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A Question About Wines
arkabar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My dad has become interested in red wines over the past year or so and drinks some every night after work. I have been trying to think of a Christmas present for him and I thought of trying to find a nice (not too expensive - college student budget) bottle of wine. I don't know where to start seeing as I am more of a liquor and cider person. I asked my mom and she said he likes Cabernet, meritages (she said it's a blend of wines, I had never heard of it) and she said occasionally a Chianti. Any suggestions?
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My suggestion is,
-go to the store
-check out the cabernets they have in your budget ($20-25 is a perfect price point for a gift bottle imo). If the store is divided by region, you'll probably find the largest selection in the France/California sections.
-take a picture of 6-12 bottles in the range
-Go home and hit the internet. Read reviews and compare scores
-Go back to the liquor store and buy a bottle
One other thing to note is that the wines in the supermarket etc. don't necessarily get the good stuff, as it's often a separate distribution channel vs. dedicated wine shops.
Your best bet would be to go to a liquor store that does a lot of wine sales or that caters to wines and fancy foods, give them a budget and number of bottles and tell them you want good big reds for immediate consumption.
If you're buying multiple bottles you could do a theme: same bottle but 3 different vintages, same type 3 different regions, 3 different types same region.
Along the lines of a wine accessory you could look into wine saving devices. One that works pretty well for me is shooting an inert gas into the bottle that displaces the oxygen and then re-corking.
The bold is the most important. Many wine stores don't have the most knowledgeable staff.
Absolutely. I'm lucky in that my town of 30k or so has a badass wine store that stocks a great variety from many regions and are very price-insensitive in their reco's (IE - they'll often recommend a 20 dollar bottle over a 50 dollar one if they feel they're better).
They also ship if you don't have a decent one near you:
http://www.doverwine.com/
plenty of tasty wine available in the $20-$40 range
If he's a regular drinker of cabernet, he's probably not downing $40 bottles of it every day unless he's printing money. so get him a nicer cabernet as a treat
I'm a wine amateur but as I've explored wine, I have found that once I found a category I like, I pretty much stay there and never want to go anywhere else, except up and down the price scale in that category
your mileage may vary
http://www.riedelusa.net/bordeaux-cabernet-merlot-wine-glass-1.html
If he has a plain old corkscrew, I can't recommend a Rabbit enough. One like this: http://www.amazon.com/Metrokane-6004-Rabbit-Corkscrew-Black/dp/B00004SQ0K I got one for Christmas several years ago and love it.
Booo.
Actually the best is a twist-top: OXO CorkPull
Protip: if you end up with cork bits in your wine, stick a drinking straw in over the cork crumb, put your finger over the end to create suction, remove straw, goodbye cork.
Last thought - large format bottles are always fun, too. I know I dig having a few in my cellar. Standard bottle size is 750ml, but you can find 1.5L, 3L and bigger. The 1.5 (magnum) will probably be more in your wheelhouse financially, but take a peek around or ask your wine shop. Note: Large format doesn't include your grocery store gallon jug o' E&J Gallo for the purpose of this discussion
Don't you dare hate on my friend Carlo Rossi.
I'm not sure if this is sarcasm, but I actually prefer the basic model (as well?). You need to know your audience before buying something like this. I've gotten several high-end openers as gifts, but I continue to use my $3 waiter's corkscrew because I really enjoy the feeling of opening a bottle of wine with it. When people get me another kind, it's pretty disappointing, especially since there are lots of drinking accessories I really could use.
From the three that you suggested, I would reccomend perhaps a really good Carmenère. That's a Chilean variety that pretty much contains the flavour spectrum that your dad has mapped out. I might add that it goes extremely well with good meat, especially beef.
Carmenères aren't fashionable (ie: overpriced) like other more well known varieties are, so you should get good value.
It's a nice grape, just know what you're getting into. Like V1m said, it's a little under the radar right now - there's some value to be had, for sure.
i'm a fan of tuscan wines (chiantis are tuscan), cabernets, and other "big" red wines, and malbec might fit the bill.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
I used to use a Rabbit too but gave it up for a waiter's as well. Rabbits are nice for speed, but something more satisfying about doing it myself.
I opened enough bottles by hand to never want to have to do it again. I never found it satisfying, only frustrating. To each his own, but if he's not a fan of corkscrews, he'll probably love it.
Some nice glasses.
A bottle stopper.
It's best to wait for buying gift wines until he's settled an a half-dozen or so "old favourites" so you can get him a mixed dozen/half dozen and know he'll love them all.
I liked the accessory route, so last year I bought an aerator and wine carafe for my parents (amazon link). The idea of which is that they let the wine breathe more which (apparently) improves the taste of many red wines. Also doubles up as a nice table decanter and puts a bit of 'show' into the whole wine drinking.
This is a great post when one primarily associates "Rabbit" with a different product.
On topic: I use a le Grand Charles corkscrew (I don't know what this is actually called, but my initial google says this) butterfly/angel corkscrew. It has served my family for like two generations now. What's wrong with those?
Yeah, the cork pieces were just no fun.
A butterfly is fine, but it's one of those things that a cheap one will be really bad with slipping gears, etc. Sounds like you have a good one.
Hehe if nothing else, it's SUPERB wine for Beef Bourginion.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!