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Cabernets all the way. One that we are drinking now is Rodney Strong from the Costco, about $12.00 per bottle. Very nice for the money. I like a lot of the cabs from the central coast in CA. Vina Robles and EOS are a few nice wineries. I have a nice vertical going of Switchback wine, very tasty.

Brunellos are always great, but sometimes they take a while to mature. I have a wine collection of about 250 bottles.

Isn't America a wonderful place!

H.H.Chinn

Mostly Reds: Silver Oak, Opus One, Hedges special reserves, assorted Chilean wines.

TheOtherEric

My favorite cheap wines:
- Fatted Otter red blend
- Columbia Crest Merlot (grand estates)

My favorite wines:
- Turley zin (about any of them). Just made the mailing list- woot!!
- Anything from Pride Mountain, but especially their merlot and cabernet franc

Recent finds:
- Murrieta's Well reds (run by Wente) - lots of great stuff!
- The Prisoner from Orin Swift Cellars

Amfab

Cheap stuff at home, partial to cabs even though I have a Targa. . .
Table wines...Lapiz Luna Cab, Rex goliath and Red Truck pinots, because they aren't too pinot-ey. Foxen whites when I drink whites (rarely) and some interesting experiments from Rancho Sisquoc- but I like semi-local stuff

bmartini

welches and vodka

Matt Lane

Preface this post with - I am not a Dick nor a Smartass. I drink and love wines from around the world and enjoy them all for what they each have to offer.

That said, it is amazing to me to see the predominate favor for West Coast US wines on the list! Holy moly. I expected some leanings toward to the vintages of home, but I find the proportion to be utterly fascinating!

Here in Quebec, we are sort of an anomaly (insert joke here, any one of them!) in that all of our wines are fully collusion/price fixed. As such, we have access to wines from all over the world and there is little financial incentive to try one region over another.

Anyway, notwithstanding the increased popularity of new world wines here (US/Australia/South America) there remains a preference for the old world wines: France, the improving Italian, Spain, etc. I believe per capita consumption of vintage port is among the highest in the world.

I tend to agree with that perception, after a LOT of tasting. The best way I would describe it is a lack of "stink". Originality. Non-homogenoeous winemaking that highlights the skill of the winemaker, in both good year and bad.

Many of the new world wines are technically strong in a tasting setting, but often heavy, alcoholic, sweetish, one-dimensional and lacking the natural balance with acidity and tannins that makes a winning wine. The natural herbaceousness and that comes from terroir is often non-existent. That's somewhat of a generalization, because there are some phenomenal Californian, Australian, and South American wines. However, they are, in my experience, not the rule.

I will get back to my tasting now... Chilean incidebtally.

But I heartily recommend experimenting and looking to taste the "land" in your next glass.

Cheers~!

lucroberts

Italian Antinori, Brunello di Montalcino for special occasions and Cabernet for the daily dinner.

jrb964

This is a difficult question (almost stupid) which Porsches is the best looking or the bmost beautiful woman in the world...it's all taste

Hedges red's are outstanding for the price...Oregon Pino's are great...the best of all is "...what's in my glass right now..."

FYI - My Arena Red Cab has a vanity plate of "PNO CAB"

Only two or three have every really caught the true meaning of it....

ed devinney

We drink lots of reds under 20 bucks, particularly Bordeaux. I'm on Lamisil for a couple months so very little drinking for me this winter!

Ch. Greysac is very nice. My Dad found a nice Côte de Blayes at Christmas that was about $13 or so and terrific. I'm still looking for a Ch Rouillac - one of my coworkers in Paris gave us a few bottles as a going away gift (even though in France you throw your own going away party!). That was just lovely but isn't imported here as best I can tell.

Good WSJ review on the 2005 Bordeaux recently: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1200...497-email.html

race911

I just kinda scanned through this, not a lot of time right now. But to answer the original question of "most expensive" was a Bryant Family Cab Kevin Buckler poured for a few of us to sample in one of the guy's motorhomes the day before the '03 Laguna club race. Mind blowing? Eh. Not really for someone like me to say. Expensive? Hell yes.

Our personal stash is mostly CA wines (duh), and mostly Napa and Sonoma of those. Got a '93 Silver Oak we have to open for our 10th this year, as Karen and my first date was at their annual release party in '97 (yeah, we're waiting for 10th wedding anniversary). Another great find up on the Sonoma Coast is Flowers. I think the story there goes that Steve Kistler used their grapes from Camp Meeting ridge up by Jenner, then helped them do their own thing. Chards and Pinot's are pretty out of this world.

Another thing for "table wine", sold either online or exclusively at Costco is Cameron Hughes. Go to their site for the full schtick, but they're really good for what they are.

Anyone follow the Wall Street Journal's "open that bottle night"? I think Feb 23 was so designated for this year. We'll find something unique.

And for you guys who mentioned Duckhorn, the Lafayette Park Hotel's restaurant had several wine dinners last year.......one of which had Dan Duckhorn himself there. We won the big raffle--a 5 liter merlot. Big Rennparty sometime??? They also did Ferrari-Carrano and Grgich Hills (and old man Grgich came down, was neat to meet him).

David Ray

Ray's Station - Meritage for the price and complexity. Mentioned Silver Oak in a meeting once and now I have 10 cases of the Napa Cab 2001-2003. Getting old, NPI.

993_Pilot

If money was not a consideration, I would drink ZD Wines "Abacus". . . it is absolutely incredible! A good friend of mine owns the winery so I have been fortunate enough to drink it on several occasions. Unfortunately money always is a consideration, so when it is just me and the wife at home, I drink "2 Buck Chuck" Shiraz. I grew up in Napa, and as much as I like the really good wines, I just can't get myself to spend big money on wine when it could be better something like spent on Farkles for the 993 !

Tania W

We are lucky here in New Zealand with some great local white wines.....sav. blanc, chardonnay, pinot gris, and the constantly improving reds...particularly pinot noir.
We also get a lot of the very good Australian wines available in supermarkets. Personally, I seldom spend more than $20 (NZ)...about $15US on a bottle, and more often closer to $10, and I'm not often disappointed.
There are a couple of good local "sparkling whites", but for the real deal I like Veuve Cliquot...about $70NZ...special occasions only!
My Dad is turning 70 tomorrow and I splashed out on a bottle of Dom Perignon. Better be good at $160 a bottle!

Robert Collins - 96 993TT

100% reds.

Cabs 90% of the time, merlots, malbecs, zins and pinots the rest of the time.

Favorite table wine...Hess selct, estate and collection. Great stuff.

Faves are Silver Oak Cab Napa, Cakebread Cab Napa, Duckhorn Cab Napa and Tignanello Tuscan. Several of all in the cellar, but saving for dinner with guests.

sydneymark

Wines ...so may down under (Australia) to choose from

Prices from less than $10 to + $75 ...would take me all day ...Hunter Valley and Margaret River whites ...Barrosa and Connawarra Reds

Watches ...Panerai ...a few of them ...been collecting them for over 7 years