Wine, Grapes & Vineyards Thread

[Lotesse]

Here's a thread for us to talk about what wines we all enjoy, and with what foods, and from what wine-growing regions of the world, and why we like what wines we do - basically anything having to do with wine!
No arguments or red frownies are allowed here. Oh, and those who can't abide photos or pics, beware - I encourage links and pics in this thread - wine and grapes are GORGEOUS!!

I'll start with today's pick, an incredible, world-class Viognier produced by an old acquaintance of mine, John Alban. He grew Rhone varietals in Southern France for a long time, before coming to the U.S. and settling down in the Edna Valley area of San Luis Obispo, California with his wife and two beautiful, huge white dogs. He makes the best Viognier I've ever had, and I've had quite a few!

What Viognier grapes look like...

[Lotesse]

So this is how I'll do this thread for you guys: Once a day, I'll (try and) introduce a new king of wine to talk about. Today's wine is Viognier, so if any of you out in mootland have ever tried Viognier, feel free to let us all know what your impression of it was, or what label is your favourite, or where you had it, or any questions you might have about Viognier, stuff like that. I'm dying to hear EVERYbody's experience!

Yeah, I do love wine. I used to work in the food & beverage industry, as a restaurant manager and waiter and sommelier. I helped put together wine lists for 2 different rising-star restaurants - all this happened during my pre-gang'n'drug dark days. Now life is wonderful again, and I'm remembering wine - ah, the days of wine and roses...

Tomorrow maybe I'll bring up Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm so excited to hear what other wine-lovers populate Entmoot! Seems like there's just beer people, but I'm still holding out hope...

[Spock]

You gotta be a very, very, old soul.

[Lotesse]

Yeah, I've been told that by all sorts of people since I was a toddler, for real.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

Seems like there's just beer people, but I'm still holding out hope...

Now you do realize that you can enjoy both good wine and good beer right?

[Pytt]

Though I'm not really interested in good beer, or wine, or bad wine or beer for that matter, I've stumbled over numerous threads aboout beer on the moot. But nothing about wine.

[Insidious Rex]

Well my point was you can like both.

[Lotesse]

Ah, well. Wine is fine, but liquor's quicker! Beer's lovely, but I thought I'd be nice to have a little wine around the moot - that's "wine," not "whine," BTW! We have plenty of "whine", that's 4 sure...

Today being today, I shall mention Cabernet Sauvignon like I said I would. Now, California Cab is one of the big daddy's of the wine world, right up there with Bordeaux from France and Barolo from Italy, but I don't want to start overwhelming everybody right away, so we'll just concentrate on California today, in regards to the Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is a cab grape cluster:

Beautiful, huh? Just gorgeous. I'm trying to pick the smaller pics to show you guys, so no one gets pissed at me for putting huge pics.

Some outstanding California Cab producers are:
1} Stag's Leap, 1995 Cask 23 - pricey, but outstanding. In fact, almost any vintage that Stag's Leap puts out tends to be consistently outstanding.

2}Caymus 1995 Special Selection - another powerhouse Cab from a vintner that rarely goes wrong. YUMMY!!!!

3}Liberty School 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - If you don't feel like putting up another mortgage on your house just to be able to have a glass of amazing Cab, this one's a great pick. One time I had to get bailed out of a tiny bit of trouble (no, really? not Lotesse! ) and the attorney who helped me in that particular case asked only for a case of Liberty School Cab as payment for the legal favour he did for me. And he's a wine snob! Yeah, it's a good wine.

4}Wm Knuttel 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - I mention this one because my boyfriend and I just bought it on a whim the other day, and it was a really pleasant surprise, how velvety, rich, smooth, and deep this little baby was. Yum. It comes out of the Dry Creek Valley; I'd never had such a terrific Cab from that region before. It wasn't too pricey, either.



Well, that's the wine news 4 today - see ya around the moot!

[Snowdog]

My experience with wine is mostly bad, starting with stealing a bottle of MD 20-20 in Jr High School. After crawling across the football field through my own puke, my taste for any kind of wine was forever tainted. I hadn't tried any again until a few years ago when the conk liked drinking Asti Spumanti... no real goo dmemories there.

[Lotesse]

I just - I'm speechless. I don't know what to say, except perhaps to issue a general warning to all: PLEASE avoid Asti Spumante at all costs. It is a guaranteed sick hangover, and tastes like heavily sweetened, carbonated ant killer.

