Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

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cncm
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Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by cncm »

Hi all - I recently received an important promotion and would like to thank some of my sponsors. I'd like to gift wine but am not a huge wine drinker. Could you let me know what are some good choices (i.e. vintages/makers that are well known) in the $100-200 range as well as $200-300 range?

Thanks!
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by jebmke »

Might skim through this recent thread
viewtopic.php?p=6449897

Wine is a difficult gift unless you know the tastes of the recipient well.
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oxothuk
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by oxothuk »

jebmke wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:43 pm Might skim through this recent thread
viewtopic.php?p=6449897

Wine is a difficult gift unless you know the tastes of the recipient well.
+1
Sounds like a situation where you want to spent a fair amount of money and also for the recipients to know that you spent a fair amount of money. Much easier to do this with Scotch than with wine.
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Bogle7
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by Bogle7 »

If you are doing signaling, then https://top100.winespectator.com/lists/
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ResearchMed
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by ResearchMed »

cncm wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:40 pm Hi all - I recently received an important promotion and would like to thank some of my sponsors. I'd like to gift wine but am not a huge wine drinker. Could you let me know what are some good choices (i.e. vintages/makers that are well known) in the $100-200 range as well as $200-300 range?

Thanks!
Wines can be very personal, even more so than the "Coke vs Pepsi" choice! :D

There are some wines that if I were to receive them as a gift, I'd be *delighted*, and others... that I'd probably re-gift (unless the gifter was there for dinner, in which case, I'd offer to open it for the meal anyway - and thus perhaps not have the wine that I had planned...).

Since this is a thank you and also somewhat celebratory, how about a nice bottle of Champagne? Although there can also be strong preferences for Champagne, that's something that is usually handled differently than "serious wine". And it's not unusual for any type of celebration.

But choose something special (that doesn't simple mean "more dollars"), and preferably from France (from the actual Champagne region), unless you happen to have a particular connection to a specificvregion in California (or elsewhere). In that latter case, do mention the personal connection along with your thanks/appreciation/etc.

You could use one of the "wine/champagne guides" or ask at a good wine store, probably not a liquor store that also has wine and champagne, unless you know that they "know" wines.

It's a very nice gesture.

And congratulations on your promotion!

RM
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Bogle7
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Bubbly is always good

Post by Bogle7 »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:13 pm, how about a nice bottle of Champagne?
+1
This https://www.crownwineandspirits.com/pol ... 004-750ml/ is the most awesome champagne I have ever had. A friend poured it for us in his back yard. OMG!
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by London »

Phelps Insignia. I don’t know if you’ll like it, but that’s what I gravitate towards when I splurge.
DurangoWino
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by DurangoWino »

The Wine Spectator app is pretty good. Any rating 94 and above will be very good. If you have a good wine shop in town they should be able to steer you to a great wine in your price range. Check its rating in your WS app to make sure that they like it. The person suggesting the champagne bottle is a great way to go, but then again I know a few folks that don’t like champagne. Bet they never had a really good one.

I like California Cabs but they have gotten very expensive and sometimes you don’t get what you pay for…where the app comes in handy.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by NOLA »

Im a big fan of red wine! Caymus is very famous wine, and most wine drinkers know about them. Their Caymus Special Selection is right at $200 and is an excellent wine! I think that would be a very good and safe bet!
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by DurangoWino »

Big thumbs up on the Caymus Special Select.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by Cruise »

Do you know if they drink reds or whites? What kind of foods do they consume?

If they like their steaks and racks of lamb, a bold red would be good. A Brunello from Montalcino would be special. Don’t buy one under $100 unless you get one with a Wine Spectator rating for the year over 90. Another Italian wine I love is Ornellaia. Opus One is a great California red. Henscke is a great Australian red, but may be hard to find.

If they don’t necessarily like blood-red meats, a great California Pinot Noir producer is Sojourn. Order from their website or call them. Free shipping if you buy 6 bottles or more. You can mix and match. You can find great wines for $70.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by mkc »

Best to try and find out what kind of wines they like first. It's highly personal and we have been gifted some that, while well-intended and highly rated, are varietals we don't care for at all and would never open.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by PNWpilot »

I consider myself something of an oenophile.

I personally can’t stand Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate. The running joke in the wine industry is that James Suckling and Robert Parker don’t promote “wine appreciation” but rather they promote “new-oak appreciation.” Their ideas of good wine just doesn’t match my taste.

