My wife and I have a few bottles of wine we enjoy. We were given a nice bottle of $100+ wine from a local restaurant for holding our Christmas party with them. We know very little about wine but are interested in starting a collection (new hobby). We are young (mid 20's) and don't have much knowledge when it comes to this. We have a few large wine merchants in Houston along with some clubs. To my question. Any recommendations for some good books or online message boards like this one but for wines? I've looked over wines.com message board and its ok. So any Oenophiles on this board?
wine is like trading - its mostly down to personal choice and what suits you. i would hate to go to wine message boards - it would be just like et: 'which is best, red or white?' 'ive just been offered a job at drunksRus wine merchants - should i take the job?' 'spit or swallow?' blah blah blah. my advise is to to just get drinking. dont take it too seriously. nothing worse than a wine bore get to know the different basic types of grape, the regions etc. then build
None of it is real- it's all fraud. Those <i>wine experts</i> can't really tell the difference between a $1,000 bottle and a $50 bottle unless they're told which one is <i>supposed</i> to be better. It's just like art. Do you know what's so special about the Mona Lisa? Van Gogh's Sunflowers? Are these truly mankind's finest examples of artistic expression? Of course not- it's all bullshit. There is nothing original or innovative about these paintings. The only reason they are so highly regarded by the 'experts', is because the snowball of popular opinion fed upon itself to create masterpieces out of mediocrities in the public eye. People eagerly joined the consensus, only because doing so is far easier than opposing it. The same goes for fine wines. You can follow the herd and become an <i>expert</i> at pretending the law of diminishing returns somehow does not apply to fermented grapes, or perhaps you'd like to cultivate a different hobby? One based upon the true and objective values of objects, and not inflated bubble premiums due entirely to people refusing to think for themselves while accepting any notion fed to them by perceived authority figures and the mindless stampede of public opinion. Nevermind. I only say such things because I have the social skills of a mad genius. Spend a few hundred grand building an impressive cellar collection. It'll greatly improve your chances of acceptance at the finer country clubs. You'll earn the undying respect of those who value style over substance- at least until they flock to some other trendy illusion.
im in 2 minds about this. i have a friend who runs/owns several fine restaurants in london. he is also a wine buff and i have seen him tell a lot about win just from its look and smell without even tasting it. then again, i have seen some experts on tv screw up badly from my personal experience, i can generally tell a good wine from a piece of crap. from a blind test, i can tell the £50 bottle from the £5 - but i wouldnt say i know much about the stuff. the flavoUrs are just a bit more complex and (funny this...) it tastes nicer, not like a mouthfull of acid. some wines like jacobs creek are not even really wine i am told. they are produced on such a scale with so many chemicals that the process is more like coca-cola than a wine press. thats consumerism for you!
Oh, I agree that a £50 bottle is generally a far better product than a £5 bottle. The law of diminishing returns doesn't really kick in yet at such low levels. It's the wine snobs gushing over £10,000 bottles who are full of shit.
Sorry Rearden, love ya lots & mean no disrespect, but that's a load of crap. I remember my first bottle of 1982 La Mission Haut Brion, the 2nd Growth red from Graves in France (inferior only to Haut Brion, right across the street). It tasted like liquid velvet. It was so complex and interesting, full of tannins and richness, I was blown away. It was like a religious epiphany. One of the best gustatory moments in my life. The wine was expensive by late 80's standards ($250 bottle) but later vintages could be bought for $50 bottle at Zachy's. I have drank many bottles of wine over the years, from an 89 Petrus, to 1990 Exchezeaux, to Beaujolais nouveaux. With plenty of californians too. I am partial to French wines, with an emphasis on powerful bordeaux and burgundies. I have drank many californian wines, but am always disappointed in them - too generic, always consistently good in quality, but never truly great. Chilean cabs can be uncommonly good if you are lucky, and australian syrah/shiraz is always a great value and probably my vin ordinare of choice. For all but the french, if you spend more than $50, you really are wasting your money. And there is probably no perceptible difference between $20 wines and $50 wines, so save your money. Find something you like, and accept it for what it is - a very good table wine. But for french wines, go buy one of Hugh Johnson's books and learn about the chateaux system. Buy good vintages, but avoid the hype that comes out every year. Try a great bottle of wine in a restaurant that stocks old french reds where you can have your pick of the vintages. Don't drink the wine too old - a 1964 fixin tasted like water with a few notes of vinegar when I broke that rule. And lastly, when you have a great bottle of wine, you will know it. One does not stare into the face of God and leave without reaction.
No problem, my opinions on this really aren't that strong. I'm just polishing up my writing skills for the day when I have something worthwhile to say.