you actually like.

idiotsavant
Jun 4, 2000
Be aware that when you're talking fully proper wine etiquette any bottles you bring are considered a gift and it's the host's option to open them. It's usually not a big deal but sometimes it pops up and somebody gets all butt-hurt.

Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED
I strongly disagree. Unless specified otherwise, any wine brought to a dinner should be opened at dinner. Not only is this proper etiquette, it's mutually beneficial because the host encourages the guest to bring wine that the guest is excited to share.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Does that imply that the menu is known ahead of time?

Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED

Subjunctive posted:

Does that imply that the menu is known ahead of time?

Personally I usually inquire ahead, yes, but if you don't want to and you're worried about the wine matching the food you can always bring something super-versatile, or something good as an aperitif, or something meant for contemplation, or something for dessert, etc etc.

idiotsavant
Jun 4, 2000

Kasumeat posted:

I strongly disagree. Unless specified otherwise, any wine brought to a dinner should be opened at dinner. Not only is this proper etiquette, it's mutually beneficial because the host encourages the guest to bring wine that the guest is excited to share.

I mean, it's not something I'd ever do as a host and if it's your friend or whatever it'll never be an issue, but actually no, it's the host's prerogative. It's a total dick move to pull but a host would not be in the wrong. An rear end in a top hat and an ungracious host, maybe, but not in the wrong.

pork never goes bad
May 16, 2008

Kasumeat posted:

I strongly disagree. Unless specified otherwise, any wine brought to a dinner should be opened at dinner. Not only is this proper etiquette, it's mutually beneficial because the host encourages the guest to bring wine that the guest is excited to share.

This is just wrong. There's a reason it's called a host(ess) gift.

patonthebach
Aug 22, 2016

by R. Guyovich

Kasumeat posted:

I strongly disagree. Unless specified otherwise, any wine brought to a dinner should be opened at dinner. Not only is this proper etiquette, it's mutually beneficial because the host encourages the guest to bring wine that the guest is excited to share.

This is what it seems to be here in Canada. If you bring a bottle or have a bottle brought, you open it at dinner or leave it out so a guest can open it if they would like. This leads to some awkward dinners where 90% full bottles of barefoot wine merlot are all around.

Now, this is just for regular dinners or get togethers. Rule doesn't apply if its a housewarming or christmas/bday gift. Then you don't have to open it.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Girlfriend found this in a Newfoundland liquor store:



Obviously not kosher.

Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED

patonthebach posted:

This is what it seems to be here in Canada. If you bring a bottle or have a bottle brought, you open it at dinner or leave it out so a guest can open it if they would like. This leads to some awkward dinners where 90% full bottles of barefoot wine merlot are all around.

Now, this is just for regular dinners or get togethers. Rule doesn't apply if its a housewarming or christmas/bday gift. Then you don't have to open it.

I never thought about it being a regional thing, but it totally could be. Here, a hostess gift is more something that you contribute to the evening rather than something for the hostess.

Secret Spoon
Mar 22, 2009

When I bring a bottle as a gift its usually something that I would both be ok opening that night and something they would be ok holding on to. I also always bring a bottle thats ready to crack.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

I need some wine glasses, as a recent underachievement in spatial awareness has me down to 3 (which have a lip on them that I dislike). I don't think I want to go as far as a bunch of different Riedel varietal choices, but I could see getting red and white, plus flutes. What's a good brand for that?

Also, please tell me it's OK to wash them in the dishwasher. You're going to tell me that it's a terrible idea because residue/scratching/etc, but I want it to be otherwise.

E: could it be as simple as a set of https://www.amazon.com/Riedel-Ouverture-White-Magnum-Champagne/dp/B004RQRFRO/ ?

Subjunctive fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Aug 25, 2016

GTO
Sep 16, 2003

I've had a bunch of reidel glasses for the last few years and they're great. Despite being quite slender none have broken except when dropped and they've been through the dishwasher hundreds of times and look brand new.

I can also recommend their stemless tumblers. You can drink wine out of them but I use them for water and juice. The are great to hold and drink from and I've dropped several without any breaking.

pork never goes bad
May 16, 2008

I'd recommend Schott Zwiesel for home use. Very durable, quite inexpensive.

Stringent
Dec 22, 2004
I like my Libbey glasses. Cheap and tough.

Murgos
Oct 21, 2010

GTO posted:

I've had a bunch of reidel glasses for the last few years and they're great. Despite being quite slender none have broken except when dropped and they've been through the dishwasher hundreds of times and look brand new.

