Any wine drinkers out there?

Obviously we have many beer drinkers on this board, but are there any wine drinkers?

If so, what type of grape do you fancy? Do you like blends or single varietals? Are you red a or white drinker? Do you like wines that are more dry or sweet? Do you favor wines from the United States (California in particular) or French, Italian, German, Argentinian, Australian or any other countries I might have missed?

I was predominantly a beer drinker up until about four/five years ago, when I found out that I had a liking for red wines (mostly single varietals like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon).

Yes, I am very fond of wine and I do, though I would not consider myself a snob, have some preferences - I like both dry and sweet, but find merlot, amarone and shiraz to be my favourite, at least when talking about red wine - I also LOVE champagne. I like white wine, but I ain't too sharp in that area

My wife is the wine drinker in our house. I'll drink wine if it's offered to me, but I am far from an expert.

In fact, last week the wife sent me to the store to pick up some adult beverages for our holiday celebration and I had to ask the guy behind the counter what was "good." I'm like, "Why send a beer guy to buy wine?"

i like a Merlot once and awhile - with some form of pasta.

Mglaffas81 wrote:

Yes, I am very fond of wine and I do, though I would not consider myself a snob, have some preferences - I like both dry and sweet, but find merlot, amarone and shiraz to be my favourite, at least when talking about red wine - I also LOVE champagne. I like white wine, but I ain't too sharp in that area

I'm definitely more of a fan of dry wines, though I won't rule out trying something if it's considered sweet. Regarding champagne, I can't stand the stuff, but I will defer to having a sip, when its New Years related or a toast on someone's behalf. Regarding whites, I just don't care for them anymore. Once I got hooked on reds, it was hard to go back to whites, especially the really sweet whites (which seem to be most of them).

Fat Freddy wrote:

My wife is the wine drinker in our house. I'll drink wine if it's offered to me, but I am far from an expert.

In fact, last week the wife sent me to the store to pick up some adult beverages for our holiday celebration and I had to ask the guy behind the counter what was "good." I'm like, "Why send a beer guy to buy wine?"

The funny thing about wine and beer is, with average to bad beer, I find a way to finish the beer off, but with a wine that just doesn't taste right (w/food or w/out food), I find myself just pitching it. That can be disconcerting, especially when you're paying upwards of $15.00 or more on a bottle. The funny thing about wine is, you would think just because it's expensive that would mean it's better, but it really comes down to what type of grape you like/heavy or light tannins/sweet or dry/the acidic quality, etc... There are so many damn variables, but with that being said, I don't mind fretting over what wines I might buy. In situations like that, it's okay to fail on some selections. Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

exact33 wrote:

i like a Merlot once and awhile - with some form of pasta.

I'm finding out that you really can't go wrong with Merlot. There's a reason it's the number two grape in the world. It works great on it's own, and is used the majority of time in blends.

Prefer Red wine, not a blend, not too dry

MAD DOG 20 20!

DeathCult wrote:

MAD DOG 20 20!

I'll second that. How about some Boone's Strawberry Hill??? Nothing like twisting the cap for your wine.

Franzia anyone??

Please submit your latest purchases on here, as I'm always looking to hear about different wines.

I just had a wine by Columbia Crest (out of Washington) called "Two vines" 2005. It was a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, & Cabernet Sauvignon. It was pretty good, average price ($12.00), smooth wine (w/meal, not so much on its own), medium tannins (The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of red wine), nice aroma (fruit: raspberry/blackberry). It even tasted fine the next day (something I hate to do), as I wasn't able to polish off that first night (one of the many things that sucks about being single!!!).

I'm a red wine drinker. I have a glass practically every night with dinner. Soetimes more if the mood is right. The Italian side of my family used to make their own.

I'm partial to merlot, but that's about as far as my expertise goes. I sometimes wish I knew more about wines, but like music, I either like it or I don't.

I've really never cared for wine, but at my age there are some blood pressure issues cropping up, so I was advised to try some red wines. I still can't stand dry wines (yuk!), but I have learned to enjoy sweet reds such as Port. Also there are many excellent fruit wines grown here in Wisconsin. My biggest complaint is that wine is relatively expensive, but I can't argue with the results so far.

My dad drinks like 2 glasses of Merlot a night, so I'm around it all the time. I will drink some stuff sometimes, but I'm not a wino like he is. Some good one's that I have said to enjoy would be Gnarly Head or Fetzer

I don't know all the in's and out's and chemistries and other technical aspects of wine...but I like to drink it.

