# menage a trois wine, would you call it sweet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** wine\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444 "2012-09-12T00:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/21 "2012-09-14T16:23:10Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Isn’t that what everyone’s saying? It’s on the sweet side for a dry wine. Yes. I’m not disagreeing. I’m trying to suss out **Foie Gras** ’s post (assuming he missed by a factor of ten) and am agreeing with the rest of y’all who are saying it’s a little bit sweet for a “dry” wine, and that technically it would be “off-dry” or “semi-dry” or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/22 "2012-09-15T11:12:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been quiet because I don’t want to rain on a parade, but those wines like Menage a Trois, Apothic, and a pile more have a style that’s very high in sugar for a wine marketed as dry, no, no - don’t hold back! I’d rather hear the truth! anyway, I LIKE the stuff so I’ve still got that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/23 "2012-09-15T14:32:04Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > no, no - don’t hold back! I’d rather hear the truth! > > anyway, I LIKE the stuff so I’ve still got that. 😛 Not to borrow to heavily from Palahniuk, but the first rule of any esthetic appreciation is that if you like it, it’s good. For you. (You can go ahead and tell whoever you want about it…) No one else may like it, but that doesn’t mean that you are wrong for doing so. If you, like some apocryphal restaurant customers I heard about, enjoy dumping a sweet tea’s worth of sugar into your Merlot (after asking the waiter, “Th’ shit always taste like this?”), then go and do so. It’s your tongue and stomach, after all. When seeking advice on esthetics, describing your taste in as much detail as possible helps narrow the set of possibilities that you might like. It also provides clues about other things that you might want to try, that you might not like now, but may grow to appreciate. (Or not, it’s entirely up to you.) When describing specific technical characteristics about something, then correct/incorrect can apply. But not mere preference, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/24 "2012-09-15T17:54:45Z")
Yeah, I’m with **Gray Ghost** - if you like the wine, that’s all that matters. And it’s helpful to know the style you like so you can find more wines that you like. Heck, I remember a point in time where I couldn’t really distinguish between ANY wines. Red wine tasted like red wine… heck if I could perceive the difference between a cab and a Pinot or whatever. That boggles me now, because I find the differences so pronounced. So there ya go, the more you drink, the more you’ll start to taste the nuances, and next thing you know you’ll be waxing poetic about the subtle menthol notes and tobacco finish of that latest wine you found. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/25 "2012-09-15T18:08:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m wondering if you meant 30g/L, not 100mL. [Here’s another chart](http://en.foodlexicon.org/r0000040.php). > > 1.2% residual sugar would fall on the low side of medium dry or “off dry” wine. Menage a trois is sweet for a dry wine, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly sweet overall. Just a nice, easy-drinking wine, tastes best served a bit cooler than your dry and tannic reds. If I want to quaff a wine, which I often do, that one works fine. Yeas, I meant per litre. Shit, I am really slipping! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/26 "2012-09-16T01:30:28Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Reading your mention of the [Judgment of Paris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)), the funny thing for me is that Ridge Monte Bello (not a Zin, incidentally.) is probably the most Continental of the wines from America that were tasted. I’m not experienced in it at all, but the few times I’ve tried it, it was a lot more reticent and less fruit-forward than either Montrose or Mouton. Right. Monte Bello is estate grown on “Monte Bello Road” near the “Ridge” of the Santa Cruz mountains in Cupertion. Get it? 