[Snowdog]

Yeah, I agree. So Lotesse..... what would you recommend to a guy who is not a wine drinker. What would make me actually like wine?

I'm afraid I'm an ale guy....

...with an occasional scotch...

[Lotesse]

Merlot is a good one to cut one's teeth on, but it should be a GOOD Merlot, not a cheap one. A good Chardonnay is another nice starter wine. I'll do Merlot tomorrow, 'k? I'll think of some good ones...

[Snowdog]

Ok. I'll look forward to it. You know it has to be real good because of my induced bias.

[Lief Erikson]

I've watched too many movies. In films, I see vineyards full of grapes. I think, "wine is made here," and I'm right. Then I went to Biology class a few days ago and said wine comes from grapes. Incorrect. Nothing comes from grapes but grapejuice- wine comes from yeast. I don't understand. Can someone give me a brief explanation of how wine used to be extracted from yeast?

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Lief Erikson

I've watched too many movies. In films, I see vineyards full of grapes. I think, "wine is made here," and I'm right. Then I went to Biology class a few days ago and said wine comes from grapes. Incorrect. Nothing comes from grapes but grapejuice- wine comes from yeast. I don't understand. Can someone give me a brief explanation of how wine used to be extracted from yeast?

Well of course wine comes from grapes. Who told you it didnt? The yeast causes fermentation of the grape mash which produces alcohol. Just like yeast in beer cause fermentation of the barley which produces alcohol (as a byproduct of the live yeast). Generally wine yeast is either Champagne or Montrachet. At least for white wine. I forget what they use in red wine. I think Montrachet also. The only thing the yeast does is metabolize the mash which produces alcohol as a biproduct. The wine itself comes from the grapes not actually from the yeast. The yeast is simply a tool.

[Lief Erikson]

According to my Biology teacher, the critical component to all alcoholic beverages is "ethanol". Almost about every other ingredient to the different mixtures is flavoring. Ethanol is the primary component of beer, wine, rum, whiskey . . . all alcoholic beverages. It comes from yeast.

Thanks for your answer . It does help to clarify things a good deal, for me. I didn't see the role that grapes or barley or any of those other ingredients had, and now I do. They're primarily flavoring, present to add taste, correct? The alcoholic substance, meanwhile, all comes from the yeast.

[littleadanel]

Wow! It might be because I'm not very much into this "how wine is made" question, but I've never heard of yeast being used. In the case of beer I have, but not the wine.
Because you see, we used to make wine - well, actually my grandpa used to, as long as he had the strength. I don't remember much of it, but I questioned my mother... as I understood, it was the sugar (in the grape itself, and some added sugar) that caused the fermentation. Interesting things

[Lief Erikson]

Yeast is the essential ingredient to all alcoholic beverages, according to my Biology instructor. Yeast that rises and ages becomes more and more rich in ethanol. The quantity of ethanol is less or more depending upon which kind of drink you're taking. The only reason I know anything about ethanol is because of the Biology class I'm taking right now. I assure you, if it was up to me, I would not have ever found out about ethanol. The teacher taught it with a personal interest and fluidity that drew in his listeners, however, and I've got the info lodged in my brain now.

I wish I liked more kinds of alcohol. I haven't tried many at all, but I'm conditioned to really just drink water. I'm not too interested personally in developing a taste for beer, but any of the wines would be interesting. I'm very, very used to water right now though. I'm nineteen, and I almost never touch wine . Pretty silly.

[littleadanel]

Oh don't say "silly". I'm nineteen as well, and what I've tasted this far was mostly bad wine. (Cheap ones sold in supermarkets, you know... ) Really, if you want to enjoy wines, don't you try those, please. I totally agree with Lotesse, they mostly taste like sweetened ant killer...

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Lief Erikson

According to my Biology teacher, the critical component to all alcoholic beverages is "ethanol". Almost about every other ingredient to the different mixtures is flavoring. Ethanol is the primary component of beer, wine, rum, whiskey . . . all alcoholic beverages. It comes from yeast.

Well, ethanol is a member of the chemical family knows as the alcohols (recognizable by the -OH appendage in their atomical structure). I'd say it is logical to have an alcohol in every alcoholic drink. The chemical formula of ethanol is C2H5-OH I think. (Chemistry was a while ago..) And ethanol is, if I recall correctly, always made by fermentation of sugars.

I haven't got my dictionary so I'm not sure what yeast is although I've got a good idea, I think. So I think IR is right in saying yeast is only a tool or katalysator in the fermentation-process.