# Is sweet red wine the wine of rubes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** wine
**Created:** [November 9, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293 "2016-11-09T23:10:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/1 "2016-11-09T23:10:44Z")
I started getting into drinking wine a couple of years ago (GF got me hooked). Basically, my go to is sweet red. And (gasp) chilled!
Not knowing much about the wine drinking world, I get the impression wine snobs don’t much care for sweet red wine unless it’s used for cooking.
Is that a pretty much an accurate statement? I mean, I’m still gonna drink my sweet red wine. I’m just currious. 🙂
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### Author:  [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/2 "2016-11-09T23:21:53Z")
I don’t think it is fair to lump them into “wine snobs” but yes, sweet red wine is generally speaking not looked favorably upon by wine enthusiasts. But hey… if you like how it tastes, cheers!
MeanJoe
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/3 "2016-11-09T23:26:14Z")
Manischewitz all the way, baby! Being able to spell it correctly gets you extra points.
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### Author:  [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/4 "2016-11-09T23:43:44Z")
Please tell me it comes in a box. Chilled sweet red requires its own dedicated tapping space within the refrigerator.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/5 "2016-11-10T00:01:11Z")
Define “sweet.” If it’s Manischewitz, then scorn you will get. If it’s just a cheap red jug wine, go for it. Personally, we keep Carlo Rossi Paisano around for spaghetti night.
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### Author:  [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/6 "2016-11-10T00:02:32Z")
As a fully qualified wine snob, I shall quote distinguished Oenophile Len Evans - the man probably as responsible as anyone for popularising Australia’s premium wine industry.
1. "I’m too old to be drinking wine I don’t like’.
2. ‘It’s only a bloody drink. Get it into you’.
You like it - you drink it. Who died and made these wine snobs arbiters of what you should and what you shouldn’t drink? Tell 'em to get stuffed.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/7 "2016-11-10T01:43:36Z")
Jesus Fucking Shit, who drinks sweet red wine? I don’t even know where to find it. WalMart?
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/8 "2016-11-10T02:26:32Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Jesus Fucking Shit, who drinks sweet red wine? I don’t even know where to find it. WalMart?
Me. Kroger or anywhere that sells alcohol basically.
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### Author:  [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/9 "2016-11-10T02:35:21Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> Please tell me it comes in a box. Chilled sweet red requires its own dedicated tapping space within the refrigerator.
Chillable red, baby. My fav.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/10 "2016-11-10T02:47:15Z")
In the form of Port, I love sweet red wine. I also love Moscato. And liquors like Amaretto. I drink what makes me happy and snobs can suck it.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/11 "2016-11-10T13:13:23Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Jesus Fucking Shit, who drinks sweet red wine?
\*Down in New Orleans, where everything’s fine
All them cats is drinkin’ that wine
Drinking that mess to their delight
When they gets drunk, start fighting all night
Knocking down windows and tearin’ out doors
Drinkin’ half a gallons and callin’ for more
If you wanna get along in New Orleans town
Buy some wine and pass it all around
Age runs up for tonight\*
All those cats they love sweet wine\*
\*I don't remember this as the actual line, but it was hard to tell exactly what Stick McGhee was singing after a couple of bottles.
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/12 "2016-11-10T13:20:39Z")
> [@Grrr](#):
>
> wine snobs
Just a reminder - anti-snobbery is just a form of snobbery.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/13 "2016-11-10T13:52:42Z")
Hell with it. Drink what you like and change the world.
When I do drink wine it tends to be raspberry or blackberry wines. You want sweet, those’ll do it for you. Let the snobs drink their alcohol-flavored water and you do you, baby.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/14 "2016-11-10T17:09:00Z")
I assume you’re talking about [something like this?](https://www.barefootwine.com/our-wine/red-wine/sweet-red-blend)
Typically, sweet reds are not highly thought of in the wine world, mostly because they’re more of an engineered product than some sort of expression of terroir and grape variety like the traditional styles and varietals. There are plenty of sweet dessert wines and sweet whites out there (Gewurtztraminer, for example) that are fine with wine snobs because they’re traditional varieties instead of being something dreamt up by a winery to sell wine to non wine drinkers.
That said, drink what you like. There aren’t any points for drinking certain wines, or not drinking others. If you like sweet red, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/15 "2016-11-10T17:15:25Z")
That is not an accurate statement, **Grr!** In fact, I don’t know where you would ever get such an idea. You can’t use sweet red for cooking, either!
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/16 "2016-11-10T17:26:48Z")
BTW, if you like listening to the music of Donny and Marie, that’s what you should listen to. But you are neither “into” country nor “into” rock ‘n’ roll by virtue of doing so. Not even a little bit.
It’s the same with wine. I agree with those who say you should drink what you like, and snobs be damned. But you should know that when people say they are “getting into” wine drinking, they typically mean that they are learning about various aspects of wine that are simply not present in sweet reds for the most part. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t getting just as much pleasure and enjoyment from your wines as they are from theirs, but that’s why wine snobs generally are not interested in sweet reds.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/17 "2016-11-10T17:37:51Z")
Th’ hell with this “wine snob” baloney.
Italian immigrants to the U.S. made and drank the table wines they enjoyed in the Old World.
People of all classes and incomes across Europe drink the local wines, most of which taste good, and aren’t sweet.
I have a yahoo brother-in-law who sneers at wine (and properly-made beer) as he swills down commercial brew. He should get his ass to Spain or France or Austria sometime, see the local salt-of-the-earth types drinkin’ wine with their bread and sausage and cheese, but as far as I know he’s never left the continent.
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### Author:  [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/18 "2016-11-10T17:39:08Z")
DH has a palate that is super-sensitive to tannin, so the only reds he can drink are sweet (and not all of those). I know oenophiles (fancy word!) are often dismissive of our drinking habits in the abstract, but I only get snippy if anyone is scornful to my face. It’s like how some people like to wear expensive clothes, and others just don’t care - priorities are different for everyone.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/19 "2016-11-10T18:48:52Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#):
>
> DH has a palate that is super-sensitive to tannin, so the only reds he can drink are sweet (and not all of those). I know oenophiles (fancy word!) are often dismissive of our drinking habits in the abstract, but I only get snippy if anyone is scornful to my face. It’s like how some people like to wear expensive clothes, and others just don’t care - priorities are different for everyone.
Yeah, todays wine is overly tannic, IMHO.
Looks there’s a difference between "sweet’ (which usually means added sugar or fortified) and “soft”.
Manischewitz or Boones Farm is pretty low end.
But some nice soft house Red? Lovely!
And Italy makes some nice soft chillable reds with just a touch of sparkle. Really nice!
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sweet-red-wine-the-wine-of-rubes/771293/20 "2016-11-10T19:54:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> And Italy makes some nice soft chillable reds with just a touch of sparkle. Really nice!
Slambrusco!
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