Cyprus-Forum.com

[webbo]

I have a problem with wines. My palate can't differentiate between one and another. So I would have to vote for the very, very distinctive, sweet and heady komandaria.

Kommandaria is way too sweet for me. I started off drinking sweet wine but over the years my palate has changed and now I border on the dry/medium dry! Strange I know...........................................

Bubbles x

[kafenes]

I have a problem with wines. My palate can't differentiate between one and another. So I would have to vote for the very, very distinctive, sweet and heady komandaria.

Kommandaria is way too sweet for me. I started off drinking sweet wine but over the years my palate has changed and now I border on the dry/medium dry! Strange I know...........................................

Bubbles x

Not strange Bubbles, my wife used to drink sweet wine and in a matter of 5 years she turned to dry wine and can't drink the sweet anymore. With food I usualy drink water but after a nice meal a coffee and commandaria goes so well.

[webbo]

I have a problem with wines. My palate can't differentiate between one and another. So I would have to vote for the very, very distinctive, sweet and heady komandaria.

Kommandaria is way too sweet for me. I started off drinking sweet wine but over the years my palate has changed and now I border on the dry/medium dry! Strange I know...........................................

Bubbles x

Not strange Bubbles, my wife used to drink sweet wine and in a matter of 5 years she turned to dry wine and can't drink the sweet anymore. With food I usualy drink water but after a nice meal a coffee and commandaria goes so well.

Glad to hear that I am not alone. We too tend to have water with a meal at home (wine in a restaurant!) Will give your coffee and commandaria a go though, thanks. I know commandaria is from certain areas of Cyprus: don't suppose you know the one you were drinking the other day?

Bubbles x

[kafenes]

I have a problem with wines. My palate can't differentiate between one and another. So I would have to vote for the very, very distinctive, sweet and heady komandaria.

Kommandaria is way too sweet for me. I started off drinking sweet wine but over the years my palate has changed and now I border on the dry/medium dry! Strange I know...........................................

Bubbles x

Not strange Bubbles, my wife used to drink sweet wine and in a matter of 5 years she turned to dry wine and can't drink the sweet anymore. With food I usualy drink water but after a nice meal a coffee and commandaria goes so well.

Glad to hear that I am not alone. We too tend to have water with a meal at home (wine in a restaurant!) Will give your coffee and commandaria a go though, thanks. I know commandaria is from certain areas of Cyprus: don't suppose you know the one you were drinking the other day?

Bubbles x

The one I had the other day didn't have a brand. It was in an old wooden barrel and was made in the village of Kalo Chorio of Agros but I beleive they make a nice one in Lania as well. From the commercial ones I guess St. John would be OK.

[bill cobbett]

Speaking as some have referred to above of coffee with commandaria. May I recommend a zivania immediately chased down with a strong sweet Nescafe type coffee. A brilliant combination imho.

[Nikitas]

Kafenes said in a post above

"Nikitas, all I can tell is whether I like it or not and that's just about it. A £2 wine to me could taste the same as a £200 one. But when it comes to food, I have the gift to eat something and be able to tell you the exact ingredients"

If you can tell the ingredients in food then you will be able to tell the difference in wines. You and I must take a "voyage de degustation" through France. It will be an education for us both. When i was studying in the UK I went to France as often as I could, to get away from the beer culture of the UK (and the women in France are more feminine, but that is my opinion). That is where I learned about wine. But not enough, I have left a major part of the syllabus untouched. Need to go back for my masters degree.

Next time you are in a wine merchants get a bottle of Chianti Classico. If they have Frescobaldi Chianti Classico get that one. Open it and take a breath of the wine. Now that is a start to your education. Open a bottle of a cheap Cyprus red next and breath in and compare. And I am betting you will be able to tell the difference! If I lose the bet I promise to drink the Frescobaldi all by myself. Notice that it is an Italian wine I ask you to try and not French, to avoid any charge of snobbishness!

[kafenes]

Kafenes said in a post above

"Nikitas, all I can tell is whether I like it or not and that's just about it. A £2 wine to me could taste the same as a £200 one. But when it comes to food, I have the gift to eat something and be able to tell you the exact ingredients"

If you can tell the ingredients in food then you will be able to tell the difference in wines. You and I must take a "voyage de degustation" through France. It will be an education for us both. When i was studying in the UK I went to France as often as I could, to get away from the beer culture of the UK (and the women in France are more feminine, but that is my opinion). That is where I learned about wine. But not enough, I have left a major part of the syllabus untouched. Need to go back for my masters degree.

Next time you are in a wine merchants get a bottle of Chianti Classico. If they have Frescobaldi Chianti Classico get that one. Open it and take a breath of the wine. Now that is a start to your education. Open a bottle of a cheap Cyprus red next and breath in and compare. And I am betting you will be able to tell the difference! If I lose the bet I promise to drink the Frescobaldi all by myself. Notice that it is an Italian wine I ask you to try and not French, to avoid any charge of snobbishness!

Nikitas, even though I have done so many courses on wines in Australia as I used to manage duty free stores and have also owned a restaurant in Sydney I still find it hard with the wine. I will try what you suggested if I can find a bottle of Frescobaldi Chianti Classico in Cyprus. I will call a friend tomorrow who is a wine retailer and ask.

[Nikitas]

Kafenes,

I know the experiment will work. If does not you will have enjoyed a great wine, at not too great a cost.

I remember Frescobaldi because it was the wine that revealed to me with one sip what wine connoisseurs were talking about.

