Do you still buy wine....

[Darryl]

Hi all,
After reading Mike post on the collapse of the cab...It made me wounder, how many of yall still buy wine... because I know yall are all making it!!!


I still buy wine every week... but all of my homemade wine is still to young to drink. Oh I have made a few sweet wine for my wife and friends...and they love them!!! But to sweet for me... I have also made a few VN kits(when George had the speacial last year), and they were OK, but still not what I looking for... don't get me wrong, I drank some and gave the rest away... and everyone like them... So, this year I'm only going to make big kits and I'm going to try my hand at blending...


I started my first kit in December 2008 and, boy I'm having a lot of fun

 

[ibglowin]

Of course!

I started last Summer and it will be at least 6 months before any of my reds are ready to drink. My whites should be ready in just a few more months.

Now when I buy commercial wine I also look at the bottle for reuse in a future kit!

 

[Darryl]

Mike I'm with ya.... I don't buy many screw tops!!!!

 

[Tom]

Of course I buy wine. I support the local vineyards (wineries)when I can.
I like some wines but dont want to make 30 bottles of it

 

[Wade E]

Not really, Im not a huge wine drinker like some of you so what I have and I have a lot is all I need.

 

[Darryl]

Wade you are lucky...
don't get me wrong, I drink a little wine sometimes, but I give alot of my wine away... out here in the wild west everybody wants to try it... they can't believe I can make it... and, they want to know how I do it... so now my friends went from calling flowerchild(I grow african violet and show them) to Grape-boy and they want to know when I'm going to start my own vines...
We will see what tomorrow brings...

 

[peterCooper]

I drink a lot of mine, and I give a lot of mine away but there are always time when I want a bottle of something specific (like a couple of times a week.

My wine is my everyday drinking. It's my Christmas presents, birthday presents anniversary presents. Like my bread and hummus. And I want to add cheese and flavored oils to that.

I figure that if I'm ever going to stockpile anything I need to make two kits a month and then put 1 case of each batch away.That way I'll have a couple of hundred bottles to give away at Christmas leaving probably 20-30 after I've satisfied demand. Most people get a couple of them. It's going to take years to get anything like a cellar together.

This Christmas my nephew came over and between the two of us and my wife and some other who came over we were going through three bottles a night, every night for about two weeks.

I currently have exactly zero bottles in my cellar, although I have one ready to bottle.

So I am buying three or four bottle a week.

However this week I am buying nothing. I am on a contract job until Friday in Sana'a Yemen.They don't have any alcohol at all. I could chew Khat quite legally here but it an amphetamine analog and I'm not going to do that to my body.

So no booze this week. It would give my cellar a rest if I had anything in it.

 

[fivebk]

My wife and I still visit some of the local wineries probably every other weekend. I now have 60 gallons of different wines bulk aging. I won't start bottling any of these untill june at the earliest.

My wife prefers the wines I make for her over any of the commercial wines we have tried.

She enjoys sweet wines and I can adjust the sweetness to meet her palate.

I sometimes leave some dry and backsweeten the rest for her. ( what can I say " she's spoiled " )

BOB

 

[vcasey]

Sure do continue to buy commercial wines, although not as much as I used to and mostly local or boutique wines as well as sparkling wines.

 

[smurfe]

We buy more than we used to. Some varietals such as Pinot Noir kit wise just don't meet my expectations so I buy them commercial. I have been drinking a lot of Pinot Noir. My wife drinks a lot of Pinot Grigio and although the kits I have made she drinks and likes she prefers Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio and she buys it lot. I wish she would slow down, that stuff is $25.00 a bottle and she buys a lot of bottles. Guess I can't gripe, the Pinot Noir I buy is like $45.00 a bottle but I don't buy it all that often.

 

[ibglowin]

Thats my wife's favorite PG as well.....

Go figure, they both like the most expensive bottle of PG on the entire planet. Its good alright but man o man $25 a bottle....

My wife drinks a lot of Pinot Grigio and although the kits I have made she drinks and likes she prefers Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio and she buys it lot. I wish she would slow down, that stuff is $25.00 a bottle and she buys a lot of bottles. Guess I can't gripe, the Pinot Noir I buy is like $45.00 a bottle but I don't buy it all that often. 

 

[robie]

We don't have any of my own wines ready for drinking, yet, so we buy everything we drink, which is 4 to 5 bottles a week. I have 60 bottles in aging, a 30-bottle mist ready to come out of fermentation and I started an En Primeur Cab. last night. That's a total of 120 bottles, none ready to drink.

When my wine is ready, I won't buy very many bottles.
I will always but some wine. For instance, I like to drink a Sav. Blanc every once in a while, but not often enough to make a whole kit of it.

