Hey did you know? I really like wine.

[stoney321]

Now, I consider myself a novice. (I say this because a friend's husband is a sommelier, and WOW do I love when they invite me to dinner!) I grew up hating wine (hey: Mormon), and until I had GOOD wine, I didn't understand.

And now I do. And I'll say this: while not having an education beyond trying and failing, trying and loving, making notes, etc., when I recommend wine, I've never heard back that someone didn't love it. Maybe they're not telling me I don't know. But I have a pretty decent palate, is what I'm getting at. (And honestly a big secret is to pay attention to WHERE THE WINE IS FROM. Regions tend to have similar tastes.)

Apparently I have an expensive palate, too. But now, my daily sip (I'm talking a glass, maybe two, please don't worry about me) is Ladera, Napa, 2009 CabSav. I can get it for about $28 a bottle in bulk, but their website has it for $40. Which means I'm filling up my wee wine cellar with bottles while I can. Easily one of the most sippable wines I've encountered. (Cheaper, and fine as well, is Markham Merlot - 2009 at around $16 bottle. Let it open up for a bit. Napa Cellars Cab was my previous "cheap" daily vino at $21 - not their merlot, though. Their merlot has a different mix, unlike Markham's merlot vs. Cab.)

I just don't care for most whites. They tend to taste weak or like dirty socks. I like to taste the grape. I don't want to taste the American oak it soaked in (which is why I avoid labels that point out the oak - that's the vanilla flavor on the back of your tongue at the finish - no me gusta) and have learned that many California wines add chunks of oaks to stainless steel barrels to get that flavor, because Americans like their wine sweet. NOPE. Gross. Not me. Me and an old Frenchman with broken blood vessels across his cheeks would get along fine, topping each other's glasses off and sharing hunks of bread while laughing about the absurdity of life.

I basically want to have several friends over to open about four or five bottles and talk shop and get drunk and then devolve into telling dirty jokes. SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT NIGHT TO ME. :D

(BTW, my sommelier-friend hooked me up with maybe my most favorite champagne ever: Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose. WOW, is that the most delicious champagne for under $200 - hey, it can get pricey - I've ever had. And it's romantic. Two families, rivals, daughter and son fell in love, made their own champagne and have been going strong for over 100 years. And it is exquisite. If you're in Texas and can access a Central Market, this normally $150 bottle is $90. If you have a special occasion, or have the coin, get it. Trust.)

YEP, I HAD HALF A BOTTLE TONIGHT OF MY LADERA LOVE. What of it? :) Now to dig up some cheese and veggies....

Comments

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Me and an old Frenchman with broken blood vessels across his cheeks would get along fine, topping each other's glasses off and sharing hunks of bread while laughing about the absurdity of life.

Come on, now I want this as a short film, Stoney and her charming Frenchman sipping wine and toasting life! There would be accordion music playing occasionally in the background, and talk of life and love and LAUGHTER! <3

I think the best kind of wine recs for me come from people who taste and try and make notes, just approaching it as something they really love and share and want to share with others, rather than just rattling off wine recs they read about. So it makes sense to me that you've got some happy friends, having your recommendations! Mr. Nous and I tend to try new wines when friends introduce us to them, and then just buy those wines whenever we go somewhere else, so it's a nice little circle of spreading the vino love around.

[dovil.livejournal.com]

I STILL remember the taste of the wines we drank, that were just that damn good. I think we have similar tastes as well (as in good) - not a fan of Riesling for precisely the same reason is that I'm not a fan of cloying wines. I love a good Gewurztraminer, but not the oily varietals because hey, there's an after mouth-feel of having drunk oil - who wants that, or to taste dirt/asphalt/runny dog diarrhea - do not get some of these descriptions. Love a good rough peasanty wine - Shiraz/Shyrah, Melbac....hmmm, nice. I also like meth.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

I am definitely a novice, though I used to be in a wine club where I learned a lot (and which dissolved because my friends decided that they had "learned it all", to which I say, pffft.). I looooved wine club. ;-)

I am more of a white wine gal, though, but no worries, we can still hang. ;-) I'm drinking merlot right now because we had pasta with red meat sauce tonight, but you can usually find me drinking a dry white. I don't do oak-y, either, which is why I don't often drink California chardonnay. Blech. But I love pinot grigio or Sauvignon blanc, or Viognier (which can be more on the sweet side, depending, but not oak-y). I really like new world whites - I buy a lot of Australian and New Zealand wine.

For reds I like Zinfandel best. I've never really cared for CabSav, but I will have to see if I can find your fave and give it a try. Luckily for me, my wine palate is much less expensive than yours, though. ;-)

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

I don't like white either! For me it's that I have yet to find a white (outside of dry champagne) that's dry enough for me. Sweet is poops.

[alittleacademe.livejournal.com]

I don't drink red due to the Night Of Shame (TM, 2008) but would like to maybe change that. I am too much of a novice myself, but am I right in thinking from the names that you only drink domestic? Is that a taste/ethical preference? I don't like oaked chardonnay (it was The Thing when I was a teenager) and tend to go for Pinot Grigot, but interestingly I was having lunch with an American yesterday and to her Pinot Grigot is this deeply foreign concept.

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the white and the sweet wines. ::shudder:: I'm all excited to try the location method of wine choosing instead of just the pretty label. What? I'm married to a graphic designer.

[fitofpique.livejournal.com]

Stoney, you're drinking the wrong whites!

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

I basically want to have several friends over to open about four or five bottles and talk shop and get drunk and then devolve into telling dirty jokes. SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT NIGHT TO ME. :D

I've done this in the past and it works really well :D I normally try and issue some sort of challenge to see how creative people can be with it....

[rocketlaunching.livejournal.com]

Not a fan of whites either, but you know the only white I actually REALLY liked is Conundrum 2011, it's a blend of a bunch of different whites they make, surprisingly it didn't have that... alcohol kick (does that make sense?) to it that most whites have that I hate, while still being fairly strong in percentage. The 2010 and the 2009 are a bit too strong tasting for me, though you might actually like it since it's less sweet than the 2011.