What Wine Are You Drinking Today?

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

This single location, which was previously the Union Square wine shop, is now closed. 

Ah, I knew about the one store liquor or wine license rule and that TJ's had one wine shop in NY but didn’t realize it had closed. 
Luckily, you have many superior options close by! 

[weinoo]

25 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Ah, I knew about the one store liquor or wine license rule and that TJ's had one wine shop in NY but didn’t realize it had closed. 
Luckily, you have many superior options close by! 

 

Not only that, the shop I mostly order from delivers for free!

 

My much more local shop (i.e. the one in our commercial strip) has some nice wines as well...https://www.vinvero.com/

[gulfporter]

[weinoo]

Last night, with dinner:

 

 

 

Sweet spot, at just around $15 a bottle.  Rosé of cabernet franc.  

 

Domaine Stéphane Guion.  The Borgueils he bottles are also a favorite here.

 

Quote

The 2022 Guion Rosé has opened up nicely, a bit more aromatic and slightly softer on the vibrant, dry palate - really drinking beautifully and will be perfect this summer! 50 years of organic farming and great traditional winemaking give this refreshing wine its perfect balance at 12% alcohol, with beautiful fruit and great earthy expression of the gravel and limestone/clay terroir. The wine shows subtle strawberry/raspberry aromas with citrus, rose, white pepper and earth. Raspberry, blood orange, melon and earthy flavors on the ripe but dry palate which is framed in firm acidity and saline minerals. This is a real rosé of terroir which will benefit from a long decant or a year or two in the cellar. Just a superb wine that will drink beautifully through 2026. Serve with just about anything from salads to burgers, roast chicken, grilled pork and charcuterie. Bravo to Stephane Guion! 

 

 

[weinoo]

Lots of rosés these days:

 

 

'

 

The 2024 "Camille" is a pretty, very pale pink/orange color with aromas of wild strawberry, raspberry, rose and citrus, with a hint of stone fruits as well. The palate is light and elegant with subtle berry fruits, a hint of citrus and stone, and has nice density and length. This is a light and lovely rosé for all year enjoyment, sipped by itself or with grilled fish, white meats, salade Niçoise and mild cheeses - and it's a fabulous value!  

 

Just over $15!  

[weinoo]

A nice, glou glou wine from northern Spain...

 

 

 

Quote

 

Viña Zorzal offers some seriously delicious wines from old vines for very little money (as fans of their delightful red Graciano can attest). This one honors the traditional wine of the Navarra region - rosado of Garnacha. Fragrant red currant, raspberry, and pink peppercorn aromas lead to crunchy cranberry and strawberry fruit flavors, with herbal undertones on the finish. 

 

 

On sale, it was $13.60. Bought a few bottles from Chambers Street.

[gulfporter]

[liuzhou]

I think I'm turning Japanese.  White Crane Dai Ginjo. 

 

大吟醸 (dai ginjo) is sort of the equivalent of premier cru in French wines;; in other words a cut above every day drinking.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 3 by liuzhou (log)

[gulfporter]

I'm on a (temporary I hope) medication that doesn't mix with alcohol.  But I opened this for a wine/stock reduction.  

 

 

 

 

[Alex]

Despite the purple prose, I drank a glass of this last night, and probably will again tonight: 

 

[gulfporter]

[gulfporter]

Fancy bottle. Very crisp. 

 

 

[gulfporter]

[Smithy]

 

We have belonged to multiple wine clubs, but as the years have gone on my subscriptions have dropped to just 2 clubs. Sunce is one, and the only single-winery club to which I still belong. They're lovely people, good marketers, in their 2nd? 3rd? generation of winemakers. I hadn't heard from them in a while and have been rather worried that the fires and drought in their part of California had taken a toll; however, Janae called the other day to say that it's finally cool enough there but not too cold here to ship my allotment. This bottle is from that shipment.

 

I'm back on a blended-wines kick, having been a hard-core Zinfandel fan for some years. This wine is rather light -- note the 13.1% ABV -- and that also suits my tastes these days. Barbera and Nebbiolo make a nice blend.

[TdeV]

@Smithy, I'm still a a hard-core Zinfandel fan. Can I ask what wineries were on your old list?

