All Abooot WiNE!
 

Lately I have not had much money so my pot and beer stash has been depleted. At my old house though there is still tons of wine, since my parents enjoy it quite often. I am no aficionado considering I cant even stand red wine alone and have to mix it with something else. My question is:

What do you know about White vs Red wines? I would like to try some nicer wines and some more whites. My library of wine consists almost entirely of reds, and cheap ones at that.

I wish i could help but my stance on wine is that red beats white and i may as well get the cheapest corner shop piss because it all tastes the same to me anyway!

Sadly thats how I feel. If I could taste test a 1850 wine and a 6 $ ****bottle I couldnt tell the difference.

I do like red wine. I just couldn't give a toss what it is. It's like if i end up getting it in a restaurant, whoever im with might wanna try it first or might ask the waiter about the different ones but im just wanting him to hurry up and give me the bottle so i can drink it.

I know my way around a box of Franzia :)

No, but this is what I've found... red wine is heavier and more acidic. White wine tends to be more fruit based (hints of pears, apples, stuff like that) while red has a different palate (leather, earthy, etc) but that's not universally true by any stretch.

White wine is good in its own right - Chardonnay with seafood pasta works very well - although most people prefer red. My favorite wines are Zin (Zinfandel, a heavy /rich / acidic monster, and they are great with steak so it's sort of a MAN wine) and Port (a dessert wine served in a small glass, meant for sipping, high alcohol content and great with chocolate - ohh, sexy).

I live in Northern California so if you have any wine questions I'll try to conjure what I've learned from living in Wine Country.

EDIT: Good white wines- Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio. I'm not a wine snob, not very picky at all, but I know for sure the best white wine I've tasted was a 2008 La Crema Chardonnay. It's a bit pricey ($30+ category) but well worth it.

Any wine that doesn't make me scrunch my face is good wine in my book. And yes, I have had such wine.

Thanks for the good answer. Is one typically more expensive than the other?

What you should had said was "I'm not a Wine Commonsewer" just remember it's cigar aficianado and wine commonsewer - you are mixing metaphors.

btw Portuguese Port thats all you need to know.

I'm quite partial to a cheap Merlot. I really haven't subscribed to one particular brand as I don't drink wine very much, as I'm more of a whisky and beer man.

What's a good Whisky? -just curious
Do you like Jim Beam or Laird's Applejack?

I'm a big fan of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz myself. Francis Coppola makes a good blended red that I like alot.

I'm sorry, I'm not going to be much help with the whites. I haven't tasted a Chardonnay that I've liked yet. I can tell you that my aunt swears by Santa Margherita Pino Grigio, which I've only had once but I liked well enough.

Rezz- I know price varies depending on style because each wine uses different kinds of grapes, but as a whole I wouldn't say white or red is more expensive. You're basically paying for quality- the older the wine or smaller/more prestigious the winery, the more expensive.

Neopolitan- I endorse your suggestion of Portoguese Port! Some of the best stuff around.

Pete- cheap wine, have you dabbled in the Two-Buck Chuck? $2 merlot, and it's actually not bad (and in a bottle, not a box).

Wifey- Coppola is a good recommendation. I liked his Zin, it was so leathery it was like licking a cowgirl.

From my wine drinking experience, I can tell you that wine is very region based. The best wines in your region are probably very different from the wines in my own or anyone else's for that matter. I had a wonderful wine I loved to drink back in Indy called Oliver Soft Red($7), but they don't have that here in Cali so I have since come up with a new favorite, Camelot Merlot. Which is about the same price range and is probably the best wine I have ever tasted. Basically the deal with wine is, every time you pop a new bottle, you never know what you're going to get. That's what makes it so cool, the ability to try something new every time you go to the store. My best advice is just start trying different types of wine until you get an idea of what you like.

hehe. I do believe you meant to say "connesuir"

Red wine contains tannins which gives it its color and rather woody taste, and also tends to be more complex and sometimes heavier than white wine.

White wine is made from either red or green grapes without the skins and tends to be sweeter and lighter with fruitier flavors. More palatable to the majority of people.

but you probably already knew this considering the fact that you actually drink the stuff. Obviously I'm not going to be much help...except with spelling lol.
But really, it cracks me up that you're trying to get into wines because you ran out of other booze *rolls eyes* nice.

Pretty much all I drink (well, aside from water) is wine. Mainly reds, but in the summer I like a nice chilled white or blush. I can't really describe the kinds of whites I like, other than that I used to shy away from them because I often found them dry. So I guess I preferred the fruitier ones. However, over the past summer, I realized that I don't mind the dry ones so much. For blush, or white zinfandel, I'm not very picky at all.

No for the reds. I used to not be very picky, and would often pick out bottles of Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon in the $8-11 range. I used to not even mind the huge jugs of Carlo Rossi or boxes of Franzia (maybe those still aren't bad, haven't had them in years). But over the past two years, I really got sick of the standard Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Even though I was trying different "brands" a lot, I found that most of them just weren't going down easy, they were making me scrunch my face, as Alfred suggested. I'd had enough.

So I sought the advice or some online buddies on another forum, and one of the recommendations was Argentinian Malbec. I have had great success with this wine. Some are better than others, and I have had one I didn't like at all, but they don't make me cringe and most are really good. I was also advised to check out some French wines such as Cotes du Rhones, Beaujolais and several others but I've only tried those two and have been happy. I've also been recommended a few Italian wines, specifically from Tuscany or Sicily, but I don't remember what I've had. I've really been happy enough with the Argentinian Malbecs and some French ones that I haven't strayed too far from those.

