Grape Flavored Wine.

[Sarlon]

what is this strange thing you speak of? selling wine and liqour in aid of rite store?!

Ancients I haven't seen anything other then BEER sold in stores like that since I left florida!

and I recently heard that most wine makers are going to be switching to screw tops on their wines in the next 15 years I believe.

[jackfaire]

I call liqour stores California Grocery Stores

[Pagan]

Grape-flavored wine? Oh, that just gives me a headache!

*friends of mine hold me back*

*Warning - obscure song lyrics ahead*

"Friends of mine
They said they were friends of mine
Said they were passing time
More like a waste of time"

You should have just shown this asshole some Manischewitz or better yet, some Mad Dog 20 20 and just called it a day.

And Thunderbird, don't forget Thunderbird. Unfortunately, they don't make Ripple anymore, or you could have suggested that, too.

*shudder* I don't like wine (more for the grain myself), but even cheap whiskey is like YUK.

This is one place that you get what you pay for. Give me a good single malt any day!

It's also more filling so you end up drinking less than you would with wine and therefore it lasts longer

I'm with Irv, give me a few Guinness and I'm sorted

Count me in with Irv and Rayven. Although I have a bad habit of pounding Guinness.... What can I say? I'm Scots-Irish, with a Guinness in one hand and a wee dram in the other!

Or in some cases, vinegar-flavored . .

I got hold of a wine one time that tasted like greasy green olives. That was one of the New Mexico wineries that didn't last long.

I think I would have given him a bottle of grape juice. You know the ones that look like they are in fancy wine bottles?

Like Welch's?

[EricKei]

I call liqour stores California Grocery Stores

Well, there's always a Louisiana Grocery Store -- note that this is their only location, they've been around pretty much since the beginning of time. Only actual dedicated wine cellars can do better 'round these parts.

[KiaKat]

*whimpers*

>.<

I just had someone come into the store asking for wine that tasted like grape.

I WORK IN A WINE STORE.

She meant Manichewitz.

I said "Well, it's all from grapes, so I guess you could say in that sense they're all grape-flavoured..."

Hey, I'm still recovering from my 3-day Halloween.

[AriRashkae]

Grape-flavored wine? Pish tosh.

You'd like me. I'm low maintenance. Just gimme a six pack of Guinness and I'm a happy Irv.

I'm happy with a 4-pack of Midas Touch and enough time undisturbed to finish a bottle.

[jackfaire]

Well, there's always a Louisiana Grocery Store -- note that this is their only location, they've been around pretty much since the beginning of time. Only actual dedicated wine cellars can do better 'round these parts.

the reason for the nickname is when I was down in California visiting my brorther I realized you could buy hard liquor in the grocery stores.

[PepperElf]

screw tops aren't so bad
a lot of good wines are switching over, due to issues with the cork.

in australia it's mostly screw-tops now, even for the good wines

[KiaKat]

The major issue with cork comes into play with wines that are intended to be consumed within 1-3 years (otherwise known as young wines). Some cork can carry a chemical called TCA that can cause a wine to become "corked," which is a term referring to a musty, sick, mouldy-smelling wine. TCA is rare, and becoming rarer, but there's still enough cork taint out there that wineries and importers lose a ton of money every year on returns. There's another issue with natural corks, which is that they can dry out if stored improperly. A dry cork means air is getting into the bottle, which means the wine is being exposed to oxygen, and therefore is turning to vinegar.

Stelvin Closures (screw caps) and synthetic corks have not been tested over long-term (10 or more years) as they've received minor acceptance only in the last five years or so. Until it can be confirmed that they don't seal the bottles too tightly (there does need to be a tiny bit of air movement for proper aging) and that they won't lose their seal over a long period of time, non-natural-cork bottle seals aren't a good choice on older wines. Some of the Australian and New Zealand wineries have been pioneers and put Stelvins on the higher-end wines, but even those aren't intended for aging in the 10-25 year range. Most of those are intended to be had within 5-10 years.

There's a company in, I think, Austria that is attempting to develop a glass closure that would seal the way natural cork does, without any need for a silicon or rubber seal.

