Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
Heavy Wine Bottles
In my posts, I’ve been calling out bottles that weigh more than the wine they contain, which I’ve named Bloated Bottle Syndrome. The web site of nearly every winery will usually include a mention of the operation’s dedication to “sustainability” and “stewardship.” Unfortunately, this often seems only to extend to the property itself. Many “premium” wines come in heavier bottles to allegedly denote higher quality.
My favorite brandy of all time is Kelt VSOP Tour du Monde. Just a few years ago, it was selling for $40 a bottle; now it’s $60. Brands like Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Hardy have suffered similar inflation. Capitalism at its finest. Regardless, all of them are too expensive for me to drink on a regular basis. For that, I need a good cheap brandy under $30. American producers include Paul Masson, Christian Brothers, Korbel, and E&J Gallo. And there are readily-available European offerings such as St. Rémy from France, Hartley from Italy, Pedro Domecq from Mexico, and Veterano from Spain.
How to Read a Wine List
This rant is also available as a podcast episode.
When presented with a restaurant wine list, don’t be rushed or intimidated. The server will often hand you a pages-long list, but then expect you to make a selection immediately, before you have any idea what foods you’re going to pair it with. That’s a bad idea. My suggestion is to just ask for water and then that will give you time to try and figure out what your entree is going to be. Sometimes the server will still try to rush you because they are on a schedule. Just politely say, “Well, we will have some wine with dinner, but we don’t know what we’re eating. So we need some time. Once we decide on our food, then we’re going to order some wine to go with it.”