Most wineries spend somewhere between $5-$50 to make a bottle of wine. If you’re spending more than $100 on a bottle, you’re usually just paying for the pedigree of the winemaker/vineyard. The quality doesn’t tend to increase proportionate to price beyond $100 per bottle. Some will disagree, but I have had amazing wine that is less than $50 and turned my nose at expensive bottles.

However, if you’re trying to gift wine to people whose tastes you don’t know, stick with the basics. Good choices under $100 are Caymus Cabernet or Stags Leap. Over $100 I would start looking at Overture by Opus One. Greater than $200 I would start looking at 2017-2018 Opus One. I’m not saying those wines are good, but they’re prestigious enough to get your point across for a gift.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by PNWpilot »

Also as a side note, Cabernet Sauvignon is not a popular wine to drink among a lot of winemakers/oenophiles. It’s an incredibly economic grape to farm with high yields and sturdy vines, and many imperfections in the grape can usually be masked by aging with oak.

The farmers and winemakers know this and this have worked hard to market the wine to many consumers, often touting high ratings and “sophisticated” winemaking techniques to drive up the price. If one expands their horizons into other varietals and blends, they often times will leave cab sav in the rearview and never look back.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by Thesaints »

Champagne, definitely. That way you don’t have to guess if the recipient likes barolo or brunello.
At your price range I would suggest a belle epoque, which comes in a beautiful art deco bottle.
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cncm
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by cncm »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:13 pm
cncm wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:40 pm Hi all - I recently received an important promotion and would like to thank some of my sponsors. I'd like to gift wine but am not a huge wine drinker. Could you let me know what are some good choices (i.e. vintages/makers that are well known) in the $100-200 range as well as $200-300 range?

Thanks!
Wines can be very personal, even more so than the "Coke vs Pepsi" choice! :D

There are some wines that if I were to receive them as a gift, I'd be *delighted*, and others... that I'd probably re-gift (unless the gifter was there for dinner, in which case, I'd offer to open it for the meal anyway - and thus perhaps not have the wine that I had planned...).

Since this is a thank you and also somewhat celebratory, how about a nice bottle of Champagne? Although there can also be strong preferences for Champagne, that's something that is usually handled differently than "serious wine". And it's not unusual for any type of celebration.

But choose something special (that doesn't simple mean "more dollars"), and preferably from France (from the actual Champagne region), unless you happen to have a particular connection to a specificvregion in California (or elsewhere). In that latter case, do mention the personal connection along with your thanks/appreciation/etc.

You could use one of the "wine/champagne guides" or ask at a good wine store, probably not a liquor store that also has wine and champagne, unless you know that they "know" wines.

It's a very nice gesture.

And congratulations on your promotion!

RM
Thanks! As a non wine drinker, I didn't realize wine would be considered as such a personal gift...I thought it'd be more of a standard gift (like a box of chocolate, but higher-end). Any particular champagne you would recommend?
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cncm
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by cncm »

NOLA wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:08 pm Im a big fan of red wine! Caymus is very famous wine, and most wine drinkers know about them. Their Caymus Special Selection is right at $200 and is an excellent wine! I think that would be a very good and safe bet!
Perfect, will take a look. Price point is exactly what I'm looking for.
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cncm
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by cncm »

PNWpilot wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:51 am I consider myself something of an oenophile.

I personally can’t stand Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate. The running joke in the wine industry is that James Suckling and Robert Parker don’t promote “wine appreciation” but rather they promote “new-oak appreciation.” Their ideas of good wine just doesn’t match my taste.

Most wineries spend somewhere between $5-$50 to make a bottle of wine. If you’re spending more than $100 on a bottle, you’re usually just paying for the pedigree of the winemaker/vineyard. The quality doesn’t tend to increase proportionate to price beyond $100 per bottle. Some will disagree, but I have had amazing wine that is less than $50 and turned my nose at expensive bottles.

However, if you’re trying to gift wine to people whose tastes you don’t know, stick with the basics. Good choices under $100 are Caymus Cabernet or Stags Leap. Over $100 I would start looking at Overture by Opus One. Greater than $200 I would start looking at 2017-2018 Opus One. I’m not saying those wines are good, but they’re prestigious enough to get your point across for a gift.
Thanks - I was told by a colleague to gift Opus One as it's "considered the best"...so it's good to see you recommend the same as well. I'm a little confused by the pricing. I see the 2018 vintage as $365ish on the winery's website, but I also see some places selling them for under $200, like https://www.shopwinedirect.com/opus-one ... =cellar745. Am I missing something? Don't want to get scammed. I'm trying to keep the cost to $200-$250 ideally as I have ~8 people to thank.
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cncm
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by cncm »

cncm wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:12 pm
PNWpilot wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:51 am I consider myself something of an oenophile.

