freeclimb9 Posted January 6, 2003 Posted January 6, 2003 Check your local Trader Joes for "Charles Shaw". The rumor is that it's a selloff from United Airlines. At $2/bottle, it's damn good wine. Quote
RobBob Posted January 6, 2003 Posted January 6, 2003 (edited) Good one, DFA Edited January 6, 2003 by RobBob Quote
Roger Posted January 6, 2003 Posted January 6, 2003 hey! I actually almost agree with GregW - there are some great south american wines out there for a lot less than their california counterparts... although really good california cabs are probably among the best reds in the world, I'm not in the habit of dropping $60 on a bottle of wine. I just bought a bottle of Trimbache malbec - I think it's from Argentina, which is a great bottle of wine for around 8 bucks. You'll find it at Freddy's. Â Quote
allthumbs Posted January 6, 2003 Posted January 6, 2003 I found a really good bottle of wine in the alley at 2nd. and Pike. It was missing the screw on top, but some thinker had simple capped it with a condom. Brilliant  I'm saving it for a special occasion and a special gal... Quote
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted January 6, 2003 Author Posted January 6, 2003 (edited) Falling Star Merlot/Malbec (also from Argentina if DFA is not mistaken) has been a solid bet for around 5 or 6 bucks in the past. No idea if its latest incarnation passes muster, but it's worth a try. Edited January 6, 2003 by Dr_Flash_Amazing Quote
sexual_chocolate Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 Poster: Dr_Flash_Amazing Subject: Re: DFA's Wine Buy of the Week  Pinot Noir is yucko  Ahh my poor dear doctor. You have never had a proper Pinot Noir if you say that! Problem is you usually have to pay through the butt (pardon me!) for a proper one, but when you do get one, ahhhhhhhhhhh! The concentrated fruits, off-set by leathery tannins (not too harsh!)....so deep! I believe '94 was a year to remember with domestic pinot noirs, with an excellent example offered by a winery in your neck of the woods (Tualatin). Proper conditions seem more important for this grape than most others, elsewise it never develops the concentrations needed for depth. Happy drinking, my fellow winos! Quote
mattp Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 (edited) I did have some of the Shaw not long ago and it was amazingly good! Â By the way, my wife reminds me that I think you are all missing the mark: the best wines for the money are mostly French and Italian. For $8.00-10.00 you can get a bottle that compares favorably to a domestic that costs twice as much. As I never argue with my wife, and I've helped consume more than a few of said bottles, I wholeheartedly agree with her. Edited January 7, 2003 by mattp Quote
allison Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 That Charles Shaw is hands down the best $2 bottle of red on the market! It's not wonderful, but if you've already had some other wine, it is not too shabby. Â For everyday consumption, the Paul Thomas Cab, which is almost always on sale for $7, it emininently drinkable. For a couple more bucks, at $12, the Preston Cab tastes like a much more expensive wine. Â I am also partial to all of the Canoe Ridge wines, having enjoyed the Merlot, the Cab, and especially the Syrah. They are all three widely available in WA at about $20 a bottle. Â For all of you oenophiles out there, I recently splurged on some crystal wine glasses, and why I can't explain why, any wine tastes a whole lot better in a good crystal glass. Get some. Mine were pretty inexpensive at the Dansk Factory outlet at North Bend. Â Greg, you seriously drink reisling? Blech! Quote
mattp Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 Allison - I was recently educated to the fact that the shape of the glass is amazingly important. Red wine glasses are designed to dump the wine onto a different part of your tongue than are those designed for white. They also treat the aroma diffently. If you have good quality crystal wine glasses that are designed for the type of wine that you usually drink, the shape itself may be a big part of the difference you are noticing. Quote
iain Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 no wonder that franzia always tasted like crap! Quote
allison Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 The thinness of the crystal seems to somehow improve the experience as well. It's not because the glasses were expensive, 'cuz they weren't. Â That is interesting about the shape and the smell though, I went with the very traditional balloon form even though it's not the sexiest shape there is, it is the most functional. Quote
fleblebleb Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 I tried some gu in one of those fancy glasses, it was awesome! Thanks for the tip Mattp! Quote
freeclimb9 Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 A recent aritcle in the LA Times outlined a taste of sub-$10 bottled wine. The most consistently decent wines were whites. The reds were all over the place and produced the biggest headaches. I prefer the strong flavor of reds, but a tasty sweet thing will work, too. Quote
rbw1966 Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 California is reknown for its cabs and zins. Try a bottle of Caymus Cabernet and you'll appreciate true wine sublimity. The true vino values, as pointed out by others, are from our southern brethren in S. America and Australia. Portugal also kicks out some decent values. Â I'm thirsty and its only 8:30 Quote
mattp Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 Its starting to sound like we might need to try a more upscale destination for pub club some time. For this, surely Trask would bring his magic credit card. Quote
sk Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 perhaps I am just inexperienced when it comes to wine, but so far and in my experience wine is yucky... it tastes like sour grape juice ( I don't like grape juice either) Red wine gives me a horrible Migraine, although i hear if you get organic that will not happen, and well it is yucky for less than 10$ I can get a 6 pack of good beer Quote
COL._Von_Spanker Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 Speaking of Cryral, the wine not the glass, I had a bottle on new years and IMHO i can't taste the price. Which brings me to my question, at what point do y'all think think the cost/taste relationship started getting out of balance due to the gucci factor. In other words, you can probably taste the difference between a $15 bottle and a $2 bottle (trader joes excluded) but what a about a $150 and a $50 dollar bottle, where is the cutoff between taste and price? Quote
allthumbs Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 I'm with you sista. There's alot of hardcore wine drinkers out here where I live, and most (most, I said) are pompous, earth first, pseudo-intellectuals. Now beer drinkers on the other hand..... Quote
iain Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 a nice wine can make a mediocre meal a great one, and you don't have to spend more than $10. Quote
freeclimb9 Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 "a nice [six pack] can make a mediocre [girl] a great one, and you don't have to spend more than $10. Quote
iain Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 alcohol, the swiss army knife of beverages. is there anything it can't do? Quote
RobBob Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 When I was in college, backpacking around Europe, the proprietor of a fondue hut in Switzerland refused to serve us our cheese fondue without wine (we asked for water because we were almost broke). After we told him we couldn't afford it, he disgustedly gave us wine for free, saying he wasn't going to let us ruin good fondue by having the water give us an upset stomach. Â Freeclimb's right, red wine is known to contribute to headaches (along with chocolate and other foods). But good red is mighty good. Quote
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