For The Love Of Port

I am curious as to what other Forumites enjoy drinking besides Port & Madeira:

My other vinous areas of passion are:

* South African whites and reds
* Chablis
* Amarone & Valpolicella and/or Nebbiolo grape Itals
* Domestic Pinot Noir
* CA Cabs and Syrah
* CdP and Cote Rotie
* Burg & Bdx ... of course
* Ridge Geyserville and other variants on their Zin formula

For me the following:

Zinfandel's (Especially from Elyse and Ridge)
California Cab's and Pinot Noir (Been drinking Pinot well before that stupid movie, )
German Rieslings
A few Australian Reds (Syrah and blends)
and of course Burg's and Bdx's

Beside Port and Madeira here are the region that my cellar is mostly build of:

Bordeaux red, I tend to buy more Pessac as I find the earthy character of geat Douro traditionnal wines like old redoma and casa Ferreirinha wines.

Douro Red of course

Italian sangiovese, I just love these wines when they are mature, the bouquet is so complex and fresh. The 97 brunellos are a perfect example right now.

Burgundy, Its hard to find great QPR in this region but when you face a great bottle it is hard to resist to buy more, again I love the earthy character in Burgundy.

Then I have some Nebbiolo base wines, Amarone and wines around France.

As years are passing I don't buy much Aussies and USA Zin and Cab as I used to. But bottles like Rubicon will always find a special place in my cellar!

My taste is best described as traditionally English - Port and Claret. Much as I love other wines (right now I am sipping a Chateau Beaucastel 1996 - yummy!) there's just so much to choose from that I will never cope unless I draw some boundaries.

If I take my cellar as an example of my taste, it is:
1) Port - approx 30%
2) Red bordeaux - approx 35%
3) Champagne - approx 10%
4) Australian reds - approx 10%
5) Dessert wines (from all over the world) - approx 10%
6) South African reds - approx 5%
7) Other stuff - probably about 5% but then the math doesn't work out

Alex

From Cellartracker:
France 48.10%
Spain 12.03%
Germany 10.76%
USA 10.13%
Portugal 9.49%
Italy 3.80%
Australia 2.53%
Chile 1.27%
Hungary 1.27%
New Zealand 0.63%

But this is pretty skewed as this is the stuff in my cellar back in the states. Here in Spain I've been drinking mainly Spanish, and not stocking wine as much as tasting all that's out there.

Douro Reds (but I'm ITB)
CdP / other Rhone
Bordeaux
BA / TBA from Germany or Austria

The most still wines I prefer are French wines, followed by wines from Italy and then Austria.
I'm not much into new world wines.

From France for reds I like Bordeaux the most, but I also like Madiran and Cahors. Whites Alcase (Riesling) and Bourgundy.
From Italy I almost like everything. Lovely Chianti's, Barolo's, Amarones, Barbera's, etc.
From Austria I like the Blauburgunder, Sauvignon Blanc and of course TBA's.

Monique.

Fascinating so far. I wish it was a requirement for everybody to disclose their favorites. It is very revealing. I enjoy seeing what other's palates appreciate. It puts things into a more complete perspective understanding the nuances of the wines they like.

For example: There is no surprise that lots of people who like Port, also appreciate wines from the Veneto region of Italy (Amarone and Valp. especially) or Zinfandel from the USA or even Aussie Shiraz, not to mention Burgundy.

Now I have some of you scratching your head and thinking, "is this guy nuts? He should have quit at Shiraz! Burgundy?

But think of all the wines I mentioned in my example ... which has the most to do with textural pleasure? Without question: Burgundy. That is the relevance to Port as I watch for the textural sensation that Port delivers to my tongue, cheeks and palate over all.

Anyway, I hope that folks who are reading this thread for the first time, will enter there favorite. And if you use CellarTracker, please be more specific than just saying France. How can we tell if you love big Chateuneufs or are turned on by the delicate minerality of a Chablis?

Thanks.

Most of the red wine I buy is Aussie Shiraz - the blacker and heavier the better in my book - I'm also a big fan of Gran Reserva Rioja. Never really took to French wine but I have to say I've never tried anything special. Sorry Roy, but I haven't tasted a wine from the USA that I have enjoyed. This may be because you send all the crap stuff over here and keep the good ones for yourselves

Also have to point out that I never drink white - for some reason it seems to make me fall over and wake up with an extremely sore head - most of it also tastes like vinegar.

When it comes to taste and VFM give me port any day of the week

Derek

Riesling for me. Everything from dry to late harvest. Alsace, Germany, Austria, and am starting to get into Australian versions. I still have some 1970's era California late harvest ones which are drinking well now.
Italian wines from Friuli. The whites are getting pretty well known, but I think the reds are also very good and underpriced. Barolo and Barbaresco, also from Italy.
Been drinking a lot more Champagne recently as well; growers and Grande Marques.

I enjoy a mixture of wine I enjoy bordeaux best drunk with a meal,aussie wines stand alone drink anytime.But I really enjoy wines from the rhone.My cellar consists of 45% port ,30% french,5%madeira,the rest a real mixture.My wife loves dessert wines her favourite at the moment is California orange muscat,although she enjoyed a 2001 chateau Peyruchet recently.

Riesling (mainly German with some Alsace)
Calif Cab
Norther Rhones
Champagne
Red Burgs
Some Italians

France
Bordeaux
Rhone
Burgundy 75.81%

Italy
Piedmont
Tuscany 13.46%

Germany
Riesling 3.68%

Spain
mixed bag 2.14%

Port 2.07%

Usa
Old cabs pre 1990 2.84%