What are you drinking?

Well I can only wonder at what some of the above wines must be like. But I am however enjoying buying cheap but good wine direct from Portugal. I thought Brexit would ruin the deal but seems small orders....2 or 3 boxes....get through customs without taxes!
 
When it comes to the acidity of wine, I have always said and meant delicious acidity, like a prune or apple, not the harsh acidity of lemon or vinegar. I have never praised Pinot Grigio, but I think it is a good choice in hot weather. I consider Riesling to be the king of all white varieties, but this variety is very moody and from the large range I tried there were only two producers with good Riesling, and these were not wines from France or Germany. In second place is Verdejo from Rueda and Albariño. The quality of Spanish wines matches their price exactly, especially if the grape variety is typical for the region of growth. It is difficult to go wrong with quality and price here. In terms of French wines, I have come across some really good concrete-aged French wines, and in general they also have a wonderful refined acidity. A wine without acidity is a compote. Apparently, the French do not consult with experts about the balance in wine, but with each other. And, as many have already agreed, prices for many French wines are grossly overpriced. Obviously, the French themselves do not know which wine to buy for lunch today, since the choice is large, and the quality is unpredictable and not as stable as, for example, from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese producers.
Today I drink Blue Moon Пиво Blue Moon Belgian White Ale (Блю Мун Бельгийский Вайт Эль) 0.33 л купить по цене 141 руб. в Москве, интернет-магазин Wine-Shopper and Estonian Saku Kuld https://krasnoeibeloe.ru/catalog/importnoe_pivo/__2121/
 
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Some producers produce sour and too spicy wines, for example, by analogy with hot spices or chili. For example, I tried verdejo from a Spanish manufacturer in Rueda and got heartburn that I had a long time ago. Now I just don't buy this wine. Most likely, it needs to be kept in the bottle for at least a year or two, which is what other manufacturers do before selling. I have listed only a very small part of the European varieties. We also grow unique autochthonous varieties: Krasnostop, Siberian, Golubok, Sapevari, Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane. The last three are Georgian varieties that are also grown in Russia. Wine from Mtsvane has no analogues at all, very delicate and tasty, a very rare and expensive variety even in Georgia. It probably has a spicier taste and smell of meadow grasses and flowers, but not strong. It's neither sour nor sweet, just refreshing. Perhaps, in density, like ponogrigio, but a little more aromatic and tastier.
 
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hi friends

as many of you seems to have a second knowledge in drinks 🙂 may I ask you to identify this brevage :

"Ordinary?" Ukranian Cognac (i.e. Brandy) branded Doroshenko. There is a searchable website

Doroshenko Ukrainian Ordinary Cognac 5 Stars 40% 0.5l Ceramic Bottle ❤️ home delivery from the store Zakaz.ua

In the old USSR and satellites, homemade was freely labelled Cognac, Champagne etc as they didn't give a fig for trademarks! What yer gonna do?

Married to a Moscovite and with a Moldovian D.i.L, I see quite a change in quality and honesty. Moldovian Brandy and red wines can be very very
good.
 
I have listed only a very small part of the European varieties.

Eastern European wine varieties are poorly marketed in the US (I can't speak for the EU) so it's hard to have any experience with them. I did have to fight with the staff at a couple of places in Greece and Slovenia two years ago to get wines from 100% traditional local grape varieties. They kept insisting I won't like them but in both cases they were great.
 
:worship:

First toast will be for you.

A la vôtre!


View Moldova on google maps to see how it is intertwined in the regions states. Like Belgium it has been trampled on by the greater powers as they played their marching games across the region.

This is my favourite regional brandy. Superb and very expensive, even locally.
 

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Eastern European wine varieties are poorly marketed in the US (I can't speak for the EU)
It's pretty poor around here too. You get some wines from Greece and Hungary, sometimes from Romania and that's it. Usually not the best ones...

It's a pity. Plenty of good stuff there or in Moldova or even Turkey. But pretty much all those I had the occasion to try were gifts, not bought in Belgium.

edit: currently sipping a Ferreira Dona Antonia port. A very decent value point.
 

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Jerez Ialoveni Dry 1994 Analogous drinks, manufacturer: Vinuri Ialoveni, commodity group: Ialoveni (Ialoveni) Manufactured since 1965. Varieties: Sauvignon, Aligote, Rkatsiteli. 14-16 °. Rectified wheat is used for gluing. Aging for 1.5-2 years in Krasnodar oak barrels (yeast race - Sherry 20-C). In the USSR, there was a lot of controversy over wheat alcohol in fortified drinks, but this turned out to be a tradition from the tsarist even before the revolutionary times, when the Massandra winery was built in the Crimea. Wheat alcohol has been used to fortify wines since the beginning, and this presumably contributed to the taste for the better. The collection of Massandra wines (about one million bottles) is the largest in the world and was entered in 1998 in the Guinness Book of Records. The association includes 9 factories of primary and secondary winemaking and three independent factories. The main enterprise of the association is the Yalta Vintage Wine Factory. The industrial production of wine in Crimea was started with the assistance of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. He bought the best vines in Greece, Spain, France and Germany and planted them in Massandra, Alupka, Gurzuf and Ai-Danil. The first distillery in the Crimea was founded by the order of the Most Serene Prince. It was there that some varieties of Crimean ports, Madeira, and sherry were produced. The high quality of the wine was achieved by blending different varieties of grapes. In 1837, the quality of Massandra wines was highly appreciated by Emperor Nicholas I. By 1834, Massandra had over 16,000 vineyards. By the 1860s, the production of Crimean wines, already under the leadership of Semyon Mikhailovich Vorontsov, reached a new level. The brand "South Coast Wines of His Serene Highness Prince S. M. Vorontsov" became famous thanks to the brand stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don and Yalta. In 1881 a new cellar was built in Massandra.
Массандра (комбинат) — Википедия
 
