The Wine Thread - Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum

Questions about wine? Enjoy a bottle recently? Looking for something expensive/cheap for dinner tonight? Discuss here.

Maybe we could start a wine club? Like a book club- someone picks a region for the week and we all compare tasting notes.
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A few of the wine blogs I read daily:

http://www.vinography.com/
http://www.drvino.com/
http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://750ml.blogspot.com/
http://www.ft.com/arts/columnists/robinson - weekends
http://online.wsj.com/article/tastings.html - fridays
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more blogs (format is hard to read but easy to import)...

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<outline text="Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog" description="A wine insider&#39

:-) view of that place where culture, politics, wine and I mingle." title="Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/" xmlUrl="http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/atom.xml"/>
<outline text="la gramiere" description="A small two person farm and winery in the southern Rhône. Farming organically, vinifying naturally and living the good life in Southern France." title="la gramiere" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.lagramiere.com/blog/" xmlUrl="http://lagramiere.typepad.com/blog/atom.xml"/>
<outline text="Viticulteur>" description="La vie du Domaine" title="Viticulteur>" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="" xmlUrl="http://www.vincentdancer.com/atom.php"/>
<outline text="Vinography: a wine blog" description="Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world" title="Vinography: a wine blog" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.vinography.com/" xmlUrl="http://www.vinography.com/atom.xml"/>
<outline text="Uncorked" description="Mark Fisher is the author of Uncorked and a writer for the Dayton Daily News.

Find things to do

In a hurry? ActiveDayton.com's twice-a-week e-mail newsletter lets you know the top five things to do in the area twice a week.

Sign up" title="Uncorked" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wine/" xmlUrl="http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs//dayton/wine//index.xml"/>
<outline text="VinoFictions" description="the blog that proves "in vino veritas"" title="VinoFictions" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://vinofictions.blogspot.com/" xmlUrl="http://vinofictions.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"/>
<outline text="The Cork Board" description="The premiere blog of the Napa Valley" title="The Cork Board" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.uncork29.com/blog" xmlUrl="http://www.uncork29.com/blog/feed/"/>
<outline text="Cheap Fun Wines" description="Cheap Fun Wines.com is on a mission to find the most luscious wines on the planet for under $20." title="Cheap Fun Wines" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.cheapfunwines.com/" xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/CheapFunWines"/>
<outline text="Anomaly Vineyards" description="" title="Anomaly Vineyards" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://anomalyvineyards.blogspot.com/" xmlUrl="http://anomalyvineyards.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"/>
<outline text="Wine Blog" description="Juicy Tales by Jo Diaz" title="Wine Blog" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://wine-blog.org" xmlUrl="http://www.wine-blog.org/?feed=rss2"/>
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<outline text="Good Wine Under $20" description="An award-winning wine blog dedicated to celebrating everyday wine culture and helping you find delicious, varied wines from all over the world that are good value, interesting to drink, pair well with food, and are (mostly) under $20. Looking for something particular, like a Cabernet that won't break the bank or sparkling wine from Spain? Scroll down to the Topic Index in the left sidebar to locate wines by variety, region, or price." title="Good Wine Under $20" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/" xmlUrl="http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"/>
<outline text="Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France" description="Wine Terroirs : Wine discovery, wine tasting and vineyards in France ." title="Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.wineterroirs.com/" xmlUrl="http://www.wineterroirs.com/atom.xml"/>
<outline text="Wine Reviews at Chateau Petrogasm" description="The Wine Blog of Tasting Notes Through Images" title="Wine Reviews at Chateau Petrogasm" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://chateaupetrogasm.com" xmlUrl="http://chateaupetrogasm.com/feed/atom/"/>
<outline text="The Wine Broad's Board" description="Drink, Eat and Write: Caputo-style" title="The Wine Broad's Board" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://winebroad.typepad.com/my_weblog/" xmlUrl="http://winebroad.typepad.com/my_weblog/atom.xml"/>
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<outline text="Fantesca Estate and Winery Blog" description="" title="Fantesca Estate and Winery Blog" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://www.fantesca.com/blog/" xmlUrl="http://www.fantesca.com/blog/atom.xml"/>
<outline text="Cellar Rap" description="Happenings, Challenges &#038; Ideas blog from a new winery in the Monterey region" title="Cellar Rap" type="rss" version="RSS" htmlUrl="http://cimacollina.com/WordPress" xmlUrl="http://cimacollina.com/WordPress/?feed=atom"/>
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Originally Posted by aldukes:
Questions about wine? Enjoy a bottle recently? Looking for something expensive/cheap for dinner tonight? Discuss here.

Maybe we could start a wine club? Like a book club- someone picks a region for the week and we all compare tasting notes.

I had a Cesari Mara Ripasso last night that I got for $22. It's on sale every Tuesday for $17 if you buy a case. It was like a baby Amarone and was quite good. I would recommend it for a full, smooth, red wine experience without a huge price tag .
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Originally Posted by aldukes:
A few of the wine blogs I read daily:

http://www.vinography.com/
http://www.drvino.com/
http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://750ml.blogspot.com/
http://www.ft.com/arts/columnists/robinson - weekends
http://online.wsj.com/article/tastings.html - fridays

My boss is going to hate you. :-)
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same as my other post, just links

http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/
http://www.lagramiere.com/blog/
http://www.vincentdancer.com/atom.php
http://www.vinography.com/
http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs...s/dayton/wine/
http://vinofictions.blogspot.com/
http://www.uncork29.com/blog
http://www.cheapfunwines.com/
http://anomalyvineyards.blogspot.com/
http://wine-blog.org
http://www.winemag.com/blogs/
http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/
http://www.wineterroirs.com/
http://chateaupetrogasm.com
http://winebroad.typepad.com/my_weblog/
http://biggerthanyourhead.net
http://wine-scamp.com
http://www.fantesca.com/blog/
http://cimacollina.com/WordPress
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Anyone else here use cellartracker? Ive been paying attention to it a lot more and was wondering about membership perks.

