My wine group has this as a theme next week and I wanted to hear some ideas. As the title says, do you have any unpopular wine opinions… It can be about anything!
Grapes, wine making methods, glassware, industry practices, etc.
by foreverfabfour
28 Comments
foreverfabfour
I will start…
Acidity is far more important when pairing with food than tannin is.
AND acidity cuts through fat and other heavy pairings better than tannin. And if you don’t believe me, next time you have a great steak, pair it with a crisp grower champagne.
thewhizzle
Champagne/Riesling/Chardonnay are pretty poor pairings with sushi. The acidity clashes with the vinegar in the rice and/or the vinegar in certain preps of hikarimono like kohada.
Cabernet is the least interesting of the noble grapes.
Finger Lakes is overrated.
Petrol in Riesling is a flaw.
Maninthemiroirs
Silver oak is not bad.
When a big rich chardonnay from napa or Sonoma has good acid, it is hedonistic in basically the same way as good topped Jura white wines.
Alsace makes fatty, unbalanced wines, and I see no reason to buy them over their German counterparts.
Concrete vessels are way overused and should be carefully selected for particular vineyards/blocks within vineyards that need the specific textural support that concrete offers. Throwing concrete at everything can be a sign of lazy hype-based winemaking.
KhajiitHasSkooma
It seems like order of importance to me.
The acidity in the wine balances the fat in the food.
The fat in the food balances the tannin in the wine.
FatherEsmoquin
Kinda ironic cuz the popular opinions on this subreddit are the unpopular opinions of the broader wine consumer base
IndependentBoof
This sub seems to hate full-bodied, oaky cabs and similar styles.
I agree that sometimes they’re way overpriced… but big, bold reds are delicious. Give me a full bodied red and a charcuterie board as my last meal and I’ll die a happy man.
a_sexual_titty
Stop growing Cab Sauv in stupid regions (looking at you Okanagan)
Washington (specifically Red Mountain) is putting out better quality than most regions in California at like half the price.
abuttfarting
Saying ‘Cab’ or ‘Pinot’ makes you sound like a douche.
byperoux
Rosé is not wine.
Opening a natural wine bottle is a gamble.
The only advantage of biodynamic wine is that producer that goes that road tend take winemaking with their heart and put a lot of effort. But biodynamie on its own is utter bullshit.
There’s nothing wrong drinking a high end burgundy young and on the fruit.
Sad-Lecture6340
Food and wine pairings are way too overrated.
niceguydarkside
it’s just expensive grape juice.
beigechrist
Most Pinot Noir is boring, I really don’t know why so much is planted.
cts1001
Even a few years after its hyper peak there are still too many flawed or just not that great (pricy) natural wines. If I’m paying high prices I don’t want to “expect” flaws.
Meow_Kitteh
Chardonnay is terrible, even when theyre not oaky CA wines. Ill never spend money on a bottle again. I dislike this almost as much as I dislike tawny and port wines.
whisker_biscuit
I don’t think caymus and Wagner wines in general deserve the hate they get in this sub
BismarckOttoLeopold
I hate Rioja’s Tempranillo is simply not my grape it loses to much of it’s acidity I’d rather spend my money on other wines.
tlind2
I’m sure this will go down well:
French red wine isn’t worth drinking.
Bordeaux and Burgundy in particular have seen prices outrace quality to the point of having to pay 100€ for a bottle that wouldn’t be worth even 20€ somewhere else. A blind tasting we had for Burgundy reds was won by a ”black horse” entry from Coldstream Hills in Australia.
Apart from the price making the good, high end wines nearly inaccessible, stylistically it’s all pencil and ink. And sitting on it for decades doesn’t make it any better. In a recent side-by-side tasting, I preferred a young Margaux to a 25 year old vintage.
