My and my roommate's "dorm room sangria" from last year: - one 5 gallon water jug, empty - six liters franzia, a red one. - one bottle cheapest brandy available - whatever fruit was available in the cafeteria at the time (usually ended up being apples) - sprite, and ice. Considering what we usually drank, it was actually pretty good. Not really sure where he got the jug from. On a more serious note, I am a big fan of white wines as opposed to reds. Reds tend to be too dry for my taste (although this may just be the wines I've had). I like my wine a little lighter and sweeter. My snobbery tends to extend more to beer and cigars, although going to a wine tasting is very high on my to-do list for the immediate future. I have a friend who cannot drink wine without throwing up.
Port wine is fantastic and when I'm at home I will occasionally drink it with dinner instead of dessert, although a good Port with something very chocolatey is an excellent combination. There are sweeter reds (often marketed as dessert wines) that are not Port, but they're harder to find - I had a wonderful Petite Sirah dessert wine a year or two ago from a little tiny winery. Otherwise I am not particularly fond of sirah/syrah/shiraz as a varietal. I am curious as to what you had. Most Italian places will serve either Italian Table Wine (which could be nearly anything), or Chianti. Many Italian Table Wines I've had tasted a lot like Chianti, even if they were not. I find Chianti warm, mellow, inoffensive, and a little bland most of the time, sort of like a weaker version of Merlot. Honestly I've never been able to tell two Chiantis apart. But maybe that's what you're going for, so grab a bottle and try it.
I drink a lot of Australian Shiraz's, and I don't think they will be what he is after if he wants something actively sweet. They are fruity, but usually have a long, sharp finish. Also, they tend to have some of the earthyness he doesn't like. I am biased because I can't stand port, ever, so I am going to recommend something else. Look for Noble Rot (botrytis) wines. These are wines where the grapes have been subject to a delicious grey fungus, producing a wonderfully sweet wine. Seriously. <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_rot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_rot</a> Lots of produces offer a Noble Rot variety, although I can't think of a red off the top of my head, but I know I've had them and enjoyed them.
I'd have to agree and say that Aussie Shirazes are anything but sweet. By the way, Shiraz and Syrah are the same thing. Found this that explains them fairly well: My favourite wine of all time is E&E Black Pepper (2002), which is an Aussie Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. I was lucky enough to be able to buy 2 cases, and they were awesome. Most of the Shirazes will basically rip your mouth apart; they are big, earthy, peppery, and perfect with a big-ass steak. They have lots of tannins, and if you don't know, tannins are what give wine that dryness and pucker factor in your mouth when you drink it. There's no real subtlety about them, they are pretty bold and in your face, but amazingly complex. Needless to say these varietals are my number one choice for red wine.
Wow. Lots of options. Thanks to all. I should at least find one I may like. After all, I've even tried Pruno which is a wine they make in jail and that shit can degrease factory tooling. Rookie question: what exactly IS the deal with Merlot? I honestly know dick about it. Check it out:
The best part about drinking wine is being able to make these. They cost almost nothing to make and people fucking love them as gifts.
Just tried plum wine. It tasted like fermented buttcrack. I would rather drink Steel Reserve than plum wine.
For the "How unclassy people get wasted" file: I do volunteer work at a state-operated youth correctional facility that houses non-violent offenders whose offenses are linked to substance abuse and who have been diagnosed with either substance abuse or dependence. Last week, one of the kids in residence got busted for being drunk. From what? Hand sanitizer that contained alcohol. How drunk? He blew a .37, more than 4 times the legal limit. That's a lot of soap. I wouldn't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when that stuff (and everything else in there) started exiting his system. Contents of all soap dispensers have been replaced with non-alcohol based sanitizers.
One of the dudes in my boot camp platoon was doing that. No one knew that he was wasted; everyone just assumed that he was retarded because he started doing it the day he got there. We were always wondering why he kept shitting himself. Seeing him try doing rifle drill was hilarious, though.