Have your best wine experiences been with white or red?

Have you had more memorable wine experiences with red or white?

Another thread raised the question of which type of wine, red or white, is more likely to provide the most memorable wine experience. While I’ve had some amazing and memorable wines of both types, I think I’ve had more with white wines than with reds. I’m tempted to say that the highest highs are reds, but there is a much greater likelihood of a white wine reaching the “memorable” threshold than a red.

Red for now, but I think my incorrect biases and purchasing habits have led to this result more than anything.

My cellar is about 70% red, but lately, my consumption is more like 50/50. White wines go with a lot of food better than reds. This means that I am drinking a lot of young whites and not aging my sparkling too long (other than some of the higher end champagne bottles). For some reason when I started collecting wine, I had a hard time spending more than I do for whites. $60 bottle of red? No problem. But the same price or more for a white would give me serious pause. Trying some grand cru white burgundy changed my perspective. Plus I love champagne.

Over time I think the number of memorable white wine experiences will catch up, but right now they are not as numerous.

Could not have said it better myself .

My best wine experience included red and white . Someone spilled red wine all over a brand new carpet at our house and blotting with white wine got rid of all the red wine.

Sparkling. I find a profound white better than a profound red in the case of this question.

I’ve had unbelievable well-aged expression on both sides of that fence. I get more excited out of the whites I’ve had for the nuance they developed.

+1

I quickly voted red on this poll. Almost instantly recalling so many of the memorable nights I’ve shared with great friends over many bottles of red.

Then I paused to reflect and the really memorable wines have actually been whites. Aged white Burgundy and Riesling, specifically.

So I guess it depends on how we’re defining memorable.

The other thread is the gmax one. Great as the 2006 was, it did not have an emotional dimension that I have had with the greatest reds, and only once with a white. That was also a Riesling, a Robert Weil Kiedrich Graffenberg 1923 beerenauslese eiswein. I can still taste that incredibly complexity which started with orange, malt, dried white peaches and a touch of petrol, and a finish so delicate but intense and layered. Never tasted anything like that amount of soul in a white before or since, although probably around thirty times in a red.

What if it’s white Zinfandel?

Equal parts for sure. Early on, reds would have been the choice. But I couldn’t hazard a guess now.

You brush your teeth and start over again.

Call it a mulligan.

RED - although I had quite a lot really fine whites over the last 30 years …

Red…but champagne has come close

Champagne… then red…

I wanted to answer yes, but it wasn’t an option!

Whites are more transcendent than reds, and fewer in my experience than reds. You can easily find great reds. Whites, not so much.

Hard to say but probably red, especially early on. The first time I had a wine that I simply stopped everything to focus on was a red. Then I’ve had some incredibly complex aged Rioja that got me to love older wines. With white, the first time I was in Tokaj and was given a tasting of those glorious wines, I was staggered by how complex and delicious they were, young and old. That sparked my interest in dry whites in general and the next experience was with Riesling.

Except for those two, it’s hard to imagine a white reaching the same threshold, although for some reason I’m also more tolerant of whites in general. In other words, a red that is too oaky, bretty, tannic, alcoholic, whatever, is usually irritating and if it’s a white, I’m often tempted to get some hard cheese and drink it anyway.

Yes an interesting question. I think the most amazing highs were with some well aged reds. But I have been drifting more towards whites in the last few years, and have had some really great examples. My anecdotal sense is that I am more likely to get a better experience with a good white than with a comparable red (these are terrible generalizations with lots of exceptions). Like someone above, I resisted paying too much on whites until recently. Though I would still generally pay more for a red than a white. As GregT says just above, I am much more tolerant of mediocore whites than mediocore reds. In fact if I am at a work function and for some reason what a glass of wine, I used to just ask for white. Now I generally don’t drink – would prefer to save the calories for something better!

I’d have to clarify what specifically the measure is. I’ve had some “memorable” or otherwise great experiences with whites, but a part of that for me is that actually expect them to be fewer and far between. That’s MY bias. Regardless, I bet that many of us have the ratio of whites gaining ground as compared to reds.

Even so, I am heavily in the red camp. If I simply try to consider what I think are the “best” wines I’ve had, of the cuff, I think nine of my top ten are red, the only white would, probably be 01 d’Yquem. If I extend it out to 25 wines maybe there would be five more whites in the 11-25 group. Champagnes would probably be one or two of the five. I obviously don’t love white burgundy as many as most here. I also haven’t had as much of it as some, but over the many years have had a lot. Drinking-wise, I probably drink 35% white, bu it just doesn’t reach the same pinnacle for me.