Wine you Don't Care to Drink

[malcolmjolley]

I have a wine geek friend who has a collection of "decoy" wines. Whenever he gets a random bottle as a gift, he stocks it away until he has one of his big house parties. The he'll put out several decoy bottles and a few good bottles. People who don't care what they're drinking gravitate towards the decoy bottles because they recognize them, and the people who do care know to look for the better stuff.

Brilliant!

[Jason Perlow]

Actually no. Why drink bad Champagne when there are perfectly good sparking wines available from a long list of locations? Most of them are cheaper and better than White Star.

Egly-Ouriet, Turgy, hell Billecart-Salmon, as well as countless others make better champagne for less money than white star.

Egly Ouriet is great stuff, particularly their Non Dose' and their Ambonnay.

[Carema]

I think Mr. T. Thiese (Aubry & Egly from him as well as Pierre Peters and scads of others) better git his butt into Ohio.

[Craig Camp]

I think Mr. T.  Thiese (Aubry & Egly from him as well as Pierre Peters and scads of others) better git his butt into Ohio.

The State of Ohio has made it a major pain in the ass for small importers to do business there. They even have their own state label approval forms - they must not trust the BATF. Then you have to register EACH wine with with state. In addition once you appoint a distributor they are 'franchised' or, in other words, you can't change distributors even if they do a lousy job.

On top of this they have fixed mark-ups which make everything far more expensive than it would be on its own.

Due to all this consumer protection on the part of the State of Ohio, they have one of the worst selections at the highest prices in the nation.

[Craig Camp]

Actually no. Why drink bad Champagne when there are perfectly good sparking wines available from a long list of locations? Most of them are cheaper and better than White Star.

Taste is subjective. I like White Star. The times we have opened a bottle of champagne and it usually isn't White Star, but I don't agree that it is classified as "bad." As I know many that may never actually purchase or enjoy real champagne beyond Tott's/Korbel. Now sparkling wine, well, those are different occasions -- we tend to purchase Argyle or J.

I admit taste is subjective. However White Star is a famous rip off. They use the cheapest wines available - it is almost all pinot munier - then load it up with sugar to cover all the faults.

There are many Spanish Cavas that are far superior in quality and VALUE in a similar, slightly sweet style. Just compare a good fresh $10 cava (ok you are in Ohio so $12) and see which you like better.

[KatieLoeb]

Egly Ouriet is great stuff, particularly their Non Dose' and their Ambonnay.

Yes Yes Yes!!!!

Actually no. Why drink bad Champagne when there are perfectly good sparking wines available from a long list of locations? Most of them are cheaper and better than White Star.

Might I suggest Cremant D'Alsace, Prosecco or Sekt as less expensive alternatives in addition to Cava that are sure to please.

[DaleW]

1) As to White Star, it's not been a favorite of mine - I prefer Brut Champagne, and I didn't think it's especially well made. But when we recently moved, the previous owners generously left us a bottle to celebrate. I admit I winced when I saw it was White Star. But it was a generous gesture, and I thought I'd give it a fair chance. After a hard day painting, sanding, etc. we had the White Star sitting on the floor with some takeout Szechuan. The spice made me appreciate the RS more, I liked that White Star better than ever before. So one solution to a style you don't like is trying to be creative with matching. A similar situation happened when some vineyard-owning friends left 2 bottles of some "blush" behind after a visit- sweet rosé they had made from some grapes deemed sub-standard for reds. A request for help online led to a suggestion from a resident of France for a scallops in sweet rosé recipe they used with Anjou. Used up most of a bottle cooking, the other bottle went well with the dish.

2) My usual solution to unwanted bottles is just to try them. I've been pleasantly surprised at times; most of the time I either just dump or use in tomato sauce.

3) If it's one I've tried recently, then I open them at big parties. I put out the accumulated gifts I don't want (last time it included Kendall-Jackson Chards, Tardieu-Laurent CdR, Abadia Ret. Rivola, and Banfi Chianti). Then I put out some cheapies that I DO like (Ch. d'Oupia "Les Heretiques", Borsao, a Touraine Sauvignon). If there's some geeks there I might open a better bottle for them to try, but after first glass it's fair game for everyone. I like the decoy bottle, as long as they're equally available (I don't want to be a Richard Nixon).

[kcd]

I have a wine geek friend who has a collection of "decoy" wines.  ...  The he'll put out several decoy bottles and a few good bottles.  People who don't care what they're drinking gravitate towards the decoy bottles because they recognize them, and the people who do care know to look for the better stuff.

I like that. Recently I had the big "5 0" party. Serious party. I took some (white) wines that I don't care for, and some of our homemade wines for others to drink. Decoys. Also some "better" stuff.

At the end of the evening all of the homemade wines were gone, the "better" stuff was gone. However a bottle of white was still there. I think this is the 3rd time that I've tried to serve it.

Into the freezer with it.