Wine recommendations

[happyhappy 0]

OK having a bit of a party at the weekend and want to get some wine in - both red and white. I know almost nothing on the subject, but want to get some decent stuff in. Doesn't need to be expensive, and definitely not an el cheapo one - just a nice wine that some more experienced wine drinkers will appreciate.

 

Oh yes I also need to be able to buy it here in Japan.

 

So, can anyone help me out with some recommendations?

 

Thanks!

[panhead_pete 27]

Most NZ Sav Blancs (white) are very drinkable.

[Ocean11 0]

 

As an experienced wine drinker, these are my recommendations. They never fail to please.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

Hows the blueberry wine O11? Much fruitier than a grape? Sweeter?

[Ocean11 0]

I gave up foreign wines a couple of years ago, and when I drank them in the UK last month, what my family declared to be fruity tasted to me of 19th century mouse droppings, so my threshold for fruitiness in wine must be rather high.

 

The blueberry is a little more fruity than the fruity grape wine I drink, but not oppressively so. I find it surprisingly pleasant, and it's very easy to swallow a whole bottle before you know what you've done.

[bushpig 0]

isn't it a bit like drinking Ribena??

[soubriquet 0]

The red I drink is Banrock Station Shiraz Cabernet. It is inexpensive, and I find it perfectly acceptable. You can get it at Jusco.

[Ocean11 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Bushpig:
isn't it a bit like drinking Ribena??

No. It's different fruit, and it isn't sickly sweet like Ribena.

It wouldn't be to everybody's taste of course...

[bushpig 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
No. It's different fruit, and it isn't sickly sweet like Ribena.

Hehe, obviously. I meant the sweetness factor. The only Japanese wines I have tried have been sickly sweet. I don't have a sweet tooth anyway, so I find them a bit hard to stomach.

[misorano 1]

Happy:

I'd follow Soub's advice and get a 2 litre box of Banrock Station. The Shiraz Cabernet is the best of their reds. They also have a few whites, but I don't drink it.

[panhead_pete 27]

Pinot is the king of reds and hard to ingnore if you can find a decent bottle of it.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Bushpig:

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
No. It's different fruit, and it isn't sickly sweet like Ribena.

Hehe, obviously. I meant the sweetness factor. The only Japanese wines I have tried have been sickly sweet. I don't have a sweet tooth anyway, so I find them a bit hard to stomach.

me too, thats why Im keen to find some that others actually recommend

[bobby12 0]

I've never had a japanese wine that didnt taste like ribena.

 

I dont realy understand why it tastes like that. I wonder whether they use a different recipe to suit japanese palletes (in which case I think they should call it something else, not wine), or if the grapes are just really different here.

 

Either way, it taste like utter crap to me, like can coffee Vs an espresso.

[fb_steve 0]

Pepperjack Cab Sav is really nice

[bushpig 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by bobby12:
I've never had a japanese wine that didnt taste like ribena.

I dont realy understand why it tastes like that. I wonder whether they use a different recipe to suit japanese palletes (in which case I think they should call it something else, not wine), or if the grapes are just really different here.

Either way, it taste like utter crap to me, like can coffee Vs an espresso.

They use Japanese grapes that have longer intestines than western grapes Bobby12

[big-will 7]

I heard the sun and soil is different too. Bound to be. So Japanese grapes will be different from any other grapes.

[bushpig 0]

yeah, I wonder what effect a red sun has on grapes?...

[misorano 1]

Big Will:

It's more fundamental than that. The DNA is unlike any other grape in the world. And according to Dr. Taro Yamada of the TUOURF, the closest DNA he has found to it is the South American tree sloth.

 

But serioursly folks, I would have thought that the Japanese Wine industry is still in int's infancy. Takes a while to develop good wine.

[bushpig 0]

it certainly does. But they seem to produce hugely sweet stuff, as a style, not just as an attemmpt at something else.

[powwwers 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by soubriquet:
The red I drink is Banrock Station Shiraz Cabernet. It is inexpensive, and I find it perfectly acceptable. You can get it at Jusco.

same here soubs, i`ve been hookin into these of late too. if you don`t know much about wine then you`re probly not gonna know the difference between cask wine and some bottled wine. also depends on who you`re inviting to dinner and whether or not you`re out to impress

[panhead_pete 27]

 Quote:

Originally posted by powwwers:

 Quote:

Originally posted by soubriquet:
The red I drink is Banrock Station Shiraz Cabernet. It is inexpensive, and I find it perfectly acceptable. You can get it at Jusco.

same here soubs, i`ve been hookin into these of late too. if you don`t know much about wine then you`re probly not gonna know the difference between cask wine and some bottled wine. also depends on who you`re inviting to dinner and whether or not you`re out to impress

You wouldnt be the first to use cask wine in a bottle is you were to do that. A quick refill in the kithcen and no would know. I have been at a large expensive type fund raiser and saw them doing exactly that

[bobby12 0]

Yep its all emporers new clothes.

[slow 0]

I usually buy Est Est Est! Very cheap dry white wine, and nice with s.pellegrino while you are having a meal.

Ocean, you should try "CAVE D\'OCCI" . This vineyard is in Niigata and they are making Chardonay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon... I've heard their wine is not like other Japanese wine but just like real wine.

[Ocean11 0]

Thanks slow - one for the "Booze and Smokes" folder in my bookmarks. That's exactly what I've been hoping would appear on the scene at some stage. (Now they need to work on their marketing, or more specifically, pricing. I'll get some for special occasions - imperial births and the like).

 

(I hate Est Est Est! by the way, apart from its pretty colour.)

[Goemon 0]

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