[miltiades]

Kafenes said in a post above

"Nikitas, all I can tell is whether I like it or not and that's just about it. A £2 wine to me could taste the same as a £200 one. But when it comes to food, I have the gift to eat something and be able to tell you the exact ingredients"

If you can tell the ingredients in food then you will be able to tell the difference in wines. You and I must take a "voyage de degustation" through France. It will be an education for us both. When i was studying in the UK I went to France as often as I could, to get away from the beer culture of the UK (and the women in France are more feminine, but that is my opinion). That is where I learned about wine. But not enough, I have left a major part of the syllabus untouched. Need to go back for my masters degree.

Next time you are in a wine merchants get a bottle of Chianti Classico. If they have Frescobaldi Chianti Classico get that one. Open it and take a breath of the wine. Now that is a start to your education. Open a bottle of a cheap Cyprus red next and breath in and compare. And I am betting you will be able to tell the difference! If I lose the bet I promise to drink the Frescobaldi all by myself. Notice that it is an Italian wine I ask you to try and not French, to avoid any charge of snobbishness!

Hi KAFENES , may I say that there is nothing snobby about French wines , it is the pretentious so called wine connoisseurs , who incidentally the few that I met drink less than a bottle a week , who come out with a string of pre written descriptions and mostly much nonsense.
The French good wines are by far the best on this earth. The average however French table wine is easily comparable to many of other table wines the world over.
Cyprus wines , I have said this before , are drinkable some more drinkable than others but nothing comparable to the French prime wines.
The whites of Cyprus are perfectly drinkable especially the VARDALIS and KIHOTIS , beware of New label Cypriot wines costing way above the average Cypriot price for a bottle , these new wines are not worthy of their price tug but are pretentious wines made from same variety of grapes with a "sexed "up label as a marketing coy .
Greek wines , mainland Greece , are mostly very average for the region and nothing special , some cost quite a lot , but I must say I do enjoy a bottle of Retsina .
Here is a list of 10 of the most superb Bordeaux wines at "realistic " prices !!!
1.Chateau Talbot 1953 Grand Cru Classe St Julien £294.97

2.Chateau Ausone 1955 1ere Grand Cru Classe St Emilion £247.97

3.Chateau Leoville Lascases 1955 2eme Grand Cru Classe St Julien £248.97

4.Chateau Chasse Spleen 1945 Medoc £299.97

5.Chateau Haut Brion 1966 1ere Grand Cru Classe Pessac £229.97

6.Chateau Latour 1985 1ere Grand Cru Classe Pauillac £239.97

7.Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1966 1ere Cru Grand Classe Pauillac £269.97

8.Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1953 2ere Grand Cru Classe St Julien £299.97

9.Chateau Latour a Pomerol 1970 Pomerol £249.97

10.Chateau Leoville - Poyferre 1953 St Julien 2eme Grand Cru Classe £298.97

Prices per bottle !!
Drink up !

[denizaksulu]

Kafenes said in a post above

"Nikitas, all I can tell is whether I like it or not and that's just about it. A £2 wine to me could taste the same as a £200 one. But when it comes to food, I have the gift to eat something and be able to tell you the exact ingredients"

If you can tell the ingredients in food then you will be able to tell the difference in wines. You and I must take a "voyage de degustation" through France. It will be an education for us both. When i was studying in the UK I went to France as often as I could, to get away from the beer culture of the UK (and the women in France are more feminine, but that is my opinion). That is where I learned about wine. But not enough, I have left a major part of the syllabus untouched. Need to go back for my masters degree.

Next time you are in a wine merchants get a bottle of Chianti Classico. If they have Frescobaldi Chianti Classico get that one. Open it and take a breath of the wine. Now that is a start to your education. Open a bottle of a cheap Cyprus red next and breath in and compare. And I am betting you will be able to tell the difference! If I lose the bet I promise to drink the Frescobaldi all by myself. Notice that it is an Italian wine I ask you to try and not French, to avoid any charge of snobbishness!

Hi KAFENES , may I say that there is nothing snobby about French wines , it is the pretentious so called wine connoisseurs , who incidentally the few that I met drink less than a bottle a week , who come out with a string of pre written descriptions and mostly much nonsense.
The French good wines are by far the best on this earth. The average however French table wine is easily comparable to many of other table wines the world over.
Cyprus wines , I have said this before , are drinkable some more drinkable than others but nothing comparable to the French prime wines.
The whites of Cyprus are perfectly drinkable especially the VARDALIS and KIHOTIS , beware of New label Cypriot wines costing way above the average Cypriot price for a bottle , these new wines are not worthy of their price tug but are pretentious wines made from same variety of grapes with a "sexed "up label as a marketing coy .
Greek wines , mainland Greece , are mostly very average for the region and nothing special , some cost quite a lot , but I must say I do enjoy a bottle of Retsina .
Here is a list of 10 of the most superb Bordeaux wines at "realistic " prices !!!
1.Chateau Talbot 1953 Grand Cru Classe St Julien £294.97

2.Chateau Ausone 1955 1ere Grand Cru Classe St Emilion £247.97

3.Chateau Leoville Lascases 1955 2eme Grand Cru Classe St Julien £248.97

4.Chateau Chasse Spleen 1945 Medoc £299.97

5.Chateau Haut Brion 1966 1ere Grand Cru Classe Pessac £229.97

6.Chateau Latour 1985 1ere Grand Cru Classe Pauillac £239.97

7.Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1966 1ere Cru Grand Classe Pauillac £269.97

8.Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1953 2ere Grand Cru Classe St Julien £299.97

9.Chateau Latour a Pomerol 1970 Pomerol £249.97

10.Chateau Leoville - Poyferre 1953 St Julien 2eme Grand Cru Classe £298.97

Prices per bottle !!
Drink up !

Thank the almighty I am no 'connoisseur'. I will never pay more than £7 for a bottle of red. I still enjoy it though. I hope I have not ruined your palate Miltiades.