Wine Drinking - N00b Trip Report II

[IggyWH]

Incase you missed it and are interested in it, here is Trip Report I

I'm working a wicked out of town schedule that leaves me home pretty much Friday and Saturday. So, instead of going out, I've decided to hittup the liquor store again and buy a couple more bottles of wine.

Due to suggestions in the above linked Trip Report I, I ended up going with these two :

Lindemans Pinot Noir Bin 99



$9


Columbia Crest Two Vines Shiraz



$9 on sale for $7.50

As the same from last thread, both bottles are probably more expensive than most of you pay because liquor & wine are state sold here in PA. Once again, both bottles went right into my fridge.

Here are my impressions :

Lindemans Pinot Noir Bin 99

I went with this bottle for a couple reaons. First off, I wanted a Pinot Noir per El D's recommendation from the previous thread. I chose to go with Lindermans for two reaons. First, I dug the Yellow Tail I had last time and that was Australian just like the Lindemans. Second, when I drink Framboise, it's always Lindemans so I have positive experience from the name.

Pinot Noir was new to me and I didn't really know what to expect. I popped the fake cork bottle open on Friday. The first glass I had of this I was kind of iffy on. It was fruity, but not quite as fruity as the Yellow Tail Shiraz that I dug and I'm now using as my standard for comparison. The fruit taste seemed a little more thin to me, while the overall alcohol taste of the wine seemed a lot greater to me.

Today, I had another glass after dinner while watching the football game. It's really starting to grow on me. What at first I thought was a strong alky taste and a thin fruit taste seems to now have a pretty noticeable fruit taste to me. I poured this glass and let it sit out for about 1/2 an hour before drinking it, and what I've learned from my previous thread is that air can change the taste.

I'm thinking in the future, I may want to just drink this wine warm after I let the air hit it for a little while. It really seemed to shift the flavor of the wine. I'll definitely buy some Pinot Nior in the future but try another brand instead of Lindermans.


Columbia Crest Two Vines Shiraz

I went with this bottle for a couple reaons. Columbia Crest was a brand recommended in the Best Wine For Under $6/Bottle thread, enough though I didn't have a good experience with the Merlot-Cabernet blend. Also, since I dug the Yellow Tail Shiraz, I was thinking maybe Shiraz is "me" and wanted to find that out by trying a different brand.

I also had my first glass of this on Friday after my glass of the above mentioned Lindermans. It had a real cork, which made me happy to know I can store it on its side in my fridge and not have to worry about it leaking.

I'm definitely digging Shiraz right now as this wine was definitely hitting the spot. Not quite as good as the Yellow Tail I had last weekend, but still yummy. Nice, smooth fruit flavor that was somewhat strong, but not overkill. I also had a glass while eating dinner (cheeseburger and fries) which I thought it went well with since it doesn't really feel like I'm drinking something with alcohol. I'm not a fan of mixing food and alcohol.

I've now had 2 kinds of Columbia Crest, one I didn't like and the other I liked, but I dug another brand better. I think in the future I'll stay away from Columbia Crest but Shiraz I'll definitely check out again.

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In the end, I did in fact like the Pinot Nior, but I think the Shiraz is more my current taste. The liquor store had a bottle of Yellow Tail Reserve Shiraz that I was considering picking up, but it was $14. I can't justify paying that much for a bottle of wine while I'm still experimenting and I also don't really want to get set in a specific wine quite yet. I'm still trying to find myself when it comes to wine and it's kind of exciting.

As for my next trip, I'm open to suggestions, and I think I'm ready to venture into white wines now. From my limited experience, I'm looking for something not dry and fruity, so if you can offer up a white wine suggestion that seems to fit those requirements, fire away. I'm also thinking since I dig Shiraz to give some of the blends with Shiraz a try. I'm open to suggestions on that too.

As per my previous thread suggestions, I was looking to try a Spanish wine, but it seems like the liquor store near me doesn't really carry anything decent. The Spanish wine section is small and includes a lot of 1.5L bottles for like $7-$8. I assume this is stuff that would be better suited drinking out of the brown paper bag considering I'm paying that much or even more for 750mL bottles.