Wine Information

choosing a good red wine and corked wine Q please?

I have recently started enjoying red wine :) I went to a restaurant the other day (a very nice one) with my GF and ordered a relatively expensive red. £30 The taste could only be descried as terrible, I couldn't drink it, it was so strong (acidic) tasting but tasted of nothing at the same time. I asked the waiter to taste it as my GF found it fine to drink??? He said it was ok???? But im sure that wasn't right? Was it corked or am I sensitive to strong tasting red wine? Ive looked up the different ways of telling corked wine but cant put my finger on them or compare it to that taste. I've never tasted any other red like it until I was giving a rack of wine that had been sitting in a house. started with a 99 Merlot which was delightful then another a couple of days later roughly the same age (cant remember what it was) and it was awful tasted just like the wine in the restaurant. Can anyone advise a soft, smooth but flavour sum wine for me to enjoy. Thanks

Public Comments

1. I love the following reds: Italian Marchesi di Barolo Barbaresco Italian Castello Banfi Rosso di Montalcino Napa, USA - Opus One Cabernet Sauvignon Napa, USA - Honig Cabernet Sauvignon Just a few of my favorites.
2. Red wine is a lot like buying clothes, just because they cost more or come from a "designer label" doesn't always mean that they will be a better wine... Restaurants are a prime example of this and it's well known that the wine is simply sold at a higher price, even when the wine itself may be of low quality... So what you think is going to be a nice £30 bottle, was probably just a cheap french plonk. I recently went to a restaurant where they sold a high-street label wine, It was a Wolf Blass that I can pay £8 at the supermarket, They wanted £25 for it! not that Wolf Blass is crap but to illustrate a point that price isn't always a good guide to quality... If you're new to the wine world, it might be worth while working your way up the spectrum, start from cheap off the shelf wines and then work your way up, that way you will begin to learn the differences and get to know what best suits you, a shiraz for one person for example may be a different experience to another and one Merlot will vary to the next...Experiment until you find a wine that suits your palate but it is pointless paying more for wine until you can fully appreciate it. With regard to your point about corking, your experience does sound a little like a corked wine but it's usually quite apparent though and can often leave the wine with a lack of fruit and can leave the wine tasting of mould or wet cardboard. Someone who is not familiar with wine and has just paid £30 might just try to ignore it and a waiter will be happy to let you drink it if you don't complain... That said, The acidity part could mean that the wine had become oxidized at some point, this turns it like sherry and feel quite acidic. Like I said before though, some wines just are acidic and not to everyones taste! The world of wine is now just that, A world full! The french have often led the way in wine but recently some of the Australian and African wines have been offering a real challenge, so try some of these... There's so many to try, it's really pot luck! Have a look for some books like the wine guide and have a look across the web, there's a number of good sites that can help, just type "Wine guide" etc into google.
3. I disagree with the previous poster. Your bottle sounds nothing like a corked bottle. If it was so corked that you, a beginning wine drinker, noticed it, the server CETAINLY would have noticed, assuming he's been even slightly trained in wine. You probably just did not agree with the taste. Sounds like you don't like tight or tannic wines. You like them to be very very mellow and possibly slightly past peak. There's nothing wrong with that. : ) Merlots may be a great entry level wine for you. They are typically very smooth and mellow. You can also spend a few £ on a decanter - decanting even an inexpensive wine can mellow it out significantly.
4. Young (less than 5 years ish) tannic red wines have a strange effect in your mouth. They basically remove all of your saliva leaving you unable to taste anything. I think this best fits the description you gave of the reaction you had to the wine. Each person is individually more or less sensitive to tannins. If you are very sensitive then you need to avoid young wines made with Bordeaux grapes; Cab S, Cab F, Merlot, etc. Try wines made with Syrah grapes or Zinfandel. Also look for wines with higher alcohol 14%+, they tend to be less acidic.