If I have to choose Old World over New, I’ll go Spain or Italy every time.
chadparkhill
We’ve fetishised pinot noir too much, at least here in Australia, leading to a lot of dull pinot noirs from regions that might be better suited to other varieties. (I’m thinking specifically of the Yarra Valley and Adelaide Hills here – some great pinot noir sites in both, but plenty of mediocre pinot being grown where other varieties may do far better.)
The big, boozy monsters of the Parker Points/‘International style’ era that were supposed to be ageless have simply proven not to be – acid, tannin and minerality seem to have a lot more to do with ageability than ABV, fortified wines aside.
The sad sacks who argue that a wine isn’t ‘natural’ unless it has zero sulphur adds are as dull and bloviating as the rich old boys who only care about wines that see 200% new oak and receive 98+ point scores.
The Marco de Jerez is a vinous treasure that makes some of the world’s most compelling white wines, and the ignorance of the average sommelier to what it offers is an indictment on the profession.
You can’t really talk about wine without talking about the land it comes from. You can’t talk about the land wine comes from without talking about the history of that land. You can’t have an honest conversation about the history of most pieces of viticultural land without raising politics, whether that’s in the New World or the Old World. Wine is therefore inherently political. Don’t trust anyone who tells you to keep politics out of wine – they’re often doing so for a reason.
brybts
Sonoma makes more balanced, and therefore better (to me) wines than much of Napa.
boissez
Barolo and barbaresco are great wines most often ruined by notes of tar.
MetalGuy_J
I don’t know that I’ve necessarily got any super hot takes. I’ve got an obvious one though being that price doesn’t always indicate quality, most tastings that I’ve done. I found myself enjoying the midpriced options far more then the more expensive wines. Come to think of it if I’m not mistaken. I’ve only got one bottle in my collection right now. Worth more than AU$40.
StevieJoJo
South Australia will go toe to toe against any wine region in the world, criteria being ‘Bang for buck’
carcarbuhlarbar
Scores and ratings are dumb AF, a trap for people who don’t want to actually learn about wine but pretend like they do know it.
Brilliant_Support653
“Natural wine’ is an excuse for poor and faulty winemaking.
sercialinho
People who keep spending more money on pricier wine rather than their own tasting capacity are doing themselves a disservice. You can get an order of magnitude more from the same glass if you learn how to engage with it.
StrengthMundane8739
The high acidity red blends from Dão in Portugal remind me of Italian sangiovese.
For some reason it is a sin to compare the two, but I think they are similar in flavour profile.
28 Comments
I will start…
Acidity is far more important when pairing with food than tannin is.
AND acidity cuts through fat and other heavy pairings better than tannin. And if you don’t believe me, next time you have a great steak, pair it with a crisp grower champagne.
Champagne/Riesling/Chardonnay are pretty poor pairings with sushi. The acidity clashes with the vinegar in the rice and/or the vinegar in certain preps of hikarimono like kohada.
Cabernet is the least interesting of the noble grapes.
Finger Lakes is overrated.
Petrol in Riesling is a flaw.
Silver oak is not bad.
When a big rich chardonnay from napa or Sonoma has good acid, it is hedonistic in basically the same way as good topped Jura white wines.
Alsace makes fatty, unbalanced wines, and I see no reason to buy them over their German counterparts.
Concrete vessels are way overused and should be carefully selected for particular vineyards/blocks within vineyards that need the specific textural support that concrete offers. Throwing concrete at everything can be a sign of lazy hype-based winemaking.
It seems like order of importance to me.
The acidity in the wine balances the fat in the food.
The fat in the food balances the tannin in the wine.
Kinda ironic cuz the popular opinions on this subreddit are the unpopular opinions of the broader wine consumer base
This sub seems to hate full-bodied, oaky cabs and similar styles.
I agree that sometimes they’re way overpriced… but big, bold reds are delicious. Give me a full bodied red and a charcuterie board as my last meal and I’ll die a happy man.
Stop growing Cab Sauv in stupid regions (looking at you Okanagan)
Washington (specifically Red Mountain) is putting out better quality than most regions in California at like half the price.
