Sonoma-Cutrer is a good white Chard that is not sweet and I enjoy it. Can get some decent deals on it if you look. But White Burgundy is the right answer. You will have a hard time finding a good one under $35 though.
Sonoma-Cutrer is a good white Chard that is not sweet and I enjoy it. Can get some decent deals on it if you look. But White Burgundy is the right answer. You will have a hard time finding a good one under $35 though.
Rondel is great and normally only $7.99 - easy to drink, I normally have a couple of bottles lying around for sunday mornings...Originally Posted by SkinsNDeacs
Disagree.
The best part about Cava is that it usually fairly low in Alc so you can slug it with no problems
The above space is where you typically try to fully develop your argument.
You can find a ton of good village white Burgundies for way less than $35. Just go to any wine shop and if it is worth anything they would have a few. I had one a few nights ago (I actually think I got it from Wegmans) but I don't remember the domaine but they are not hard to find.
Thanks all, I relayed the ideas. Kinda putting me in the mood to pop open a bottle that I have in storage and just go to town on it tonight. Don't remember what bottles I've been sitting on so that will be a fun discovery.
All "cheaper" white burg that I have found are on the sweet to very sweet side. If I am going to drink a nice white like that, I would rather just pay for a good one than take a chance on some grape juice.
First of all <$35 does not = cheaper in my book...but maybe I am cheap.
Second, I don't think I have ever had a sweet (certainly not a very sweet) white Burgundy. Some have been more fruity but not what I would call sweet.
I'm going to come out and say it - White Burgundies suck. If you really want a good chardonnay, they best come from Sonoma. I don't even drink Chardonnays, but the mineralities in the white burgundies just takes away my ability to enjoy it.
Granted, I am anti-all french wine, so there's that. The better old world whites are Spanish & Italian, mentioned so far Soaves & Vino Verde's are good - Alabrinos and Vernaccias are also good.
Blasphemy
French wine gets by on its history. The soil the grapes grow in is getting so old and rocky, that many of the best French wines are coming out with that heavy mineral feel. Sure, there are some great French wines, but I believe most people like them because they are told to like them, not because they do.
IMO, many old school wines are living off their history. Most of the best Italian wines coming around now are not DOC or DOCG, because winemakers are getting more savvy with their planting & blending. Great wines come at the expense of not being "sanctioned" properly - completely different than here in the US, where you can do whatever the hell you want to a bottle of wine.
All of this is my opinion from the people I know - and I know some staunch French wine lovers.
No, $35 is not cheap in my book either but it is what I have found to be the cut off for a decent W.B.
I feel the same way about French wines as well. Give me West Coast USA or South America wines and I'm happy.
It is a mater of taste but I much prefer the subtleties and complexities of French wine than the overblown, over fermented sugar water that is grown too often in Napa (and most of America). In all honesty...if you have tasted one California Cab you have tasted them all. In Burgundy you can taste a Richbourg and Romanee Conti side by side and they would be very different even though they were made the same way. You taste the land and the year (terroir). And that is what the AOC protects. In America all the wine makers use all their great toys to produce boring wines that appeal to people like Robert Parker...gigantic..too much fruit...to much alc.
Don't get me wrong...I do like wines from California, Oregon and Washington I just don't think they are very interesting (other than their visually appealing colorful labels).
Last edited by SkinsNDeacs; 07-28-2011 at 02:47 PM. Reason: Because I am an idiot
Southern Hemisphere in general is my go-to, always some good value in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa too
Agreed, most old world vines are now clones of their ancestors. My point more was soil, not vines.
I think you have not given California its fair shake. I 100% agree, no one should follow Parker, he has his own tastes - if you like them, great, but majority of people are different. You can get some amazing Cabs from Napa/Sonoma, that taste worlds apart - most of your Russian River & Alexander Valley cabs are completely different than you Napa cabs - just try the two different Silver Oaks, and you will see. As a French wine drinker, the Alexander Valley will be more your speed than the heavy handed napa - but they are completely different.
To me the soil is what makes French wine what it is. I took this picture a month ago in Burgundy:
Look at the rockiness! That produces a taste that nowhere else in the world can duplicate.
Now look at this picture of the famous Richbourg vineyard:
These two vineyards are less than 2 city blocks away from each other and the wine is completely different. Why? Because the French let the soil and the vine make the wine...not irrigation and wine making tricks.
I've got this in my wine fridge. When should I drink it?
Sorry. I guess I just don't like the taste of dirt.
To me, the allure of wine comes from the mixture of flavors (including the fruit) and the mouthfeel. If that limits my personal wine journeys, then so be it.
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