You really are a bunch of Peckerheads

Mat:

Yes, did the coding myself. would love to find the code that pops up the box to fit the current screen... havn't found it yet. Trust me.. I know I need it. I hope the site does turn out to be something worth the time. I add stuff as I have the time and energy. Just picked up 5 bottles of various wines to review, so this month I should be able to get quite a bit of new material on there.

The Fat Bastard Shiraz is made from French vines, according to the web site

I don't get the lemon "pucker" face from those wines. It's more the hot aftertaste. To be honest, I cellar wine not to age it (don't really have anything "age" worthly), but to ensure I have a variety to choose from as I taste, learn, and review. The exception is the 2004 stuff. I've read in several places that--even though wine is made to drink "now"--it will help reds a little to age them. Who knows... it seems everyone has a different opinion.

If you can point me to web pages that have pictures of the bottles you find to be popular in your neck of the woods I'll let you know if we have them around here. I'd like to know what you recommend that I try, and having the pictures makes it easier to put them on the site.

Take care.

Mike

snipped-for-privacy@webwinerack.com

Mat wrote:

Hunt:

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll try to pick up a few of them as soon as I can find them. I'm not sure where the nearest Costco is... we have Sams Club, ALDIs, Trader Joes around here, so I'll find out where the nearest Costco is.

BTW-- I exchange emails with the wine editor for our local newspaper (The Plain Dealer). According to him, Wal-Mart is getting ready to set up a wine section in all Super Wal-Mart locations. They sent him cases of wine to review, and he's been telling the readers about them. They're trying to compete with Trader Joes and the like.

Thanks,

snipped-for-privacy@webwinerack.com

Hunt wrote:

Oops, I must have seen Sam's Club and read Costco. I WAS surprised that Costco was that far East. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. The recommendations on the wines still stand, however.

Good luck with the site, Hunt

PS IIRC it was in the Plain Dealer (via their restaurant critic), that I had a review of a restaurant in Indaianapolis. She was doing a piece on Cleveland, Indy, and Cincy. All I had was a piece on one Indy higher-end place.

] MikeD wrote: ] []

Whoops, responded to the wrong message. Never mind.

Mike, check out Roland Marandino's site

Just a usenet note: it is a good idea to change the subject, otherwise many will miss your posts, having killed the thread. Visavis trolls, I feel that Mat's policy has been proved best over time, and I've used usenet since the 80s. However I don't want to take up bandwidth discussing it, and wouldn't have mentioned it at all unless I already had something else to say in the thread.

cheers,

-E

Mat,

Have you tried the Five Judges range of wines. At $7.99 a bottle it is a ripper. The shiraz is excellent value, merlot almost as goos, and their Pinot Chard sparkles has a lot of my lady customers in raptures. They also have a Chard, that is also excellent qpr. You won't find it in the biig boys shops (labelled for my independent buying group), and I prefer to stock it over the low end Lindemans et al Big 4 quaffers, because imho it poops all over them in QPR.

Hooroo....

Hello Swooper,

No I can't say I've even heard of it. It sounds fabulous.

I've never been a big fan of the Lindeman's entry label.

Any idea where I can get this around the Frankston-ish area?

Thanks for the recommendation. I always like a good heads up.

Mat.

Hello Mike,

I can't recall how to do that in javascript. Its a pretty good site anyway. Once you get a bit more content it could really take off.

I thot the fat bastard shiraz was an Australian, because there is an increasing trend for novelty wine names here. The French seem to be a bit lacking in humour when it comes to that. I think a lot of ppl find the Australian trend somewhat flat.

You could try your own experiment. Drink one or two of the 2004 now. Then in say 12 months, 24 months, whatever try the exact same wine [same vintage] again and see if your notes are different. Or you could try different vintages of the same wine at the same time.

Um there will be hundreds of web pages from Australian producers. I found this:

Possibly the best thing to do is go down to the store and see if there is an Australian section. And maybe ask the wine ppl there what they think. Or write some down and post them here.

Mat.

Any shop that is a Liquor Force or dare I say it...Cellarbrations ..have access to this label. If you can't find it...give me a call...:>)

hooroo....

Mat:

No worries. I figured it out. Take a look at it again and it should look a little better. The content will build over time, although I do wish I could find a way to build it up quicker to attract more attention. The site is really a hobby site for my own use (tracking my own tasting history, cellar contents, etc.), but I do want it to be useful to everyone else.

I'll take your advice and look for several Australian wines to try side-by-side. I'll check out that link you posted.

Thanks,

snipped-for-privacy@webwinerack.com

Mat wrote:

We bought a case of the Ravenswood cab months ago. It's so mediocre we're almost embarrased to put it on the table at parties next to the Charles Shaw. Unfortunately, it's the only way we can get rid of it. Overrated California plonk, IMHO.

JJ

Well, now that you've mentioned Charles Shaw...

I've not tried the "Two Buck Chuck" wines yet... are they better quality than some of the other bargain varietal wines, or is CS "bottom of the barrel?"

snipped-for-privacy@webwinerack.com

snipped-for-privacy@unspameljefe.net wrote:

in article 0fBae.3385$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com, MikeD at snipped-for-privacy@webwinerack.com wrote on 4/23/05 4:54 PM:

To weigh in on Two-Buck-Chuck: Charles Shaw, when it first hit the shelves at Trader Joe's, was a reasonable wine 'for the price'.

As I understand it, the grapes first came from the huge over-stocks of fruit in California's Central Valley. I described it then by saying it was a pretty good $5 or $6 wine for $2. At the beginning Bronco Wine Co. (the huge low-end maker of CS) had, if nothing more, some degree of consistency in the fruit source, so that you could expect some consistency in the taste from month to month. But they have been so wildly successful with the product (I once read that Trader Joe's sold over 1 million cases in a single month - December 2003, I think) and it has grown from there, so that any consistency they once had is gone. I doubt that it's humanly possible to produce millions of cases each year and have anything beyond a very basic product. Certainly not at that price.

That said, I think Charles Shaw (and the many other low-end wines now on the market) are certainly helping to familiarize the consumer with wine in general and with specific varieties they might never have tried otherwise. So long as people realize they have choices at higher levels of quality, if they wish, that can only be a good thing.

I've had both, though the CS was tasted at Trader Joe's AND in a plastic cup, and I would not rate the CS in the same bin with anything from Ravenswood, even with their recent merger. I have not tried any of their Aussie products yet, but will, when I see them. All of the RW Sonoma wines, Cab, Merlot and Zin were all considered good value for the price, ~US$10-12 at Costco, AZ/US. Each had nice varietal characteristics, and smooth tannins, with a lot of up front fruit. What faults did you find with the RW Cab? All of the RW Sonoma Cabs that I have had have been good, albeit simple wines. It's too bad that you bought a case and don't like them. Did you taste one elsewhere, and then purchased the case, or just too someone's recommendation on this purchase?

Maybe I've been lucky, as I've never bought more than two bottles of something that I later found that I did not like. Also, what source did you have for the rating of this wine? I have not seen any magazine that has done a tasting of any of these.

IMO, CS at any price just isn't worth getting the glassware dirty, but that reflects my tastes probably more than the quality of the wine.

Hunt