wtf is wrong with the people in this country that this wine is so ridiculously overpopular to the point of near monopoly, apparently? it's fucking awful! i wouldn't drink chardonnay if you asked me to!
so instead it's vodka this week.
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― John (jdahlem), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)
― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:04 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)
I think the name is what gets me most of all though!
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)
Wine writers who seem not to like anything that costs less than $50 a bottle and talk about "notes of lilac and red currant" don't help matters much.
― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:50 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:02 (twenty-one years ago)
1. Gewurztraminer2. Shiraz3. Riesling4. Ruby Port5. Pinot Grigio
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:17 (twenty-one years ago)
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:21 (twenty-one years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)
my favorite is cabernet/shiraz combinations!
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)
I've preferred the chardonnays I've had to the sauv blancs but I am hardly a connoisseur.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:38 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)
me three. especially from margaret river, my favourite region of all.
― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)
you should keep an eye peeled for old kent river shiraz in the WA section of your bottlo surface noise. it is from the plantagenet region rather than margs but i reckon it's tops, especially the 2003 vintage.
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)
gem I've heard of grenache but I don't think I've ever had it, I'll watch out for it now.
xpost: "bottlo"!!
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)
― youn, Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)
xpost yeah well i'm just sayin. I was just trying to find a picture of me drinking some Sauternes, at an actual chateau in bordeaux, where i just look like this totally sophisticated dude (until you realize i'm wearing a t-shirt with holes in it), it's such a great picture. if you go to bordeaux you can just drive around and pull into the drive of some random chateau and bang on doors and ask them to show you around. as an american they'll imagine you're there to buy like a case so they'll butter you up. we did this and i swear to god we were walking around looking for the proprietor and who did we come across but a chubby-cheeked woman wearing a rough wool dress and a kerchief and pushing a wheelbarrow full of ROSES. like hello, I'm in france! she pointed us to the person to talk to, and it turned out the master winemaker or whatever they're called was this thirty-year-old woman, which is apparently very unusual, and she was "trés sympat," she showed us around everywhere and gave us the rundown on noble rot and sugar turning to alcohol and the whole deal. then we each got to try FIVE different glasses of their wine, one from 2001, one from 2000, from 1999, 1998, and 1997. we bought a bottle each and we're like C YA.
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/at_a_vineyard_2.jpg
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:08 (twenty-one years ago)
I cant drink reds, mores the pity, they make me ill :(
― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)
I'm just gonna let this sit for a while.
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 05:37 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)
http://www.traveldirectorynet.co.uk/images/1840007311.JPG
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 05:51 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 06:20 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 20 January 2005 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 20 January 2005 08:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 20 January 2005 08:20 (twenty-one years ago)
Most of the great French white wines (Chablis, Pouilly-Fuissé, Burgundy) are made from Chardonnay, or feature it as part of a blend (Champagne).
― bham, Thursday, 20 January 2005 09:13 (twenty-one years ago)
It does seem to be easier to produce as less bland wine with Sauvignon, Semillion, Muscadelle, Muscat, Albarino, Malviso (and the other white spanish varieties) and some of the myriad Italian varieties (Tokai a particular favorite).
Spanish whites howvere are a bargain, they seem to be incredibly underrated and cheap as a result. Very complex blends of flavours, a little hevay handed as they are often hevaily oaked but far more reliable on a random pick than the much abused whites of other countries.
― Ed (dali), Thursday, 20 January 2005 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)
In the western cape they have an excellent heritage (some vineyards going back to the early 17th C), but also a willingness to use that heritage to experiment. Yes they do produce a lot of chardonnay, but they make a lot of very good wines there and most vineyards have four or five white grape varieties on the go with four or five red so you get a lot of interesting blends. I'd go as far to say that the Westerncape if probably one of the best white wine regions in the world.
― Ed (dali), Thursday, 20 January 2005 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)
The chardonnay haters need to try some top end argentinian chardonnay (try Zuccardo Estates). Whilst I broadly agree that a lot of the middle ground is flabby pish (and a lot of Chablis is horrifically unfocused) there are great chardonnays out there.
Whites that rock my world tend towards viognier (and by god but theres bargains galore to be found with this grape), riesling and gewurtztraminer. But to be honest I never fall prey to the madness of ruling out a particular varietal. There's good examples of everything out there somewhere. Even Pinot Grigio (though I doubt I could be arsed looking).
x-post
― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)
My main point with this thread is to try to suss out WHY Chardonnay is so popular, I think the point that it is "poshy" sounding but easy to pronounce is good and the point that was made about wine reviewers saying things like "notes of cat urine and lima beans" which make absolutely no sense that they actually PUT UP IN LIQUOR STORES (???) was very good as well, but FFS, I shouldn't be walking into one of the largest wine stores in NYC, which used to have an entire floor with an excellent variety of whites, and be faced with an entire wall being entirely taken up by chardonnay. They've all but entirely ditched any other type of white, they get token single slots on shelves. I guess it's better than white zinfandel.
Spencer, it's not the Napa Valley I hate, it's the combination of the words "CHARDONNAY NAPA VALLEY" that I hate.
― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)
1. Chardonnay2. Sport Utility Vehicles3. Golf
I won't even get into Usher and Kenny Chesney. But I think that somehow this is all related, that the reason I am posting on a message board right now instead of socializing in meatspace is also part of this, and it's kind of enough for me to know and accept that I basically will never, ever truly understand about 85% of the world except in terms of "you like shit."
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 20 January 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)
The same thing happened with merlot in the 90s. People realized there were some delicious merlots, the word "merlot" became all you needed to sell a wine, and the market became flooded with nasty over-oaked pop merlots.
― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 20 January 2005 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 January 2005 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)
The only problem I see with the vast proliferation of Chardonnay is that I don't see a wide range of variety (like you do in, say, a Pinot or a Riesling). It's either dry or not, creamy or not. I don't find myself saying "wow, that's a really unique wine" with many of the Chards I drink (Only La Crema and Sticks stand out recently)
On the other hand, I'm noticing some incredible stuff coming from the blended market (I'm starting to reluctantly move away from my Pinot Noir obsession) such as "Sinister Hand" and even Zinfindels (Norman Estates "The Monster" is an eye-opener if you appreciate big wines).
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)
which emphasizes/complements what food?
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)
these chardonnay-drinkers apparently eat more seafood, though
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)
One of Louis XIV's favorites.
― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 January 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 20 January 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)
"A recent article from Vineyard and Winery Management showed some startling trends from 1990 to 2000:
* Acreage of Chardonnay in Europe has increased by 25%, from 30-40,000 hectares. * In the New World acreage has tripled from 60,000 to 180,000 HA. In Chile, plantings have increased 9-fold, in Australia/New Zealand 3-fold, and in Argentina 4-fold * In California, 17% of the total crush is Chardonnay, and 60% of recent growth in wine production in California has been Chardonnay. The size of the Chardonnay market is more than that of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon combined. * 43 million cases of California Chardonnay were produced in 2000; about 6.5 million more cases will be on the market by 2004."
― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 20 January 2005 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)
― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 20 January 2005 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)
Haha wow! Somehow I can't imagine them saying "Benjamin Franklin, author of Poor Richard's Almanac and influential politician during the American Revolution, was known for his appreciation of a nice glass of Chardonnay"
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 20 January 2005 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Thursday, 20 January 2005 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 20 January 2005 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)
― thee music mole, Thursday, 20 January 2005 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)