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Post by kerouac2 on May 31, 2020 20:19:56 GMT
The popularity of rosé has skyrocketed in France over the last 20 years. Two reasons for that: 1. the French are no longer afraid of drinking chilled wines after years of choking down warm red wine when they would have preferred something more refreshing and 2. once the wine makers understood this, they started making far better types of rosé. Now rosé has become the summer wine for many meals in France but it has also become the wine for ski vacations in the Alps or Pyrénées since it goes so well with all of those melted cheese and potato dishes.
Meanwhile, white wine is down to 10% in France, so ordering white wine is almost a sure sign of being a tourist.
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Post by whatagain on May 31, 2020 20:39:08 GMT
I agrée that rose wine rose in quality. I disagree that white wine are coing down it it goes if is a shame. Some whites are splendid.
Am drinking a magnum of Bordeaux. Just Bordeaux. Ok but just ok.
And before that some white with lemon from the region of Chimay. Correct. Not at level of the beer but a welcomed digression.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 1, 2020 9:39:13 GMT
When it comes to white wine my firm favourite is a dry/fruity Riesling - very hard to find in most stores here. Anyway, I drove down to the bottle store this morning ( a small outlet near home) and bought a Chenin Blanc, a Sauvignon blanc and a Nederburg blended red wine. They only had the sweet rose` in stock and that's not for me.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 1, 2020 15:51:44 GMT
Riesling was the only white wine that was granted access to my grandparents' house. Everybody was flabbergasted when my grandparents made their amazing trip to California in 1970 and my grandfather decreed that California chablis was even better. He was about the most chauvinistic Frenchman imaginable (even worse then Whatagain about Belgium or Mossie about Old England) and spent almost the entire visit saying how much better everything was in France than California. The funniest thing is that he was also a total hypocritical show off and the moment he was in his little village (of which he was the mayor), nobody could shut him up about all of the marvels he had seen in America because had been somewhere that his friends would never see, and everything he had seen, eaten or drunk was incomparably wonderful.
It made me understand why my mother always had a lasting grudge against him, because he always put her down and her terrible decision to live in the United States, but to other people he would always say how proud he was. And the worst thing ever when she was still a child was when he picked up her cat, which was sleeping in his chair, and threw it against the wall and killed it. That is one incident that she never ever ever forgave.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 1, 2020 16:08:31 GMT
I'm not surprised she held a grudge.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 1, 2020 16:13:16 GMT
I can sympathise with her feelings. Causing such harm to a poor innocent kitty who had done no harm to him must have completely severed his head from his body in her mind. However, he has one remaining spark of decency by selecting my favourite wine - the king of Alsace…Riesling.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 1, 2020 19:17:21 GMT
I discovered recently Cinsault. I think it is the main grapes for the Condrieu. Condrieu is on the Rhone, very close to Cotes Roties. However i also cry when i have Riesling or Tokay left in the cellar.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 1, 2020 21:33:19 GMT
Naturally I had to look that up. Very interesting grape in that it is productive and heat tolerant. Apparently it's often blended with other grapes. Are you drinking unblended Cinsault. What's it like?
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Post by lagatta on Jun 1, 2020 22:01:13 GMT
Oh, I love Riesling, not only from the Alsace but also very dry, mineral Rieslings from the Rhinegau in Germany on the other bank of the Rhine.
But I would NEVER forgive a human who murdered one of my cats. I'd lie in wait for him until he was old and feeble and strangle him slowly, telling him it was payoff for murdering my kitten.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 1, 2020 22:22:28 GMT
Riesling is a very tricky word. You have to be quite careful about the country of origin. Alsatian Riesling is ultra dry, to the extent that the German Rieslings taste sweet to me -- so I avoid them.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 1, 2020 23:21:36 GMT
You have to be quite careful about the country of origin. Alsatian Riesling is ultra dry, to the extent that the German Rieslings taste sweet to me -- so I avoid them I never realized until the past few years that I actually know what I do like and what I do not like when I am standing in the wine store looking to restock my wine cellar. I know what countries I like for certain reds and enjoy most varieties but I have a harder time with whites. I have realized there are not many Riesling or Chardonnay wines that I like lately but will try something new to give them a chance once again, if not so good I can use it in a spritzer. My Rose choice is more difficult as we do not have a great selection here. My cottage friend has the same tastes as I do, so it makes opening a bottle of wine not a waste as I have someone to share it with.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 2, 2020 16:20:18 GMT
The Rhinegau I bought some years ago was bone-dry, certainly no sweeter than any Alsatian wines I've imbibed. The wines of the German Moselle tend to be sweet and a bit sour (overly acid, though I know wine needs some acidity). I don't like them.
