That's such a shame that there's no topic about wine here!

[Bricolo]

With all the wine amateurs here, it's strange that there's no topic about wine!

Let's try to remedy this


I remembered a conversation I had here with Grey, about american wine.
Yesterdey my father and I opened a bottle that an american friend offered us, a wine from the Alexander Valley (nice name ) called Symmetry.

And I was surprised! I didn't know that american wines were so nice.
Grey told me that those meritage wines try to reproduce Bordeaux, they do it pretty well! Except from the smell of red fruits that was more present, the difference is subtile. This wine had everything I like: powerfull, refined, just as tannic as I like, and a taste that stays long in the mouth.

A really good experience.

But of course you're free to talk about french wines


Alex

[SY]

We drift in and out of this on occasion. Not enough discussion about Alsace, though. As for provenance, I've had superb wines from France, California, New Jersey (!), Washington, Oregon, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Moldava, Lebanon, New York, Chile, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Portugal....

I'm moving this over to Off Topic, since... it's Off Topic.

[chipco3434]

French wines? They're all grown on American rootstock. Google Phylloxera.

[SY]

Originally posted by chipco3434
French wines? They're all grown on American rootstock. Google Phylloxera.

Not all. Bandol, for example.

[netgeek]

If you liked the Rodney Strong Symmetry, you might also try:

Davis Bynum "Westside Road"
Fess Parker"Meritage"
Simi "Tapestry

and many others - to include Opus One.

O, for something different, some of the white "meritage" stuff can be tasty as well - e.g. St. Supery Meritage or Caymus "Conundrum"....

Cheers!

[Bricolo]

how much do they cost?

[SY]

Originally posted by Bricolo
how much do they cost?

In France, who knows? The import laws and customs there are set up so that American wine is difficult to find and horribly expensive for the quality.

[netgeek]

Sy is probably right so I can't estimate *what* any of them might cost there. Back home in California I'd say "roughly US$18 to US$25" for any of the above - except for the Opus (around $100 or more).

I probably have as much difficulty as you'd have finding it - and at a reasonable price - here in the Washington DC area... Everyone here seems to think Kendall-Jackson is the only American wine made... Sigh... hopefully back home within the year!

[Bricolo]

I'm curious, how much is a 1998 Symmetry?

[SY]

Originally posted by Bricolo
I'm curious, how much is a 1998 Symmetry?

Off vintage. Probably US$40 or so. The '99 retails for $55, and can be found for a bit less with some shopping.