My sister has done me a favor and watched my 2 cats while I have been away for the last week, and I was thinking about buying her a nice bottle of wine as a "thank you". I know that she really enjoys Malbecs, but I don't know as much about the grape varietal as I do about others. I am looking to spend probably between $50 and $75 on the bottle of wine. Does anybody who knows anything about wine have any suggestions as to what I should get her? I could check and see highest rated wines, but thought I would check here to see if anybody had any input here.

Thanks,
Rylant

I dunno what the prices of wines are back home, but here in Aus they're relatively cheap. According to my Fiance, Wolf Blass (only premium label eg. grey or black) from Barossa Valley here in Aus is supposed to be good. Generally speaking Penfold's and Wynn's Estate is also pretty good as well. Also Wakefield Wines...

These ones are supposedly good and you can order them online...

http://www.wine.com/V6/Penfolds-Bin-...24/detail.aspx

http://www.wine.com/V6/Penfolds-Bin-...25/detail.aspx

If you aren't in a rush for it, I'm more than happy to get some awesome Aussie wines here and ship it to your sister or you, if you want to paypal me the money... might work out a bit cheaper than ordering it online and paying middle man fees...

Anyways let me know.

__________________
Dobber Expert Pool Champion 2011-12

Argentinian Malbec is it!

Try one of these in your price range if you can find them.

Alta Vista 2006 Single Vineyard Temis (Uco Valley)
Bodega Catena Zapata 2005 Catena Alta (Mendoza)
O. Fournier 2006 Alfa Crux (Uco Valley)
Mapema 2007 pz (Mendoza)

__________________
Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

This is the only one on Shoeless' list I have tried but it is excellent and in the $50/$60 range.

As a side note, there was a study done, where "wine drinkers" where brought into a focus group (one by one) and were given 2 different wines to sample:

Wine (A) was from $120 bottles and was served in a cheap-looking glass.

Wine (B) was from bottles under $15 but was served in a beautiful, sturdy glass.

Both glasses were the same size, so there was no variation in how the air and aromas were released in the bowl.

Out of the 200 people in the group, more than 160 of them said the "cheap wine in the beautiful glass" was "better". Goes to show that perception is reality and that emotions are the main trigger in all purchases. The cheap wine "looked better" in the nice glass, therefore these wine drinkers already made their decision emotionally, regardless of the actual product. It's all about the packaging. Just thought I'd share this story since it popped into my head.

__________________
6-GM /Wk. H2H
[Skaters] G=2, A=1, PP/SH= +1, GWG= +2, Shootout G=1 / [*D-Men Bonus]: G=3/A=2
[Goalies] W=3, OTL=1, SO= +2, SV= .10

Start= 13F, 6D, 2G /Keep 40 [2G Max]
[F] Backstrom, P.Kane, Kopitar, Perry, E.Staal, Spezza, Z-berg, Nash, Vanek, Couture, B.Ryan, Eberle, J.Staal, D.Brown, Lucic, Tarasenko, JvR, T.Ennis, Gallagher, Armia, Teravainen
[*D] Karlsson, P.Subban, Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Doughty, Yandle, Chara, Kronwall, Visnovsky, J.Johnson, E.Johnson, Myers, J.Faulk, A.Larsson, J.Morrow, M.Rielly
[G] Price, Rask, M.Smith

If you are going to spend that much get a nice french wine. Chateauneuf du Pape usually go for between $30-100 depending on the year and vineyard.

this one is excellent but a bit higher priced ( 2009 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape – $89.95)

__________________
ASKL - 10 Team dynasty,G/A=1,PIM=.1,+/- =.2 SOG=.05 (W=2,SO=3) Keep 12F 6D 2G 8BN + farm
F-Perry,Ryan,Giroux,Stastny,Ribeiro,Krejci,Plekanec, JvR,Bergeron,Fleischmann,Grabovski,Cammalleri
D-Letang,Chara,Edler,Boyle,Giordano,Gardiner,
G-Rinne,Crawford
Bench-Bernier,Reimer,Parenteau,Callahan,Downie,Kulemin, Meszaros,Nikitin
Farm- Namestnikov,Khoklachev,Rundblad,Despres,Jensen, L.Adam,Barberio,Galiev,Telegin,Hertl,Aberg

Wow... do you guys rake $$$?

In my neighbourhood, the going rate for a week's worth of cat-watching is about $10-$20.
I did this for the couple across the street and they gave me some movie passes.
In the past, we've done Home Depot gift cards or 12-pack of beer.

$50-$75 for watching cats... damn... that's some expensive puss.y.

I'll second the notion for an Argentinian Malbec. I had a bottle of cheap stuff last night actually. It's a Shiraz-Malbec from "Fuzion" and only $7.75/bottle. Much better than it sounds based on the name and price. Maybe just get her a case of that, haha.

Where do you live, Rylant? That'll greatly affect the wine toucan get for the price you listed - the variation in price from province to province in Canada and in the US is quite surprising.

If you know she likes Malbec, stick with what she likes. Can't go wrong that way!

Catena Zapata is amazing but might be above the price range you set, depending on where you live. Again, finding these ones might be a problem, but any Malbec by Vina Alicia is spectacular (Brote Negro is jaw dropping) and Tempus Alba makes a great Malbec blend (Pleno) and single varietal (Vero - incredible).

Another fun option would be to do a France vs Argentina showdown for Malbec. There aren't that many producers in France (it just tastes different there!) but anything from the Cahors appellation will do nicely.

__________________

Love Malbecs...

One of the relatively newer ones I have grown to love is Ocaso Malbec Reserva. Some others are Alamos, or Bressia Profundo, or Ernesto Catena (Selection Tahuan) - these are all in the $15 (US) range, yet still offer great body and depth.

__________________

Four out of three people have difficulty with fractions

Commish - Twisted Wrister Fantasy Hockey League

12 team, $$$, 24 players, Weekly, H2H, limited keeper (8), multi-cat (G, A, PIMs, Hits, SOG, HT/ W, GA, SV%, SO)

Start: 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 4D, 2G

The best affordable wine that I know of is Avalon. It's good and it is from Napa. So if you like cabs then you know what to get.

__________________
Sites: www.twitter.com/tsgraveline tsgraveline.blogspot.com thesharkremarks.blogspot.com

Team 1:10 Multi-Cat Roto league

C- Malkin,Giroux,Thornton Galchenyuk, Schenn, Berglund, Eller
LW- Hall,Ovechkin, E.Kane Saad
RW- Seguin, Stewart, PAP
D- Subban,Phaneuf Keith, OEL, Hedman,
G- Pavelec,Hiller Lindback, Theodore, Lehner

Team 2:24 H2H League Multi-Cat

C- Lecavalier, B. Schenn, Ennis, Belanger
LW- JVR, Leino, Bissonnette, Whitney, C. Bourque, Nodl
RW- Kopecky, Langenbrunner, Doan, Versteeg, Mayers
D- Doughty, Burns, Souray, Sarich, Lovejoy, Potter
G-Pavelec, Enroth