Bear Down Wildcats

I knew it!

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/20/8625785/ex ... aste-cheap

Two Buck Chuck, ftw!

Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

the most i've ever spent on a bottle of wine (not at a restaurant) is $45. it was really good. but i also just had a zinfandel last week that was absolutely stunning (in my low rent mind anyway) for $14.99. I've even had a few bottles that were in the $6-9 range that were quite good.

There's nothing like a good box of wine.

Been to France, and the best part of it was that a bottle of wine, that was really good, was often less than a bottle of soda.

I liked John Cleese's documentary, Wine for the Confused, which addressed some of this. But it's all a bit complicated.

The best bottle of wine I've had in years costs $9.99. I drink lots of wine, but none better than that, even the super expensive bottle when somebody rich is paying. So mostly I keep going back to the well.

Longhorned wrote:I liked John Cleese's documentary, Wine for the Confused, which addressed some of this. But it's all a bit complicated.

The best bottle of wine I've had in years costs $9.99. I drink lots of wine, but none better than that, even the super expensive bottle when somebody rich is paying. So mostly I keep going back to the well.

may I ask what wine that is?

scumdevils86 wrote:

Longhorned wrote:I liked John Cleese's documentary, Wine for the Confused, which addressed some of this. But it's all a bit complicated.

The best bottle of wine I've had in years costs $9.99. I drink lots of wine, but none better than that, even the super expensive bottle when somebody rich is paying. So mostly I keep going back to the well.

may I ask what wine that is?

Guenoc North Coast Victorian Claret. I'm not sure how much the price varies, but because of whatever deal my wine guy gets, he sells it for $9.99 a bottle, or 10% off that when you buy a case.

I avoid learning how to properly taste wine. That way I can still enjoy pretty cheap wine.

Grocery Outlet has the best deals on wine. Sometimes I can get local Central Coast wines for $4-$5.

This applies to vodka too (with locally made exceptions. . .). Scotch on the other hand. . .

ghostwhitehorse wrote:This applies to vodka too (with locally made exceptions. . .). Scotch on the other hand. . .

But then again, an amazing deal is Johnny Walker Black Label. Somebody can say, "Well, that's a blended whiskey, not a single malt...." And then we're back to snobbery, like with wine. Johnny Walker Black represents the art of blending. It's a damn good scotch.

Give me the Costco brand of Malbec for about $7 or $8 and I'm happy.

Black box wine shiraz is good. $16 at Total Wine

Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

KaibabKat wrote:Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

Great. Now what do I do with all this Boone's Farm and M/D 20-20?

UAEebs86 wrote:

KaibabKat wrote:Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

Great. Now what do I do with all this Boone's Farm and M/D 20-20?

Microwave burritos.

UAEebs86 wrote:

KaibabKat wrote:Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

Great. Now what do I do with all this Boone's Farm and M/D 20-20?

Make some bad life decisions.

Chicat wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:

KaibabKat wrote:Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

Great. Now what do I do with all this Boone's Farm and M/D 20-20?

Make some bad life decisions.

Too late.

Longhorned wrote:

ghostwhitehorse wrote:This applies to vodka too (with locally made exceptions. . .). Scotch on the other hand. . .

But then again, an amazing deal is Johnny Walker Black Label. Somebody can say, "Well, that's a blended whiskey, not a single malt...." And then we're back to snobbery, like with wine. Johnny Walker Black represents the art of blending. It's a damn good scotch.

Long as it's not the Red Label. . .

scumdevils86 wrote:the most i've ever spent on a bottle of wine (not at a restaurant) is $45. it was really good.

Same here. The only time I justify spending over $30 on wine is at a restaurant. Some cute girl putting on a bottle service show.

Best wines I've recently had is a White Zinfandel for $15 and Kenwood (Sonoma County) Chardonnay for about $18. Probably the best Chardonnay I've had.

scumdevils86 wrote:Black box wine shiraz is good. $16 at Total Wine

Again, all onboard. Black Box overall is very underrated. If we ever met up it should be at in a Total Wine parking lot.

VegasCatFan wrote:Give me the Costco brand of Malbec for about $7 or $8 and I'm happy.

I get Durigutti Malbec at Total Wine for 11-12 bucks. Quality wine at a good price.

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

gumby wrote:

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

A place in Philly makes a $100 cheese steak. It has truffles, lobster, and other stuff I can't remember. I bet it isn't as good as a regular cheese steak.