There is a vineyard near me called Ray Len Vineyards. They have 2 that I like...one they call Pale Red (sweet dessert wine, served cold) and one called Category 5 (bold red) that I like.

Nothing I enjoy more then a nice glass of wine in a box:

Enjoyed 2 glasses last night. One with my spaghetti dinner, the other while I watched 'Mythbusters' with an infant sleeping in the crook of my arm and the lights down low.

DeathCult wrote:

MAD DOG 20 20!

My buddies and I used to drink that in college. It came in every color of the rainbow (red, purple, green, orange, yellow) but oddly they all tasted pretty much the same.

How bout some Night Train, or Wild Irish Rose?

My sophomore year roommate threw up about a bottle's worth of Night Train (plus whatever food he'd consumed that day) all over his girlfriend's bed one night. She came running over to our room in a panic to get me to drag him home and throw him in his own bed (she was a little thing and couldn't carry him) ... I will never forget the sight of my drunk-ass roommate sitting in a daze, Indian style, on her bed in front of a large chunky red/purple stain in the middle of her pristine white bed spread. I had to go back into the hallway and laugh hysterically for a minute before I could even think about helping him get back to our room. He just looked so damn pathetic.

Quote :

How bout some Night Train, or Wild Irish Rose?

Oh God yea!! Too much that I care to remember. They say heavy metal music is a bad influence on youth? Well I can certainly back up that claim. We drank gallons of Night Train back in the day. Why? Because Guns n' Roses sang a song about it of course. And it was mentioned in The Blues Brothers movie. 2 perfectly acceptable reasons to drink that rotgut.

I drank some Wild Irish Rose and MD 20/20 too, but not near the quanities of Night Train we consumed. MD 20/20 was for the few girls that were dumb enough to hang with us. Too fruity for us manly men. But a bottle of Night Train and a case of Busch cans was a good way to kick-off a weekend with friends when I was young.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

We drank gallons of Night Train back in the day. Why? Because Guns n' Roses sang a song about it of course.

Yup, same here. One of my stoner college buddies and I were even fooling around with his video camera one night and we shot a fake "commercial" for Night Train, with the G&R song playing in the background.

I sometimes wonder if my friend still has that tape. I live in fear of it (and many others we shot that were just like it) winding up on YouTube someday.

I don't believe that wines with americanized names like Mad Dog and Night Train are worth it..... what's next? Berrylicious Twist? Vinyard Explosion? You Americans can suck sophistication out of anything!

Mglaffas81 wrote:

I don't believe that wines with americanized names like Mad Dog and Night Train are worth it..... what's next? Berrylicious Twist? Vinyard Explosion? You Americans can suck sophistication out of anything!

Bums and hobos (and broke college students) gotta get their drink on, too. That's the sector that such "wines" (and I use the term loosely) are targeted towards.

I'm rather partial to red wine because even the cheaper stuff tastes decent. There's nothing classier than me swigging wine straight from the bottle. I'm not going to lie, I definitely want to try Night Train because of its immortalisation on Appetite. It's got to be better than Sainsbury's house red (Sainsbury's being a supermarket over here - their house red was grim, I should have broken the £4 barrier).

I used to actually know a fair bit about wines a few years back when I was waiter - what type of wine goes with what food etc. - but I seem to have forgotten most of it, unfortunately.

Quote :

I'm not going to lie, I definitely want to try Night Train because of its immortalisation on Appetite.

I'm not sure that they still make it. I haven't seen it in years, but maybe they do. I still have an unopened bottle (with a $2.49 price tag on it) sitting behind the bar at home. It's probably turned to vinegar by now.

EDIT: It appears that Night Train Express is still manufactured somewhere by someone, but it's increasing hard to find.

Quote :

"Community groups in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have urged makers of fortified wines such as Wild Irish Rose and E & J Gallo's Thunderbird and Night Train brands to pull their products from the shelves of liquor retailers in skid row areas. In Nashville, Tennessee, one liquor store owner told Nashville Business Journal reporter Julie Hinds that police warned him to stop selling his biggest selling product, Wild Irish Rose, because it encouraged homeless people to linger in the area."

I haven't seen Night Train in ages, but I know they still make MD (Mad Dog) 20/20. I saw it in a local liquor store here just a few months ago. My stomach churned just at the sight of it.