Peter |
Aug 1, 2008 08:09 AM |
My favourite kind of alcohol is wine (see below for those who are interested in what exactly), mostly because I grew up with culture and made it my part-time job. I also enjoy other beverages though, I'll rarely drink wine when I go out unless we all order a bottle, but otherwise I'll just stick to beer (Karmeliet, Leffe Blond, Jupiler, not really a Stella fan), which is something I got from my dad's side of the family I guess xD. Tequila is also nice, but when it comes to liquors I'm a huge fan of Limoncello, or a nice Calvados. I've had some bad experiences with wiskey and Jagermeister, so I tend to stay away from those, just the smell gives me unpleasant flashbacks.
As for what my wine preferences are, most of them are french (big surprise). I'm not really a fan of Bordeaux wines, although I would never say no to a bottle of Pomerol. The problem with Bordeaux is also that the prices are way too high. If you have a miracle year like 2005 was, you can still try to justify it, but last year was horrible, and the prices haven't really changed. If I had the money, I would drink nothing but Cotes-du-Rhone, even though they are expensive, you get excellent quality for the price you pay. Especially a Saint-Joseph or Hermitage (and the earlier and most recent Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape, not the 90s or 80s) is a joy to drink, and I don't mind splurging on special occasions. Bourgogne wines are also nice, but if you want the good stuff, you'll have to be willing to pay a lot of money, and not all prices are fair, so you'd be better off with a Cotes-du-Rhone.
As for white wine, I can't stand sweet wines like a Rivesaltes or Sauternes, not even with a dessert, since they tend to ruin the flavor and searching for a good combination is not worth the time imo. If I do go for a dessert wine, banyuls rarely disappoints (we recently had an excellent Mas Blanc at work). Also not a big fan of chardonnay, since I like my white wine dry instead of fruity (although a grape like chasan, the combination of chardonnay and listan can be really nice), so I tend to go for sauvignon blanc.
I find that the best place in France to get nice wine for little money is the Languedoc. The pricing is fair, the quality is good enough for everyday drinking, and there is a lot of variety to be found, so I usually go for Corbieres. They also use a large variety of grapes, a lot of them similar to grenache or cinsault (Cotes du Rhone grapes), so there is something for everyone to be found. For white wine, Montravel near Bergerac is a personal favourite, although it's a bit hard to get my hands on here.
I don't have a lot of experience with New World wines, mostly since we don't get the supposedly good stuff, but I am a fan of Chile, especially red wines that use Carmenere, an old grape that isn't cultivated in France anymore, since it gives power to a wine, but stays soft enough to combine with a large variety of dishes.
|