😉 Great place to grow Cab and Chard, but not Zin. Their Zins are from other vineyards all around CA. If anyone ever is in the area, it’s a great place to Wine Taste (the Monte Bello tasting room that is; haven’t been to the Lytton Springs place in Sonoma although I assume that is wonderful, too). > [@](#): > > Moving along, I love their Zins, especially Lytton Springs and Geyserville. Pagani and Dusi aren’t slouches either. Hard to find a juicier Zin that an over-ripe Pagani. Shame they don’t make Lytton Estate anymore. Never heard of the Oltranti til you mentioned it; I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. Zin, especially old vine Zin, is IMHO a place where terroir really shines in CA. Those head-trained vines are essentially irreplaceable. Tried another one of the “R’s”, Rafanelli, the other day. I was really surprised by how restrained it was, compared to what I was expecting. Difficult to find, and somewhat pricey when you do, it’s still an interesting glass. Rosenblum’s are a lot easier to find, and usually cheaper. I’ve been a member for about 5 years now. The Oltranti is pretty rare, and they may not even make it anymore. Thought I had died and gone to heaven the first time I had it. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/27 "2012-09-16T03:04:01Z")
Also, not California Zinfandel conversation is complete without an honorable mention to Cline Cellars for their affordable, juicy California Zin at about $11 a bottle. Their Syrah is very good too. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/28 "2012-09-16T05:56:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Right. Monte Bello is estate grown on “Monte Bello Road” near the “Ridge” of the Santa Cruz mountains in Cupertion. Get it? 😉 Great place to grow Cab and Chard, but not Zin. Their Zins are from other vineyards all around CA. If anyone ever is in the area, it’s a great place to Wine Taste (the Monte Bello tasting room that is; haven’t been to the Lytton Springs place in Sonoma although I assume that is wonderful, too)… > > …I’ve been a member for about 5 years now. The Oltranti is pretty rare, and they may not even make it anymore. Thought I had died and gone to heaven the first time I had it. Both tasting rooms are beautiful. The Sonoma building goes for more of the “rustic” farm outbuilding look. The view from up on Montebello ridge is absolutely stunning. The wine’s usually not bad either. (snicker). Crazy road to get up there though, especially with all of the bicyclists you have to dodge. Still not as bad as the road to get up to Mount Eden though. And you don’t need an appointment, either. Ridge is really worth anyone’s time, if they’re in the South Bay on a weekend. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve been up there, but when I was, they had very friendly people working the counter. I wonder if you could grow Zin up on Montebello? Thought they used to (in the early 80s maybe?) have a Zin from Jimsonaire, (EDIT, actually Jimsomare, and [they did make Zin from it](http://gangofpour.com/roadto/jimsomare/zins.html).) the now, if I’m not mistaken, wholly-Cab vineyard about halfway up the hill on that road. Not sure if Santa Clara County follows the rule of thumb for Northern Coastal CA that, the higher on the slope you get, the warmer it is. (Fog lingers in the low-lying valleys.) Maybe that’s just true for [Mendocino](http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/835/)? If it is true for Santa Clara county, then I’d think it might get warm enough for Zin up on the top of the ridge. I think Draper _et al_, can get a little bit better price for Cab grapes up there than for Zin though. I wasn’t thrilled with the quality for the price as an ATP member. I often wished they’d combine the two bottle shipments into a half case, and send them 4X a year, instead of every month—cut down on shipping costs that way. I also wasn’t thrilled at spending in the late 90s, with shipping, ~$30 a bottle for Carignan. OTOH, I wouldn’t have gotten any Lytton Estate (Syrah or the Zin), or Pagani Late Picked, or Essence without it, and you used to be able to get ‘futures’ on Monte Bello as an ATP member. Sounds like I should add the Oltranti to that list. I agree with you **FGIE** , on Cline. IME, for the most part, they make affordable, varietally correct wines. Like their lovely Mourvedre. It’s one of the things I miss about living in California. Texas has wineries, but bless their sweet hearts, it’s just not the same. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444/29 "2012-09-16T16:04:52Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I wasn’t thrilled with the quality for the price as an ATP member. I often wished they’d combine the two bottle shipments into a half case, and send them 4X a year, instead of every month—cut down on shipping costs that way. They have been doing that now for about a year. I’m in the 4-bottle deal and I get a case a few times a year instead of a box of 4 almost every month in the late summer/fall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menage-a-trois-wine-would-you-call-it-sweet/634444.md?page=1)