birthday wine!

[Dark Kiss]

in a few weeks time its my dads birthday and he always goes on about if an 'expensive' bottle of wine is alot nicer than a cheap one. sooo i have decided to buy him a bottle of red wine for around �20. any one have a suggestion as to what to buy??? he DOESNT like dry wines. id like to be able to buy the bottle in a supermarket rather than a pacific wine sellers. hope you can help! thankies

[Jugglering]

I'm a bit puzzled, Dark Kiss. Red wine is normally measured in terms of *light* bodied through to *full bodied* not sweet, medium or dry (that's the terminology usually applied to white and ros� wines). If he likes a medium bodied, soft, easy to drink red wine, you could have a look at a Cotes du Rhone. Ensure the label says Appellation (insert name of area here) Controlee. The more expensive bottles of wine are often to be found on the upper shelves in the supermarket btw but some (like Tesco's) have a special section for really nice wines.

I've not heard of pacific wine sellers - is that a chain or do you mean *specific* ?

[BBWCHATT]

If you started a conversation about wine with him - letting him think he is educating you about wine - just casually ask him what is his favorite - then you will be sure to get one that pleases him.

[Dark Kiss]

sorry Jugglering i dont really know anything about wine but he said he likes light wine i just asked.
he does normally drink a french ros� which he enjoys.

BBWCHATT his only really tryed cheap wine so we dont know what expensive ones he'll like

[BBWCHATT]

Dark - this is all the buzz here in the USA - you might want to listen to it:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?* ******=1963794

[BBWCHATT]

http://people.bath.ac.uk/su3ws/wine-faq/buying wine.shtml#what%20wine%20to%20buy

[warpig3]

I would suggest Chateauneuf-du-pape, its a full bodied red so he might find it a little heavy but in taste it is far superior to cheaper bottles, and I am sure he will be able to taste the difference. I havent bought it for quite a while but last time I did I bought a vintage (15yrs i think) bottle for �20-25.

[Kleiber]

I go with warpig on this, also a Rioja Reserva would be a good choice.

[Buenchico]

Cheaper French wines are often best avoided but when it comes to spending around �20 there are very few countries which produce wines as good as the French can.

I'm sure your father would love a good quality claret but, because the French never make things easy for us, the one word which you won't see on a bottle of claret is 'claret' ;-) Instead, look for the region 'St Emilion' (which produces some superb clarets), together with the words 'Grand Cru' (which defines the wine as being of the highest quality).

Warpig3 suggests Chateauneuf-du-pape. While I agree that you'll get a decent wine if you buy a bottle, my opinion is that it's often over-priced relative to its quality.

Kleiber suggests a Spanish Rioja Reserva. I love Rioja (as, I'm sure, will your father) but, at �20 per bottle, you should be looking above the 'Reserva' level of quality. The label should state 'Rioja Gran Reserva'.

Chris

[whessoe]

wolf blass yellow lable SHIRAZ red / super wine full of red fruit tastes awsome any white same lable/well under �10.00 a bottle

[filthiestfis]

I didnt think that �20 bottles of wine were considered to be that good.

[Kleiber]

Buenchico's absolutely right, of course -"Gran Reserva" is what I meant to say - and it's lovely! Thanks , Bc. Kxx