The wine appreciation thread...and helping me appreciate wine

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I hate the stuff.
I drink lager, and after that, I drink vodka.
My partner hates the stuff, she drinks spirits, and after that, well, she just drinks that.

However, we both like the idea of wine, the idea of so many different flavours, of matching a wine to a meal etc. And so, have decided we will give it a proper bash!

Can anyone recommend a course where we can go on to learn about wines etc and try get some kind of an idea for the stuff? Or perhaps recommend some bottles (reasonably priced :) and not crackling :) ) to ease us into the process?

I figure give one last final push to try seem cultured before I become the stereotypical big belly lager drinker
 
Get a bottle of Meerlust Rubicon and one of Rupert and Rothschild Classique. Thats all you really need to know about wine.

Oh and a bottle of Fat Bastard Chardonnay if you want to try white.

Truth is that you have to try a lot to understand and enjoy the wines (if you don't just like wine).
For me it was like that... I dank everything as a student... even cane. Then one day I drank a bottle of wine that cost more than R50 and I was like WOW.... there is more to life then cheap wine. Then I drunk a bottle of wine that cost R170 and realised that cost doesn't mean everything.
 
Nerfherder said:
Get a bottle of Meerlust Rubicon and one of Rupert and Rothschild Classique. Thats all you really need to know about wine.

Oh and a bottle of Fat Bastard Chardonnay if you want to try white.

Truth is that you have to try a lot to understand and enjoy the wines (if you don't just like wine).
For me it was like that... I dank everything as a student... even cane. Then one day I drank a bottle of wine that cost more than R50 and I was like WOW.... there is more to life then cheap wine. Then I drunk a bottle of wine that cost R170 and realised that cost doesn't mean everything.
Click to expand...

This!
 
tau1z said:
I hate the stuff.
I drink lager, and after that, I drink vodka.
My partner hates the stuff, she drinks spirits, and after that, well, she just drinks that.

However, we both like the idea of wine, the idea of so many different flavours, of matching a wine to a meal etc. And so, have decided we will give it a proper bash!

Can anyone recommend a course where we can go on to learn about wines etc and try get some kind of an idea for the stuff? Or perhaps recommend some bottles (reasonably priced :) and not crackling :) ) to ease us into the process?

I figure give one last final push to try seem cultured before I become the stereotypical big belly lager drinker
Click to expand...

For the real McCoy, go to the Cape Wine Academy. You even get a certificate or diploma at the end ! :)

They present courses right here in JHB, at the Michelangelo and at Browns - love that place!

I 've wanted to go, but the price is a tad steep. Worth it, though, I think!

http://www.capewineacademy.co.za/
 
Agree with blu.

Disagree with everyone else. Rubicon and Classique are NOT our best wines by any stretch of the imagination.

Wine is also a personal thing, while I wouldn't touch Fat Bastard with Julias Malema's lips, some others, obviously love it.

For a true appreciation, go on a course (The Browns one is great), but there is a wine academy in JHB if memory serves where you go through a tasting course and learn to pickup different notes. This also helps with other drinks, and improves your appreciation of food.

Don't buy bottles of wine because someone else likes it, buy it because you like it, and if you don't know what you like, then learn about it first :)
 
Nerfherder said:
Get a bottle of Meerlust Rubicon and one of Rupert and Rothschild Classique. Thats all you really need to know about wine.
Click to expand...

Errr...did you read the OP?
You expect him to appreciate a Meerlust and Rothchilde?
Both of which are over rated imho. :whistle:

I would first suggest to him to go and get some of the basic cultivars first that he can see what he likes.
Red:Merlot. Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinotage.
White:Sauvignon Blanc. Chardonnay. Chenin Blanc. Semillon.

When you have done this then perhaps look at a couple of blends. These are the fun ones, wher you can experiment a bit to see what you like.

But get to know the basics first.
An easy and great way to get to know and appreciate wines is smell/taste associations.
Smells (nose) like pepper, chocolate, berries, saddlesweat etc. are notes you will find in reds.
Smells like gooseberries, cat's piss, grass etc. are some of the ntoes that you will find in whites.

At the end of the day, wine is personal. Enjoy it.
Oh and another thing...price of wine does not equate to quality of wine.
The quality of a wine is found in the enjoyment of the wine. :)

Also I do think that bluno is spot on...if you want to appreciate the wine...then go and do a course.
Get some people together and most of the "tasting companies" will do a private tasting if you have enough people.
 
Last edited:
OMG.

Kage and I agreed, I better edit my post ;)
 
I taught myself to enjoy wine, and ended up liking a good red. Shiraz/Syrah is my varietal of choice, with Merlot and Pinotage following not far behind. Although you might consider them a bit dry if you are just starting out, and that's not even talking about a Cabernet. There are some good red blends that are reasonably priced as well.