Also- great article last weekend about How to Taste.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/005c4c2a-a...077b07658.html
(sign-up its free)

One of the things they stressed at the class I took recently is the fact you can only taste 5 things, but smell over 10,000.
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I like wine but don;t really know jack about it... what should I read first?
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I have been using Cellar Tracker for a couple of years. Being online, it's accessible from just about anywhere. It really does help to keep track of what you have and where it's stored in your cellar. You can print out different reports depending on your needs. :-)

Originally Posted by aldukes:
Anyone else here use cellartracker? Ive been paying attention to it a lot more and was wondering about membership perks.

Also- great article last weekend about How to Taste.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/005c4c2a-a...077b07658.html
(sign-up its free)

One of the things they stressed at the class I took recently is the fact you can only taste 5 things, but smell over 10,000.

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Originally Posted by aldukes:
Anyone else here use cellartracker? Ive been paying attention to it a lot more and was wondering about membership perks.

I was using Excel, but stopped. Cellar tracker is good, especially if you use off site storage of your cellar. I recommend neck tags unless you keep your wine in their OWC's.

I prefer to look at my collection rose colored glasses. :-) Case counts sound larger than bottle counts. :-)

As much as I love wine, most are not good pairings with cigars.
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I hope to try and get to Temecula again when I get back stateside and on leave. Lots of great wines to be had out there. I had a great time last time in San Diego when I was on leave before coming here. My wife is a wine lover big time. I found a great place in SD called Winesteals if your ever out there. It is a little winebar. It even has some outdoor seating. I though everything was well priced and the staff was very helpful.
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Originally Posted by mosesbotbol:
I was using Excel, but stopped. Cellar tracker is good, especially if you use off site storage of your cellar. I recommend neck tags unless you keep your wine in their OWC's.

I prefer to look at my collection rose colored glasses. :-) Case counts sound larger than bottle counts. :-)

As much as I love wine, most are not good pairings with cigars.

case counts? You obviously dont live in a tiny apt.:-)

I have a 18 bottle fridge with 25 bottles in it right now- i have to put a pillow down when i open it because I cant catch the overflow that falls out.

Ive been looking into off site storage but I only have a few bottles that would make it worth it.
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Originally Posted by SmokinApe:
I like wine but don;t really know jack about it... what should I read first?

I would suggest learning about what you like first. Get some reference books like Oxford Companion to Wine or Window's on the World Wine Course.

What have you been drinking?
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say what you want about winelibrary.tv- but this is a cant miss:

http://tv.winelibrary.com/2008/10/30...n-episode-568/

Jancis F'ing Robinson. Great talk about sherry towards the end- very interesting.
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Great info here. Thanks! :-)
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I've been into California wines since I live here. I have developed my taste over the years by going on tasting tours to local regions and tasting bars. I tend to like wines that some connoisseurs turn their noses up at because I like flavorful fruity strong alcohol wines like Paso Robles Zins and Pitit Sirahs and our Cab Sauvs from around here. They call them "jammy" or "porty" like that's a bad thing.
In my travels I have tasted great Bordeauxs, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese wines but I cant seem to find those wines locally as good as the ones I've had abroad.
Why is that? I am now wary of wines I haven't tasted or if I don't feel good about the vintage.
Also, I've noticed that sometimes a bottle doesn't taste as good when opened later then as it did when it was tasted.
On the other hand I just had a bottle of 2000 David Bruce Russian River Pinot Noir from the Windsor Garden vineyard that was soooo much better than I remembered it when I tasted it.
Some wines go through a "dead period" when they taste bad like some flavor is overpowering it. I leave other bottles of it alone for a few more years and usually they come back around better.

100 bottles of wine in a cellar at an average of say $22 a bottle is $2200. 200 = $4400. Throw in those special $50+ bottles here and there plus a few bottles of Port and Madiera and it can get worse than a cigar habit quickly.
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www.vinfolio.com is a nice site for hard to find or very good vintages. I've seen Chateau Yquems from the early 1900's (Not Rodenstock ones so don't worry) and rare lafittes there. I went recently and the site was down. Anyone know anything about this?
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Originally Posted by Scottw:
www.vinfolio.com is a nice site for hard to find or very good vintages. I've seen Chateau Yquems from the early 1900's (Not Rodenstock ones so don't worry) and rare lafittes there. I went recently and the site was down. Anyone know anything about this?

The site works for me. A little slow loading. Hey if money is no object, they have a lot of $3000+ wines you can take a chance on.:-)
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Originally Posted by BC-Axeman:
The site works for me. A little slow loading. Hey if money is no object, they have a lot of $3000+ wines you can take a chance on.:-)

I love looking at the vintages and just wondering what they are like. If you have read The Billionaires Vinegar, I think scepticism will accompany any of those purchases. I do have a friend who is opening an 82 Lafitte on his 50th in May. His father was a wine importer and left a few bottles behind when he died. He is inviting 4 friends to his birthday party for the uncorking..............I happen to be one of them. It was a very generous invite.
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Originally Posted by aldukes:
I would suggest learning about what you like first. Get some reference books like Oxford Companion to Wine or Window's on the World Wine Course.

What have you been drinking?

Thanks for the tip... I haven't been drinking anyone brand in particular... I like full bodied reds; Cab Sav, Merlot, and a Malbec... Probably around 2005... I know that Boogle is a brand that I usually pick up but no others stand out in my mind...
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