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Nope, most wine drinkers are idiots. Studies have been done with blind taste test's involving modestly priced boxed wine, and more expensive bottles and these experienced wine drinkers could not tell the difference. Buy what you like in your price range, it doesnt get better. Anyone that says it does is a liar
I will GUARANTEE you that I can tell the difference between a bottle of good wine (Opus One, Silver Oak, good Bordeaux or Bourgogne, Amarone, etc.) and any boxed wine. If you can't, you either hate wine or your taste/olfactory senses are shot.
On point:
Chateau Lafite Rothschild (Pauillac): Was about 350 Euro in a restaurant in Belgium. It was great and well worth it because I didn't pay for it.
Dom Perignon: About $170 (Costco). A great Champagne, but more or less a status symbol and generally not justifiable. I think that other Moet-Chandon champagnes in the more modest price range of $40-75 are very good. Veuve Clicquot, Tattinger, etc. also make excellent Champagnes in the lower price range.
Various Amarones and Barolos: between $40-75. Generally excellent and, IMO, worth the price.
In general, I think you can get a nice bottle of red wine in the $20-50 range (whites $10-25). The quality usually is relative to price, but not always. Sometimes, winemakers are able to capitalize off of a previous vintage when the current vintage is not as good. Sometimes, your own personal preference is for a cheaper wine and there is nothing wrong with that at all.
I once spent an inflation adjusted $500 on a bottle of nice red wine from France. I don't remember what kind it was at this point, but I do remember that it was excellent.
On other occasions, I've had similarly expensive wines, compliments of a friend who at one tine was making $100K a day in the stock market. He was having a good time back then.
Anyway, in my experience, expensive wines can be hit or miss. Many times I've spent a pretty penny on a bottle of wine that was only mediocre - not much better than something I could buy by the gallon at the drugstore.
I think the most expensive bottle that I've bought (and therefore know the price of) was a 70 euro Grand Cru Champagne (blanc de noirs) at Paul-Etienne Saint Germain's Champagne house in Epernay (small producer with basically no exports, as far as I can tell). Not only was it worth it, but I think it was a tremendous bargain. Usually I spend $10-$25 on bottles from K&L, BevMo, my local grocery store, or from wineries.
it doesnt matter what wine you personally choose to store, it could be a 2$ bottle. people usually buy a vintage (or short supplied wine) and store it, it has appeal. wine isnt priced on flavor its sold on how its processed, and supply and demand. i have a 10$ bottle i stored earlier this year, plan to keep it for years, just pick something you enjoy.
Most wines sold today aren't really made for aging, and many will probably lose flavor and/or go bad if they are stored too long.
I'm not an expert on aging, but my understanding is that you need a wine with structure to age for a long period of time and you need to control the conditions in which it is stored. That does not mean that the wine has to be expensive. Generally speaking, red wines are better prepared for aging than whites, especially full-bodied reds like cabernet sauvignon (though a good chardonnay is likely a good candidate for aging).
Tannins are preservatives, and come to wine from grape skins, grape seeds, grape stems, and oak barrels. Tannins contribute to a wine's ability to age, and the way that a wine is made will affect its tannins. While not by any means perfect, wine reviewers will often provide a note when they believe that a wine is age-worthy identifying when they think the wine will be best. That is probably your best source of information. I agree that you should find wine that you like for aging, but I think that you should then look to see if the wine is capable of aging by looking at reviews of that wine.
My basic understanding of storage conditions is that wine should be kept on its side in a cool (50-55F), humid (~70%) place out of direct sunlight where temperature and humidity do not fluctuate very much. That is the ideal, and while variation from that may not be a problem--it may become one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VDODSON
Nope, most wine drinkers are idiots. Studies have been done with blind taste test's involving modestly priced boxed wine, and more expensive bottles and these experienced wine drinkers could not tell the difference. Buy what you like in your price range, it doesnt get better. Anyone that says it does is a liar
Some bottles are not worth their price (which reflects supply and demand, not just quality) in terms of taste. But wine gets better. You can buy great wine at relatively low prices, but if your price range tops out at Carlo Rossi or Franzia, wine gets much, much better at higher prices.
Honestly, I have never been big into wine. A I couldnt tell you the difference between a good wine and boxed wine. Yes I have been given good wine before by some snobby friends of old.
One of the most expensive wine which I had a small taste was a Tokaji Aszú when I was a student at the CIA and we did a dinner for wine experts from NYC. I was told, then, it was rare bottle, and cost about a thousand--that was almost 40 years ago.
I also worked in NYC in hotels, restaurants, as an apprentice and commis at that time when was a student and after. There was much catering to the very rich and famous. After Dinner, this very famous and wealthy owner (cannot say, had non-disclosure) came back into the service area of his flat and allowed me to take a small sip of a pre-phylloxera wine. He said it cost $5000 dollars. Again that about 40 years ago. What it was and the year has faded from my memory but but it had to been produced over a hundreds years before.
In our wine course at the CIA. we had the opportunity to taste many wines, spirits, liquors that were costly. Much of it was donated by distributors and producers. It was a way to get us to know these products but most importantly it was done to get us to purchase them when we went into the industry. Expensive foods in all categories were donated for the same reason.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 02-25-2014 at 01:10 AM..
I experimented once buying rare and costly wines here in Germany, the Eisweins, Beerenausleses, etc. and found that I actually prefer the cheaper wines. I like a working class Morio, a Bacchus, Huxelrebe, or any number of wonderful, but affordable Ausleses. The really expensive wines tasted oddly over-ripe to me. I guess I just have working class taste. I don't like Tafelwein however. Too cheap for even me.
Instead of going to a restaurant and ordering that $80 bottle or $200 bottle, go to the liquor store, triple the price of the wine that you want to buy. That is how much you would be paying in a restaurant for that particular bottle. So a $25 bottle of wine just turned into a $75 bottle. Everything triples in restaurants, some may even go up more but restaurants charge you around 3x more than what they are getting the product for so they can pay for overhead while still making profit.
Good restaurants are great places to try wines. And, in general, the price is approximately 2x of what you would pay in the store. For the extra cost, you get proper service, glassware and cleanup. You also get to pair the wine with food you usually wouldn't ordinarily prepare. You can then use your experience to choose wines to enjoy at home. Think of it as paying a little extra money for some very enjoyable education. It would serve you well to do it with food as well.
Good restaurants are great places to try wines. And, in general, the price is approximately 2x of what you would pay in the store. For the extra cost, you get proper service, glassware and cleanup. You also get to pair the wine with food you usually wouldn't ordinarily prepare. You can then use your experience to choose wines to enjoy at home. Think of it as paying a little extra money for some very enjoyable education. It would serve you well to do it with food as well.
Very good points. Also, the ambiance creates an experience that cannot be duplicated at home. One can also try many wines by the glass which is less than buying a full bottle. I am not so familiar with these new type of wine dispensing systems that purport to keep the wine fresh after opening. Your thoughts?
Livecontent
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