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I am currently in quarantine because I traveled outside my province. The quarantine is 14 days, I aj jow on day 10. There is a liquor retailer here that delivers, so I placed an order a couple of days ago, which arrived the next morning. I ordered three locally produced bottles. One is Nova Scotia Spirit Co "Willing to Learn" gin, which I have had before and us quite good. I also ordered a bottle of "Fortress Rum" which is bottled locally, apparently West Indian rum imported and aged in barrels in Fortress Louisbourg whch is a National Historic Site. I don't know how they pulled that off but it's not bad. I also got a bottle oof a locally made rye whiskey called Glynnevan, from Seacoast Distilling in Guysborough NS. Not bad but a bit disappointing for the money.
Four days to go...
 
nezbleu,
I don't know if you can get these two recs. from me, if you can you should try a 'young' genever/gin, the oude/old is the same as English gin. On a freezing cold day In the Netherlands there's nothing like a big cup of strong Dutch coffee and two or three borretlje/nips of young gin. When I say cold, it's a different cold from that in Canada. When the wind comes in from the North sea it cuts right through you because it's a damp rather than dry cold. It's also good as a mixer.

The rums of Cuba and the Dominican Republic are a lot like Spey malts because they are aged in old sherry barrels, again if you can get them they are definitely worth a try.
 
If you mean London dry gin by English gin, it's rather the other way around. Young genever is more similar to it (less sugar, less malt, rather neutral taste). The old genever (sweeter, more malt used, sometimes aged in oak barrels) is quite a different experience, closer to whisky in a way.

edit: the next step is Korenwijn, even more strongly malted, which is interesting too.
 
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00940,
I don't understand your comment at all - yes, yong genever does have a neutral taste, that's why it makes a good mixer. In no way does it resemble English gin and Dutch oude genever are very similar. How you can say that the oude genever is similar to whisky either blended or malt is beyond me.

Herman a buurman who lived next door to me in Rotterdam had low blood pressure he had a prescription from his doctor which he loved and his wife totally disagreed with - to take a big shot of yong genever every morning and evening and it had to be the yong and not the oude. I can still see the twinkle in Herman's eyes and the stern look from his wife as he downed his morning dose.

As you will know both Belgium and the Netherlands are well known for their gins. If you must drink spirits then white spirits are the least damage to the liver. I have never been able to buy yong genever anywhere but in the Netherlands (never tried to buy in Belgium) In cold weather like this a good strong coffee and a couple of belts of young genever are just the ticket.

I must say that the best coffee is made in Belgium and nearly always accompanied by biscuits that go so well with coffee. How people can pay so much for the Starbucks watery milky crapo is beyond me.

For me the only coffee that can match the wonderful tasting strong Belgian coffee here in France is Cafe Richard. Whenever I see a sign that a cafe has a contract with Cafe Richard I have to stop and have a cup. Cafe latte, over priced milky crapo that shouldn't be allowed to be called coffee. Adding ground cardoman seeds on top aka Viennese style makes for an interesting and different taste.
 
Well, young genever and English gin are much more similar in the way they are produced. But it doesn't say much on how they taste, as it depends quite a lot on the strength/style of the flavoring.

Old genever is produced quite differently and has thus the potential to be quite different from gin, especially if the distiller decides to go easy on the herbs, uses some aging in barrels, go 100% malt wine based, etc. It's very much brand dependant though, so we might have some very different things in mind as reference points.

For myself, I find the old jenevers much more interesting. But de gustibus non est disputandum...

This page explains it quite well: Moutwijn (maltwine) genevers


edit: in Belgium, we don't really have that distinction. The regional variation (the "pequet") has a low minimum on malt wine (1.5%), similar to young genever. White spirit, cheap and undrinkable unless mixed. Filliers, which is the big decent distillery around here has started to produce 100% malt wine, aged versions: Filliers Barrel-Aged Genever is Changing the Belgian Spirit's Reputation
 
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When I say cold, it's a different cold from that in Canada. When the wind comes in from the North sea it cuts right through you because it's a damp rather than dry cold.

Canada is a big country. Where I live on the East coast I look out at the North Atlantic, and the cold is damp and relentless. Cars rust in the salt air and people shiver. Fishing boats return laden with their catch and sheathed in salt water ice.

I was in the Netherlands once in late November. It was very damp and pretty cold, though I found a nice bar that was warm and dry. 🙂
 
Well, young genever and English gin are much more similar in the way they are produced. But it doesn't say much on how they taste, as it depends quite a lot on the strength/style of the flavoring.

Old genever is produced quite differently and has thus the potential to be quite different from gin, especially if the distiller decides to go easy on the herbs, uses some aging in barrels, go 100% malt wine based, etc. It's very much brand dependant though, so we might have some very different things in mind as reference points.

For myself, I find the old jenevers much more interesting. But de gustibus non est disputandum...

This page explains it quite well: Moutwijn (maltwine) genevers




edit: in Belgium, we don't really have that distinction. The regional variation (the "pequet") has a low minimum on malt wine (1.5%), similar to young genever. White spirit, cheap and undrinkable unless mixed. Filliers, which is the big decent distillery around here has started to produce 100% malt wine, aged versions: Filliers Barrel-Aged Genever is Changing the Belgian Spirit's Reputation

If we all liked the same things life would be so bloody boring and I agree about reference points - slantje.