 

 

Edited to add: I know you've gone off hard-core Zin, but I see Sunce does lots of Zin. Sacrilege, I know, but can you tell me what you used to think about their Zins?

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:11 PM by TdeV
Punctuation (log)

[gulfporter]

It's back into the upper 80s here in Tucson (normal high 80).  So I'm drinking whites, esp. Pinot Grigios more often than reds.  This is a nice fruity one, but not at all sweet.  Crisp.  

 

 

[Smithy]

On 11/1/2025 at 2:00 PM, TdeV said:

@Smithy, I'm still a a hard-core Zinfandel fan. Can I ask what wineries were on your old list?

 

 

Edited to add: I know you've gone off hard-core Zin, but I see Sunce does lots of Zin. Sacrilege, I know, but can you tell me what you used to think about their Zins?

 

 

 

 

I like Sunce's zins. There's something about the Dry Creek zins that I think really brings out the grape's spice, and Sunce does it well. My other favorite -- but I've dropped this membership -- is Seghesio. They do some fine zins as well. Porter Creek used to, but their head vintner left for greener vineyards years ago. I don't remember if that's why I dropped that membership, or it was simply a matter of expense. I'm missing one or two; if their names come to me I'll come back with that information.

 

On the "disappointing" side was Ridge. Although they're in Healdsburg, their zins to me seemed flat - none of the spicy character I love -- and overpriced when I tried them. Times change, of course. It would be fun to go on another wine tour through the Sonoma area some day and see what I think now.

[weinoo]

5 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Porter Creek used to, but their head vintner left for greener vineyards years ago.

 

Porter Creek is the only winery wine club I belong to - I generally get 6 bottles, twice a year. 

Their winemaker is the son of the founder of the winery, Alex Davis, whose dad George founded the winery in 1978.

They still make a zin.

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

On the "disappointing" side was Ridge. Although they're in Healdsburg, their zins to me seemed flat - none of the spicy character I love -- and overpriced when I tried them. Times change, of course. It would be fun to go on another wine tour through the Sonoma area some day and see what I think now

I think Ridge still makes some excellent zins.  As you note, the prices are on the high side and they make so many single vineyard zins that vary quite a bit in character that you run the risk of paying that premium price for something less than stellar. That’s no fun!

[Smithy]

39 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I think Ridge still makes some excellent zins.  As you note, the prices are on the high side and they make so many single vineyard zins that vary quite a bit in character that you run the risk of paying that premium price for something less than stellar. That’s no fun!

 

It's quite possible that I didn't taste "the right" (for my tastes) zins when I was there. 

 

Years ago, my darling and I and 3 other couples liked to get together for wine tastings and dinners at each others' homes. One of our members, by far the wealthiest and best-traveled, asserted that no wine was worth purchasing, in his opinion, unless it cost at least $20 and was from France. His sole exception was Ridge.

 

By the time our group got around to zinfandels, we'd begun doing blind tests: one host member would bag the bottles and the other host member would number them, so that we could all enjoy the mystery of ranking and tasting. Our zin testing set included Sutter Home at $4.99, Ridge at, oh, $28? and two zins priced in the mid-teens. We all ranked them according to our preferences. I forget which one was got the most votes for "best" but I think it was one of the mid-teens bottles, probably Seghesio's Old Vines Zin. I knew at once the Sutter Home; ro me it tasted like Buzz Saw in a Bottle. But THAT one was our wine snob's favorite! He was very gracious when the bottles were revealed and he saw he'd picked the cheapest of the bunch. 😆

[weinoo]

I think, and this is just my opinion, that this is one of the things that make wine so much fun.

[weinoo]

 

We drink a lot of Chenin Blanc; this is a lovely, crisp, easy-drinking wine.

[Smithy]

6 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

We drink a lot of Chenin Blanc; this is a lovely, crisp, easy-drinking wine.

 

That looks like something I'd enjoy, but I bet I won't be able to find it at the local stores. One of the things that frustrated eG's last attempt at collective wine tasting was we rarely could find the exact same wine, due to distribution vagaries. Still, I'll look for this one. Or did you bring it back from overseas?