On 20/11/06 16:51, in article ,
"Bioboffin" wrote:

June Hughes wrote:
In message , Bioboffin
writes
June Hughes wrote:
In message , MikeCT
writes

"Bioboffin" replied:

Although this may well be broadly helpful, sadly you need a bit
more knowledge (and happily a lot more practice) to be certain.

:-)
---
So what do I do John? Risk buying a few bottles with plants,
animals or birds on the labels, open one or two and find too late
that they are indeed naff. Or live in hope that friends might just
have bottles with natural history subjects on the labels.
Decisions, decisions!
Buy it from Waitrose. I've been shopping there over 21 years and
have never had a naff bottle of wine yet.

You've been lucky!

Why? Have you?

Any supplier can have a 'corked' bottle of wine. Not their fault, but to
suggest that a supplier is always going to be OK is disingenuous, don't you
think?


The supermarkets have huge buying power and if they have a good wine buyer,
are in a position to get some very good stuff. Of course, some chateaux
won't sell through supermarkets, either because they think it 'lowers the
tone' for them or because their output is just too small for supermarkets to
be interested in. One of our favourite Chardonnays is Montes Alpha from
Chile which sells at Majestic for 9.99 and sometimes at Morrisons for 7.99,
so it's worth keeping an eye open!
OTOH Le Troubadour from Chateau Romanin has a rather sickly (to my mind) pic
of a languid lady and gent on it but I know it's a delicious wine, as is
Cloudy Bay with a mountain scape on the label and a setting (or rising) sun
on their Pelorus and Fetzer with a tree and a vineyard. ;-)
But vineyards can go through good and bad patches. We fell in love with a
delicious white when we were in Provence and I have tried to buy it in UK
since but was told it had become too 'unreliable' as to quality and the
normal stockists weren't bringing it in. Later, I heard from another source
that there had been a divorce and a huge disruption following on from that
and thus the wine had gone downhill for a time. But given a bit of luck and
a following wind, it will pick up in the future.
The thing is to taste lots of different types of grape from different
regions and decide which type you like best and then experiment further
within that range, trying oaked, unoaked etc. Write down the names of the
ones you really like and then you'll remember them when you get to the shop
and are confronted with literally hundreds! And remember - if you don't
like a wine for drinking, cook with it so nothing's wasted! ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/