In fairness, bleach is “drinkable” too - for a while.
I myself had a 2005 Pheasant Gully semillon sauvignon blanc from South Australia, which is sensationally good and bloody cheap.
Sorry I’m late to the party. This weekend I have a bottle of 2004 Rosenblum Zin open…the Richard Sauret Vineyards incarnation. Lots of fruit, and I sure don’t taste the 16% alcohol.
Though as I write this, I too have a bourbon in hand. Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year. We may need a SD Bourbon Society thread soon.
I have a glass of the Weller 12 on my desk as I type. The SDBS would be very popular, methinks. 
On a cold winter evening I am glugging down some Norton classico, a pleasent argentine blend, nothing outstanding but at 8 pesos can’t go far wrong. The solid malbecs come out tomorrow along with 1/2 a cow to go on the parrilla.
Would cause bodily harm to get my grubby mits on a bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz, brown label or president selction, alas all wine here is local.
No idea why I used the word alas, the local stuff is damn fine.
Salut
Two fingers of Southern Comfort over ice. I am also sipping the Champagne of Beers to cool my throat. What the hell, it is a 4 day weekend and a Saturday night.
SGT Schwartz
Nothing for me tonight, aside from a couple of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales with and after dinner.
And amijane I’m sorry, on preview I see you asked for an actual guide (I was in a bit of a haze this morning.)
This one is pretty good and while this one only has a few varietals listed, it has .wav files next to each one so you can actually hear the pronunciation.
Sorry nothing, you’re a star, thanks 
Yesterday was actually nice and warm, so I had a couple of large French 75s.
2 oz. gin (I used Plymouth)
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
enough sugar (I used a little less than 0.5 oz. light agave nectar)
Shake violently and strain into a tall glass (I used an 8 oz. cider-type glass).
Fill with drinkable champagne.
Garnish with a twist of lemon.
You can play around with varying the base spirit, but you’ll have to adjust proportions accordingly.
Violently?!? Hm, violent spirits…
Not quite apple juice, perhaps, but when apple cider comes out later this fall, you can take 2 oz. of that rum, and pour it over ice with an ounce of cointreau in a highball glass, and fill with cider. Amazingly good autumnal drink for cool nights on a porch.
Or try this per my earlier comment about changing the base spirit in a French 75:
2 oz. mixing-grade dark rum (i.e., Mount Gay, not Ron Zacapa)
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 good dash Angostura bitters
Shake violently and strain into a tall glass.
Fill with cider or a dark hard cider.
Garnish with a twist of lemon.
I haven’t bothered trying a heated version of this, but I suspect it would work.
Excuse my lateness: my Friday night wine was a glass of Torres Sangre de Toro- yes, it’s not exactly fancy or expensive, and it has a little plastic bull attached to the neck for added kitschness, but I love it.
It appears I’m not the only one either.
I sure wish I could find a wine that I like - I’m jealous of people that take a sip and then do that closed-eyes-mmmmm thing. I’ve found several meads that I enjoy, but grape wines… not so much. Seems they are either too sweet or too… astringent? Tannic? Something like that. Should try a wine tasting I guess, but I wouldn’t know where to start.
Let’s see… Friday night was a 2005 Menage au Trois, California red table wine. It’s wonderful even to an old strictly Cabernet guy like me and at around $9 US a bottle, hard to pass up. Really, I’d love to hear another oenophile weigh in on this one.
Bobotheoptimist- You could always learn to drink wine the way I did-start with sweet whites, move on to drier whites, then light reds, then heavy oaked wines and big, full-bodied reds. The idea is to start with the wines you find easiest to drink, and gradually work up to more challenging ones.
Admittedly, I started drinking wine when I was about 10, that system was my dad’s fool-proof way of making his children appreciate good wine, and when we started it was restricted to 1/4 of a glass with Sunday lunch, but in theory it should work for anyone.
My favourite white wine is also a Torres- Viña Esmeralda. Although I don’t normally like sweet white wine, I love this one. It is sort of floral and honeyed, and perhaps that’s what you’d prefer if you like mead.
I love Chablis too, and it’s hard to pick a bad one…but it’s too expensive for more than an occasional treat.
Alas, I’ve never tried a Menage au Trois. I only hope I do someday before I die. Only $9 you say?
It wasn’t Friday, but last night we killed a bottle of Hirsch 2004 Gruner Veltliner. This is the third or fourth time I’ve had a gruner, and I’ve decided that really like it. Any suggestions about pairing it up?
I’ve tasted a few Grüner Veltliners and I’ve really enjoyed them as well. It’s got such bright acidity it makes a great food companion, particularly for things like seafood/fish, chicken, or pork cooked in any type of citrus-based sauce (shrimp scampi, maybe?) It’s one of the few wines that I think can stand up to other high acid foods like tomatoes, or a salad with a vinaigrette, even asparagus, a classic wine pairing nightmare.
I haven’t tried the Ménage a Trois red wine, but I did try a rosé made by them a couple of months ago. It was recommended by one of the workers of BevMo who saw me choosing a few rosés to have on hand for the summer. It was incredible. So good I went back and bought 2 more bottles the next day. I’ll see if I can find the red on the way home. If I do I’ll report my notes.
Also, another online (wine) community did a ‘group tasting’ a few weeks back. I thought it was a pretty good idea, and pretty fun. I’d be up for that if anyone else here were interested. Maybe start with this one?
I bought another case on the way home, noticed my misspelling, and thank you for correcting it, psycat90. Being an '05, give it a bit in a glass to come out, 30 minutes or so.
We had an '02 Ridge Cabernet during a wine-paired meal recently and it was outstanding with a vennison shank. I immediately bought all the '02s I could find, plus a couple of '98s. Stay with the '02s as they are quite nice.
Thanks lieu, will do! I found the 04 vintage at one shop last night, but just wasn’t much in the mood for wine, so maybe I’ll give it a go tonight. I’ll look for the 05 vintage at a couple of the other wine shops, if I can’t find it I’ll have to head over the mountain to score a bottle from the winery, but I need to head out that way sometime this month anyway.