Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Amen!

I don't like overly oakey wines... Generally for chardonnay, if it's got even a hint of butter/oak, I'm out. Cab has a little more backbone to stand up to the oak, and I don't pick up the butter, but cab's not really my favorite either. 

Spicy, peppery zin is my go-to. Been really digging syrah a lot lately. When we went to Paso over NY weekend, their region tends to produce a lot more GSM blends, and I was digging those. I don't drink much white [in hot weather when I want a cold drink I usually grab a beer instead], but when I do I like a more clean, crisp white. The wife gets this Pinot Grigio from Costco, I think the brand is Trentino, and that hits the spot. 

I presented a talk at a French wine conference a few years back on differences and similarities between American and French wines.  My near opening comment was "In American, the concept is if some is good, more is better.".  And it's significantly true I think.

I'd agree with that. In many fields, probably. For example, it also explains the successful marketing and proliferation of many supplements, including vitamin tablets, which - in a well nourished person - at best produce expensive urine and at worst can cause hypervitaminosis, "paradoxically" (per conventional logic) worsening health.
Dangers associated with excessive supplement use:

Vitamin A (liver damage, heart valve calcification, others)

Vitamin B6 (neurotoxicity)

Vitamin B3 (hepatitis-mimicking symptoms: jaundice, elevated liver enzymes in plasma)

Vitamin D (hypercalcemia, atherosclerosis, malignant calcification, generally increased mortality)

Vitamin E (hemorrhage, prostate cancer, elevated risk of death in general)

Kirkland is all rebranded something.  Costco sells more wine in dollar value than any retailer in the world.  If some winery finds it has excess, they can call Costco and relabel it and get it off their inventory quickly while making little money on it.

The problem is they sell out of something and it's gone, usually.  The wife loves their prosecco for $7.  

I found a Bordeaux they have that I like right now.  I need to get up there and get more, it's $8.  The wine prices in GA are a LOT lower than in OH.  I'm saving a ton.

I definitely prefer French wine over American wine.  As CD pointed out, American wines tend to lack balance and subtlety.  In both wine and beer, I vastly prefer the European approach to the American.

94 condolences on your friends passing,wishing/hoping the best for the family

What is the difference in price between dining out and eating a comparable meal at home?  Of course, it depends on whether you order alcohol in  a big way.

Let's presume you go to a steak house versus eating a similar steak and sides at home.  You order an 8 ounce filet, BP, salad, asparagus.

The Kroger near me has Filet on sale for $13 right now, the nearest butcher sells it for $33 a pound for choice and $38 for prime.  Let's figure the butcher has meat closer to what a restaurant would have, perhaps dry aged, perhaps not.  So, the steak costs $17 at home.  My guess is it's $45 at a good steak house, probably with one side.  Asparagus is going to run another $5 (it's often $10 but has enough for two).  Asparagus at home will be $2 sometimes less.  Baked potato is $1.  So, about $20 at home versus $50 out, sound about right?

Wine prices out are at least 2x retail.  A decent bottle out will be $60 anyway, versus more like $25 at home, so that is where the ding is.  The up charge on wine is the same as the up charge on the meal.  And of course we haven't included a tip and tax.  

We used to go to the same steak house in Cincy most of the time, they had good seafood as well (Eddie Merlot's).  I had a wine locker there that allowed me to stock at retail, so that really saved money (it was $200 a year though).  We had the same two servers nearly every time we went and that made it very comfortable.  They knew our tastes and could recommend specials we might like etc.  I was happy for them to pull something out of my wine locker without having to choose.

It would still hit $100 an evening for two of us, easily, not counting wine (which I had paid for separately).

Oddly enough, I grilled two filets at home last night with BP and asparagus, the ones from Kroger.  They were quite good.  I'm using an electric grill which is all we can have, and it works surprisingly well.  The wife had a small filet but didn't eat it all, and I didn't eat all mine either.  I opened a bottle of Regusci merlot, my last one, they do nice work there but no longer sell outside the winery.  I suspect a lot of the medium high end wines are going this route, they can sell their entire production directly by mail or club or on site.

No middleman.