The red wine thread...
Did a quick search and couldn’t see one, so will start a new one.I’m new(ish) to wine, but favour red over white or rose. Can any recommend where to start with red wine? I’ve just been picking up the odd bottle here and there. Quite like Malbec. Current bottle is Pinot noir which is also quite nice, but it’s all pot luck at the moment. Can’t stand red wine, but for all wine I read recently that a £5 bottle has only a very tiny value of wine in it, whereas a £10 bottle whilst double the cost has six times the value of wine in it. All due to the duty etc. I’d heard the same, however, the shops £10 price tag and an actual £10 bottle of wine probably vary a lot! love red but also quite new - tend to stick to cotes de rhone as a staple - they have to conform to appelation controlle which is a quality control whatever the price, tempranillo and rioja are others i will buy
a local restaurant of ours does wine and food evenings - normally 6 small meals with a complementing wine and the sommelier to talk through the evening and wines. keep an eye out for similar quite a good way to try a few expensive wines to see what variety you enjoy Pinot Noir is a light red best suited to lunch time drinking (ie a chicken salad on a sat afternoon etc). For a heavy red, try a Madiran. Full bodied, usually 13.5/14% and only suited to being drunk with food. Tends to be very dry otherwise.
Bordeaux varies. Some are full bodied and again only suitable for drinking while eating, whilst others are fine for drinking without food.
Merlot tends to be medium bodied with pepper like after tones (obv this varies between brands). Can be sipped without food.
This thing about 5/10 quid bottles isn't true. Wine value is largely down to the number of bottles produced then secondly quality. A bottle that says 12% alcohol is 12% regardless of price.
The quality difference between 5-10 range isn't large, and sometimes you'll favour the 5 quid over the 10 quid. Such is the way with wine.
To get a decent sample of cheap to good you'd need to compare say a 5 quid special from the supermarket (a jacobs creek or something equally vile) with a 20-30 bottle form a wine merchant. This is when you'll start to realize just how much individual flavor a good wine has, whilst your cheap bottle has basically no depth whatsoever.
A good way to get a decent wine is to look out for wines that have won medals. That'll have a bronze/silver/gold label on them. Here in France they always have the medal winners separated from the rest. You'll basically never go wrong if you only buy medal winners...
90% of the bottled wine I buy is medal winners. These range from 5-15 euros normally. I tend not to venture over 10 a bottle usually. As I'm in France though, my 10 euro bottles will sell for double if not more in the UK. Try a wine merchant instead of supermarkets if you can. Starting out, you'll probably favour young fruity, light to medium bodied like merlot, malbec, pinot noir, primitivo, camenere & cabernet sauvignon in the £10 and under (wine merchants). If you get the chance, taste as many different wines, and your palate (taste) will develop and let you know what you like.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using AVForums mobile app I've only been drinking/enjoying wine since I moved to France (2013-present) and this is my favorite wine to date. Sample price range from 1.99 to 50 euros.
Plénitude, vin rouge AOC Madiran du Sud-Ouest
19.99 a bottle.
Superb, full bodied Madiran. Huge amount of depth and flavor and for a very modest price. Thanks, some really good info there!
I can’t actually think of a single wine merchant in my town these days. That's a shame. Whereabouts are you located?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using AVForums mobile app I love red wine. I'd happily give up beer over a nice glass of Red. Faustino I is my fave tipple.