most drinkable carlo rossi??

[jgln]

Sweet Red does away with most of the 'make it taste like wine' parts. It's all quite good enough cold.. I love the 4-liter bottles for small batch secondaries or even new recipes I'm not sure I wanna throw a ton of money into.. plus you gotta love that headspace (it's saved me more than once).

Oh and, about the headspace. Mark the gallon level with a sharpie, because it's not quite where the 4-liter level is.

If there are lady types in your life, or even near you, "come over, please, I have so much wine and I frankly need to get rid of it" has worked well for me.. but I work in medicine and nurses are always pragmatists

Tried the Sweet Red recently also, a little too sweet for me probably been better off as plain "red". Didn't taste bad, just very sweet.

What is funny to me is they are all the same price no matter the type or ABV.

 

[Huskysibe]

Sangria is what I choke down to get the mead jugs hehe

 

[diablodawg]

I didn't think the Cabernet was that bad. Granted I would NEVER buy it if it wasn't for the bottles, but it ain't exactly rotgut. Just alternate with drinking decent wine.

 

[Flumpy]

The real question is how do you get the labels off

 

[Dr. Francois]

I have been called a wine snob by family and friends, and I have like the Paisano wine from CR. My cousin who works on the vinticulture side of the CA wine industry agreed that it is a classic American wine, despite the price tag. MANY Italian immigrants I know drink it almost exclusively.
Drink it in context and it makes total sense: it is a condiment, not a beverage. Invite several friends over. Boil 3 pounds of spaghetti and make or buy some simple red sauce. Toss the grocery store garlic bread in the oven and make an iceberg lettuce salad with too much Wishbone italian dressing. Paisano makes the food taste better and the food makes the wine taste better.
Also, keep in mind that CR is one of the rare opportunities in the current wine market to try a wine that hasn't undergone malolactic fermentation. Thus, it tends to lack the refined character of pricier wines, and you will taste more grape than anything else. No whisps of kiwi here! IMHO, Paisano is to wine what ordinary bitter is to beer.

 

[Tw0fish]

The real question is how do you get the labels off

Soak overnight in the sink/a bucket with some dish soap.. go after it in the morning with your fingernails or a butter knife. Any kitchen brush should be able to get the last of the adhesive off.

s'easy, brah

 

[Huskysibe]

The real question is how do you get the labels off

30 minutes in a sink full of hot water and oxy clean. the label will peel right off then hit the white milky glue with a kitchen brush, takes about 10 seconds to complete.

 

[jgerard]

"Would you like to take a look as our monthly special list?"
"No. I'll take that big f****** jug over there."

 

[turtlescales]

I didn't drink wine for nearly 8 years, as I thought I had a sever sulfite allergy. Turns out, Uncle Carlo just is no friend of mine. I get sick half way through a glass of the stuff. I've been buying jugs of apple juice, I plan on making a cyser in one pretty soon. Much more drinkable, and way easier to find things to do with surplus organic apple juice than surplus hobo wine.

 

[Flumpy]

I have like the Paisano wine from CR. My cousin who works on the vinticulture side of the CA wine industry agreed that it is a classic American wine, despite the price tag. MANY Italian immigrants I know drink it almost exclusively.

Are you referring to all the CR line or just the Paisano?

What kind of upsets me about CR is I can't imagine the steps they have to omit to make THAT MUCH of it. It would have to have about the same quality as McDonalds beef. And if you look at their web site at the pics of the wines themselves it looks like their bottling machine(s) aren't able to fill the jugs to the same levels, which worries me. Some are filled straight to the top and some have lots of headspace, even in the company's own photos:

http://www.carlorossi.com/the-wines/TheWines.html

The last thing that makes me nervous is their slogan: "good, honest wines for real people." Clearly bought by Gallo's massive advertising budget. The deep, sad irony is that the slogan "good, honest wines for real people" is not a good, honest slogan by real people, it's some Madison Avenue creative department's take on what honesty should be by people who've never encountered it before.

 

[Dr. Francois]

Are you referring to all the CR line or just the Paisano?

Just the Paisano. The others, I feel, try to be something they are not. Paisano doesn't claim to be a varietal (Merlot) or immitation appelation (Hearty Burgundy). I get a headache when I drink CR from the other lines, but not with Paisano.

For the most part, though, you're buying bulk, unaged wine from lesser regions, for instance around Modesto, CA. Good areas for produce...not great areas for wine. Every wine producing country has these regions for domestic consumption and table wine. Ours comes in bigger bottles for bigger people and bigger value.

I don't think Americans have ever really understood table wine. The Spanish, French, Greeks, and Italians do not spend $19 on a bottle of wine for a Tuesday dinner.

 

[Flumpy]

Fair enough, I'll try the Paisano. I'm all for worthwhile new experiences. I was gonna get the Sangria to drink with one of my girlfriends because she's into sweet fruity stuff but if I can have something with at least a modicum of cultural, social and/or scientific relevance -- albeit attenuated -- I will give it a shot.

 

[huesmann]

If you're buying 4 liters of wine, you're not buying bouquet.

 

[Dr. Francois]

I really like decanters. It is surprising what wines guests like that they ordinarily wouldn't touch when you serve it from expensive crystal.

 

[Flumpy]

How long does CR last before going bad? A 4L bottle of 'wine' of questionable quality might be around for weeks or even months in my place.

 

[Dr. Francois]

How long does CR last before going bad? A 4L bottle of 'wine' of questionable quality might be around for weeks or even months in my place.

A little longer than fine wine, but not much.

I use two tricks:

1. Store in the fridge. It lasts about two weeks instead of five days.

2. Transfer it to smaller bottles with no headspace. 16.9oz water bottles work in a pinch. Empty screw-top 750ml wine bottles are better. Even beer bottles are good. These bottles will last weeks or months if you are careful not to aerate much when you transfer.

My fallback position is to plan a few dinners that require a lot of red wine as an ingredient. Coq au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon do a nice job of killing 2 bottles of wine each.

 

[GotAnyGrapes]

I can't handle sweet wine, so I enjoy Paisano at the dinner table. It also works well in stews and tomato sauces. In the summer I enjoy mixing it with a cold, flavored, sugar free, carbonated berry water over ice. It's not a wine I would pair with an elegant meal, but it's a respectable every day table wine.

 

[dwhite60]

I've split batches between two gallon jugs. When done fermenting I'll "marry" them into a third. I get a full gallon this way. You need three jugs though.