Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

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Roy Hersh
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Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Roy Hersh »

I know that not everyone on this Forum drinks wines beyond Port ... but I am assuming that most do. Other than Port, Madeira and Douro wines, what are some of your favorite regions, wine types, grape varieties and/or producers?

I hope that question is generalized enough!?!?!?!
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Derek T.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Derek T. »

I do like a nice Gran Reserva Rioja :winepour: :winebath: :drunk:

But I have to confess that my standard wine is Auzzie Shiraz in the £5-£10 price bracket.

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Glenn E.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Glenn E. »

German sweet wines - Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese - are some of my favorites. I believe I have 3 trocks and 2 beerens in my wine fridge right now. :)
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Frederick Blais »

It has to be Burgundy. When they are well made, they can blow anything away so easily! Can't wait to taste all the 2004 from DRC, including Montrachet in less than 3 weeks!!
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Kris Henderson
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Kris Henderson »

I really like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, with Beaucastel being my favorite producer. I also enjoy Alsace white wines, German Riesling, white Burgundy (Domaine Leflaive is a favorite producer), Amarone, and Barolo.
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Erik Wiechers
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Erik Wiechers »

The 2003 Robertson Winery Shiraz Wolfkloof, a powerful red wine from South-Africa. I'm not a wine drinker, but when i tasted this i bought 6 bottles the next day. With a aging potential up to 7 years im safe till 2010 :D
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Kirk T.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Kirk T. »

My wife and I like good Zinfandels--Red not white! We also thoroughly enjoy Champagne and other sparkling wines. I especially enjoy Schramsberg's J Schram.
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Andy Velebil »

Kirk T. wrote:My wife and I like good Zinfandels--Red not white!
Kirk
Kirk,
Sure :wink: :lol: just kidding of course, as I also like Zin's (especially older Ridge Zin's). I do want to welcome you to the forum. Good to have you posting here. We are a friendly bunch so please post often.

If I may ask, what is your experience with Port / Douro wines / Madeira?

Again, it's good to have you with us and I look forward to reading more posts from you.

Andy
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Kirk T.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Kirk T. »

Hi Andy,
I don't have a lot of experience. I bought 2 bottles of 1957 Moreira Colheita Port to celebrate my 50th birthday (yeah, me and Roy were both 50 last year!). Drank 1 with friends--pretty darn good! Saving the other for ??? Also, still have a 1982 Warre LBV that I was supposed to open for our 25th wedding anniversary last year, but never got around to it. Maybe this year.
No Douro or Madeira yet, but I keep looking for something interesting. Mostly drink Cabs and Bordeaux/Meritage blends. Not many whites.
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Roy Hersh
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Roy Hersh »

Hi Kirk,

Welcome aboard and good to know that I am not the only old guy around here.

I love Zins too and am a long time Ridge "freak" especially Geyserville and Lytton Springs, but also love their Cab Monte Bello too! I have participated in verticals of each, a Monte Bello back four decades was a great tasting in Aspen a number of years ago with Paul Draper.

Anyway, of all bubbly produced in the USA, I mostly buy one brand: Schramsberg. Greatest American Sparkling Wine bar none. I also really enjoy Gruet Blanc de Noir from New Mexico and Mountain Dome from here in WA State.

I look forward to you sharing more of your Port experiences!
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Eric Ifune
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Eric Ifune »

Riesling, Rhone, Burgundy, and Piedmont.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Roy Hersh »

I have a very eclectic love of wine and there is very little in the world of wine that I don't enjoy. In terms of my cellar, the ONLY three areas of the world where I could not pull something really interesting is probably the Languedoc and Chile/Argentina.

I love Italian wines and have some fine examples from the Piedmont, Tuscany and my favorite Ital region which is the Venteto. I am an Amarone freak and Valp is not far behind, due to their similar profile to Port in a way that one has to try them to "get."

South Africa is a strong region of my passion and my collection spans late 1973 through 1999 and nothing younger and sadly, I get too few opportunities to try 'em.

As to Spain, I only discovered Priorat with the 2001 vintage and have only a few before that, but I love them more than Rioja and that is something immediately apparent in my cellar although I have the requisite older Rioja to pull out for a Spanish tasting.

Domestic Pinot Noir is a much bigger area of my collection (unfortunately) than red Burgs, because i just can't afford the majority of older Grand Cru Burgs and therefore tend towards Oregon and CA Pinots which I really love too and am drinking my oldies from the 1970s and 1980s this year and will only have post 1990 by the end of this year, except a handful if I can drink the rest down.

I used to have a significant 5-10 cases of old to young zinfandels in the cellar, but my wife attacks my Ridge stash with regularity and there are probably only 50 bottles or so left down there with far less depth of range and not a single bottle from any other producer. I broke out some of my really old one for a So. CA tasting that Andy was at last year and put up many from the 1980s for that double vertical of Geyserville and Lytton Springs.

My German/Alsatian area grows thin and has gone from great diversity to just a few cases of dinner wines and the majority tending towards BA/TBA/Eiswein. Sadly, I have really let these slide and now have just a few from the 1971/1976 vintages and a mixed case from the 1980s and then the balance are all from great vintages like 1998, which is my sweet spot in Germany.