I had the opposite experience. I splashed out on a lot of Reidels and they were all gone after a year. Even once we started hand washing them they would just shatter randomly.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
I got a bunch of Speigelau glasses for nearly-free from a promotion that a local grocery chain was doing, and they've all held up extremely well and I like the way they look. The only problem is that they are a hair taller than average, so they don't fit on the top rack of the dishwasher, nor on some of my tighter shelves.

Distorted Kiwi
Jun 11, 2014

"C'mon! Let's tune our weapons!"

pork never goes bad posted:

I'd recommend Schott Zwiesel for home use. Very durable, quite inexpensive.

Agreed. We used those at the winery for years, and they held up well to repeated dishwashing. They didn't hold up so well to being dropped on our tiles by the locals on Friday nights, of course.

I have a mismatched selection of glassware due to my inability to NOT break at least one per set, but the Schotts lasted a heck of a lot longer than the Reidel Pinot Glass I was given. That took a gentle tap to shatter.

Nice to drink out of, but too expensive when you have children or are clumsy.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
I've been off all booze preparing for surgery. I miss having wine with a meal, some food just really isn't the same without it...

I'm gonna pick up a half bottle of Champagne later today, for when I'm allowed to drink again (hopefully next weekend, but they'll probably say something like "avoid alcohol for two weeks" or some miserable thing).

pork never goes bad
May 16, 2008

Anyone follow Adam Vourvoulis on IG or elsewhere? He's, erm, bizarre. I may have just bought two of his shirts.

https://www.instagram.com/natural_whine/

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

If I want to buy normally expensive wines (think 1er cru Burg and GC Chablis, not Lafite and cult stuff) and store them for 5-8 years, which is the better of these options?

A) Store them in our attic, the only place I have room, which is 70-75F in summer, 45-50F in winter and not bone dry but dry enough that clothes keep well. Oh and no electric plugs for storage cabinets.

B) gently caress it, don't store, buy aged wines from reputable shops, drink as you go.

Crimson
Nov 7, 2002

Ola posted:

If I want to buy normally expensive wines (think 1er cru Burg and GC Chablis, not Lafite and cult stuff) and store them for 5-8 years, which is the better of these options?

A) Store them in our attic, the only place I have room, which is 70-75F in summer, 45-50F in winter and not bone dry but dry enough that clothes keep well. Oh and no electric plugs for storage cabinets.

B) gently caress it, don't store, buy aged wines from reputable shops, drink as you go.

B by a longshot. You'll kill the bottles in your attic over that length of time. You don't have room in the house for a small wine fridge? Fridges that hold a couple dozen bottles can be had for like $100 these days.

Comb Your Beard
Sep 28, 2007

Chillin' like a villian.
Got a question that is both wine and travel combined.

I'm trying to put together a Loire Valley excursion to do some wine tasting/buying, 2-4 days. Maybe check out some châteaux and other stuff too. I'm not really knowledgeable about this kind of thing. Got a lot of things I'm considering:

  • When is a good time to go? Is late fall like November a bad time? I know the harvest is over by late fall. It'll be off peak tourist time for Paris too.
  • Do it DIY or book it all via someone? https://www.loirevalleywinetour.com https://www.loire-valley-tours.com seem like good options.
  • Getting around? My wife isn't a big drinker so she could maybe share driving duties if we get a rental car. If we hired transportation that could be nice too.
  • Where to go? I realize it's a huge region. I could skip the west (Muscadet) and the far east (Sancerre) if need be.


If someone has a strong argument for doing Rhône, Provence, Burgundy, Bordeaux, etc. instead I'd be interested too.

patonthebach
Aug 22, 2016

by R. Guyovich

Ola posted:

If I want to buy normally expensive wines (think 1er cru Burg and GC Chablis, not Lafite and cult stuff) and store them for 5-8 years, which is the better of these options?

A) Store them in our attic, the only place I have room, which is 70-75F in summer, 45-50F in winter and not bone dry but dry enough that clothes keep well. Oh and no electric plugs for storage cabinets.

B) gently caress it, don't store, buy aged wines from reputable shops, drink as you go.

C - Buy a wine fridge on kijiji / craiglist for 100 bucks

Ola
Jul 19, 2004

I have an 8-bottle minifridge which I use to age wines from Wednesdays to Fridays. Otherwise the apartment doesn't have (reasonable) room for a 20-30+ bottle one, unless we get power up in the attic. I think I'll go with

Crimson posted:

B by a longshot.

until we do or move to a bigger place. There's something about just 8 bottles that makes running a dedicated appliance seem kind of worthless.


Comb Your Beard posted:

Got a question that is both wine and travel combined.


