Re: Wine and dinner
 

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NYC residents are exempt, since they aren't allowed to grill at home.)

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Whaaa?

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Aren't BBQ grills illegal in NYC? Okay, maybe not completely, but for a lot of NYC, I see in the Fire Dept. Regs. they're a definite no-no.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

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NYC residents are exempt, since they aren't allowed to grill at home.)

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Whaaa?

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Yeah I was curious about this too.

Anybody have an opinion of these? I don't drink much wine but I tried this and enjoyed it, the price is cheap as well. If I liked this, what other wines would you recommend me?

http://www.thelittlepenguin.com/wine...raz_bottle.jpg

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Decent value. Australians excel at bang for the buck. Yellow Tail works as well. Then get a bottle of Lindemann's, same grape, $11-$12/bottle and compare side-by-side. You should notice an immediate difference.

Good everyday wines can be had from $8-$14/bottle. The trick is sorting the good from the bad. A good wine store will have already done the sorting for you.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

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NYC residents are exempt, since they aren't allowed to grill at home.)

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Whaaa?

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Yeah I was curious about this too.

Anybody have an opinion of these? I don't drink much wine but I tried this and enjoyed it, the price is cheap as well. If I liked this, what other wines would you recommend me?

http://www.thelittlepenguin.com/wine...raz_bottle.jpg

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I'm a fan, especially for the price

Re: Wine and dinner
 

goofy,

Ignore most everything in this thread.

When you go someplace where you think a glass of wine would be nice to have, ask the waiter to recommend a few glasses of wine. Pick one that sounds good and is reasonably priced. Just stick with ordering glasses until you've been drinking wine for a while.

Initially, you'll probably want to avoid wines that are described as very dry/oaky/tannic/big. These are all indicators of various types of strong/powerful flavors that take a little getting used to.

When you drink wines at restaurants or dinner parties or wherever, initially start remembering the types (Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot, Cabernet, etc.) of wines and the descriptions (dry, fruity, tannic, etc.). As you try more wines, you'll figure out which tastes you like and look for those. And then start paying more attention to the specific wineries, but that's not really something that's very important until you start buying/drinking wine a lot.

If you get into wine, buy a few $10-15 bottles from the grocery or wine store and just bust them open from time to time at home to try out more stuff and see what you like.

The main point is, if you want to read/study/know guidelines/etc, all that stuff is fine. But it's really all about tasting a lot of wines and figuring out what you like.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

What he said...

Re: Ordering wine in restaurants
 

In my experience, Pinot usually tastes like sweat.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
NYC residents are exempt, since they aren't allowed to grill at home.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Whaaa?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I was curious about this too.

Anybody have an opinion of these? I don't drink much wine but I tried this and enjoyed it, the price is cheap as well. If I liked this, what other wines would you recommend me?

http://www.thelittlepenguin.com/wine...raz_bottle.jpg

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I've had it, it's nice.

Australian wines are the way to go if your buying bottles in a liquor store. A $8-10 bottle of Yellowtail or Jacob's Creek is the same level of quality as a $12-15 Italian or French wine.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

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This is absurd. Tasting wine is to check if the wine is corked, not whether you made a good choice.

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While this is completely true, it's also worth pointing out that if you order a bottle that isn't spoiled but turns out to be not to your liking--too sweet, too dry, whatever--any halfway decent restaurant will allow you to change your selection.

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This reminds me of the apocryphal story of the man who returned used tires to Nordstrom and they accepted the return, despite the fact that they never sold tires. It might be true (and for most restaurants it is true) but that doesn't make the practice right.

Re: Wine and dinner
 

I hate that story about Nordstrom. It's printed in every [censored] managment textbook in existance.

Edit: Also, it's made up and is also claimed by Home Depot

Re: Ordering wine in restaurants
 

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If you really want to look cool, look to see if a particular wine is served by the glass. If it is, you can ask for a taste before ordering a bottle.

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A really good restaurant will even let you taste it after you open the bottle and send it back if you don't like it. I've had a few do this for me (including, oddly, the Bellagio Buffet) though I've never sent it back because I pretty much knew what I was getting into before I ordered the wine.

Edit: Ah, now I get why they tell me to taste it. Makes more sense now. I'm always late...