wine wine galleons of the stuff

[wildestranger]

I'm in need of your help, o knowledgeable flist. While I consider myself to be an expert on cheap wines, as well as general university-related alcoholism, I am wholly ignorant of what kind of wines are sold in the US. Cheapish wines in particular? Something that would be drunk by pretentious art students at parties? In NY, if the location makes a difference.

Additionally, would even pretentious art students drink wine at parties, or is it all beer and spirits?

Comments

[stele3.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Heheheheheh. Um, the only wine I drink comes out of a box. Almaden's Chardonnay is pretty good when mixed with 7-up... but don't take my word for it, man, I have no taste.

If it's a college party though, I might expect that beer and spirits might be more appropriate. At least, that worked with the pretentious film students.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Almaden's Chardonnay is pretty good when mixed with 7-up

I have to say that sounds truly disturbing. *g*

What's the cultural context of having wine in a box? We have that too in here, and it's usually slightly cheaper but not by much, and the quality of the wine is pretty much the same.

[stele3.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Um, heh, boxed wine is usually considered pretty ghetto. White trash, to be more precise. *raises hand*

It's a shame, because as far as I can tell there's no real difference with the wine. But, like I said, I have no taste. *g*

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever been to a university party that served wine, unless it was specifically a fancy event like a banquet or dinner, even though I went to a rather pretentious East Coast college. Beer and mixed drinks are more likely.

If they did have wine, it would probably be something like Merlot or Chardonnay, possibly in a box, depending on how pretentious they actually are.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of an informal party, in somebody's house/flat/room. Would people expect to the host to provide drinks or do they bring their own stuff?

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Either. There's no real expectation, especially not for an informal party with friends. It's pretty normal for the host to provide the hard liquor/mixers (maybe a keg, if it's a big party or barbecue) and people to bring a six-pack of beer or something like that.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Okay. And if somebody brings, say, a six-pack, would that be for everyone to share or just for that person?

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, I don't know? Or maybe it depends? (I remember one party when I was in grad school where one of my roommate's friends brought some beer over and actually, literally YELLED at people who tried to take one of hers. But she was very strange anyway.)

You're asking like there are actual rules or conventions or something, which is about as far from the way it actually is as could possibly be. You could write just about anything, and there are probably college students somewhere in the US who do it that way. :)

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. :) I just don't want to do something and have people yell at me for not appreciating the finer points of the college drinking experience. *g*

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, it's just the answer is usually going to be "it depends." As you've probably already gathered from the comments. :)

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

When I was in college and I'd get together with other girls, we'd drink wine. We may have been a pretentious group and I was an art student. heh. Red usually, but probably whatever was cheap at the corner grocer. But I don't remember ever drinking wine if boys were around. Strictly girls night out.

I've been brought up to always bring a bottle of wine or six-pack if someone invites me for dinner or drinks. But people vary.

[rufus.livejournal.com]

heh, i went to college in the south, we drank Boone's Farm out of a box. (actually, *I* drank Mad Dog, mixed with Thunderbird, Lindisfarne mead, cheap white wine and ginger ale. everyone else drank boone's farm. also, I was an English major, drinking with history/theater/poli-sci people.)

I think the "boone's farm" may be kind of a universal trope, though pretentious art students might only do it if they were feeling deeply, deeply ironic. or like slumming.

I think it would depend on the party -- a casual weekend get-together, the goal is: get smashed or some sort of attempt at acting like grown-ups? the former: beer and liquor; the latter, whatever costs less than $10 and doesn't actually come in box. probably something Australian. possibly also something from a local vineyard, if someone has their organic/locally grown geek on.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

What would be a cheap Australian wine? How would it differ from, say, Californian, in terms of cultural context?

Is boxed wine considered terribly bad? How much would a box be, and how big are they?

[rufus.livejournal.com]

boxed wine is just . . . well, it's tacky. It's . . . chavvy? That might be the nearest equivalent. it's "get drunk fast" in a portable container, is what it is. there's a lot more cultural context having to do with rednecks, bartles and james wine coolers, yuppies and trailer parks that I can't quite put into coherent words, but suffice it to say, it's not what refined people with Taste drink.

