Wine snobbery

[monkey hanger]

love someone to do that with a jag xk120 or a mgB. at least the breakdown people would spot it quicker when the owner takes it out.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by dotti34

Guinness I was reading again the first post you wrote when starting this thread and I have a question for you. Why do you belong to a wine club when you evidently don’t have much respect for the opinions of those running it? It would be so much easier to just visit your local bottle shop and buy what you enjoy drinking. You could even buy wine that you are not familiar with and give it a try without waiting for someone else to do this for you. You say you are a tightwad, well it seems to me that you are actually wasting money by being a member of that club.

If you are really interested in wine, why not buy a couple of books about the subject and educate yourself on the making of wine right from the preparation of the soil the grapes grow in to the end result. You would learn why the different blends, the different flavours, which grapes are used for the different wines, and perhaps it would help you understand why the different prices (although I agree that some are very much overpriced to my way of thinking). There is so much that goes into producing the bottle that eventually lands on your table, I think you might find it very interesting.

I wonder if by telling us that you belong to a wine club, and then belittling the choice of wine (drain cleaner?) and the description made by whoever runs the club, might in fact be a wee bit of snobbery on your part.

Let me point a few things out Sherlock…

I’m a member of the wine club because I get a very nice discount through my blue light card and I get to try a variety of wines every month.

I’ll assume by ‘bottle shop’ you mean ‘off licence’ which are few and far between around here and are more focused on lager, beer and alcopops and have a pitiful wine selection. Supermarkets tend to buy the same wines over and over again with little chance to try anything different. I’ve been in places that have their red wines in the cooler.

You assume I know nothing of wine production, where in my post did I say that? I questioned the validity of people who make a living out of telling others what they should drink based on nonsenical descriptions. To evidence this I used comments from my wine club blurb.

Are you really saying that if I read a ‘couple of books and educate myself’ that my palate will change and I will prefer the £17.50 wine over the £7.

The only snobbery here is from someone who thinks my palate needs educating by reading a couple of books

[dotti34]

Wow, Guinness, I certainly have got you all fired up. Let ME point out a couple of things. First of all, my name is not Sherlock but I do not take offence at you calling me this, even though I assume you are being supercilious and a tad sarcastic in your choice of names. I have been called other names which have not worried me either – sticks and stones and all that…

Did I say you know nothing about wine production? Where in MY post did I say that? How could I assume this when I know nothing about you? You have done a lot of assuming yourself as to my meaning. My suggestion re reading books is because I personally enjoy this pastime, and now and then you might find, like I do, that there is actually something you don’t already know that is interesting. No, I am not saying read a couple of books and your palate will change, maybe your attitude to perfectly innocent comments needs to change,

I had read into your remarks that you belittled the people who run your wine club and that you rubbished their comments, hence me not understanding why you bothered to belong to this club. So maybe my interpretation of your comments was as off the mark as yours is of mine.

By the way, you are correct in that a bottle shop is similar to off-licence – over here supermarkets are not licenced to sell alcohol, so there are shops that do this.

Personally I know nothing about wine, I do not like red wine, and I wouldn’t drink it even if it did cost $500 a bottle (that's another story). I am also not ashamed to confess to any wine buff that I drink Moscato, which I can buy for about $8.

Therefore, I think your interpretation of my snobbery is far off the mark.

[Less]

Ey up DinG it's popcorn time.



Better hurry if you want a ringside seat.

[DaveinGermany]

Someone bring more Popcorn, I do believe the main act is about to start!

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Less

Ey up DinG it's popcorn time.



Better hurry if you want a ringside seat.

Duly noted Less, am on the way, just picking up the popcorn & yellow Manbag!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Hutch up, you two...make room for a little one.

[dotti34]

Is this wine snobbery or just an example of what a collector will pay to own something rare, whether a painting, a sculpture, or a bottle of wine? Currently there is a bottle of Penfold’s 1951 Grange shiraz being auctioned over here. The selling price is expected to reach $120,000 or even more (that’s about 65,000 British pounds). Yes, that IS for one bottle - not the whole winery. I don’t know who the current owner is but there are less than 20 such bottles in circulation. Not sure about being in circulation – I think if you owned one of these you would have it in a very safe place, definitely not being circulated - imagine if it was handled by a butter-fingered person and oops! - sorry…..

This bottle is apparently extra valuable because it has the signature of the pioneering winemaker, Max Schubert, on it. Last year a bottle was sold for over $103,000.

So, if you have 65,000 pounds lying around you don’t want you too could become a snob of the wine variety. Doubt it will ever be known what it tastes like as doubt it will ever be opened, and after all these years in the bottle all I can say is ‘yuk!’ but I guess we will never know – some things improve with age….

[Less]

Originally Posted by dotti34

Currently there is a bottle of Penfold’s 1951 Grange shiraz being auctioned over here.

Wait 'til Dangermouse discovers I've opened it!

[Lost in Cornwall]

I'm reminded of a point in my first job in the transport industry. The weather was attrocious and the overnight lorry from Maidstone which usually arrived about 7 am didn't get in until 4 pm. A chap had been ringing all day desparate to get hold of a case a wine that was on it. As soon as the lorry arrived he rushed over to collect it but when I went to pick it up, it slipped out of my hands which were freezing. He had an apoplectic fit yelling at me about how much the wine had cost. Fortunately the boss took my side saying it was just an unfortunate accident.

[Margaret Pilkington]

My late father in law used to buy a bottle of Penfolds red wine every Friday night on his way home from work...he lived in Oz at the time....he said it was lovely....just like Vimto he said.
Now I have never found a red wine that I liked(have to admit to not having looked that hard).
I spotted a Penfolds bottle in a wine merchants in Southport....I bought it thinking of what my father in law said about it.

All I can say is....he must have been drinking different Vimto to me....it was ‘orrfible’.....I have never tasted drain cleaner, but that was what I imagined it tasted like.
I think it was Penfolds Bin1....it tasted like Penfolds Bin had

[monkey hanger]

wonder if they changed whats in the Penfolds thing since your father in law drank it. i know our tastes change over the years but some stuff we drank as youngsters seem much different if you try it nowadays.

[Mark2009]

Re the 65000 quid bottle of wine, anything is only worth what somebody will pay. If more than 1 person wants something the auction estimate can be exceeded by a long way. However things go in and out of fashion, and there is no guarantee you will get your money back if you come to sell.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

wonder if they changed whats in the Penfolds thing since your father in law drank it. i know our tastes change over the years but some stuff we drank as youngsters seem much different if you try it nowadays.

I am pretty sure that all wines vary year on year....it depends on the growing conditions and of course the sun and rain....but my Father in law led me to believe that this Penfolds wine was sweet and luscious.

I did not find it sweet...and it definitely was not luscious....I could not drink red wine if you paid me.
I have been told that I have a very ‘juvenile’ palate....which in layman’s terms means that I should stick to cream soda or Tizer.
Although I did once get legless on a glass (yes...just one glass) of Vinsanto in Santorini(this is technically red, but it is more like Port)...and far stronger than it tastes

[Less]

Well, I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not a wine snob. This thread is an education, Wines have names? I always thought they just fell into four groups, Red, White, Fizzy and Pinkish!

Though I think Blue Nun should be reported to someone it isn't blue it's white.