+- WineBoard (https://www.wines.com/wineboard)
+-- Forum: GENERAL (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-100.html)
+--- Forum: For the Novice (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-2.html)
+--- Thread: Tired of being laughed at (/thread-16223.html)
- sweettooth - 03-03-2006
Hi everyone [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
My name is Andrea and I know diddily, zilch, nada about wine. Three times a year, I have a glass of wine, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. We drink Mogan David Extra Heavy Malaga and like it just fine. I have also tried Cataba pink and find it less sweet yet still pleasant. When my wine drinking friends find out "what" I drink, they laugh at me and ask "how" I can drink "that stuff". I tell them that I like the sweet taste and enjoy each glass just fine. When they try to give me a taste of "their wines" I can hardly swallow, they are so "sour" or more correctly, "absent of sweetness", which I surely don't like.
What I would like to know is there a wine, both a red (to order with meat) and a white (to compliment seafood dishes) that I could buy when I am "with the crowd" that I would both enjoy (from a sweetness standpoint) yet still be "acceptable" as a wine to serve with food.
Thanks, in advance, for your help.
Andrea the sweettooth
- Innkeeper - 03-03-2006
Hi Andrea, and welcome to the Wine Board. Whites are much easier than reds. For whites you can pick up almost any Riesling that does not say "Dry" or "Troken" on the label, and does not come from Alsace or Australia. German Riesling Spatleses are a good place to start. Also those from the Finger Lakes just north of you that just say Riesling on the label. They also always add the word "Dry" to the dry ones. Chenin Blanc particularly in the wine Vouvray from the Loire Region of France is widely available, and inexpensive. For Chenin Blanc from other areas, again just stay away from those who claim they are dry.
For reds the easiest source are the Lambruscos from the area of Italy on the West Coast not far from Rome. Reunite is the most common brand, but has a not well deserved reputation among those who think they know. To avoid conflict look for other brands. Your local wineries in New Jersey almost all make sweet red wines. Just Google "New Jersey Wineries" and you should find these easily. Stay away from fruit wines, be sure they are made from grapes. Good luck.
- tw - 03-03-2006
Reading your post you may not like red wine ever. Sounds like you enjoy something on the sweeter side of things. If you want to try a Pinot Noir or Beaujolais as those are lighter reds. As a suggestion for the white Riesling is probably the best bet. It is a sweeter wine usually and also very well accepted. Gemany makes some nice riesling. Others will have some good advice as well but that ought to help for starters. Also look for a late harvest riesling from Oregon that would be sweeter as well.
Chris
- newtoowine - 03-03-2006
My wife also likes a sweet wine. For that reason I have been on a mission to find a couple that she would enjoy. Riesling has been the choice so far, she has tried around 7 different bottles and always goes back to
Columbia winery 2004 cellar masters. Not very hard to find in stores around $10 or at restaurants.
[This message has been edited by newtoowine (edited 03-03-2006).]
- wondersofwine - 03-03-2006
You might also try Moscato d'Asti an Italian white that is usually on the sweet side. Have you ever tried Conundrum, a California white? It is from a blend of different grapes and some novice wine drinkers find it easy to swallow.
- Bucko - 03-03-2006
You need a new group of friends. No one should laugh at anybody for their choice of foods or wines. Tell them to put it where the sun doesn't shine.
Hell, WW drinks Latour with Tater Tots -- I sure as hell don't laugh at him (unless he is in shorts).
- brappy - 03-03-2006
My novice palate enjoys the Caymus Conundrum. Even better in that style is the Beringer Aluvium. Not super complex but a great sit out on the porch in the springtime type white. Also, the Aluvium is cheaper than the Conundrum. Hey, why not try both side by side and include a couple of Rhone whites and compare. OK sorry, now I'm rambling......
- WileECoyote - 03-04-2006
I agree with Bucko. You should drink what pleases your palate, not your friends'. I also agree with the Reisling and Moscati d'Asti suggestions.
- newtoowine - 03-04-2006
Is Moscati d' asti the wine. If so any bottle in particular. I thnk I remember something about this being from the Piedmont
- winoweenie - 03-04-2006
The few times I've subjected my palate to a SW and had the Caymus Conundrum I didn't find any residual sugar in the sucker. Could be I was swallowing so fast to git it over wif' that my usual impeccable palate dint' pick up on it. WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- brappy - 03-04-2006
Nope, no residual sugar. But the wine is refreshing. This wine seems to be easy to drink for those that enjoy sweet wines. So....It is a good wine to move someone from sweet wines to dry/drier wines.
- sweettooth - 03-05-2006
Woops! I posted my reply, by accident, under Pamela's posting which I was reading at the time. Please excuse that and I will write again...thanks for all your help with suggestions, certainly many for me to try. Not being much of a drinker myself, if I don't have enough company to finish a bottle, can I put the cork back in to the bottle and put it into the refrigerator? If so, "how long" a shelf life does wine have after opening? Thanks, Andrea the sweettooth.
- wineguruchgo - 03-05-2006
Sweettooth,
I'm compelled to ask you a question. Is it just wine or are you opposed to many bitter things? Vinegar, goat cheese, bitter chocolate?
There is a small % of the population that are catagorized into a group called "Super Tasters". Basically, they physically can't handle anything remotely bitter because they have heightened tastebuds. If this is the case, explain to your friends that you have atomic tastebuds and can taste things they can't. That should shut them up.
As for keeping a bottle of wine, your best bet is to buy a 1/2 bottle of something and keep the bottle. When you are done for the night pour it into the 1/2 bottle and keep it in the door of the fridge.
You will get 2/3 days from a bottle of wine.
- sweettooth - 03-05-2006
Wineguruchgo,
Nope - sorry I can't claim "superbuds"...I use vinegar in many recipes, love goat cheese, (especially Norwegian) and bitter chocolate I must admit to making sweet by the addition of sugar when a recipe calls for "bitter" chocolate.
And thanks too for the storage time for wine.
Andrea
- Flamefighter - 03-05-2006
Sweettooth, you might also try a WhiteZin form California. Something like a Beringer White Zin or White Merlot.
That is about all my wife drank for years. Now she has branched out into dryer wines with a more body. Friends used to make fun of her also when she ordered one but as a wine savvy friend told her, if it wasn’t popular they wouldn’t offer it for $4.00 a glass. His number one rule was to try something new now and again but stick to what you like so you enjoy the evening.
Oh yeah, these are priced around $4 to $8 a bottle so if you don't finish one no big loss. But they do keep for several days. Also, most bars and restaurant carry something along these lines. Just ask.
- Innkeeper - 03-05-2006
Sweetooth, in addition to the good advice that WG gave you, you should also know that opened shelflife varies not only from wine to wine, but from brand to brand of a specific wine. This is a valuable feature in the annual guides that Andrea Immer Robinson puts out. Look for her "2006 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone." She gives a lot of detailed information including opened shelflife about 700 of the most popular wines sold in America from all over the world. Amazon has it if you can't find it anywhere else.
- wondersofwine - 03-06-2006
I often get three days out of wines that are recorked and refrigerated. Most fade by the fourth day.
- sweettooth - 03-07-2006
Thanks again for all your good replies. So now I have another question....being from the waste not, want not school of life, if we don't drink an opened wine by the third day, can we use it in cooking, such as to flavor a roast and its subsequent gravy? Or, is it better to follow "if it "ain't" good enough to drink, don't use it in the food you will be eating.
- winoweenie - 03-07-2006
You gots' it bubba.WW
- sweettooth - 03-08-2006
Got ya wino weenie. Thanks.
Sweettooth