A funny story: The hunny and I were in Sydney awhile back right down on Circular Quay waiting on a ferry. Trying improve the local economy in the tourist traps along the way. We go into The Wine Store as happy little spending tourist on holiday inquiring of their wine. Well of course they're pushing Penfolds We kinda giggle having bottles and bottles of all ranges of Penfolds. Most of it good. She was baffled. We wanted something else; "show us the best your country has to offer!" The she broke out some bottle of $36 Sémillon. We both just started laughing our asses off. Not at her expense of course, we were just amused. Again, she was baffled but this time she looked a bit injured and hurt. We said we get this stuff all time in California for $4 (exchange rates considered)... this is almost cooking wine. Now she's past hurt and she's defiant. And she starts show us all this stuff that we know and hate from drunken runs to Traders Joes. So, finally we try to put a graceful end to this temporary bizarro world and tell her that we're from California where the wine flows freely and about 12% of state economy is derived from grapes and wine production. She said, "They make wine in California?" Absolutely true story.
I know it is not a coincidence, but it was yet another sign of the decadent times we lived in, which people should have seen, i guess hindsight is always 20/20, but i just find it funny reading these stories of decadence, and it always leads back to then.
Review on Red Rooster. I was not lookin' forward to drinking this stuff again, but sometimes ya' just gotta do what you gotta do. Last time I drank the Rooster, I chugged one of the giant 750ml bottles on an empty stomach right before meeting some friends at a Jose Tejas' resturant. Bad idea. I was found sitting in the bathroom an hour later. Not barfing or anything, just sitting in there hangin' out. The numbing effect makes you forget you have arms or legs, I guess? Also makes you forget what a clock is. Anyway, red or white don't matter...............both taste pretty vile, but I usually drink the white which tastes more like a strong cheap table wine (as opposed to the red, which tastes like cooking sherry mixed with Vicks 44), like I did this time. It's a little easier going down but still needs to be ICE cold. In any case, it gets the job done...............but what that job is, you won't really remember after drinking it.
Super. If you attach the sheet i`ll make the charts. If you folks werent aware Long Islands North and South forks make some great wines.
One day, for a friend's birthday, her father brought a Chateau d'Yquem bottle from the 30s. He actually has an incredible wine collection with almost every Chateau d'Yquem year from 1880 or so. After opening it( it can be hard and risky with old bottles ), we finally tested it: " Aloe Vera", I said. That's what it tasted exactly, I had an Aloe vera yogurt in the afternoon. Apparently, that wasn't the kind of remark he was waiting for...LOL My favorite white wine bottle is 12 EUR in France and called " Chateau Chasse-Spleen". Test it. I would recommend Puligny-Montrachet for Bourgogne and Crozes-Hermitage and Chateauneuf-Du Pape for Cotes du Rhone.No Castle in particular.