What Is Your Wine I.Q.?

[Margi Cintrano]

Good Morning,

For numerous people, good wine is the quintessential to an enjoyable dining out or home dinner or lunch. However, how much do you actually know about purchasing or ordering wine ?

Would be wonderful enjoying hear your viewpoints.

Firstly, I am well versed in Spanish & Portuguese and French wines, as I had done my Certification by the Government for Sommelier in the La Rioja region a couple of years ago. I had thought, that if we had ever returned to the west coast of the USA ( Calif., Oregon or Seattle ), Mexico ( Tulum, Yucatán ) or Punta de Este, Uruguay, I would not have a problem getting employment ... I am now, doing home study on the Italian Wines and Designation of Origins.

Look forward to your input.

Margi. Cintrano.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

Good Morning,

For numerous people, good wine is the quintessential to an enjoyable dining out or home dinner or lunch. However, how much do you actually know about purchasing or ordering wine ?

…

I am now, doing home study on the Italian Wines and Designation of Origins

This is an interesting task! And a difficult one, considering that new DOP and IGP wines (formerly DOC, DOCG and IGT) are born almost every month... Not to talk about the dozens of varieties of Vitis vinifera combined to make Italian wines!
Personally, I drank only Piedmontese wines in the first three decades of my lustful life, since my father came from the Piedmont region. So I matured a deep love for Barolo, Barbera, Barbaresco, Grignolino, Freisa, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo... Then I started widening my experience, but I never crossed Italian boundaries, cannot tell a Costières de Nimes from a Roobernet! I'm as stubborn as a Valtellinese mule

 

[justplainbill]

Preferences for serving temperatures and aeration could also be interesting.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Wine I.Q. = 0, nought, nada

 

[justplainbill]

Lemberger based wines with an alcohol content of under 12% comes to mind as being one my favorites.
http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/cultivars/Lemberger.pdf

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Buongiorno Luca,

I have always had a profound interest in wines, as I was literally born in my Grandmom Margherite´s Trattoria.

Scientifically speaking, it is not about the country designation, it is more profoundly steeped in the scientific end; the grape varieties themselves, some being more Indigenious to one country and some being grown in every country, the color, the aromas each grape imparts, the clarity, the taste each imparts, the oak barrel and its role and the various types of oak. Traditional Hand Picked verses Machine Picked and uncountable other details.

Harvest qualification is essential. As I am sure you are aware, a bad harvest, does not produce a good wine ! Weather challenges are covered too.

None the less, thanks for mentioning the lovely Piemonte wines you have mentioned.

If you enjoy Barolo, you would be very surprised, & enchanted with
Valladolid´s ( Castilla León ) Ribera de Duero D.O. ( designation origin ), Vega Sicilia. This red has be awarded more medals than any other red wine in the world. It is worth every Euro ! I suggest you treat yourself to this delight ...

Kindest.
Ciao, Grazie.
Margaux. Cintrano.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

@ Luca,

Oh yes, I wanted to mention that the Puglia Government and numerous Oenolgists, are revitalizing all the lands in southern Puglia and are making some wonderful wines. They have had a few very good harvests. They have of course been growing wines in this region since the Greeks had planted them ... then the Romans. These grapes are Indigenious and are being recultivated, as in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and the Alsace zone, Solvenia amongst others and the USA too.

With the severeness of the crisis in the MEDITERRANEAN countries to date, they are in need of new innovated products to stimulate market and JOBS ... I had sampled a few over in Vieste, Bari and Lecce, amongst many other stops we had made, and they were lovely. It is not the designation of origin, it is the harvest ! If you have great grapes that have frost or too much rain, or it is too dry; than the harvest is not good, thus the quality of the wine = not too good. IT IS ALL ABOUT QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT THAT IS HARVESTED. It is a bit of Luck too ...

Margi.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Bill,

Thank you for your post on The Austrian Wine.

It is alot easier to purchase Austrian Reds in Vienna or in Switzerland / Germany than in the Mediterranean, where it would cost an arm and a leg literally. We have our own wines, in addition to Portuguese which are high on International Wine Challenges and have won awards.

Thank you for contributing some valuable information. The next time we are in Zürich, visiting my young daughter, we can check it out.
M.C.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

None the less, thanks for mentioning the lovely Piemonte wines you have mentioned.
If you enjoy Barolo, you would be very surprised, & enchanted with
Valladolid´s ( Castilla León ) Ribera de Duero D.O. ( designation origin ), Vega Sicilia. This red has be awarded more medals than any other red wine in the world. It is worth every Euro ! I suggest you treat yourself to this delight ...

Thanks Margi, but as I said I'm too stubborn: I'll stick to Italian wines, at least until I'll taste 50% of them all... And it will take some dozens years!

