If you can't ask in your own journal, whose journal can you ask in?

[kitanzi]

Ok, I actually want to know. I do know that a great many people are fussy and particular and knowledgeable about wines. Me, I know what I like - much like art. Can you tell me WHAT you like in wines, and what wines you like, and why? I'm actually curious, and interested in learing more about it. Most of my exposure to "Wine tasting" has been through someone who I have trouble communicating with in the best of circumstances, and this all seems so nebulous and (forgive me) often pretentious that I just don't seem to get it. There are a couple wines I get fairly often, at least when I get wine, but I'm interested in trying something new and a lot of this seems absurdly expensive to me for taking a blind leap of faith on. (I was tempted to buy the Our Daily Red just for the name and label - I'm such a sad sucker for puns!) Are any of you wine drinkers? Feel free to pontificate, even lecture - how ever you can, give me information! Thanks!

EDIT: Cooking wines too, for that matter. I know several of you are accomplished cooks!

Comments

[persis.livejournal.com]

I am partial to reds, usually those with full body, tending towards dry, although dessert wines are really yummy (and sweet). I am currently drinking wines from the Southern Hemisphere; South American/specifically Chilean or Australian wines. I have yet to have a bad Syrah or Merlot from Australia, and I hear that the South African wines are good too.

Being on a tight budget, I am tending towards the 3/$15 bottles of wine at one of my local liquor stores. You should check them out, if there is a store that has inexpensive wines you can try.

As for whites, the most common these days is Chardonnay, which you should try, just so you know the taste. There are so many Chardonnays around that they get old really fast, in that you taste one, you've tasted many. Reislings can *tend* to be sweeter, unless they specifically say dry, but I really like some of the Pinot Grigios, lighter whites from northern Italy. You can find some from California or the West Coast; it's the grape used to make the wine, not the process of making the wine (Method Champagnoise, sorry, can't figure out the proper accents on the vowels) or the locale (as in Chianti's, from the Chianti region of Italy).

So far, just my 2¢... I am sure I will think of more later! *hug*