UAEebs86 wrote:

KaibabKat wrote:Wild Irish Rose with beef. Thunderbird with fish and chicken. Ripple for everything else.

Great. Now what do I do with all this Boone's Farm and M/D 20-20?

You'll vomit, eventually.

Longhorned wrote:

gumby wrote:

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

A place in Philly makes a $100 cheese steak. It has truffles, lobster, and other stuff I can't remember. I bet it isn't as good as a regular cheese steak.

That. . .is not a cheese steak.






(It's a mutant lobster roll. Somebody call Charles Xavier, stat!)

ghostwhitehorse wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

gumby wrote:

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

A place in Philly makes a $100 cheese steak. It has truffles, lobster, and other stuff I can't remember. I bet it isn't as good as a regular cheese steak.

That. . .is not a cheese steak.





(It's a mutant lobster roll. Somebody call Charles Xavier, stat!)

Apologies. There's no lobster on it. It actually looks amazing. I'd pay $100:

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia ... l?page=all

Longhorned wrote:

gumby wrote:

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

A place in Philly makes a $100 cheese steak. It has truffles, lobster, and other stuff I can't remember. I bet it isn't as good as a regular cheese steak.

What's a regular cheese steak? Aren't there really 2 versions of the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich?

Are you talking about Pat's v. Gino's? I don't know about different versions. But Pat's and Gino's aren't really among the top in the city. Not that I'm a fan of any cheese steaks when sober. I make one better at home over the grill.

Longhorned wrote:

ghostwhitehorse wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

gumby wrote:

SCCats wrote:Heh that's a mind fuck right there.

You actually do enjoy the expensive wine more, but you only enjoy it more because you know it's expensive but knowing it's expensive actually, in fact, effects how much you enjoy the wine.

Yep. That's why I insist on being charge $30 for Big Macs.

A place in Philly makes a $100 cheese steak. It has truffles, lobster, and other stuff I can't remember. I bet it isn't as good as a regular cheese steak.

That. . .is not a cheese steak.





(It's a mutant lobster roll. Somebody call Charles Xavier, stat!)

Apologies. There's no lobster on it. It actually looks amazing. I'd pay $100:

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia ... l?page=all

The Barclay Prime cheesesteak uses A5 Japanese Wagyu beef, foie gras, shaved truffles and comes with a small bottle of champagne.

If you do you might have some trouble with geese . . . just sayin'.

ITALIAN CHEESE STEAK:

Cut a steakum down the middle lengthwise.
Fry in a small frying pan.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic salt.
Split an 8" roll almost through.
Cover lightly with marinara sauce and 3 slices of Provolone.
Place in toaster oven to melt.
Remove meat from pan and quickly sauté chopped onions.
Place steakum on the melted cheese, and cover with onions.

Enjoy

cant stop drinking anything Sancerre

Good wine has nothing to do with price. Price does have to with where you buy it (cellar door, bottle shop, restaurant?) and the business structure of the winery (small independent, medium to large independent, brand within a conglomerate stable?). Bottle shops are usually the cheapest place to buy a bottle, cellar doors cannot sell for less than the bottle shop will retail it for, restaurants of course mark up heavily and its usually their most profitable sell. On the other hand, cellar doors and wineries home tasting clubs often have great wines you cannot get at retail (usually because of smaller supplies).

Also, wine is meant to be drunk with food. A naked blind test is not a 'proper' test of the wine - matching wine with food does make a difference.

Three things go into the making of a great wine: balance, balance, and balance. Balance between the fruit, the acid, the tannin. Balance between the quality of the grapes, the skill of the wine maker, and the quality of the oak (for red wines that is). Balance between the treatment of the wine, the needs of the business, and the vision of the sales team.

There are certainly wineries that think they must put their prices up to ridiculous levels because they want to be perceived along side the established super-premiums. Until they have actually earned that consideration they are fooling themselves and defrauding their customers. There are other wineries that have established themselves as consistently super-premium and the simple rules of supply and demand dictates super-premium prices. And there are wineries that fall anywhere in between.

There is one statistic that is more important that anything else in what vision a winemaker has for his product: somewhere around 95% of all bottled wine is consumed within 48 hours of purchase. Any one who thinks a winemaker is not about selling his wine is crazy. Winemakers make the vast majority of their wine to satisfy that market. Small wine makers cannot compete in the mass market because they simply don't have the volume to supply it - they have to compete in the 5% 'niche' wine market and they have to cover their costs so they have to charge premium prices for wine that is often not premium quality.