We also enjoy trying new wines of all types, so that enjoyment will continue. At a local liquor store, we go to a wine tasting 3 or 4 times a month. We will always try something we will end up wanting to buy.

I guess it is my everyday wine drinking that will switch from commercial to my own, in time.

 

[pracz]

I'm in the same boat...

All of my wine is either bulk aging or just coming out of secondary. I have a long wait before I can start to rely on my own production. My plan is to make one kit per month and build my inventory. At this time I buy all my wine but can't wait to minimize the purchases in the future.

Pete

 

[JimCook]

Darryl,


I absolutely purchase commercial wine. While my purchases have been light over the past six months, I have a couple of sources: a) a wine club, b) a friend that lives in Madrid whom with I bottle swap, and c) wine retailers.


On Friday, I just purchased a mix case from a retailer who had discounted Nicolas Catena wines along with some others. Four bottles each of the Catena Alta Malbec and Cab and the Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz.


Other recent purchases include a Grand Cru Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, Luca Double-Select Syrah, and some less expensive top-up/cooking wines.


- Jim

 

[Darryl]

I love reading all of the feedback... It looks like most of us are in the same boat. We all love to drink wine!!!! We make it... we buy it... we give it... we trade it... What a wonderful hobby!!!!!!!!!


I need a little more help....
Like I said, I don't like the sweet wine, but my wife and friends love it...
I have made and sampled 2 VN kits(Castel Del Papa and Carmenere, and the were fine, but not my style....
I have made and sampled 1 mm reniassance amarone, it has been in the bottle for 8 months and have tried two bottles 1- at 6 months in bottle the other 3 weeks ago. I have high hopes for this kit and it is good, but not big an bold...
Yall have all followed my tests on the Amarone(90 bottles)and Barolo(will bottle this one in two weeks and have 90).
I have a Meglioli Rojo Grande, bottled 8-18-2009. Have not tried
I have a WE LE Red Meritage 2009. Bottled 10-15-2009. Have not tried
I have a RJ's Super Tuscan Winery Series(High hopes). Bottled 10-15-2009. Have not tried


My question is are these guys going to beg big and bold and how long do I need to wait... I will open and try the Amarone's on May 17, 2010, but have not date for any of the others.
When I look in my cellar... I look at them and think... is it time... and grab something else... like Solaria 123 Brunello 2001 or a Parusso Barolo 2000, even a Havens Black and Blue, because I know they are ready and I like them...
and By the way, my wine room smells great!!! The Meg Shiraz and CC Tannat are 2 days in and cooking along!!!!
Thanks for listen'n...

 

[wctisue]

I don't buy any commercial wine. I much prefer what I make at home.


When I go out to dinner and order a glass of wine most of the time I'm disappointed with the chemically nose and harsh taste of the red wines.


Better to order dinner to go and enjoy a meal with a bottle of something I'm going to like.


Like right now I'm enjoying a WE LE New Zealand Merlot. Dark, delicious and better than any store bought stuff (unless we get that little AVA near Rutherford in Napa) $$$$


Wayne

 

[whino-wino]

I don't buy very many commercial wines. I have just over 200 bottles in my cellar and of those maybe 10 are commercial. I used to give a lot of it away, now I only do so if there are going to be plenty left over. Case in point would be the first WE Lodi Old Vine Zin that I made in 2004. Tried it a year after bottling and thought it was OK but not great and ended up giving most of it away. Tried another bottle about a year later and was blown away by how good it was.....then I realized I only had 2 bottles left. Now I'm the Ebeneezer Scrooge of winemakers. If it's a high end kit and I've got 30 bottles I'll give away 5 but that's it and only to close family members. Of course guests are welcome to try any that they like. Some varieties I give away lots, but they're mostly fruit wines such as apple, chokecherry, strawberry, etc. My Wild Blueberry is absolutely off limits though unless I invite you over for dinner.

 

[hannabarn]

What time is dinner????????

 

[whino-wino]

What time is dinner????????

Gosh....you just missed it.

 

[MaineGal]

Thats my wife's favorite PG as well.....



Go figure, they both like the most expensive bottle of PG on the entire planet. Its good alright but man o man $25 a bottle....

My wife drinks a lot of Pinot Grigio and although the kits I have made she drinks and likes she prefers Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio and she buys it lot. I wish she would slow down, that stuff is $25.00 a bottle and she buys a lot of bottles. Guess I can't gripe, the Pinot Noir I buy is like $45.00 a bottle but I don't buy it all that often.

Well there.....I will be sure to point out to my hubby how lucky he is!

I've never been a wine drinker until this past September when I had the opportunity to try some homemade fruit wines. Now I'm hooked! Raspberry Merlot is my favorite and we have 3 batches going right now. Cant wait to bottle!