The week of Thanksgiving I decided to pick out a Portuguese wine, which I liked a lot and picked up another bottle this week. I'm often unsure with foreign wines which is the house name and which is the wine type. This bottle says Vale do Bomfim, Douro Valley. Ah ok, it often helps to read the label on the back. The first part is the type of wine, the second is the region that it's from. Anyway, it's good. I also picked out another random one, from Spain, called Oristan by La Mancha. Label says it's a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo grapes. It's pretty good, no pucker face. It should be obvious by now that I'm no wine connoisseur, so don't ask me to describe it beyond that.

Point is, it wasn't until I started to really drink red wine on a regular basis that I started to get more picky and try to find what I like. There is still much more to explore. But in general I've found the American wines pretty bitter and foreign ones much smoother.

i hopped on the reisling band wagon a few years ago
i'm kinda a wine snob in that i only drink texas wines (stop laughing), and could help you out there,...but no where else

if your parents drink wine quite often, why don't you ask them? It seems like they'd be your most immediate refrence and probably more reliable and specific to your preferences than any of us would be.

I don't usually drink a lot of the stuff. Mainly go for all the hard liquors over it. That said though, pinot noir is where it's at.

Modest commonsewer. :)

I have enjoyed some Pinot Noirs in the past. Haven't had one in ages though, any you'd recommend?

I have had some god awful wine that tasted like it was made in a common sewer.

I'm not a huge fan of red wine, because I don't really like drinking alcohol that isn't chilled. But I love white wine. My favourite type would be a good sauvignon blanc... Australian and New Zealand grown ones especially. Yum.

Pretty much all the ones I've ever tasted were awesome. Can't recall the names of most of them, but I got through a couple of bottles of Vin De Pays yesterday, which was great stuff, so if you can get hold of some where you are, I say go for some of that.

I've had this too, it is quite good.

I'll warn you before you read this, this is the opinion of a 17 year old that has grown up with people who will drink rubbing alcohol and think its passable.

Just skimming through the thread, looks like some very good names and grapes have already been mentioned. I've heard a few people say that most wines taste the same. They won't if you taste different wines back to back, then the differences are evident.

In my opinion red tops white by a mile.

My favorite I've ever had was a South African called Pinotage. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone though, its extremely dry.

I think a Chianti is best with a meal, though. It can be pretty cheap too, since it is a mixture of grapes.

As for white, a Reisling is usually my choice, although you need to spend a bit to get a decent one. Eroica is a good, its really bold and fruity.

For my graduation, I've been hounding my grandpa to open up this ancient Ice Wine from Germany that is supposed to be top of the line. He's been saving it forever, but I think I'll talk him into it. I'm just hoping the cork hasn't rotted by now. Has anyone ever had one?

Flower Child...I agree with you 100% about reds being superior. Red is my absolute fave, the drier the better. So I may have to try this Pinotage.

Ah, a man after my own heart!

Well, the alcohol level in wine is like a billion times higher than beer, so when you're blackout drunk, which is the way to go, you really can't even taste anything. =)

Oh, and red wine is actually really good for your heart.
It's recommended for people over a certain age to drink like a glass or two a day.

I'll be on the look-out, thanks.

all i know is that the red ones are for drinkin' and the white ones are for cookin'.

I like white and red, more specifically Pinot Gris and Savigon Blaunc for white, red consists of mostly Shiraz. Yellow Cross is a good wine, as is Oyster Bay, Malborough, and for cheap ones I like Queen Adelaide and Jacob's Creek. Basically I <3 wine. :)

Oyster Bay is one of my absolute favourite wines, as is Queen Adelaide because of it's inexpensiveness! :thumb:

Just like Anticipation said, I pretty much only use whites for cooking. I've found that with reds that a consistent flavor profile is rarely found within a single the grape varietal. There's so much variation even amongst varietals of the same region, but I mostly like old-vine red Zinfandels, malbecs, and Chiantis. Sometimes I'll get into a Chardonnay if it's really dry and oaky, or a Johannesburg Riesling, but that's about it for whites.

Care to elaborate? Im curious to know how this is done.

White wine is usually used in cooking as a marinade, a cooking liquid, or as flavouring for a finished dish. It's usually used to strengthen the flavour of the food you are cooking rather than mask it. I usually use white wine when I'm making sauces or marinades. While I'm cooking the sauce on the stove I'll splash a bit of white wine in.

There are trillions of uses for it in cooking, though. And I'm no chef so I don't know that much about it.

There's lots of ways to implement wine into cooking. I like to make a nice white wine bechamel using some heavy cream, white wine, garlic, butter, salt and basil. I usually eyeball the ingredients so proportions are a little difficult to convey. I also like to pan sear fish in white wine (usually white fish). Incidentally red wine can be great to cook with especially with fatty red meats and tomato based sauces. Add red win instead of white to the Bechamel above and you have a nice rose' sauce. Throw that over some tortellini with button mushrooms, spinach, and Andoui sausage and you'll find it quite amazing.

Scallops pan seared in white wine then thrown over pasta is amazing. God would eat it. You can also toss some wine in with Marinara to add to the sauce. Those two are pretty easy.

I think Im going to try what you mentioned with pan frying the fish. Sounds tasty.

I can only drink red wine. White is too gaseous and sour for me. I love the warmth red gives you, makes me feel all fuzzy.

You just made me drool on my desk.

I don't drink red wine even though I will drink pretty much anything else alcohol related. I have tried on numerous occasions but it just doesn't do it for me. I like drinks cold simple as that and yes, I am a philistine.

White wine: As long as there is 2 bottles to drink then it doesn't matter how bad the first glass is, I quickly become acclimatised to it and drink away!

I like:
Sauvignon Blanc
Chablis
Chardonnay
Meursault

I am much more choosy about the harder liquors but still profess to having no class.