I have a newly acquired taste for reds. Mostly Cabernets. Some chiantis, and that Austrailian Shiraz. I am no expert. Just know what my taste buds tell me. A friend of mine is President of the local chapter of the American Wine Society (whatever, probably got the name wrong). She talks about tasting oak, berriers. chocolate. I taste wine . But I agree. I have had expensive bottles that I felt paled in comparison to $19 bottles. What do you have, any well kept secrets you would like to share?

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I have 700+ blts in the cellar,
(down from a high of 1500+ back
when I was working).

No Xpert, but a lapsed serious student of vino.

I agree with your cogent comment: the ratings
and, price, will have only a slight semblance of
relationship to how it tastes to you.
GL,md

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Ol'UncleMotor
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Every friday after work we tates a few bottles of wine. I recently brought in 2002 and 2003 Worthy. A co worker brought in a 2001 Axios. Worthy and Axios is from the same winery, but worthy is considered the second label and cost about $90 less. Everyone said that the Axios was not worth the difference. I like the Worthy for the price. It is a nice cab. As I said before, I'm no expert. I know what I like and don't like. I can't taste graphite/pencil shavings. I aslo like the Chateau Langoa Barton Saint Julien. I don't think the French reds are robust as the cabs but still enjoy them with some great food.

700+ bottles in your cellar mD? I"m stopping by your place if I'm ever in your neck of the woods!


Back in U days I learned the law of conservation of matter.

In - Out = Accumulation

The out part is why my cellar never gets past 50 bottles. Also, I stopped buying back when my wife was preggo and b-feeding since she couldn't drink. Moral support you know . I haven't gotten back into the buying mode yet.

I tend to buy BC wines as they are excellent value and I want to support the local wineries. Outside of that I buy Australian and Chilean reds. Great reds come out of NW states as well (Oregon and Wash.) but they tend to be pricey.

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I love good cabs cabs from Napa Valley, however the best values seem to be from Chili, Spain, Australia, etc.

Price is loosly correlated with quality, and you certainly will find less expensive wines that are superior to their more expensive counterparts.

The most important thing to rememver in regards to wine is to enjoy what tastes good to you.

Ray, I understand the basic premise ...that's 700ish, down from 1500+ in my wine buying heyday, when I was still carrying the bag and bringing big dough in over the transom.

I am whittling away at it these days.

I am sorry to see that great/inexpensive tempranillos from Spain and Cali Zins, that most wine nooks wouldn't look twice at previously, are recently "discovered".

My only advice is that almost any decent red will taste even better, after a couple to 5 yrs of proper rest...

I have a top drawer, price-wise, Alsace riesling fetish, too.

It's a damn expensive hobby, if one lets it run.

The wine inventory is for drinking, here on the mtn; it ain't a
show cellar.
BR,md

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Ol'UncleMotor
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I agree with cmyX5go. I'm certainly no connoisseur (sp?), but I know what I like, and am partial to Australian reds. I'd LOVE to take a wine tasting class, unfortunately, time does not allow for such frivolities. I'm willing to try anything....well, almost.....so suggestions are welcome!

A friend of ours shared some great cabernets of his with us once and we finally found the style of reds we love. The problem was, they were all older vintage and to buy them @$30-$50 bottle was getting expensive.

Then one day we stumbled across a wine handbook by an australian guy named Jeremy Oliver who is a professional taster. We checked out our tastes against his ratings and were surprised to see that he rated some of ours, and our friends selections highly.

We then selected a few new ones based on his ratings and found that they were to our liking as well. His guide gives a year by year rating and age to cellar range.

His rating system is very accurate and we don't buy now unless we have seen it rated.

My suggestion to any wine novice is to note what you like, find a guide or taster that rates them in a way that you can use as a comparison and then try from that guide.

Our collection has risen to nearly 300 bottles and we stopped buying 2 years ago...... (but still manage to browse through Dan Murphy's cellar releases..)

Here is Jeremy's website for those overseas (and local) I highly recommend him. http://www.onwine.com.au/

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You have impeccable taste mD! We don't drink a lot of whites but my wife an I are very fond of Alsacean style gewirtztraminers and rieslings.

Wines are for drinking. Cars are for driving. No show pieces will ever find their way into my cellar or garage.

LVR: You are very lucky to live in the land of great Shiraz! 75% of my favs under $30 are from Australia.

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