The Rest of Us

[hollywood]

A local wine shop is offering 2019 Brane-Cantenac (Margaux) at a pre-arrival price of $58.  Arrival is fall of 2022.  Does this seem like a deal for the patient?

[Sneakeater]

It's a good price for a good wine from a pretty good vintage.

But at this exact point, are you really sure you want to be buying something that won't be ready to drink till the 2030s?

 

 

[hollywood]

One writer suggests a drinking window of 2029-2044.

[voyager]

And I'm afraid to buy green bananas...

[Sneakeater]

Spaghetti alla Norma.  (I keep making the same things over and over, when the ingredients are in season, cuz I like them.)

An interesting (at least to me) point:  last time I made this, I thought I might have overcooked the eggplant in the initial pre-sauce frying stage (they were dark dark brown instead of golden).  But it turns out they're better that way.  This time I fried them to a perfect gold -- and I prefer the added crispiness and especially smokiness I got last time.  Fry those suckas!

On the side, puntarelle sautéed with garlic scapes and anchovies (see what I did there?).

Another day when I just didn't have the energy to think about the wine pairing.

2012 Occhipinti SP68

Was this wine made to drink with Spaghetti alla Norma?  It could've been.

This is, simply, excellent winemaking.  Bright fruit, with some depth:  cherries, red berries, dark berries.  I'd like to say you then taste volcanic dust, but really you don't.  You just get some kind of fairly indistinct dark kind-of-herby non-fruit flavor -- but one that really lasts.

An exemplary inexpensive wine.  If only it were still inexpensive!

[Sneakeater]

2 hours ago, voyager said:

And I'm afraid to buy green bananas...

When I was younger and thought I was going to live indefinitely, I bought a good deal of wine that required extended aging.

Now -- although it's still hard to get myself to open those bottles, because each opening is an acknowledgement -- I'm enjoying the fruits of those investments.

But I'm sure as shit not buying bottles like that anymore.

[hollywood]

So just buy some Silver Oak or White Rock and drink now?

[Wilfrid]

I have wines like that earmarked for special birthdays, and while I want to drink the wines, I am in no hurry to reach the birthdays.

[Josh Karpf]

10 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

When I was younger and thought I was going to live indefinitely, I bought a good deal of wine that required extended aging.

Now -- although it's still hard to get myself to open those bottles, because each opening is an acknowledgement -- I'm enjoying the fruits of those investments.

But I'm sure as shit not buying bottles like that anymore.

Oenophile cranks Statler and Waldorf in On the Beach: 

 

[Sneakeater]

To be clear, the only recent event I’m reacting to is my 6Xth birthday.  

[Sneakeater]

12 hours ago, hollywood said:

So just buy some Silver Oak or White Rock and drink now?

The whole point of this thread is that there are loads of relatively inexpensive ready-to-drink wines that aren’t just worse versions of expensive wines. 

[voyager]

We need to remember that "back in the day", young wines were often/usually undrinkable, hence laying them down, often for a generation.   Enter modern winemaking and one doesn't have to wait to drink their father's wine to drink well.

[Sneakeater]

But there ARE still wines -- trad Barolos, good Bordeaux, etc. -- that simply don't drink well young.

And, in fact, "modern" Barolos vinified to drink well young kind of suck.

[Sneakeater]

Another interesting point is that natural wines, which reject "modern" winemaking, DO tend to drink well young (in fact, it's questionable whether they can age).

[voyager]

37 minutes ago, Sneakeater said:

But there ARE still wines -- trad Barolos, good Bordeaux, etc. -- that simply don't drink well young.

And, in fact, "modern" Barolos vinified to drink well young kind of suck.

Indeed.    But I thought that your point, the point of this thread, was that alternatives exist for those who want to drink here and now and without ransoming the ranch. .