Wine you used to love but now never buy/drink

[David M. Bueker]

For me, Chateauneuf du Pape, or really any Southern Rhône. I used to buy Pegau, Donjon, Telegraphe, Beaucastel, etc. every year. Also used to buy a lot of Gigondas and other minor Rhône wines.

Now it’s a very rare day when I buy one or open any that I still have. In the last 10 vintages, I have bought maybe a case of Southern Rhône wines.

Bordeaux, rhones, red burgundy

I don't know about 'love', but I started out in the Loire and used to drink a fair amount of Loire cabernet franc. I can certainly still appreciate them, but they have become less and less central as I focused on other regions. And I currently own 0.00 bottles of Loire cabernet!

I started out on Burgundy, but I soon hit the harder stuff...
These days, I want to try things I've not had before. Nice thing about wine, there's always something popping up out of somewhere (or nowhere).

Any wines which need 10-15 before they start being really enjoyable. That rules out GC and 1erC Bordeaux and Burgundy, best Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage, Barolo.........except in "weak" vintages. But this is mainly a function of age, mine.

Another category on which I now pass is white wine with significant RS. I love good Sauternes, German Riesling Spätlese upwards and Loire demi-sec and sweeter but drink them very rarely. Even after a cull of 150 bottles I have enough for foreseeable consumption.

I would never say never, but I discovered good quality Beaujolais quite early on in my life as a wine lover. However, since then, I have often found it disappointing, and have practically stopped buying it. I am sure there are examples out there that I would like, but I am not motivated enough to seek them out when a) there is lots of other fun stuff to explore, and b) wines I know I like

I would never say never, but I discovered good quality Beaujolais quite early on in my life as a wine lover. However, since then, I have often found it disappointing...

Disappointing is an interesting word choice. Not that your palate changed, but the wines disappointed. How so?

I would never say never, but I discovered good quality Beaujolais quite early on in my life as a wine lover. However, since then, I have often found it disappointing...

Disappointing is an interesting word choice. Not that your palate changed, but the wines disappointed. How so?

My guess would be it is the particular wines I have convenient access to, but it could be any number of other reasons. Don't think my palate changed significantly in that period, but you never know for sure. I did visit the region, so it might have been to do with drinking the wines in-situ. Regardless, the same applies - I prefer to move on. I feel under no obligation to persevere.

[Robin Garr]

Being somewhat old (i.e., not quite as old as TomHill or Lou, but getting there), I started out in wine when things were very different. In the 1980s I loved California wines (when they weren't so different from Old World wines), and I loved Bordeaux (when I could afford many of them). Over the years I haven't felt that I left them, but that they left me. On the other hand, I loved Chianti and other Tuscan reds and Southern Rhones then, and I still do. I continue willing to try wines from all over the world, those that I can afford, but those two worlds in particular keep calling me back.

For me, Zinfandel and I used to drink a lot of Dr. Cosimo Turino Salice Salintino (sp.) but so long ago I have forgotten where in Italy, maybe Pulia and how to spell the producers name. also German Riesling Auslese as I have gone over to the Sauternes end of desert wines mostly.

South Rhone.

Zinfandel, Pinot Blanc, Shiraz.

Alsace.

I don't buy many Southern Rhone wines (esp CDP) or Australian shiraz; they used to be mainstays. I don't buy CA wines anymore either, due to greed from their end and greed from the gov't - both lead to extremely high prices for CA wines here, and they're aren't any of the 'hip' (and lower priced) producers from outside Napa here yet. Ditto for Bordeaux - way too overpriced here and the number of bottles are very small. Would you believe there are huge lineups and bottle restrictions each year on the day the new Bordeaux vintage is released here...

[David M. Bueker]

Alsace.

Now that I have access to Dirler-Cade I have upped my Alsace consumption again. Love the wines, but man are they hard to find.

I did visit the region, so it might have been to do with drinking the wines in-situ...

Meaning that in-stu experience raised expectations and then when you returned home they never lived up to the expectations and you felt disappointed? Makes sense.

No need to parse these internet posts too closely. I just thought 'disappointment' was an interesting explanation.