[Rapscallion]

Amusingly enough, I once passed on an email from our information department to our drinks buyer. It raised concerns about the way that companies were trying to go away from cork, and thus it was going to threaten the local environment for quite a number of animals that lived in the cork plantations. As we regarded ourselves as an ethical company, surely we'd be concerned about this?

We're pretty small fish in the ocean of drinks wholesaling, so it took some time for the laughter to die down.

Rapscallion

[jackfaire]

ROFL Sorry I know this post is well and dead but I was going through my wines and I found one that I just remembered I bought at 7/11 (a convenience store) the funny thing is the manager knew her wines.

[LadyAndreca]

The major issue with cork comes into play with wines that are intended to be consumed within 1-3 years (otherwise known as young wines). Some cork can carry a chemical called TCA that can cause a wine to become "corked," which is a term referring to a musty, sick, mouldy-smelling wine. TCA is rare, and becoming rarer, but there's still enough cork taint out there that wineries and importers lose a ton of money every year on returns.

...maybe THAT'S what that was.

My father-in-law was given an expensive bottle of wine (on the order of $75 or so) when his first son, my husband, was born. He intended to enjoy with his son when he turned 21, but my husband is NOT a fan of alcohol and delayed for several years. We tried to have it this summer (making the wine 28 years old when uncorked) and even I could tell that something was wrong with it as soon as it was uncorked. Red wine should NOT be cloudy, or smell...I don't know how to describe it. "Bad" is the only word. None of us wanted to try it but my father-in-law, though eventually both my husband and I tasted it. It didn't taste like any wine I'd ever had before.

We had to take the bottle away from my father-in-law, who was going to stubbornly drink the whole thing anyways so he wouldn't waste an expensive wine...

[protege]

Unless we're talking Merlot, then pass me the one with the screw top!

But, there are Merlots that come with screw tops--Fish Eye comes to mind. I'm more of a Luna di Luna person myself. No screw tops with those! So far, I've only had the Sangiovese Merlot, the Pink Merlot, and the Merlot/Cabernet. I'm not a wine expert by any means, but I do enjoy a glass or two with dinner now and then....or several glasses on New Year's Anyhoo, Cape May Wineries also has a Merlot, which, IMHO is pretty good. Pain in the ass to find though.

[Jester]

Some of the most "altered" nights of my collegiate times were brought about via chugging MD 20/20.

I did the Mad Dog once. Me and this dude I was drinking with in a bar hit the liquor store, bought a bottle of it, and went to my house to hang out and drink. And I don't remember much after that, until I woke up in my bed with my girlfriend in bed next to me, which was odd since she wasn't there the night before and lived 30 miles away. As she told me, I had called her up drunk out of my mind insisting she drive over to my place.

And that, boys and girls, was the last time Jester touched Mad Dog 20/20.

I would never buy any bottle of wine (say, for a party or a friend) that lacked a cork

It is no longer true that screw top wine automatically sucks. Said better than I could:

I buy screw cap wines, they are becoming more and more popular (especially NZ and Aussie wines).

A bottle of wine that has a screw cap can be just as good as a bottle of wine with a cork. It totally depends on the wine in the bottle. You can buy cheap nasty wine with a cork and you can buy delicious lushious wine with a screw cap.

At The Bar, we serve a lovely sauvignon blanc that comes in a screw top bottle. Just about everyone loves it!

I said "Well, it's all from grapes, so I guess you could say in that sense they're all grape-flavoured..."

That is not entirely true. There are wines made from fruits other than grapes. Down here in Key West, there is a winery that specializes in tropical fruit wines, such as mangoes, pineapples, and of course Key limes, among others. I am not saying these wines are necessarily very good, but they do exist. And let's not forget about sake (rice wine) and plum wine, which you will often find in Japanese restaurants.

[KiaKat]

I probably should have specified that I was referring to all the wine we had in the store at the time.

We happened to be out of the honey wine, plum wine, and sake that we normally carry

We've also carried an apple wine, but that didn't sell terribly well.

(And technically, although sake is CALLED rice wine, it is in fact closer to beer than wine in terms of the method of production.)