Bringing it to a party non-ironically would be like hanging a sign around your neck that said "I'm blue collar/badly educated and don't know any better, and I think this is Refined."

I don't know how much they are by volume (2 liters, maybe?) but the box itself is about 1 cubic foot.

the only Australian wine I can think of right now is Yellowtail. and I think you'd have to be really, REALLY pretentious to bring *that* to a room party. Californian would make a lot more sense.

when I was in school (which is +- the same time gerard was, fwiw) room parties were byob, usually, and sometimes byob + some to share. if there was a tipple you were fond of and it was spendy/hard to find, the host probably wouldn't provide it. buying for room parties was usually a handle of rum, some vodka, maybe some Jack, and tequila if puking was absolutely required, plus mixers.

the cost would be shared by the roommates/flatmates/people throwing the party, and people would bring more alcohol to supplement whatever the guests purchased. so, you could bring 1) a sixpack of cider/hard lemonade for yourself (it was just starting to be catch on for American students when I was graduating, c. 1997) and 2) a sixpack of winecoolers to share, if it was a big party and/or you were a friend of the host, or wanted to be polite.

the host got to keep all the alcohol at the end of the night, though, if there was any left over.

I've also seen people charge admission for parties and have the event *not* be byob, but I thought that was kind of tacky.

(oh god, my southern roots are showing. *tacky*!)

[apple-pi.livejournal.com]

The Yellowtail is a cheap Australian wine. :-)

[apple-pi.livejournal.com]

I didn't get into the pretentious wine-drinking phase of life until my late 20s, lol. However, these crazy kids today might be different. If they did drink wine, a couple of not-too-expensive ones would be anything by Yellowtail (chiraz, cabernet, etc) or Barefoot. Think $8 - $10 a bottle. Really, though, those are yummy dry wines, and young drinkers almost always want sweetish things like Boone's Strawberry Hill or some sangria out of a box. :-)

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. But my character is well on his way to fairly serious alcoholism, so I can probably make a case for him drinking dry red wines. Especially if they're considered more swanky and sophisticated. ;)

[apple-pi.livejournal.com]

Ah, well then the Barefoot is a good gateway drug, lol.

[novembersnow.livejournal.com]

When I was in college, we occasionally had wine at small parties in people's dorm rooms and apartments, although we tended to experiment more with hard liquor/cocktails. However, my college experience was perhaps a bit different from many people's in that the school I went to was (a) all women, so there tended to be less beer in general at parties (although it was by no means absent) and (b) located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, which is chock full of wineries. So a lot of the wines we tried were locally made.

I have found, though, that the handful of people I know whom I'd describe as pretentious tend to favor red wine almost universally. If you're thinking students (and, therefore, broke or close to it), maybe an Australian shiraz? I know you can find those pretty cheaply around here (don't know about NYC specifically, though; I was always too broke to buy wine when I lived there!).

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

Humanities grad students drink wine at parties, though some drink beer as well.

Carlo Rossi comes in a weird jug. Charles Shaw is another wine they sell at Trader Joe's. Boone's Farm is...sugary wine. Wild Irish Rose would work. Mad Dog 20/20 would work. I'd say Carlo Rossi - I know pretentious art students drink that in New York ;)

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

Now with pics! (http://tropicalfruition.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/carlo-rossi-paisano.jpg)

Any errors brought to you by a bottle of not cheap wine ;)

[glass-icarus.livejournal.com]

well, frats hereabouts are kind of infamous for serving boxed wines... on the other hand, my friends have been throwing wine-parties of all sorts for the last couple of years, so... *shrugs*

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

Two-Buck Chuck, aka Charles Shaw, is the cheap wine of choice in California. Their chardonnay is actually decent, and alas, due to inflation, costs more like $5.
Law students drink this shit all the time, so I figure it's pretentious enough.

[remeciel.livejournal.com]

would even pretentious art students drink wine at parties, or is it all beer and spirits?
Anything that enables them to create better. Beer is a must in my case. :DD