My first wine purchase

[daveflores]

I have been reading every inch of this site for the last few weeks and I am ready to go nuts and purchase my first bottle of wine. The only problem is that I, as silly as this may sound, don't know if wine is intended to be served at room temperature or slightly chilled. I would also appreciate any suggestions for a good Red wine from the U.S. I have only tasted Chianti till now and loved it. Please help me...anybody!

[Thomas]

Where are you in NYC? Soon, I shall have a retail wine shop in Manhattan, and you should come see me.

In the meanwhile, red wine at from 60 to 65 degrees, white from 55 to 60. Rose can stand the low end of chilling (55) and sparkling wine muist be as cold as your refrigerator (45, at least).

If you like Chianti, and I hope you have been drinking the good ones, try Zinfandel (but not the adulteration called white Zinfandel). Start with the tried and true names: Martini, Sebastiani, Ravenswood, even Gallo, and then move to the esoterics like Elyse, Deux Amis, the higher-priced Ravenswoods, et al.

[hotwine]

Try Georges Duboeuf's Beaujolais Nouveau for '99. Although released last November and intended to be consumed within a few weeks, we served some last weekend, and found it to still be good. Also look for his Cabernet Sauvignon. Both of those wines are reasonably priced, and currently widely available in supermarkets.

[mrdutton]

Then after you've tried the Beaujolais Nouveau, try a cru Beaujolias like the Georges Duboeuf 1998 Morgon, Jean Descombes.

[hotwine]

Ah, yes! And when you find it, please reserve a case for me. Our local distributors are still not making it available.

[hotwine]

Eureka! Just checked with my preferred retailer, and he has the Morgon, Fleurie and Moulin-A-Vent, as of yesterday! Hooray!

[mrdutton]

I have a few bottles of the Moulin-A-Vent and the Fleurie but have yet to sample them. I will be soon! The Morgon was, to me, wonderful!

My wine merchant says he has access to all three. Plus there is always www.popswine.com as a back-up!

[hotwine]

I would have been using popswine were it not for our legal restrictions in Texas; wine may be brought in from another state only to an authorized (read heavily-licensed) distributor, who then makes it available to a retailer for sale to the public. The recent court ruling to the effect that those procedures are in restraint of interstate commerce, and therefore unconstitutional, has not yet opened the way for direct shipment to consumers. Soon, perhaps. We hope.

[hotwine]

Well, I made the 44 mile trip to the retailer with visions of Morgon dancing in my head, only to find that he had lied! He didn't have a shipment of Morgon afterall, only two bottles of Moulin-A-Vent. Wait till next week, he said. Nuts! (Of course, I bought the two orphans, and a couple of others. But none is of the quality of Morgon.)