And The Wine Society is great for ‘themed’ cases…

I’m with Stoner on buying in bulk and storing. Space for only 72 bottles (on racks) though 😥

rudeboy – you drink in the Kidd, a Smiths pub, no-one is going to take your advice on beverages now are they!

Don’t be such a ponce. Nowt wrong with Sam Smiths, unless you like warm, flat, tasteless beer. Where do you drink, then, that’s sooo much better than anywhere an urchin like me might ever be allowed into? The Fop and Dandy, Poncestershire?

CHL – one thing we’ve learnt is not to buy “in bulk”.

Buy some good wine and lay it down, testing at least a bottle each year.
and also buy some splosh for drinking within 6 months.

Previously we had committed to, say, 2, 3 or 4 cases of a wine that did well at tasting and then not drunk it in time and had to throw 1 in 2 bottles away.

At higher prices, then its not a problem, but at <€10 a lot of wine will not keep long.

Second Mr Beans on Viognier.

Would also recommend white Rioja, German or Aussie riesling, good Aussie semillion (Tim Adams springs to mind), verdeljo and rias baixas (sp?), and fiano.

I find you’re more likely to get a good wine buying less fashionable grapes like these at random than you are going for chardonnay or sauv blanc – as there seems to be less mass produced dross.

If you get a taste for the sharper white wines, then give fino or manzanilla sherry a try as well. Marvellous stuff!

I am partial to Loire whites – Sancerre, Pouilly Fume, and a particular fave being Savennieres

Spanish white – Albariños – are nice, too.

Generally I´m not too keen on white wine, fruity nonsense but there´s a nice Basque one called Txakoli, has a very strong flavour and an ever so slight fizz to it. Very refreshing on a hot day.

+1 for Txakoli

Occurred to me that it would also be a good name for a cat, for some reason …

Spanish white – Albariños – are nice, too.

Ooh, that’s what I meant when I typed Rias Baixas.

Big fan of Spanish whites.

Good advice on here. One recommendation – try Gewurztraminer – it’s from Alsace and goes brilliantly with Chinese food. Spend at least £8 on one, and make it French – other countries’ versions just don’t taste the same.

If you want to go upmarket, my favourite is Chassagne Montrachet but you’re looking at £30 per bottle.

I don’t find Laithwaites any good for white wines. I use Virgin Wines, where I can pick and choose which wines I want and I can tailor my likes/dislikes. Drop me an email in my profile and I’ll send you an invite (you’ll get a voucher to spend)

Can’t beat riesling, we make it sweet, medium & dry. Dry does need a year or 2 on it to open up a bit.
I love a nice lean chardy, not too flabby & over oaked.
Pinot Gris & Grigio are 2 different styles of the same grape, Alsace or Italian style.
I generally like to know the variety, to know if it’s right for the region. You don’t want a shiraz from Tassie, trust me on that one. We also make a tempranillo for one client 😆

DrJ – Member
I am partial to Loire whites – Sancerre, Pouilly Fume, and a particular fave being Savennieres

I agree wholeheartedly (chill before serving)

decent Rheingau or Mosel Riesling. the king of white grapes. extensive vineyard recommendations on request.
Alsatian Pinot Gris. Zind-Humbrecht pretty good.
Sauvignon Blanc from NZ – incredible fresh grassy flavours. Cloudy Bay and Villa Maria both delicious.
good Meursault or Chablis.

taste around and find what you like best.

almost forgot: Johannisberg and Petite Arvine du Valais. hard to find but worth the hunt. excellent as aperitifs.

Just don’t buy your wine from Bali.

You ever sit down in a restaraunt, get handed the wine list and have a little panic? If in doubt go straight to the Kiwi’s. The chardonnay and sav blanc are always good, the reds (often Pinot Noir) are terrific but need to spend £10-12 (Oddbins prices, more in a restaraunt).

Another big vote for Rioja, great value for money and loads of fruit. Love French wine too but as per above go do some tasting at Majestic or Nicholas if you live near one. France is a big place, wines all all different and often pricey.

Fizzy stuff go treat yourself to Pol Roger……by far the best of the “standard” champagnes but still over £30 a bottle. Churchill used to down a bottle at lunch before speaking in Parliament all through WWII, bless the man.

And lastly lets hear it for an English wine, Nyetimber of Sussex produce an excellent sparkling pinot/chardonnay (ie Champagne) for £26 at Waitrose. We had it at our daughter’s Christening last year, some French and Italian pals couldnt believe how good it was.

