[Mr Andrews]

Because the wine world is rich and varied and limiting yourself to two styles would be to deny yourself a world of wonderful wine experiences?

[Riprincattiva]

Because fulfilling your requirements for liquid purely with alcoholic beverages is severely detrimental to your health.

[fameintatenly]

If you dig up the wine thread you'll see I was pimping Ribera in it to someone...

[doctorzlo]

Wow. I might become a Satanist then.

[StivRichardOff]

french wine FTW

[JAMES PIETERSE]

Spain has incredible wine diversity, even just sticking within Spanish wine if you only drink Rioja and Ribera it is probably a mistake.

You'd be missing out on some incredible stuff from the following big gun regions for a start:

Priorat, Navarra, Rueda, Penedès and have had some really good Albarino from Rías Baixas

Navarra is home of some absolute bargains for fans of Rioja and Ribera! At least at the prices they appear in the UK (and if you can find any).

[Giselle]

New Zealand whites used to be inexpensive in the US. They have crept up in price. Go instead, for Chilean whites. As ever, YMMV.

Spanish reds are available in the US and tend to be reasonably priced. Mostly riojas, though.

[gardeniyas]

I'm drinking a wine called "California".

[Xewksghy]

By my standards you're already snobby if you have a favorite whiskey at all JD excepted. GD yuppie bastards.

[AnetTeilor]

JW black is reasonably good for a cheap blended whisky

[Anaedilla]

Problem is, where do we get it? W/o import export it never arrives on European shores.

Maybe not in Spain but there's tons of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc in England. I like it but it has suffered from over exposure in recent times.

Did move me onto Pouilly Fumé & Sancerre though.

We don't live in one of the biggest wine producing nations in the world though, so I can see why you have less need of imports.

[elalmhicabalp]

I have seen people get liver disease/etc, it isn't pretty.

JM

[minowz]

In Argentina and Chile you can get good quality for little money

[Adimonnna]

Speaking of new technologies, a friend of mine is a wine scientist (there's a special name that escapes me at the moment) who did extensive research (along with a few others around the country, independently) that found that screw-tops are the best way to seal wine bottles, in terms of the wines' long term quality. All gain, no detriment. Most wines in Australia are now sealed with a screw-top.

When I was last in the States I noticed that it was generally the cheaper wines that were sealed thus, and that when I brought a bottle to someone's house that was sealed with a screw-top they immediately equated it with inferior quality wine.

Are my observations in the States true generally?

What about other countries?

[w4WBthjv]

I just associate the screw top with inferior quality.

JM

[Inettypofonee]

There are many awful ones. But some very good ones. Just go for the right varieties. Bacchus can be great. The southern vineyards are at the same latitude and share the same chalk basin with champagne...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddr...er-trophy.html

There is a lot of Chapitlization, but not everywhere.

Generally other than Sussex sparkling and a couple of really good Bacchus it's mostly niche stuff, but improving as our climate seems to be warming up in the south.

[immewaycypef]

There is some in Lancashire that might be.

[Teprophopay]

It's at Bolton-le-Sands

Quick comparison with burgundy suggests it gets less rain than Burgundy. Much less.

http://www.worldweatheronline.com/we...ited%20Kingdom
http://www.worldweatheronline.com/we...ijon,%20France

There are plenty of cool climate vineyards, it's not all hot continental climate like in central Spain!

[snislarne]

This is the view in that area on a good day:



This is what the land looks like: wet, moist, and green



This is what land looks like in prize-winning wine regions like the Ribera: arid, dry, lots of sunshine, occasional rain

[BipiewExifese]

You are putting me off it.