That doesn't mean that small makers cannot make great wine that justifies the higher prices, but rather that they are much more subject to the vintage variation that large makers are, these days, basically immune. A winery in a big stable like Constellation or Treasury stable can 'fix' any wine they think comes up short by finding other grapes from somewhere else to cover the gaps. A small independent cannot do that - but the small guy must still cover his costs even if he has a bad year.

A few examples from my experience:

1) I have a group of friends that buy bulk wine every year from a certain wine maker who could easily bottle this stuff himself and sell it for $30 a bottle. He is honoring his father's wish to 'look after his friends' - that's us and some other groups who kept him going with bulk purchases for a couple of years when he was really stiff for cash flow. This is GREAT wine. We bottle it ourselves and end up putting it in the bottle for around $7. It is drinkable now, but really shines after about 5 years. Far superior to any $15 bottle shop wine.

2) The best wine I ever had was a 1978 Bailey's of Glenrowan 'Winemaker's Selection' Cabernet Sauvignon, bar none, no opposing arguments considered. I drank that in 1988 with a Kangaroo Carpaccio that just melted in the mouth. The bottle cost about $AUD5 in 1979 when it was purchased at the cellar door. In would probably cost around $AUD20 today.

3) On December 31st, 1999 I drank a 1986 Bailey's of Glenrowan (cooincidence) Classic Shiraz and a 1986 Penfold's Grange Hermatage side by side. When purchased, the Bailey's cost $AUD12.99 and the Grange $AUD120. They were almost indistinguishable from each other in the glass, and although you could of course distinguish them in the mouth, as far as a pleasurable experience was concerned they were identical. Bailey's no longer makes the 'Classic' Shiraz; they split the grapes into a '1904 Block' which costs around $80 bucks I think and the '1920 Block' for about $45 a bottle. Grange costs over $700 a bottle these days. The Grange price is set more by speculators than drinkers - its a big mover on the Auction market.

Like I said, great wines require balance, balance, and balance. Those wines I listed (except the bulk - though I have had some of this bulk after 10 years and it is still good) were over 10 years old when consumed. Unbalanced wines don't last long. Inexpensive wines don't have to be unbalanced, and expensive wines aren't necessarily balanced. The price doesn't make the difference between good and bad wine. The grapes and the wine maker make the difference. The cliche is that great wine is made in the vinyard, and bad wine is made in the winery.

azgreg wrote:There's nothing like a good box of wine.

Nothing beats 4 bottles of home made wine every day.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2768792/man-wh ... ink-water/" target="_blank

Quick question:

Is it wrong for me to have a glass or 2 of wine before going to my kids science fair at their school tonight?

Alieberman wrote:Quick question:

Is it wrong for me to have a glass or 2 of wine before going to my kids science fair at their school tonight?

Wine is technically science. It would be downright wrong of you NOT to have wine before their science fair. And if anyone says anything about your boozy breath, you just tell them "It's called 'Fermentation' you fucking troglodyte!" and knock over their kid's crappy potato clock.

Just had a cup of coffee. A well-balanced coffee, with beans imported from somewhere or other. I should probably investigate.

I'm in Avila Beach and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a winery or two to stop by. Probably too lazy to drive up to Paso so thinking SLO. Possibly arroyo grande but prefer SLO

MrBug708 wrote:I'm in Avila Beach and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a winery or two to stop by. Probably too lazy to drive up to Paso so thinking SLO. Possibly arroyo grande but prefer SLO

Didn't see this yesterday, but I prefer the Santa Ynez wineries.

Haven't done this yet, but watch the movie Sideways, then go to the same wineries http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/wine ... ine-trail/" target="_blank

When guests come out, I take them to the Firestone winery. It's the only one in the area that gives free tours still. Fess Parker (yes, the late actor) Winery is just down the road.

I don't care for wine, with the exception of "Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling". Its about $8 a bottle, although I've been to restaurants where they charge $48 a bottle for it. Had it with dinner the night I got married (know as much about wine now as i did then... nothing) and was surprised I liked it. That place charged about $29 a bottle. Came home from the honeymoon, went to Binny's and found it for $8. Bought a case. Good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PeKcWCC-tw" target="_blank

another reason the ladies love Wine Wednesdays