I personally can’t stand Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate. The running joke in the wine industry is that James Suckling and Robert Parker don’t promote “wine appreciation” but rather they promote “new-oak appreciation.” Their ideas of good wine just doesn’t match my taste.

Most wineries spend somewhere between $5-$50 to make a bottle of wine. If you’re spending more than $100 on a bottle, you’re usually just paying for the pedigree of the winemaker/vineyard. The quality doesn’t tend to increase proportionate to price beyond $100 per bottle. Some will disagree, but I have had amazing wine that is less than $50 and turned my nose at expensive bottles.

However, if you’re trying to gift wine to people whose tastes you don’t know, stick with the basics. Good choices under $100 are Caymus Cabernet or Stags Leap. Over $100 I would start looking at Overture by Opus One. Greater than $200 I would start looking at 2017-2018 Opus One. I’m not saying those wines are good, but they’re prestigious enough to get your point across for a gift.
Thanks - I was told by a colleague to gift Opus One as it's "considered the best"...so it's good to see you recommend the same as well. I'm a little confused by the pricing. I see the 2018 vintage as $365ish on the winery's website, but I also see some places selling them for under $200, like https://www.shopwinedirect.com/opus-one ... =cellar745. Am I missing something? Don't want to get scammed. I'm trying to keep the cost to $200-$250 ideally as I have ~8 people to thank.
Never mind - I see why it's cheaper...it's a half bottle!! Unfortunately I think it's a bit out of my price range at $365 for a full bottle.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by ResearchMed »

cncm wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:07 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:13 pm
cncm wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:40 pm Hi all - I recently received an important promotion and would like to thank some of my sponsors. I'd like to gift wine but am not a huge wine drinker. Could you let me know what are some good choices (i.e. vintages/makers that are well known) in the $100-200 range as well as $200-300 range?

Thanks!
Wines can be very personal, even more so than the "Coke vs Pepsi" choice! :D

There are some wines that if I were to receive them as a gift, I'd be *delighted*, and others... that I'd probably re-gift (unless the gifter was there for dinner, in which case, I'd offer to open it for the meal anyway - and thus perhaps not have the wine that I had planned...).

Since this is a thank you and also somewhat celebratory, how about a nice bottle of Champagne? Although there can also be strong preferences for Champagne, that's something that is usually handled differently than "serious wine". And it's not unusual for any type of celebration.

But choose something special (that doesn't simple mean "more dollars"), and preferably from France (from the actual Champagne region), unless you happen to have a particular connection to a specificvregion in California (or elsewhere). In that latter case, do mention the personal connection along with your thanks/appreciation/etc.

You could use one of the "wine/champagne guides" or ask at a good wine store, probably not a liquor store that also has wine and champagne, unless you know that they "know" wines.

It's a very nice gesture.

And congratulations on your promotion!

RM
Thanks! As a non wine drinker, I didn't realize wine would be considered as such a personal gift...I thought it'd be more of a standard gift (like a box of chocolate, but higher-end). Any particular champagne you would recommend?
If you had a personal favorite Champagne, then I'd suggest that, with a note about how it's your favorite, etc.
But that won't work here.

If you are looking for a "name", and aren't sure if your recipients "know" Champagne, then you probably can't go wrong with Dom Perignon.
It's a well know "special" Champagne, for all but true Champagne aficionados, etc.

It might not be the "best" at that price point, but at that stage, you are also heading into the 'personal prefernce' area, with how dry, or what overtones, etc. (I'm not one of those; we are red wine folks, mostly fine Bordeaux, which can get pricy... Glad we've got a small refrigerated cellar so we probably don't need to buy much more unless we travel; one can't hand carry wine on board a plane anymore :annoyed )
But it will be recognized as "something special", not cheap, not trendy, and not inappropriately expensive (which is good all the way around).

Others may have other suggestions, and I'd guess (in advance) that they'd all be good for this purpose.

You can get a nice "wine gift bag", a special tall, thin bag (paper type is fine!) meant for wine bottle gifts. If you do that, make sure the Champange fits; some bottles might be wider than average.

Again, it's a very nice thought.