Saying ‘Cab’ or ‘Pinot’ makes you sound like a douche.
Rosé is not wine.
Opening a natural wine bottle is a gamble.
The only advantage of biodynamic wine is that producer that goes that road tend take winemaking with their heart and put a lot of effort. But biodynamie on its own is utter bullshit.
There’s nothing wrong drinking a high end burgundy young and on the fruit.
Food and wine pairings are way too overrated.
it’s just expensive grape juice.
Most Pinot Noir is boring, I really don’t know why so much is planted.
Even a few years after its hyper peak there are still too many flawed or just not that great (pricy) natural wines. If I’m paying high prices I don’t want to “expect” flaws.
Chardonnay is terrible, even when theyre not oaky CA wines. Ill never spend money on a bottle again. I dislike this almost as much as I dislike tawny and port wines.
I don’t think caymus and Wagner wines in general deserve the hate they get in this sub
I hate Rioja’s Tempranillo is simply not my grape it loses to much of it’s acidity I’d rather spend my money on other wines.
I’m sure this will go down well:
French red wine isn’t worth drinking.
Bordeaux and Burgundy in particular have seen prices outrace quality to the point of having to pay 100€ for a bottle that wouldn’t be worth even 20€ somewhere else. A blind tasting we had for Burgundy reds was won by a ”black horse” entry from Coldstream Hills in Australia.
Apart from the price making the good, high end wines nearly inaccessible, stylistically it’s all pencil and ink. And sitting on it for decades doesn’t make it any better. In a recent side-by-side tasting, I preferred a young Margaux to a 25 year old vintage.
If I have to choose Old World over New, I’ll go Spain or Italy every time.
We’ve fetishised pinot noir too much, at least here in Australia, leading to a lot of dull pinot noirs from regions that might be better suited to other varieties. (I’m thinking specifically of the Yarra Valley and Adelaide Hills here – some great pinot noir sites in both, but plenty of mediocre pinot being grown where other varieties may do far better.)
The big, boozy monsters of the Parker Points/‘International style’ era that were supposed to be ageless have simply proven not to be – acid, tannin and minerality seem to have a lot more to do with ageability than ABV, fortified wines aside.
The sad sacks who argue that a wine isn’t ‘natural’ unless it has zero sulphur adds are as dull and bloviating as the rich old boys who only care about wines that see 200% new oak and receive 98+ point scores.
The Marco de Jerez is a vinous treasure that makes some of the world’s most compelling white wines, and the ignorance of the average sommelier to what it offers is an indictment on the profession.
You can’t really talk about wine without talking about the land it comes from. You can’t talk about the land wine comes from without talking about the history of that land. You can’t have an honest conversation about the history of most pieces of viticultural land without raising politics, whether that’s in the New World or the Old World. Wine is therefore inherently political. Don’t trust anyone who tells you to keep politics out of wine – they’re often doing so for a reason.
Sonoma makes more balanced, and therefore better (to me) wines than much of Napa.
Barolo and barbaresco are great wines most often ruined by notes of tar.
I don’t know that I’ve necessarily got any super hot takes. I’ve got an obvious one though being that price doesn’t always indicate quality, most tastings that I’ve done. I found myself enjoying the midpriced options far more then the more expensive wines. Come to think of it if I’m not mistaken. I’ve only got one bottle in my collection right now. Worth more than AU$40.
South Australia will go toe to toe against any wine region in the world, criteria being ‘Bang for buck’
Scores and ratings are dumb AF, a trap for people who don’t want to actually learn about wine but pretend like they do know it.
“Natural wine’ is an excuse for poor and faulty winemaking.
People who keep spending more money on pricier wine rather than their own tasting capacity are doing themselves a disservice. You can get an order of magnitude more from the same glass if you learn how to engage with it.
The high acidity red blends from Dão in Portugal remind me of Italian sangiovese.
For some reason it is a sin to compare the two, but I think they are similar in flavour profile.
most of it is WAY overpriced
Amarone is over-rated.