Is there a wine that is not bitter?

I have a nice little blush one time by Arbor Crest called "MayWine" sweetest thing I ever did taste almost like nectar.

Okay, truffles, chocolates, no wine but grape juice.

As Bavarian I prefer beer.

Lots of people find tea and coffee bitter. Try putting sugar in your wine jora.

Ha, ha Steve that is a great idea. I know nothing about wine - who knew cabernat was dry and not sweet. It is sweet to me - well only in moderation of course.

Tea and coffee are bitter for some for the same reason wine is: tannin. Here's an amusing but quite informative piece on tannin, and it's role in winemaking:

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/food/97/11/26/UNCORKED.html

Moring Cav , I thought the tannin was good for us is it?

Never mind I just took a look at your link it is great thank you.

I find most red wines to be dry, but after the first bottle or so they develop an alarming tendency to be wet.

It won't cause you any harm Joanne. It is just an unpleasant taste for some folks.

Red, red wine make me feel so fine ... . Simply Red

dry wines are an acquired taste;

that's jargon, of course, for you have to subject yourself to them for a period of time, before you start to become 'acclimatized' to the taste.

and, with all 'acquired' tastes, there is a drawback, once you have acquired it, it tends to 'acquire' you!

the fact is that the drier (opposite of sweet) wines are (apart from the many many excellent desert wines) the better wines, and with the aging process, also comes the dryness, since the natural yeast on the grapes consumes the sugar, to form alcohol, and the longer the process continues, the drier the end product.

so once you have educated yourself to the palate of the better wines - there goes the budget!

A cheap, young red wine will taste better the day after you open it. Much of the bitterness will dissipate in 30 minutes with any decent bottle. Kendal Jackson is as dependable as they come for about $15 a bottle- Merlot or Cabernet. You cannot go wrong there. If it's a very special occasion; pick up a bottle of Opus One. It's kinda pricy at $150 a bottle, but from the very first taste, you'll know where the extra money went. This Winery is a joint venture between Robert Mondavi and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in France. It is a meritage, which means a blend so it is consistently outstanding. You can spend more money, but I'm not convinced you can drink a better wine. IMPORTANT: Let it breath for a least a half hour, even for young bottles... longer for older ones, but keep an eye on them. If your first taste isn't an explosion of various flavors or tastes like it's gone bad… simply wait longer. It will be superb if you're patient. Trust me. And contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to "acquire a taste" for a wine of this caliber. You will love it.

If it's cheap you're after: Ask your local shopkeeper to recommend a cheap tasty Italian wine. Tell him what you want to spend. Italian wines mature much faster so they are drinkable-tasty as soon as they are released. Do not store them for any length of time, as most of them will not improve. Good French wines in a controlled environment will taste like you paid double the price after proper storage for as little as a year. Opus One couldn't possibly be stored to long. The wine snobs will tell you it should be a crime to open the bottle at all instead of passing on to your grand children when it will taste like a $20,000 dollars (and probably be worth that much, too).

One word of caution; as your taste develops, so too will your appetite for fine wine… and it can be an expensive habit.

it seems Bill, you have the 'bug'; what do you do in Costa Rica?

and, i don't know if they are available in the U.S., but some Moldovian wines are excellent for the price.

Drink Imperial Beer at 50 cents a 6-pack... When in Rome...

When I do get the itch, I go to Ram Luna (the nicest restaurant on planet earth, to my knowledge), and drink whatever red the host recommends (fairly large selection, but nothing I recognize). It's never quite Opus, but it's always excellent.

I jotted down Moldovian. Forgive my ignorance. Is that a winery, province or ?

..........a east/central European Country!

the labels are in Cyrilic, except for the 'export' bottles we get in Canada (sorry, can't remember any names).

I'm no better with Cyrillic than I am with east/central European Countries, but I'll ask my local shopkeeper.

Good jug wine and the people who drink it are the only thing I miss about California.

I hear that too, JD. I have fond memories from my teens in Wisconsin when we thought Boone's Farm was quite tasty. Strawberry Hill, Tickle Pink and Apple Hill were the beverages of choice! I never could stomach the MD 20/20, or Mad Dog as they called it. After a few bottles (each) we'd cause a little trouble and have a ton of fun!

Whadya mean the percentage of merlot in a cab? Serious cabs are usually, though I admit not always, fully cabs...

Oh, say, Heitz Cab Martha's Vineyard '68...

I agree with you Bogowo.....red wines are an acquired taste........not the sweet variety....ice wines included, they are more like dessert!