sweet and juicy

[stevebody]

Brooke,

Welcome, newbie! One basic point and then a few suggestions:

If you are tasting alcohol in your wine, you have a wine that is either seriously out of balance or just plain bad. Excessive alcohol in wine most often shows up as a hot feeling in your throat; the mucous membranes literally being irritated by the alcohol. A good wine will have a tiny bit of a tickle in your mouth and feel "bright" from acidity. A really great wine will go down as smoothly as spring water. Since you're in Belgium and are probably awash in French or Italian wines, I suggest a Southern Rhone wine like a Domaine de la Janasse Cotes du Rhone or their Chateauneuf du Pape "Le Chaupin", a Chateau Pesquier (any of them), a good Gigondas like the St. Cosme, Domaine les Pallieres, Perrin, or especially the Montirius, or an Italian like the Zenato Ripasso, A-Mano Primitivo, Allegrini Valpolicella, Masi Serego Allegheri Valpolicella, Umberti Cesari Sangiovese di Romagna, or the Apolonio Copertino. These are all mass produced, so they should be available.