Rhones I have been buying less and less. I was a CndP maniac for awhile but have really tapered off big time. I still have a few odd bottles of Cote Rotie and Hermitage from up North but only a few nowadays and have used my depleted space here to replace with Douro whites and reds.

Douro whites and reds is an area that I have always had some space for, but it has grown in recent years but sadly is still less than 10 cases. I need to change this and do probably add to this category more than any other these days.

As for Claret, I have my share of classics and can show up for most tastings with something old and interesting from 2nd-5th growth with only a handful of first growths, mostly Haut Brion my sweet spot in Bdx., but I prefer Latour and have zero left of these. I own one bottle of white from Bordeaux, but have a very large collection of Sauternes (they are sweet of course) from the 1970s forward. I don't get enough chances to pop these because I am always expected to pop a Port or Madeira at tastings or dinner here.

CA Cabs, used to be the largest area in my non-sweet area of my cellar. I have let that dwindle down considerably and out of maybe 100 total bottles left, only about 10 are post 2000. Still have some going back to the 1970 and 1980s with the 80% from the top 1991/1994/1997 vintages or Napa.

Then there are the dessert wines and that would be an equally long thread as I probably have something in my collection from 15-20 countries from Austria to new Zealand. Scary when you have things like Late Harvest Tannat from Uruguay or old Tokaji from nearly a century ago. Then there are the Setubals, wow I love these too. There are still a few Ports and Madeiras too.

It is really hard to find an area in the wine world that I don't like but like I said, I know there is zero in my collection from the Languedoc, although I have tasted my share. It is really a fine region for inexpensive and tasty wines, but never been one that I have tended to buy. I guess if my cellar was larger, there would be something in there, but maybe not.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Al B.
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Al B. »

I'm late into the thread as I'm still trying to catch up with posts while I was away travelling, but here's my contribution.

These days, probably around 90% of what I drink is port. It's quite rare for me to open something else so when I do drink "non-port" it's usually because we are out - but even some of my regular restaurants are now getting used to me drinking port right through my meal and will happily open and decant a bottle of port around 6 hours before I am due to arrive to eat.

When it's not port, it tends to be Champagne (my wife's favourite) or English white wine (there are some wonderful examples to be found - I've even traded a case of English white from a vineyard up the road from my house with a colleague at work, for a case of Champagne made by his family from the vines they grow in the region). If it's a red we drink, it will likely be aged claret or aged Aussie Shiraz or a Musar with 10-15 years of bottle age.

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Jay P
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Jay P »

Besides Port, my celler consists of (in rough order):

Red Bordeaux (no 1st growths, but lots of 2nd-5th and various cotes that I enjoy)
California cabernet, merlot, and Bordeaux blend (Pride being my current favorite)
Reisling (German, mostly Auslese and sweeter)
Portugese dry reds
Madeira
Tokaji
Chilean dry red

My wife despairs our lack of dry whites :D

Jay
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Moses Botbol »

Burgundy, Rhone, Loire, Barolo, Bordeaux... Basically any old world tasting wines even if they are from Cal. as long as the alcohol does not go above 14%
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Scott Anaya
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Scott Anaya »

So I dug back a bit to my previous cellar holdings post. It is below. Probly not changed too much numbers-wise....maybe nix a few of the older bottlings and add a few newer ones. I'd say if anything since this post a year ago I have been in a Rhone drinking phase a bit this winter (with the Northen Rhone edging out a bit in numbers over the South) I have also started procurring a few more Champagnes than I have in the past. I have also starting picking up a few older Madeiras, Champagnes, and Rhones before they become completely unattainable for my budget. Unike other posters, i am not that into Douro reds. I think they are way too big and bold. I mean i have enjoyed a few by the fire on a cold Alaskan night...but they are not too food friendly, or at least i haven't found the right ones yet. I think i may also need to buy a bunch to lay down for 7 years or so too.


Total Cellar--roughly 330 bottles (July 2007)

Douro Reds--1% (4 bottles)

Madeira-- 4% (15 botles) a couple of most varietals except Sercial

Port--40% (135 bottles) Colheita second most represented

Other Sweets: (61 bottles)
Ice Wine from Niagara Canada, NY, Idaho, Germany-- 5% (18 bottles)
Tokaj (6 bottles)
Sauternes-- 3% (12 bottles)
Misc Sweet (25 bottles) Quarte de Chaumes, Banyuls, Domaine Baumard, Aussie sticky's, CA port,
S. Africa port, Germany, Austria, Pacific NW

Other Cellarings in rough decreasing quanity order (115 bottles)
Bordeaux, Italian, Rhone (N&S), Cal Cab (from 90's), German Riesling (70's-80's and new) France (R & W Bourg & Pinot Gris), Australia Shiraz, Rose's, US (Zin,Rhone varietals, pinot), Champagne and other sparklers, S. Africa syrah
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Bryan Robinson
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Re: Besides Port, what is your favorite wine type or region?

Post by Bryan Robinson »

I’m a huge fan of Italian wines. One varietal that isn’t really popular (yet) is Sagrantino. It is grown around the village of Montefalco in Umbria. It is phenomenal wine when it is done right. A bottle of Colpetrone and a rare tenderloin is pretty close to a religious experience.
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