I've really been enoying dry Portuguese whites recently. Don't know if they are as available in mich64's town, but you might find them on a trip to Ottawa or Toronto.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 3, 2020 17:28:32 GMT
There are some good German whites -- just not the German Riesling!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 3, 2020 17:55:58 GMT
When My husband and I first started dating we often went to our favourite restaurant located inside the most posh hotel at the time, in Durban. It was a Chinese restaurant called Peter Chen's ( as he was the chef) and besides the 10 courses of wonderful dishes for R1.95 ( 10 cents in todays money in Euros) we always ordered a bottle of Tasheimer. I could not put that near my mouth these days as it was very sweet. But then so was I…. Another favourite of mine was Blue Nun. I don't think its still available.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 3, 2020 18:08:50 GMT
I think that Blue Nun is still popular in the United States, but I am not entirely sure. It was always in every supermarket.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 4, 2020 3:36:24 GMT
Never heard of it... We have pets de nonnes, some kind of small cakes (?) That should go well with it though (nun's farts). A pet is not really a nice dog or cat overhere... And in the netherlands ypu wear your pet on your head (cap).
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Post by tod2 on Jun 4, 2020 16:10:58 GMT
And in the netherlands ypu wear your pet on your head (cap). Whoa! Hold on there just a minute….We here down South also wear our 'PETS" on our heads…..It's an Afrikaans name derived from Dutch. We English laugh about it and some don't know what the heck were raking about!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 25, 2020 17:58:58 GMT
I'm having an ice cold Affligem, richly deserved.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 25, 2020 21:42:33 GMT
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignoble_du_Rheingau I read it in French rather than toiling through the German. Easy to change it to English, German, Dutch/Flemish or any other language just clicking on it. I assure you that what I bought was bone dry and shared with French and Belgians. I checked; Blue Nun is not sold or sold no longer at the SAQ (government wine store) and I'm sure it is not sold at any private wine shop here either. I think I liked it for a bit when I was about 15.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 25, 2020 22:41:20 GMT
I bought a very, very good and very dry Rheingau when I was in the area, and shared it with French and Belgian colleagues.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 26, 2020 16:37:07 GMT
Tonights patio aperitif was Dry Martini with a splash of Lemoncello , and a frozen lemon ice cube. With dinner a glass of Nederburg award winning Riesling.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 29, 2020 5:20:11 GMT
It's after midnight & I'm having a cup of Sleepytime tea, along with a little prayer that it might work.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 29, 2020 12:17:02 GMT
I wish there was a wake-up tea or something. Nothing can keep me awake in the evening. Caffeine has absolutely no effect on me.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 29, 2020 14:32:49 GMT
We had a disappointing Lirac yesterday. We stopped at a vignoble and bought some bottles and the lady added a Lirac that we didnt elect to buy. So we are happy about our decision. We stopped at Seguret and Sablet and boutg 84 bottles... Hips.
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Post by bjd on Jun 29, 2020 16:27:19 GMT
Are those Côtes-du-Rhone, Whatagain?
We drank a bottle of something called Domaine du Puilacher from Languedoc this weekend. Not wonderful. Wines are getting stronger with climate change and I prefer them a bit lighter.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 29, 2020 16:32:31 GMT
Caffeine has absolutely no effect on me - Me neither. I need a soft soothing cocoa drink if I'm restless.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 29, 2020 17:28:25 GMT
Yes Bjd. All of them. Most for 6 euros a bottle and so much better in my eyes than what you can get in supermarkets. Grenache Syrah and sometimes Mourvedre or Cinsault. Good...
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Post by tod2 on Jun 30, 2020 15:34:47 GMT
At dusk while still temperature tolerable outdoors, I relaxed with a glass of Nederburg Riesling. Once dinner was ready I poured myself the last drop of Merlot. Which brings me to the question: Is it a sin to make a bottle of red wine last for three or four days? Does the different flavour mean the wine has "breathed " too much?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2020 16:44:45 GMT
I decided that I needed to have a Manhattan while dinner bakes slowly in the oven. I even have a flask of Angostura bitters that I bought at a mega Sainsbury's in outer London on my last trip. It has an eyedropper for measuring the amount properly. I have no idea why it is so expensive, but in France it is more than double the British price. I looked up the name to be sure of the spelling on Google and a number of sites in France popped up to propose the same tiny bottle for between 13 and 19 euros. For those of you who are not familiar with this item, the bottle is barely bigger than a bottle of Tabasco.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2020 16:47:01 GMT
Is it a sin to make a bottle of red wine last for three or four days? That is one of the main selling points of the box wines for people who have trouble finishing a bottle. Since it is basically a vacuum bag, the wine does not oxydize and can easily last in perfect condition up to a month. Of course, that obviously throws the elegance of a proper bottle of wine out the window...
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