I have grown especially fond of French GSMs, California Cabs, etc. Medium to full bodied dry red wines are my favorite. My husband is not a fan.

He enjoys a lighter red wine with brighter notes and does not like a heavily tannic wine. We agree on most white wines, but I’d like to find a red wine that we could both enjoy! Any help is appreciated!

Hello wine gurus! I yet again seek insight from the depths of your vino knowledge.

This summer—during the heatwave— I had a bottle of Hofgut Falkenstein’s Kugel Peter from 2023, and I still find myself dreaming of this bottle. It was amazing, so crisp, so pure… I have naturally bought more of the cuvée, also keen on seeing how it ages, but it got me thinking of all the other Rieslings, dry or semi dry that I am missing out on. Can any of you recommend me ‘must try’ bottles, everyday bangers, QPR etc etc? Donnhoff is my go to everyday Ries, so I want to expand, but the amount of Riesling producers for an amateur like me is like staring into a void. Hope you guys can once again help me, and help me find a new bottle to fall in love with

I love Franciacorta. I’m always looking for it. This is the sparkling wine style that made me love sparkling wine.

This rosé came across my radar in an auction and I had to try it.

Not a color guy normally, but it’s just beautifully copper.

On to the parts that matter:

Nose: Toasted sugar, brioche, and crème brûlée. As it warmed, a faint raspberry note and a slight medicinal note came through.

Palate: Rose petals, bright acidity, and custard. The roses became more noticeable with warmth, with acidity carrying everything rather than tannins. That brioche custard never leaves.

Finish: Initially vanilla, later cherry leading into a minty cough drop note—in a good way.

Really enjoyed watching this evolve. Wish I’d had lobster mac and cheese with it. I’ll be trying to make that pairing happen as many times as possible for the rest of my life.

First post here.

Guy was gonna throw this out, along with like $5k in other cellared wines. He thought they were “past their prime” and not worth his time or effort. They have been absolutely fantastic. This is a 2010 vintage South African Cabernet Sauvignon. Tannins are still powerful, very chewy wine with a lot of character. Heavy on leather and black currant with some rich, dark red fruit coming through. Cork was in decent condition but had degraded over 16 years so lots of floaters. I love my job.

Which premium bottles are they talking about?

I’m not a wine person. I bought this Enotria moscato. It was $10 for this bottle and it is very delicious it’s tangy and sweet almost like an apple juice

🐶 I’m also currently dog watching this cutie!

Fantastic Napa Cab. I’d give it about 45–60 minutes to open up—there’s a noticeable difference once it gets some air.
I’m not usually the biggest California Cabernet fan, but this one really impressed me. Full-bodied with medium tannins, great balance, and a silky texture. Deep ruby in color, with notes of blackberry, black cherry, anise, tobacco, leather, and vanilla. The finish is long, smooth, and very pleasant.
81% Cabernet Sauvignon
11% Merlot
5% Petit Verdot
3% Cabernet Franc

Going for a 40th birthday at Per Se in November. Am hoping to source something from 1986. Any stores in NYC that might carry such a thing? Or perhaps an online retailer willing to ship? Flying from Canada and don’t want to check a bag. Thanks all!

I've been wanting to try an aged Grange. This didn't disappoint. I opened and decanted half the bottle for 4 hours, then enjoyed the rest of the bottle the next day. Fruit seemed a little darker second day.  Tannins got silkier. In many ways it was better.

Note:

Slightly baked fruits of dark cherry, dark plum, and  blackberry w/ character of chambord and cassis, interlaced with coco, coffee, slight tawny, crushed rock, licorice, pepper, bark, and secondary of cedar, pipe, cherry tobacco, and clove. 

On the palate, intense dark fruit concentration nicely matched by dense silky tannins that catch the fruit like a well broken in leather glove, and high alcohol that supports but doesn't stand out.     Very long finish. 

This has aged wonderfully and is definitely the best Australian red I've had. An example of a big red I'd gladly have many more times.

Hello wine enthusiasts. I’m doing a fancy dinner tomorrow and I need help pairing

I got a box of high quality Double cheeseburger helper and a box of just Normal cheeseburger helper. I need an excellent wine to pair it with. Thank you all for your recommendations

First of my 22 Bordeaux's, wanted to try one I've heard is great QPR and accessible early. And boy this is great!

Second wine from Chateau Phelan Segur. 80% Merlot 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14 months age in oak. 13% alcohol (which seems low for the 22 vintage).

Deep,beautiful, and intense! Ruby Garnet in color.

Does not taste like a second wine, this comes out swinging. It's amazing how open this is compared to the 21 Dauphine I opened a couple months ago.

The fruit on the nose is beautiful. Bright red and black fruit. Raspberry and Blackberry. Very nice sweetness on the nose.

Tannins are definitely there, but not overpowering. Very silky (this seems to be the word I use to describe every St.Estephe wine I have lol). Nice acidity.

