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+--- Thread: Brand Spankin' New (/thread-16633.html)
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- Dawgman - 06-22-2003
I am brand new to both the joys of drinking wine and to this discussion board. Please be gentle with me. I have also noticed that there are not too many folks posting from the deep south...I wonder why?
My question - being "brand spankin' new" is whether or not my approach to discovering the enjoymnet of wine is a good one. I have been purchasing different types of wine and tasting them. So far so good but is it better to try the same type of wine from different makers first or try different types of wines, as I am doing now? My thinking is that I need to find out what I like and then move on to the specific vintages, etc of that type of wine. All I know is that I am having a good time! I'm going to try Pinot Noir tonight for the first time - we'll see how I like it!
- Georgie - 06-22-2003
Hi Dawgman, and welcome to the board. I, too, am a newbie wine drinker. One thing I have found very helpful is the Wine/Food Affinities forum. Depending on what I'm serving I've done many a search and asked many a question about what wine goes with what. By doing so, I've been steered toward a variety of new wines, that have paired nicely with what we happen to be eating. The experts on this board have an unbelievable wealth of knowledge to tap into and if you keep reading, you'll get lots of recommendations. Have fun!
- stevebody - 06-22-2003
Welcome, my friend. I'm from the South but now live in Seattle. Honest but painful answer: The South is not as active a wine territory as most other parts of the country.
The South, as we know, is beer territory, with iced tea a close second (WHEN will these Northwesterners LEARN that iced tea is supposed to be SWEETENED!)
Don't be discouraged. Explore and ask questions. If you want to talk South-to-South, get me at stevebody@go.com. Anytime. I may be a bit getting back to you but I will.
- winoweenie - 06-22-2003
Howdy-Doody there Dawgman and welcome to the board. You are going about the wonderful journey into wine perfectly. One thing is to mentally file the wines you like and the things you enjoyed about them. As your tastes broaden and change it's imperative to keep on tasting. Good advice from SB about a reliable wine merchant. My business is located in Dalton so I have to tote my drinking stuff whenever I travel back there. Have fun, drink lots, and come back often. WW
[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 06-22-2003).]
- dananne - 06-22-2003
Hello from Atlanta! Yes, there are a few Southerners on this board.
It sounds like a nice book for you to read would be Andrea Immer's Great Wines Made Simple. Great for the newbie who is willing to experiment. I also see many folks suggesting Wine for Dummies, which I have not read, but I hear it has a great deal of very useful info for newbies and more experienced folks alike.
At any rate, welcome to the board. If you're ever in the Atlanta area and are looking for shop/wine bar suggestions, just let me know [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
- JagFarlane - 06-22-2003
Hello from NJ and in a few months...Charleston SC! Hehe...well I hope there is some form of wine down there...ugh...that would suck if there isn't lol!
- Dawgman - 06-22-2003
It is not true iced tea without sugar - and lots of it if you really want true southern iced tea!
I have been reading Wine for Dummies and learning a lot. I actually run a grocery store here that has a wine section. I am wanting to learn both for myself and my customers. I realize a grocery store doesn't have the same appeal as a specialty shop but we have received compliments on our selection - fairly basic stuff but a lot of it.
The trouble I'm running into by reading about wine is that I want to drink it all the time now - even at 8:00 in the morning! So...what goes good with eggs and bacon... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- Botafogo - 06-22-2003
Steve, I am from New Orleans where we do not take sugar in our Iced Tea (we have too many other creative ways to injest sugar) BUT I have to constantly remind waiters here in LaLa that the first word in "Ice Tea" is ICE!!!! They always want to refill your glass with tea but no more ice....
- JagFarlane - 06-22-2003
Sugar an a twist of lemon...or maybe lime...or maybe lemon and orange...yea...hehe...random thinking...
- tandkvd - 06-22-2003
I was born and raised on Southern Iced Tea (2c. sugar per gal. and a twist of lemon in the glass). It was normal for mom to make 2 gal. per day in the summer, for us four boys.
