Thread: Wine Recommendation Needed

Penfolds Grange

Originally Posted by Bacchus

If I had hit here in time I would have gone the other way with my recommendation: the 2005 Columbia Crest Reserve: $30 / per bottle, 95 points from the wine spectator. It's just one absolutely amazing wine for the price, and personally I'd consider it better than anything mentioned in this thread so far, regardless of price. This is the kind of wine that often doesn't catch the attention of a serious wine person simply because many people tend to look on Columbia Crest with a bit of snobby disdain. However, let someone who is serious about wine take one taste and they'll be thanking you forever for it...

It's definitely wasted on me though, i can barely tell the difference from the Macaroni Grill table wine to Chateau Margeaux. I'm trying though.

Originally Posted by kwiker

It's definitely wasted on me though, i can barely tell the difference from the Macaroni Grill table wine to Chateau Margeaux. I'm trying though.

Dang, that's the stuff. Good drinking right now, but it can easily take 10 years in the cellar...

Best way to learn the differences is doing some side by side comparisons. You need a large group so that you can do several wines and not end up too trashed to know what's going on. That way you also get to learn what other people are picking up on. Start with the obvious differences like different varietals. Then move to comparing the same grapes from different parts of the world. Then try same grape from same region but different vineyards or different years. Repeat ad infinitum...

If you can find some wine tastings in your area I'd highly recommend trying them out. Until we had kids I'd hit up at least one tasting a month, met a lot of friends that way and we started doing tastings at each others houses also. One major party was an afternoon BBQ at our place, everyone had to bring a bottle, the only restriction being that it had to be over 15% alcohol. I think the last person staggered home around 10:00 that night...