Oh yes, I wanted to mention that the Puglia Government and numerous Oenolgists, are revitalizing all the lands in southern Puglia and are making some wonderful wines.

Talking about Pugliese wines, which indeed are wonderful, my favorite are Castel del Monte white and Squinzano red. Thank God I spent a full year down there, in that beautiful region with very nice people. And the food, the food...

 

[lyndalou]

Wine I.Q. = 0, nought, nada

+1 If it tastes good, I'll drink it.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

+1 If it tastes good, I'll drink it.

+100

I once went out for dinner with a wine-loving friend of mine, a (supposed) sommellier and another friend, who was paying for the meal. Me and my wine-loving friend tasted a white wine and said nothing about it, because it was real cr*p and we didn't want to hurt our guest, then the (supposed) sommelier started a long monologue analyzing the characteristics of that wine in depth, like it was some sort of decent nectar. He drank the whole bottle. I never trusted sommelliers anymore, at least no more then my palate!

 

[justplainbill]

For everyday consumption; price, unadulterated taste and lack of undesirable aftereffects are my main criteria. I do not appreciate wines that give me agita or leave me thirstier than I was before consuming them.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Clic on the link, the house and vineyard is my mother and father in laws summer house. The vines go up the hill at the back of the house where the soil is full of limestone so Tommo grows the white grapes there. The family has two more vineyards on the Island. 80% of the grapes are sold to commercial wine makers.
The rest is turned into wine and prosec(dessert wine) by the Tommo and the family. The make it the old way with no chemicals ect, all the land is organic as the do not want the sea to be polluted.
Croatian Dreams :: 11092008028-1.mp4 video by Hvar2010 - Photobucket

 

[Steve Kroll]

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. I drink wine almost every day. I grow grapes. I make wine and teach others how to make it. I read a lot about wine, and have a fair knowledge of many different wine regions and the varieties grown there.

Having said that, I'm still learning.

 

[Addie]

Wine I.Q. = 0, nought, nada

Ditto!

 

[Margi Cintrano]

@ Steve Kroll,

Thanks for contributing. Of course, I am aware of your profound interest in not only wine tasting, however, wine making. Appreciate your feedback.
Best regards.
Margi.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

@ Princess Fiona,

Firstly, thanks for your input. May I ask, what do you drink to bring in the New Year ? Does it contain alcohol ? Do you have wine with dinner and Shrek for special occasions ? Do you ever cook with wine ?

If you re-read the opening on page 1, please note: I have asked the Members, to discuss their interest in wine ( general ) and if they wish to recommend a wine or two, their purchases, how they purchase, if they ask advice, if they have a reputable Wine Shop Owner or Mgr. to speak with and if they ever go tasting about wineries ... More or less ... How they make intelligent choices when selecting wines or champagnes or sparkling wines; and even beers.

Look forward to hearing from you.
Margi.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

@ Bolas,

Your Dvds are always a pleasure to watch.

Yes, people in the more isolated rurals of Italia, Portugal and some parts of Spain still do same ... The Mediterranean is a sea of wine ... Thanks so much for sharing your views, Dvds and certainly one can see, your love of Croatia´s wonderful world of the Mediterranean.

Kind regards.
Margi.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

@ Addie: Non alcoholic Wine & Beer

Good Evening Addie,

Firstly, if you re-read the introduction paragraph of this thread, the general theme is to discuss: wine intelligence when purchasing, when asking for advice at a wine shop or at a restaurant, to find out the A to Z´s on the subject as a general topic.

Steve is a winemaker, Luca loves Italian wines, Bolas is entralled with his family´s traditional manner in which all is hand picked and prepared, I love tasting a vast number of wines though I have some we truly love and amongst the other Members, providing suggestions on their faves too, like Bill who selected an Austrian Red.

This is an infinite science, an oenological, agricultural, cultural and gastronomic culture and study, where one learns daily, as Steve Kroll has stated. Wines change from one year to the next, ( harvests, climate, planting process & Government designation of origins ). It is not a simple task to explain all here on one little thread.

I have taken wine courses over the years for it is a profound interest, and I have thought to work in the wine retail sector and / or as a sommelier, if I were to leave Spain and write for the magazine from a distance. With that in mind, I have re-begun the studies, as a review even though I have a certification license from the Spanish Government, I am preparing same for the Italian.

Kind regards.
Margi.

 

[Bacardi1]

Ditto!

Yet another vote here for "if I enjoy it, it's a "good" wine, in my opinion".

We don't suffer wine snobs gladly, but do read about & try different wines that sound interesting. Some we enjoy, some we don't - regardless of the "reviews".

I'll repeat, if you try a wine & enjoy it - whether it cost you $10 or $100 - then that's a "good" wine.

Can't get into the rest of the wine frou-frou.