But I have cut back considerable since my discovery of wine. I now perfer a glass of wine along with a glass of water with my meals.
- Georgie - 06-22-2003
Well, my mom grew up in NJ and she made iced tea just like that! Two cups of sugar in the pitcher, and lots of lemon. Just thinking of that takes me back about 40 years. Iced tea, sliced Jersey tomatoes and corn on the cob were on the menu just about every night. Now that's summer!
- Dawgman - 06-23-2003
Don't forget the watermelon. The kind with seeds in it so you can spit them at your sister!
- tandkvd - 06-23-2003
Yeah, and scare your little brother who thought the seeds were flies!
Georgie, not to many Yankees like your mom and mine. My mom was born and raised in Detroit Mi. But she had to come south to learn to make tea like that. And also to searve bread at each meal.
[This message has been edited by tandkvd (edited 06-23-2003).]
- Drew - 06-23-2003
Welcome Dawgman from just south of the Mason-Dixon line! Don't let any of those Yanks scare you off...they talk big but that's all. There is a certain indian on this board that you have to be careful around though. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
Drew
- Innkeeper - 06-23-2003
Though not a Southerner in any way; grew up on the NORTH shore of Long Island; am married to one. She was born in Rome, GA, and grew up in Birmingham, Richland, GA, and various parts of Florida including pre-Disney Orlando. She attended Piedmont College and graduated from Valdosta State College. We met in Atlanta, and got married in Orlando 40 years ago this Augusta.
All this is to let you know I know a tad about the culture, even though we live about as far north as you can get. Welcome to the Board.
- stevebody - 06-23-2003
In Virginia and the Carolinas, the proper glass of iced tea will start with that exact recipe: 2c. sugar to the galon of tea, which starts with eight tea bags steeped until you could stand a spoon up in it. Then the glass is filled TO THE TOP with ice (very important) since the tea will melt the ice quickly, even after it's cooled. We always served ours with a sprig of mint and lemon standing by but not in the glass. Occasionally, a tiny bit of bourbon would find its way into the glass, although nobody ever seemed to know how it happened.
In Seattle, the recipe, evidently, involves maybe three tea bags per gallon, a quick steep, and real fears of an ice and sugar shortage, apparently, since the average ration is about three cubes and NO sugar. The wiaters always say that there's sugar on the table, so that you can choose to sweeten or not. Oh, well...they don't know any better and they are pretty nice kids.
P.S.: No matter what anybody tells you (and I'm considered a traitor back home for saying this) Virginia wines, with few exceptions, are NOT ready for prime time. They definitely will be one day, from what I'm tasting, but they're just too new at it yet. Buyer beware...
- Thomas - 06-23-2003
No intention of starting another wine board fight, but that is SB's opinion, re, Virginia wines. I have discovered some quite good Virginia wines from Barboursville, Horton and a few whose names escape the old brain right now.
Buyer should always be aware which means, when it comes to wine, listen to your palate and no one else's.
As for iced tea: I'll let the Southern pros speak to its requirements, although I hardly ever take sugar--in anything 'cept dessert.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 06-23-2003).]
- jv38 - 06-23-2003
Dawgman I think you are in the right track. One thing that I use to do when I started was to taste two or three different wines side by side to see the difference in aromas and flavors, and also to see the similarities.
- ShortWiner - 06-23-2003
This Northerner has trouble understanding how anything with that much sugar can be refreshing...but then I'm kind of a special case because, like foodie, I hardly ever want sugar in anything. Even many desserts are too sweet for me. Just give me fats and I'll be happy [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
- dananne - 06-23-2003
Having lived in the South for 14 years, this transplanted Yankee has a hard time keeping sugar OUT of my iced tea.
It's unsweetened tea for me! And, waiters had better keep it straight with refills, as any sweet tea in my glass will result in them pouring it out and starting again [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
My Southern-born wife, however, thinks unsweetened tea is an abomination and treats it with a revulsion that I find somewhat frightening [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]