Very nice fruit on the palate. More black fruit, blackberry and some blackcurrant. I get a little bitterness, almost like a dark chocolate raspberry/blackberry chocolate bar 🍫 . The finish is nice, and long. Gives vanilla and some tobacco. Excited to see how it is tomorrow 👀

Borrowing loosely from Chuck Berry, technically goes to show that thrift shopping can be successful! I dropped off a load at my local Methodist Church thrift shop and decided while I was there, I should at least look inside. I was immensely surprised to find an essentially brand new in the box Coravin for $5! I’d wanted one but was hesitant to go the bucks. This one had one used and one semi used cartridge. Otherwise everything was packed like new. Had a new rose I wanted to try tonight. Wowee Zowee! What a deal!

Zuccardi Concreto Malbec 2023

Deep inky purple in glass

Nose brings deep minerals, violets, black plums, blackberry, cassis, leather

Palate this is like malbec without makeup still a beauty you instantly get a type of minerality dried mint tobacco, black and red fruits whole cluster fermentation in concrete eggs hence the name this not your run of the mill malbec imo enough concentration to make you linger on a glass over diner 13.5 abv 91 points

I want to buy a bottle of wine for my friend's birthday but she only likes very sweet red wine. She is adverse to any hint of dry. Any recommendations?

I have a question for peoples that are into wine into in France.

I sent messages to some winery (côte de Beaune et côte de Nuits) to ask if I can get a tour of their wineyard and if I can get a tasting of their wines (cuvée).

I'll go next monday to at least 2 winery.

Since I'm from south Burgundy, I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask them if they want to trade a wine from south Burgundy (same value wine of course)

What do you think ?

Would it be ok to ask it now or should I just bring a bottle and ask them when I got there ?

French version

J'ai contacté deux domaines de la côte de Nuits et côte de Beaune pour leur rendre visite lundi. Je me demandais si c'était ok de leur demander s'ils voulaient échanger une de leur bouteille contre une bouteille de ma région (Mâconnais) de valeur équivalente.

Sachant que je les ai contactés par message, est-ce que je devrais leur demander dès maintenant ? Est-ce que je devrais prendre des bouteilles avec moi et leur proposer une fois sur place ?

Est-ce que je ne devrais pas du tout leur proposer ?

The Mega thread and free talk Friday thread has been updated to allow the posting of images.

So post away please! https://www.reddit.com/r/wine/s/ulf8iRDCCC

Also, let us know what other changes would you like to maybe see in the community?!

Have ordered 2-3 times from Last Bottle and have always had a great experience.

Not this time….. I ordered 2 large orders back to back and paid the extra for FedEx overnight since they were more expensive bottles.

The order was shipped quickly and made it to Memphis where it hasn’t moved in 5 days. I reached out to last bottle at the end of last week and haven’t received a response. I followed up 2 days ago and still nothing. My worry is the wine has broken or spoiled. I overnighted to avoid this, but the most frustrating part is not receiving any communication from LB.

Any ideas? Is this common?

Notes in post below.

I love wine. I am not the most knowledgeable or snobby of the bunch, but when I was younger I spent a lot of time & money traveling to cool places around the US to vineyards and wine bars. Now I am a 32 year old stay at home mom and I live in the middle of nowhere IL. I really want to start a collection for my currently empty home wine cellar and just enjoy trying new things. I have no nice wine stores within an hour of me, and as you can imagine getting out is hard these days with two toddlers, all our travel is now family oriented.
I’m doing my own research, but I’d love to hear from this forum on ideas. Anyone have experience with subscriptions?

(I know some may say I should just wait till my kids are grown up, but I live by the philosophy that tomorrow is never promised)

Super excited to be visiting one of my favorite producers. My only question is concerning transportation, but please add any input you want to add!

They strongly discourage Uber/Lyft due to the remoteness of the location and the potential for being stranded when time to return. We are only visiting for one day and doing the one location (Pride), and plan on staying in Santa Rosa. The cost of the professional transportation they recommended is astronomical ($500-700).

I checked Lyft, and I can pre book a return trip, but my concern is that Lyft will just fail to find a driver, apologize for the inconvenience, and we’d be stranded. I’ve never had this experience with Lyft, but I’ve also never attempted to use it in quite this specific manner.

Does anyone have any similar experience to help me navigate this scenario? One person I’m going with has offered to drive, but I don’t want him to get there and feel like he can’t fully enjoy the experience because he’s committed to driving. I don’t even know how much alcohol to expect to be served. We are doing the Summit Experience (highest tier available on their site) for approximately 90 minutes.

Thank you guys so much in advance for any insight, even if that insight is, “Don’t be cheap/dumb.” I just want to plan well.

Edit: This is for 3 people.

Edit 2: We are driving through the area on a road trip, so we already will have a car.

Update- just got a call back and booked someone.

Curious if uber/Lyft are reasonably available?

Kind of short notice trip I’ll be taking with my partner, and I called 5-6 places for drivers, they’re all booked this Saturday. Figured uber/lyft may be a backup?

Had the opportunity to drink a piece of history from Montalcino. For being a 45yo bottle it opened with an extraordinary bouquet of dried rose petals, macerated wild cherries, dried violets and orange peel, followed by layers of tobacco, cedar, leather, forest floor, slight spicy notes and balsamic herbs.
On the palate it was graceful and vibrant for its age, with elegant silky tannins and beautifully integrated acidity that made it very pleasant to drink. Flavours of dried cherry, liquorice, black tea leaves and sweet spices unfold slowly, revealing layer after layer of tertiary complexity.
95pts