Booze Review: Paringa 2002 Shiraz

[solipsistnation]

An undistinguished shiraz. Yet another big, grapey, spicy shiraz without much finish or much complexity. An easy but not an exciting drinker. If somebody wondered what a shiraz was like, you could give them this and they'd be able to figure it out from here.

Aside from that, though, it's nothing special. It's not offend-your-friends bad, but it's not impress-your-friends good, either. I wouldn't turn it down unless there were something better in the offing.

In case people (ahem, kadath) are wondering, yes, I'm getting tired of shirazes. It's time to find something else that hasn't yet been discovered so I can be cool first again... Any suggestions?

Comments

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Chile's hot. (ahgahd, I crack myself up.) Concha y Toro is the big name vinyard right now, but I'm sure if you poke around you'll find some reds at a lower price point. I can't speak to Chilean whites, since whites are an abomination unto Dionysus. I also have a 2001 pinot noir from R. Stuart of Oregon sitting on my counter, mocking me because there's no way I can drink a bottle by myself, that comes highly recommended by my dad and his partner. And they're all wine-merchanty now, so they should know.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Huh, okay. Oregon wines (Pinot Noirs and Pinot Grisssses from Oregon tend to be pretty hip and pretty good), too, so that's almost certainly a very good wine you've got there. If only I could get my parents to mail me things... 8)

I'll watch for the Chilean wines...

Have you read Eddie Campbell's Bacchus? Recommended. 8)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Ha... those of us who grew up in South America have known Concha y Toro for years and years ;) I helped consume a good deal of a case of their `01 Casillero del Diablo cabernet sauvignon that my dad had during the 3+ weeks i was in Quito in July.

I gave my wife (then merely my coworker) a bottle of Santa Rita chardonnay to celebrate her divorce (it was an innocent and friendly gift, i swear; i didn't ask her out until a couple of months after that). Santa Rita's stuff is pretty good, too, as well as Undurraga.

Well.

[kentarokurahone.livejournal.com]

You could always do "Booze Review: 23 different 40oz Malt Liquors".

Re: Well.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Assuming I want to choke down even one, but, hey, thanks for the suggestion!

8)

(Actually, I could do the Unibroue overview, but I'd be pretty schnockered after, say, the third or fourth, so it might get just a teensy bit incoherent.)

Re: Well.

[zeeke42.livejournal.com]

Do. I picked up the wooden box Unibroue 3 pack thingie the other day; I haven't opened any of them yet. I'll probably try the first one some time this weekend, assuming my beer drinking roommates are around. I don't think drinking a whole bottle myself would be a good plan.

Re: Well.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Okay, here's the quickie: they're all very strong and very tasty. You can't go wrong.

If you want to expand upon that as you make your way through the box, please do. 8)

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

it's nothing special

Or, perhaps, as one of the guys put it at lunch yesterday, "It's a nothing wine: there's nothing offensive about it, but there's nothing great either".

(Lunch with wine snobs at least means I can be sure to have something nice to drink.)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sounds like it.

And I'm now somewhat envious of your lunches, except that in my case they're pretty much ensure that nothing got done in the afternoon. 8)

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Most of them aren't quite like the Christmas lunch. Usually it's just one of the many excellent pizza places around work (did I mention that I live and work in one of the main restaurant districts?) with three bottles of wine.

The *really* good lunches don't finish until 10PM or later...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Sigh.

The US sucks. I'm in the second largest metropolitan area in New England, and the best I could do for lunch is a place with Bass and Guinness on tap.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

We bring our own wine. Most of the pizza places will have excessively expensive dyed-red effluent.

But they can mostly make a really good pizza, and yesterday's gives out free port at the end of the meal if they like you, so it works out pretty well.

The wine thing sounds even better once you know that the boss knows a bunch of people in the wine trade, including the guy who used to make Wolf Blass Black Label. So we get good stuff that nobody else is hearing about, sometimes...

(Ah. Is it any wonder I like this job?)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but, well, in the US, most pizza places don't sell wine AT ALL, and you can't bring your own in, either. In fact, the places where you CAN BYOB are VERY VERY rare. I know of, um, one. Anywhere. I think they find it too much potential trouble ("If we're not selling them the booze, we can't tell them to stop when they get schnockered, and then they'll sue us when they do something dumb on the premises.").

So, yeah.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

The Edgemere Diner on Rt. 20 in Shrewsbury is BYOB. And on Friday nights they serve super-gourmet food.

http://www.worcesterphoenix.com/archive/food/00/11/09/EDGEMERE_DINER.html

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Wow. Most of the pizza places in this area at least are run by Italian immigrants or their kids. The idea of a pizza restaurant that *doesn't* have wine is totally alien.

Ah, the bonuses of living in an old Italian area... :)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I like beer with my pizza, anyway. I reserve wine for "real" food.

[wednesday]

Get a cheap ticket to France for the weekend, and get a room adjacent to a large grocery store. (I recommend something around La Grande Arche de la Defense in Paris, which has a massive Aucoin -- and a not insubstantial Fnac, when you need music or comics to drink by.) Between the wine, the cheese, the 99% Lindt, and the Hippopotamus, you'd be set. I was consistently amazed by what sells for three euro.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I like your new icon.

[wednesday]

Hey, thanks. I was bored and tablets are fun.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I do too. 8)

[wednesday]

Why, you incredibly flattering individuals!

[laurens10.livejournal.com]

Well... uhh... this mystery Eastern European booze I had over Christmas called "yellow chicken" by my host is largely... uhh... undiscovered. Veggie safe -- no chicken, just egg, but decidedly nothing like egg nog. So thick you need a spoon. So horrible that I proceded to eat a thick red onion wedge just to get the taste out of my mouth. Two did the trick. But yeah, if you could develop a taste for that, that would be something remarkable.

Oh, and Unibroue Maudite... I had that last weekend. Yum yum.

[purple-terror.livejournal.com]

white burgundy. I had an *amazing* Corton-Charlemagne last night. Goog thing I can't afford more of it...