The Wonders of Wine...

I like reds, whites, and sparkling wines. I'm not an uber hip winey, but here a stab a some descriptions:

As far as reds go, my faves are Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, and Shiraz/Syrah. Blends that contain any of these are generally yummy. I am not a fan of Cabs. I like a light to medium bodied red w/o too many tannin flavors.

In whites, I tend to prefer them sweeter than Chardonnays but drier than Reislings (although there are some great dry reislings). My favorite varietal is probably Chenin Blanc. I also like white blends that don't have too much Chardonnay. My favorite white blend is Sokol Blosser's Evolution. Light to medium bodied, semi-sweet, and crisp.

Sparkling...I like it all! However rose sparklings are extra yummy to me!

I try to avoid the big American wineries like Beringer or Sutter Home, etc. There are so many other great smaller wineries and I'm hip with supporting them.

Can I make a request? I only have 10 hearts, and I love this swap, so if it does'nt turn into too much of a headache, can you set it up again in, say, 2 months? I'm fairly certain I can get enough hearts by then, and will be able to afford it better then too!

I'd also like to request another run at this swap in a couple of months... I'm working on the hearts, but they take time! :-)

I'll drink some wine while thinking of you Blissful !

What could be a good working swap would probably be wine objects rather then wine itself...

I could then send you some spices to put in cheap red wine to get Alsacien Christmas wine ^_^

Add wine to what cart? Who will ask for my zip code? Do tell.....:>)

Well poop. I can't get wine in the mail unless it's purchased from a PA winery. I was all excited about this, too.

I have a local winery about 1.5 miles from my home and I will be sending a bottle or two of their wine to my swap partner. If you would like to visit their website it is: {Trail Ridge Winery}(http://www.trwinery.com/). If you are my partner and you see a couple of wines that you find interesting, just let me know and I will make the sacrifice of doing a tasting (tough job, I know) and picking out a couple of bottles for you.

oops...hit the shift key. Here it is Trail Ridge Winery

Awww, I can't have wine shipped to me. So sad!!! So envious of those of you who can!!!!

Hi y'all,

Winery owner here. One way to get around shipping laws is to ship directly to a licensee, that is, a business with some sort of liquor license. So, if you know a wine store owner well or restaurant or winery, see if they'd let you ship to them rather than your home address. I believe you can do that in all 50 states.

Also, here's an easy way to find out about shipping in your state: http://www.wineamerica.org/shipment/map.htm

Regarding shipping: USPS will not ship wine. But you can ship it via FedEx, UPS, or some of the freight companies. Check with your local shipping office -- they may require that a liquor (wine) license holder do the shipping.

Heather winemakerssister

Heather, If I box it up myself how will they know what I'm shipping?

Hi Vicki,

Under most circumstances they won't. I've known people to tell them it's olive oil or bath oil if they ask.... (that way they're not concerned if they hear the liquid slosh around)

Just pack it REALLY well. The only problem I've ever heard about is someone who's package got damaged/opened in shipping. The wine was confiscated because it wasn't supposed to be shipped into that particular state. I think if they had sent it in a secure, well-packed package, that wouldn't have happened....

Heather

....as for my preferences, send me something you like.

Heather

Well, I really don't know that much about wine, but I know I only like white, and the fruitier the better! I like reislings and chardonnays, and of course I like bubbly! But I am positive that as long as it's white I will be happy with your choices, you probably know what I'd like better than I do!

Varietals I tend to like: riesling and other sweet whites, chenin blanc, semillon, cabernet franc, gamay noir, syrah. In general, I like fruity wines (not necessarily sweet), spice is fine, too tannic is not. I'd love to get something I haven't tried before. I'm not as familiar with foreign wines, so good wines from France, Spain, or Italy are a great idea. I echo blissful_mama's sentiment about avoiding larger wineries, particularly the large Washington wineries because they're really easy for me to get to.

I'm Allergic to most whites... chardonnay, pinot gris, savignon, champagne, etc. The only ones I can drink are Reisling and Gewurtztraminers. Fortunately, I like them. As well as fizzy Proseccos. Fizzy pink wines are great. And reds... I LOVE zinfandels. Cabernets are usually a little too heavy for my taste, but merlots and shirazes work well. (hint: Livermore, CA has some Amazing zinfandels and they're very reasonable) and I've never met a Rothschild I didn't like. I like 'em a little off-dry and spice is good. I'm a total California wine snob but I'm dating an Italian wine expert, so maybe I'll learn something (Italy still confuses me)... Ok? Ok. Fantastic.

My tastes in wine....nothing real sweet (like Reislings and Gewurtztraminer) unless it is a high end dessert wine. Otherwise I am open to new and different wines. Red, white, merlot, shiraz, pinot noir (a favorite), Cabs, Chards...I love trying new and different wines. Oh and please do NOT send me wine in a box. I know it's popular in some of the southern states, but I haven't had a good box wine in my life. Thank you!!

Just thought of something...there has been a movement towards using screw top caps in some wineries, especially Australian ones.

I don't have any problem with receiving a nice wine with a screw cap.

If any of you do, please list that here in the discussion.

Man! How'd I miss this kewl swap? I'm bummed. I love wine, not like wino love it but yeah, I'm a fan of Merlot. Dunno what it is but a glass with dinner makes me happy. TJ's carries a lot of good wine labels but my favorite is one that was featured on a 60 minutes segment and stood up very well in a blind taste test to the pricier wines. What's my fave label? Charles Shaw aka "2 BUCK CHUCK"

Ya'll have fun with your swap! hiccup! scuse me:)

What a great swap! I hope you do another one soon!