Hey Patchen, you must not be a big fan of Gewurztraminer as some of the best comes from Alsace along with Alto Adige in northern Italy. It is one of my most favorite white varietals. USA is along way down on that list of producers. I cannot think of eating good Chinese without Gewurztraminer or a Champagne

[Jenise]

For me, Zinfandel and I used to drink a lot of Dr. Cosimo Turino Salice Salintino (sp.) but so long ago I have forgotten where in Italy, maybe Pulia and how to spell the producers name. also German Riesling Auslese as I have gone over to the Sauternes end of desert wines mostly.

Cosimo Taurino from Puglia. I was once a big fan too but we got a lot of it in Alaska where I lived when I had my first one. In fact. Dr. Taurino came to Alaska and I got to meet him (tallest Italian met I've ever seen). Since moving south, the only Taurino I've run into was in Bill Spohn's cellar, the top of the line version called something like Patron.

[Jenise]

Like Bob Parsons: zinfandel and shiraz. Zin I still love and always have a few bottles around, but rarely buy it because what's available where I live are the branded wines. Shiraz because the marketplace changed in the direction of the heavier Barossa style.

Hey Patchen, you must not be a big fan of Gewurztraminer

I do enjoy Gewurz; but the selection of Alsatian wines (of all varieties) near me has gotten very thin, and on the few occasions when I've had an Alsatian Gewurz in the last few years, I've found them weightier than I remembered; I don't know if this reflects riper harvests in the region or a shifting palate on my part. For pairing with meals I'm more likely to reach for a German or Austrian Riesling, or a Gruner, where I would once have thought of Gewurz. You're right about cheese, though, and your comment makes me recall a particularly sublime pairing of Weinbach Gewurz with Petit Munster several years ago...

[David M. Bueker]

Patchen,

It’s climate change. Very hard to find a lively Gewürztraminer these days.

For me, Zinfandel and I used to drink a lot of Dr. Cosimo Turino Salice Salintino (sp.) but so long ago I have forgotten where in Italy, maybe Pulia and how to spell the producers name. also German Riesling Auslese as I have gone over to the Sauternes end of desert wines mostly.

Cosimo Taurino from Puglia. I was once a big fan too but we got a lot of it in Alaska where I lived when I had my first one. In fact. Dr. Taurino came to Alaska and I got to meet him (tallest Italian man I've ever seen). Since moving south, the only Taurino I've run into was in Bill Spohn's cellar, the top of the line version called something like Patron.

Notarpanaro! I've had it a few times but I like the balance of the Salice Salentino Riserva more. I used to drink a bundle of Taurino's SS Rsv and couldn't find it for the better part of a decade. Just found a source and bought a case of a newer vintage. Still quite enjoyable for me.

[Jenise]

Yes, Notarpanaro! Wonderful stuff. Glad to know the winery's still cranking out nice stuff--Cosimo died quite some time ago, so someone's carrying on in a good way.

I no longer buy:

Australian reds -

Because they went through a seas change in the early 2000s where huge up front fruit became king and balance and longevity took a distant second place. In many cases my judgement was borne out as the wines I no longer enjoyed turned out to be flashy in youth but collapsed with nothing to back all that sweet fruit when they aged awhile. There are still some worthy Aussie reds worth buying (Western Australia in particular) but we don't seem to get them in my market, we just get the blowsy sweet style that garners big points, so for the most part I no longer buy. (Although I did recently pick up some Montalto Pinot and Soumah chard which impressed me).

Bordeaux

Because I found there to be a similar change in style from well structured wines that often took many years to mature, to sweeter fresh fruit forward ('Parkerised'?) wines lacking in any sense of place. By that I mean that the terroir of the various areas in Bordeaux used to be reasonably easy to spot and by assessing the nose, structure, mouth feel of a wine, you could form a pretty good guess at where it was made. At some point, it was as if the whole thing had been run through a blender and the old ways no longer applied - we got things like St. Estephes that weren't fir and structured and had more fruit evidebt early in life that was the rule in the past, (just one example).

I had done several blind tastings in the old days where you had a representative wine from each commune and were able to make an educated guess (surmise?) as to which was which. Now, all bets are off, and the general style of the wines combined with the substantially elevated prices they bring (often regardless of vintage quality) has stopped me buying in an area that was once the primary component of my cellar. The same dollars (or more) now go to Italy and the Rhone.

Alsatian wine (grand cru level)

Because of my thrift, not any change in the wines, which have largely remained true to their traditional style. As in Bordeaux, the Grand Cru wines I used to pay $40 for are now triple or more the price.