(Off the back of some other recent, daring topics )
I realise that cask wine is probably consider the antithesis of what the wine aficionado is about, but is there anything that's relatively okay out there? My father occasionally has something sitting in the fridge as my parents tastes diverge somewhat and are budget minded when it comes to a regular drop. Sometimes I like to try and broaden his horizons a little by trying to find something nicer in an area he likes like, be it scotch, wine or beer. So while I wouldn't expect that something decently age worthy 98 pointer exists (actually, given modern marketing there probably is), is there something that's not as bad as we'd like to admit?
My Brother in law goes 'off the grid' remotely for weeks at a time camping. He hates taking bottles of wine and takes casks only. He reckons De Bortoli is the lesser evil.
I cannot give any advice regarding cask wines because I don't drink it. However, that said, a few years ago I came across some dull looking 3 liter casks of red and white wine for only $10 each. The red was a Chilean cabernet amd the white was a California chardonnay. Despite the price I ignored them but later on thought that at $2.50 per 750ml it might make decent cooking wine. Though I would not drink them on their own, tHe red had a decent amount of fruit and tannin while the chardonnay had a buttery quality, perfect for cooking and deglazing. I scooped them up and for the last three years have had cooking wine that I use almost without thought. Who needs water when one has wines by the liter. I'm now down to my last two casks and will soon have to go back to using mostly water.
A decent cask wine is probably the perfect thing when camping "off the grid" for weeks on end.
Spent a few days camping last weekend and took along a 2 L cask of Yalumba Chardonnay and one Shriraz Cab which are our go to camping wines, think they were $12.00 each.
Would otherwise never consume however my partner and I both like to keep things simple when out in the bush and must admit the red went very well with (home made) snags with onions in a white roll and cheeseburgers.
We are both normally pretty fastidous and fussy with our food and drink and was nice to have a weekend off from all that.
Craig(NZ) wrote:Never ever is there a good reason to buy or drink cask wine
ever
Hmmm, as mentioned before, camping, wood smoke from the fireplace,rustic food, glass tumblers, and nobody's driving home. Can't think of a better reason to be drinking good quality cask wine. I would love an Italian barbera from a good producer in liter casks. Of course the late night whisky would have to be in bottle.
As I've said before, there is a time and place for everything.
Yep, I go off the grid too. As much as I can. It's so exotic and liberating.
If I'm off to a heavily malarial area I may take Barolo Chinato but I generally avoid the booze.
My last adventure was in wild areas of Burma where they hadn't seen westerners since WW2. Every village I made ( after a day's hike ) I was offered rice wine and dried buffalo meat. The hospitality amazing. The young lady pictured offerings were tempting- alcohol and pork after a 10 days trekking vegetarian and with no alcohol.
Mahmoud Ali wrote:Hmmm, as mentioned before, camping, wood smoke from the fireplace,rustic food, glass tumblers, and nobody's driving home. Can't think of a better reason to be drinking good quality cask wine.
Mahmoud Ali wrote:As I've said before, there is a time and place for everything.
Agreed, I guess part of my question also came from the idea of camping, something we regularly do. A work colleague was trying to set an example amongst others for taking tinnies and casks as they're far more practical than bottles.
JamieBahrain wrote:My last adventure was in wild areas of Burma where they hadn't seen westerners since WW2. Every village I made ( after a day's hike ) I was offered rice wine and dried buffalo meat. The hospitality amazing. The young lady pictured offerings were tempting- alcohol and pork after a 10 days trekking vegetarian and with no alcohol.
That sounds like a wonderful experience, nice one!
I remember the Yalumba casks (and Banrock Station, too) quite fondly. They were a staple in my parents kitchen for weeknight drinking back in the day.
Been a long time since I've partaken, but I won't say no to the occasional sneaky half carafe of rose (origins thankfully unknown) with a quick meal at Ying Chow on a balmy summer's eve!
phillisc wrote:I cried the day Morris Pressings was ceased...fantastic drinking.
Cheers Craig
+1. It was our mid week quaffer when we were poor single income with 2 kids in tow.
Carl
Yes indeed, I used to get a carton, (four casks) in the early 90s from Goodwood Cellars, every few weeks. Drank a fair bit to cope with screamers who never slept!!
Morris then got a bit lazy and started putting Spanish wine into the mix. Why you would import shit to dilute a good Rutherglen Shiraz beats me, but I remember the backlash and it then returned to a 100% Australian product. Laugh about it now.
At the time we were also one and a bit incomes with a couple of ankle biters in tow.
Craig(NZ) wrote:Never ever is there a good reason to buy or drink cask wine
ever
Hmmm, as mentioned before, camping, wood smoke from the fireplace,rustic food, glass tumblers, and nobody's driving home. Can't think of a better reason to be drinking good quality cask wine. I would love an Italian barbera from a good producer in liter casks. Of course the late night whisky would have to be in bottle.
As I've said before, there is a time and place for everything.
Cheers ........... Mahmoud.
Bear Grylls says there is a time and place to drink your own urine too
Doesn't mean I will actually plan to do so
There is never, ever, a time and place to drink one's urine! And for any occasion that might loom in one's imagination I hope to never be in that hypothetical occasion, including the one where I am reborn as Morarji Desai, the former PM of India who ascribed his health and longevity to drinking his own urine.
The trekking must have been quite the adventure. I imagine the food was tasty but how was the rice "wine", it looks unfiltered and unfined.
Cheers .............. Mahmoud.
Burma has magnificent cuisine but where I was it wasn't the case. Remote hill tribes, subsistence farming and animal worship. They've not seen white folks for generations and in some cases since WW2 due the remoteness and the military crack down on independence.
I avoided the rice wine. Just across the border Indian bootleggers always in the news for poisoning and blinding drinkers.
"Barolo is Barolo, you can't describe it, just as you can't describe Picasso"
JamieBahrain wrote:I avoided the rice wine. Just across the border Indian bootleggers always in the news for poisoning and blinding drinkers.
Good thinking. A lot of Indian alcohol is inexpensive (and downright cheap for us foreigners) but in poor areas, especially rural and in small towns, the need for economy drives people to the unscupulous bootleggers who do not supply them with the "real McCoy".
)