Sorry went on a bit there

I second the Nyetimber recommendation – easily as good as non-vintage champagne, and slightly cheaper. Other English wines can be variable, I liked Camel Valley but not too impressed with Three Choirs or Chapel Down sparkling.

i can’t recommend anything because I never seem to remember a wine that I like – could be something to do with having an aversion to leaving a bottle with anything in it. I tend towards old world though – generally seems less alcoholic.

Anyway, other than the Oz Clark book mentioned above and going to a tasting (I was think of going to Vinopolis – or would it be better to go to Majestic/Oddbins) are there any other recommendations for getting to know wines – me and my girlfriend have just started buying quite randomly (i.e. without reading the label) and seeing if we can get any of the desciption. Although I think I need a notebook to remember it all – and the chances of leaving a wine for a year are pretty remote. Any tips?

Beware the “half-price” £3.99 stuff in the supermarkets, it’s usually £3.99 wine not £8 stuff.
If you have a local independent wine merchant (spoiled here with 2 locally) use them for tasting and knowledge.
Can third (or is it fourth) voignier.
Austrian Grüner Veltliner and Grauer Burgunder are also good if you can find them (Linz Möser is only just passable).

pouilly fume is good, so is pouilly fuisse and anything from chablis… that’s about as far as my knowledge of white wine goes… much prefer reds.

Kev

Sorry, but not patriotic enough to agree on Nyetimber. Tonnes of sugar to hide the boat load of acid, in the hope it might balance out. It doesn’t.

Pol Roger White Foil is okay (if a bit short and malic last time I drank it) – Roederer, Taitt and Laurent-Perrier all out drink it.

[minirant] I get all antsy when people keep saying areas like Chablis or […]Montrachet and grapes like Albarino or Sauvignon are good. I don’t think it’s really helpful advice to give to somebody starting off. There is a lot of good, and frankly shit, Chablis out there and so on – a village or grape on its own means nothing. Whitout realising that you could be put off a whole commune and within it some excellent wine by one or two bad examples from poor producers.

You’ll get more reliable hits from producer recommendations (and although I know there’s variability here too, it’s a better place to start). [/minirant]

Ahem, all in my opinion – obviously… 😉

EDIT: I sound a bit of an arse there. If you like Nyetimber then great (or Pol for that matter). It’s all about opinions…

Unless you ride a Marin. I which case you’re just wrong.

I get all antsy when people keep saying areas like Chablis or […]Montrachet and grapes like Albarino or Sauvignon are good.

You’re right, but sort of missing the point that the OP asked for some broad pointers.

Perhaps it would be better to recommend him specific wines, especially if he told us which shops he could get to?

I lived just outside Dijon for four years and the gave me an appreciation for fine wines. My wallet is a lot lighter than before 😥

If I may intrude in this conversation of quality wines, I signed up to Nakedwines, and the bottles I drank were pretty good, certainly a lot better than the “top shelf in tesco’s” offerings, with all these forums posts, I wondered why nakedwines were not mentioned…

I have the wine delivered to my friends photography studio, so don’t have any details of grape/bottle/producer etc – a red called Lula was pretty nice, if a little thin.

Thank’s to all for the advice on producer/grape/geographical etc etc, most appreciated 😉

jt

You’re right, but sort of missing the point that the OP asked for some broad pointers.

I know where you’re coming from, but saying something completely general like try chardonnay, viognier, Sancerre, Loire etc is about as useful as saying, ‘try anything, some is good, some is not’. It doesn’t exactly narrow it down so I’m not sure it serves any purpose.

A good mate of mine hated Sancerre because all she ever bought was the ropey co-operative juice with a fancy label, which was only ever bought when it was on offer in Tesco. She was adamant that she didn’t like Sancerre because of it so I took round some Henri Bourgeois ‘Etienne Henri’, about as different as you can imagine (oak fermented). She hated that as well (!) but would never have believed it was from Sancerre… Completely different beast.

As some have done, I think it’s more helpful to suggest a producer as a starting point. Although I still think a mixed case from Oddbins or good local wine shop could be a better place to start.

To clarify number 1 or 2 Voignier are good. Younger is better with this variety as it loses something with age (not so bright).

Txakoli. Fantastic stuff! Very dry and refreshing after a hot day on the bike.