I am a big Riesling fan (in fact, of almost all white, except for the Viognier), so I’ll pick up the slack for you! 
Recent faves include Eroica from Oregon, and Pike’s from Australia. I Think I probably have a few more in the wine fridge, but I don’t remember what they are. I also drink a lot of the Sancerre SauvBlancs, and collect Sauternes.
From a red perspective, last night I finished off a bottle of the Lot 21 red from J. Bookwalter, which was very good.
I had a bottle of Ferrari- Carano Siena last night. $18 at BevMo. Very nice, at that price point.
Sorry, John, I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth. I wouldn’t know what wine to serve with that… I’ve bought a bottle of the Earthquake Zin, but haven’t opened it yet. Maybe tomorrow while watching Lost, but that’s another thread. 
Flickster, I read your comments about the Layer Cake Shiraz in another thread; I had picked up the Layer Cake earlier but hadn’t opened it. Your post inspired me to do so, and I’ve had it over the last few nights. Rather than trying to keep both threads going I’ll respond here.
I’ll have to revise a few earlier comments about the Layer Cake - it wasn’t nearly as hard to find as one wine shop had implied in their email, and I could find it cheaper in other shops. In fact, I found it to be about what I pay for the Lehmann. If it stays that price, this might well become a real contender for my first choice in a reasonably priced shiraz. I think that you noticed chocolate; I know that I did. I think that the Lehmann has a bit more fruit to it, and may be a bit bolder. The Layer Cake seemed a bit more refined to me, and more than a bit seductive. I will definitely buy this one again.
I’ll be getting together with some friends this weekend, many of whom are Portuguese. I was very impressed with this Douro over the holidays, and hope to get a chance to buy another bottle for our dinner.
Hope I didn’t come off as if I was pissed off or anything. It’s no big deal. I always enjoy these threads about swapping ideas for wine.
The wine will be flowing at my place tomorrow like a river in flood. My crew for watching “Lost” is VERY BIG on wine. I’m sure a bottle or two of EQZin will be consumed, among others. I have a few bottles of port to finish things off, too. I can hardly wait!
Just a bump to say that I had a Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha last night. I picked it up at a NH liquor store last week for $9. I see that it is now back to $12 this week, and I’m kicking myself for not picking up a case at the sale price. Very drinkable, full and soft, and a terrific deal if you can find it at that price.
Thanks for the heads up. I just checked and Spec’s has it listed at $8.38 I’ll have to try this one!
I’ve had both South African and NZ sauvingnon blancs that have a kind of grassy flavor I enjoy. I also like the fruity undertones, though. As for reds, there’s a Spanish region Ribera del Duero that has some interesting ones. Nothing too overpowering, yet complex enough to accomodate some of the heavier meats or stinkier cheeses.
Also once picked up a bottle of a Colorado wine (of all places) that had some tobacco and cedar flavorings, which I found curious and liked.
After listening to John’s glowing recommendations of the world of Zin, I took the plunge tonight. The Spec’s I was at yesterday didn’t have the EQ so I picked a Dry Creek Zin to get my feet wet. Enjoyed it while doing some reading tonight. Not sure why it took me this long to open the Zin door but the Dry Creek has drawn me in for additional Zin investigation.
Our fellow SDMB Wine drinkers continue to make it easy to expand one’s wine horizons. I just with expanding my storage racks were easy as well.
Riesling is funny in the way that it is perceived, as in, “Well, it’s sweet, and I don’t like sweet!”
I hate this attitude, and it generally comes from the uninitiated or uninformed. Or they were “turned on” to some drek like Liebfraumilch or something similarly insipid that actually has very little if any Riesling in it to begin with!
“I don’t like sweet”
What, don’t you like the sweetness of a peach or an apricot when you bite into it?
And furthermore, there are many styles of Riesling. Alsatian and Austrian Rieslings are predominantly dry (in terms of overall production, there are many sweet version s as well) and ones from Germany, AUS and the USA tend to be sweeter.
To me, the ultimate consideration of a wine is balance in it’s components (with a few exceptions): sweetness present must be countered with acidity or the wine is cloying, concentration of fruit flavor needs to be held against structure and body, if heavy oak ageing is used, then the wine needs enough concentrated fruit to hold up against it, etc, etc.
So, I’m with you if you’ve tried a crappy, cheap Riesling. They suck. But don’t sell yourself short on the grape until you’ve had several examples from a variety of quality producers from a few different countries.
Hoping that this won’t sink so soon again.
My office neighbor told me that someone brought her a great wine over the holidays. Or was it Thanksgiving? It was a Morgante Nero D’Avola. I wasn’t familiar with the Nero D’Avola grape (and I know precious little about other Italian reds). From what I am reading, it is an important indigenous grape to Italy, and it is Sicily’s biggest exported wine.
I have been looking in vain for this label. Some wine shops have suggested other wines, and I haven’t been particularly impressed with some of them. However, last night I was having spaghetti and decided to open a Vigneti Zabu Nero D’Avola. I thought that it was great. Unfortunately, I bought this at that shop that seems to jack up the prices; I paid $15 and I am seeing it for at least a few dollars less. I am also seeing it for a lot less, but I think that they make two Nero D’Avolas, so the one I link to is the one I drank.
With respect to the Las Rocas Garnacha - I thought that it wasn’t as good the second night, but I can’t be sure whether it was just the food that I paired it with. I thought that I had a second bottle down in the cellar, but to my delight I found that it was the Vinas Viejas (Old Vines) bottling of the Garnacha. It will be interesting to see how they compare.