The younger Pinotages (Beyerskloof) and Shiraz (Swartland) are not expensive. As I have discovered, wine preferences are very subjective, and what I like you might be averse to. As tau1z said, you can't judge a wine by it's cost, that's for sure. I have some +/-R50 bottles of wine that are brilliant and R100+ bottles that were rather unpleasant. It's all up to what you like, really, at the end of the day. Would also recommend John Platter's Wine Guide, that is published annually, that has some nice explanations of the regions and varietals in South Africa, and their rating systems is pretty accurate, but don't use it exclusively.

B
 
blunomore said:
For the real McCoy, go to the Cape Wine Academy. You even get a certificate or diploma at the end ! :)

They present courses right here in JHB, at the Michelangelo and at Browns - love that place!

I 've wanted to go, but the price is a tad steep. Worth it, though, I think!

http://www.capewineacademy.co.za/
Click to expand...

Thanks for this!!! I definitely want to go on a course, that site, is blocked at the client for some bizarre reason (when facebook and torrents are open). Will check it out at the hotel!!!

w1z4rd said:
All I need to know about wine can be found here: http://www.winehq.org/
Click to expand...

I laughed quite a bit.... i gave up on wine a long long time ago :)

Kage said:
Errr...did you read the OP?
You expect him to appreciate a Meerlust and Rothchilde?
Both of which are over rated imho. :whistle:

I would first suggest to him to go and get some of the basic cultivars first that he can see what he likes.
Red:Merlot. Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinotage.
White:Sauvignon Blanc. Chardonnay. Chenin Blanc. Semillon.

When you have done this then perhaps look at a couple of blends. These are the fun ones, wher you can experiment a bit to see what you like.

But get to know the basics first.
An easy and great way to get to know and appreciate wines is smell/taste associations.
Smells (nose) like pepper, chocolate, berries, saddlesweat etc. are notes you will find in reds.
Smells like gooseberries, cat's piss, grass etc. are some of the ntoes that you will find in whites.

At the end of the day, wine is personal. Enjoy it.
Oh and another thing...price of wine does not equate to quality of wine.
The quality of a wine is found in the enjoyment of the wine. :)

Also I do think that bluno is spot on...if you want to appreciate the wine...then go and do a course.
Get some people together and most of the "tasting companies" will do a private tasting if you have enough people.
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks!! Red some how seems more appealing..i dont know why, but it does.
Will buy a few bottles and see what doesnt make my face curl up and give me goosebumps.

I think the course will help quite a bit, I hated whiskey till I went on a few tours/courses in scotland. Of course, I was 19 at the time, and ended up getting violently ill by the 4th or 5th day, and that was the end of that. But I know, somewhere, i started to enjoy it before completely ruining it forever
 
I didn't say they were the best... i'm just saying that they those wines will teach you about good wine.

If you drink those and don't enjoy then wine is not your thing.

A friend of mine did one of those wine courses and they are really good.
Also go to something like winex... so much to taste you will find your favorite.
 
ponder said:
I drink what I like.
Click to expand...



Are you the Steve Biko of wines? :D Apparently he used to say "I write what I like".

By the way, tau1z, getting into wine will up your social status as well as that of your partner - in France, women who do not drink wine are frowned upon :)
 
tau1z said:
I hate the stuff.
I drink lager, and after that, I drink vodka.
My partner hates the stuff, she drinks spirits, and after that, well, she just drinks that.

However, we both like the idea of wine, the idea of so many different flavours, of matching a wine to a meal etc. And so, have decided we will give it a proper bash!

Can anyone recommend a course where we can go on to learn about wines etc and try get some kind of an idea for the stuff? Or perhaps recommend some bottles (reasonably priced :) and not crackling :) ) to ease us into the process?

I figure give one last final push to try seem cultured before I become the stereotypical big belly lager drinker
Click to expand...
good luck! i prefer beer ( black label or amstel) then spirits. i tried wine, it`s not for me
 
tau1z said:
Awesome thanks!! Red some how seems more appealing..i dont know why, but it does.
Will buy a few bottles and see what doesnt make my face curl up and give me goosebumps.
Click to expand...

I prefer reds. More character and a lot more flexible.
Nothing better on a hot summer's day than a chilled bottle of Shiraz.
Graham Beck makes an excellent Pino/shiraz cap classique actually.

What you could look at doing is perhaps 2 cultivars a week, white and a red.
3 bottles by 3 different farms and see what you like.
Merlot from 1 farm will taste different than merlot from another farm..soil, weather etc all are influencing factors.
 
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