RM
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Bogle7
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Spend for the good stuff

Post by Bogle7 »

cncm wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:07 pm.. Any particular champagne you would recommend?
Yes,
Pol Roger 2004.
Amazing.
Ignore the price and just buy it.
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UpperNwGuy
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by UpperNwGuy »

I don't know where you live, but if it is near a good wine shop, I would go there and discuss the matter with one of their wine experts. I live in a major city, so I have several wine shops that would give excellent advice and would help you find a good wine at a good price.
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by MBB_Boy »

cncm wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:07 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:13 pm
cncm wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:40 pm Hi all - I recently received an important promotion and would like to thank some of my sponsors. I'd like to gift wine but am not a huge wine drinker. Could you let me know what are some good choices (i.e. vintages/makers that are well known) in the $100-200 range as well as $200-300 range?

Thanks!
Wines can be very personal, even more so than the "Coke vs Pepsi" choice! :D

There are some wines that if I were to receive them as a gift, I'd be *delighted*, and others... that I'd probably re-gift (unless the gifter was there for dinner, in which case, I'd offer to open it for the meal anyway - and thus perhaps not have the wine that I had planned...).

Since this is a thank you and also somewhat celebratory, how about a nice bottle of Champagne? Although there can also be strong preferences for Champagne, that's something that is usually handled differently than "serious wine". And it's not unusual for any type of celebration.

But choose something special (that doesn't simple mean "more dollars"), and preferably from France (from the actual Champagne region), unless you happen to have a particular connection to a specificvregion in California (or elsewhere). In that latter case, do mention the personal connection along with your thanks/appreciation/etc.

You could use one of the "wine/champagne guides" or ask at a good wine store, probably not a liquor store that also has wine and champagne, unless you know that they "know" wines.

It's a very nice gesture.

And congratulations on your promotion!

RM
Thanks! As a non wine drinker, I didn't realize wine would be considered as such a personal gift...I thought it'd be more of a standard gift (like a box of chocolate, but higher-end). Any particular champagne you would recommend?
I've been a member of Schramsberg for years, I'd highly recommend. Really cool story and history as well - every President starting with President Nixon has served it at State dinners (used in the 1972 "Toast to Peace" with China's Zhou). If you ever go, you can see the pictures and menus of events in a timeline. Last one I saw was that President Trump served it to Macron at a dinner in 2017 or so. Think the main was lamb (not paired with the Schramsberg directly!)

Can't go wrong with the J.Schram or Reserve (https://shop.schramsberg.com/SHOP.AMS?LEVEL=MID&CAT=CR)
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Re: Any wine enthusiasts/oenophiles here? Need advice

Post by MMiroir »

Many years ago I served an internship with with a very helpful mentor. We knew he liked Bordeaux, so at the end of the internship, I pooled my funds with another intern and we bought him a bottle of Mouton-Rothschild as a thank you. Fast forward 15 years, and I visited him in his new condominium. To my surprise, the bottle of Mouton was sitting upright on his kitchen counter top along with with several other bottles of wine. He said he kept the bottle on the countertop and was looking forward to saving it for a special occasion, and was wondering if it would be good to drink.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that the wine was probably spoiled from improper storage, but later on I realized that he got his own utility from gazing at a bottle of Mouton for 15+ years. In this case, the utility gained from the anticipation likely produced more pleasure than the actual event of drinking the bottle.

Today when I want to give wine as a thank you, I do so with the knowledge that the recipient may not be an oenophile, or if they are, their tastes may not match mine or they may not have the facilities or knowledge to properly store the bottle. Unless I know their tastes very well, I would avoid giving them a bottle of something that needs a decade in the cellar, like a Brunello, Barolo or some Bordeaux/California Cabs. Currently, I get either a bottle of vintage Champagne (Le Grande Dame is my favorite, but the Dom Perignon suggested earlier is excellent), or more likely get a mixed selection of three or four obscure reds and whites from one of my favorite wineries, Ridge. That way, they are likely to to enjoy something as part of the gift.

https://shop.ridgewine.com/shopping_cart/
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Bammerman
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Look into a "case club" at a good local wine shop

Post by Bammerman »

Here's a thought: give the person to be honored a one-month or one-year membership in a "case club" at your local wine shop -- assuming they have such a club. Mine does and many do. The wine shop "curates" each month's selection(s) and you will probably end up with good wines at decent-value-for-money prices. At my local wine shop, I take a half-case of reds ($98) that they select every month from all over the world. They provide a printout with descriptions of each wine (which, to tell the truth, can be pretty funny reading) and suggestions about good food pairings. I have been happy with this arrangement for several years now.
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