Don't have any particular advice other than that guided tours are probably not a bad idea with few days available, if they sort out transport, visit a castle or two, etc. Otherwise I would rent a car, try to find some wineries that looked fun to visit, schedule one or max two per day and leave plenty of time for lunch and dinner.

I talked to this guy at a tasting the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRk86r6CFIw

Sebastien Riffault. Natural wine star, ploughs with horse and makes some remarkable wines. I think that might be a more fun place to visit than many of the tour waypoints. Not quite sure how to schedule...google will know. There are many characters like that there, I'm sure some wine blog or some other posters could chime in with other tips.

Ola fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Aug 31, 2016

got off on a technicality
Feb 7, 2007

oh dear
Question: I almost always double decant whenever I bring wine to restaurants - the aeration is nice and it prevents the sediment from getting all stirred up. But when we went to this one restaurant in Napa they said they couldn't let us bring in the re-corked bottle under the terms of their liquor license (!)

I didn't want to abandon the wine - it was a special occasion and I'd brought a Shafer HS - so we said gently caress it, ordered some entrees to go, and drove *back* to our AirBnb to eat and drink

Is this just a Napa thing? Has this happened to anyone ever? I've been doing this for years and it's literally the first time I'm hearing of it

Comb Your Beard posted:

  • Where to go? I realize it's a huge region. I could skip the west (Muscadet) and the far east (Sancerre) if need be.

You should go see Domaine Huet - they make just about the best Vouvray

e: added the first qn

got off on a technicality fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Sep 3, 2016

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane
Why can't North American airlines even attempt a decent wine service? When I ask "what are the wines available?" it'd be nice to hear a producer, or even just a region, in addition to a colour and/or varietal. I don't think I'm asking too much, am I?

At least Air Canada narrowed the "premium red" down to "it's from Tuscany," the white was just "it's a riesling, I think." Also, is it just me, or in an era where I have to pay $25 to check a tiny suitcase, does it seem like $8.50 for a 250mL pour is a bit of a low price point for a wine they specifically designate as a premium selection? Surely they could overcharge for a slightly better quality of wine to a captive audience, and get a much better bang for the buck considering everything in aviation is about value-per-weight -- a 250mL glass is an immodest pour in most respects to begin with, I wouldn't have a problem with $15-20 for a premium wine given Canadian booze prices in general. Am I really that out of touch with the wine market in North America (I'm not saying they need to offer only premium wine, they can keep the same $6.50 single-serve bottles they already have for all I care). They would've extracted more money out of me, and left me happier -- I can't see how they lose.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

They usually give country and varietal in business class.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Subjunctive posted:

They usually give country and varietal in business class.

Sometimes -- the question being, why don't they do it in economy? If you were to ask what brand of orange juice they're serving, they would tell you. They designate which meals available for purchase are kosher or halal, or gluten-free. Why, then, are they so secretive about the basic facts surrounding the wine they're selling? It seems counterproductive to their goal of making money, no? The less I know about something, the less likely I am to buy it, no matter what.

Azhais
Feb 5, 2007
Switchblade Switcharoo

Ola posted:

If I want to buy normally expensive wines (think 1er cru Burg and GC Chablis, not Lafite and cult stuff) and store them for 5-8 years, which is the better of these options?

A) Store them in our attic, the only place I have room, which is 70-75F in summer, 45-50F in winter and not bone dry but dry enough that clothes keep well. Oh and no electric plugs for storage cabinets.

B) gently caress it, don't store, buy aged wines from reputable shops, drink as you go.

Depending where you're at some of those shops might have climate controlled case storage you can rent too

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Kasumeat
Nov 18, 2004

I SHOULD GO AND GET FUCKED

Admirable Gusto posted:

Question: I almost always double decant whenever I bring wine to restaurants - the aeration is nice and it prevents the sediment from getting all stirred up. But when we went to this one restaurant in Napa they said they couldn't let us bring in the re-corked bottle under the terms of their liquor license (!)

I didn't want to abandon the wine - it was a special occasion and I'd brought a Shafer HS - so we said gently caress it, ordered some entrees to go, and drove *back* to our AirBnb to eat and drink

Is this just a Napa thing? Has this happened to anyone ever? I've been doing this for years and it's literally the first time I'm hearing of it


You should go see Domaine Huet - they make just about the best Vouvray

e: added the first qn

It's definitely illegal for us to do corkage on an open bottle here. It really sucks too because having a wine you bring in be corked is a huge bummer. I feel for you but this sort of law is common because there's theoretically potential liability if you bring in your moonshine or whatever.

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