suze, I do that on hot days as due to food allergies (corn) I cannot drink sodapop. It is fantastic!

Hi march,

You were very lucky with that bottle of wine.

LOL, that is great march!
We will all become drinking buddies before long!
I have only just begun drinking wine in the past couple of years..before that it was the occassional mixed drink, so wine is much more interesting and fun to learn about as you drink it :) Cheers ((D))

My friends like sweet German whites you can start there and watch what you eat with the wine it could counteract the taste of the wine.

I guess this question would be better posed on the US forum, but seeing the subject came up ... I'm curious about the existence of "dry" counties in the United States. How common are they, and are they mostly concentrated in particular areas such as parts of the South and Midwest? What exactly does it mean - is it simply that alcohol can't be sold in shops and restaurants, beer included? Would we risk incarceration by bringing a bottle of wine across a State line for furtive consumption in our motel room?

During our last visit to the US we covered a lot of ground but didn't encounter the problem, and as our next visit will concentrate on the northwest of the country I assume we won't meet up with any booze police. What about Utah, though?

March, didn't you learn anything about wines at the tastings you went to in October?

And why are you saying next time you want to surprise your family in California by drinking wine, when on another post you clearly stated you went to two tastings in California the previous weekend? Did the wine go to your head and you forget about it? Did you sneak out to those tastings and not tell them you were going? Did you go to the tastings and really not taste the wines? Or did you just get confused which screen name you were using when you were posting as the Alabama person instead of the California person? Inquiring minds want to know.

i don't drink and enjoyed italy quite a bit. like the others have said, i orderd bottle watered (carbonated or not). and it was just fine. in fact i don't remember being asked if i wanted anything to drink...i asked for it at all the restaurants i went to.

i didn't feel like i missed out on anything...A) it's a decision i'm happy about B) i wouldn't know the difference anyways C) i am who i am whether i'm home or abroad D) the italians don't care if u drink or not.

but at age 51, you must have had a very personal reason not to drink...and it must have been harder through high school and college if you weren't a drinker.

Neil,
I can only speak for Alabama. In dry counties no sale of alcoholic beverages is allowed. UNLESS a city within that county has voted to allow sales within the city. You can carry one case of beer and three quarts of liquor or wine into or through a dry county. And, yes, all alcoholic beverages purchased outside the state of Alabama are illegal inside the state. But the county sheriffs and state troopers don't set up border checks!

Neil - I also live in a dry county but the city is "wet". This is very common in the so called bible belt or south. Almost every year there are wet/dry votes in various counties/cities in the state. 60 of Kentucky's 120 counties are completely dry, 30 are wet(all type os alcohol sales allowed) and 16 are considered "moist"(limited sales).Some only allow restaurants to serve drinks not package sales. Kentucky doesn't allow any shipments of wine from outside of the state.

Yes, yes, you know, whatever you family situation is, you have come here to post as to what type of wine to drink to start with.
Now, let me see, you are 51, live in a dry jurisdiction, know how to use the internet....why did you not just type in the question to Google? They are probably only a few million responses to thousands of sites available on this issue.
Of course, I am sure that at age 51 you could surmise that drinking wine is all about personal experience.
Like many questions on this site, the ones that are extremely general seem to get many,many answers. Some posters seem to take great joy in seeing how many answers they can get to a given question. What is your next quest?

After reading through all this, am I to understand that march123 is not real? Several people point out other posts that contradict this one. What is the point of someone coming here and making all this up?

CalgirlSusan, kind of the same point that you are suddenly doing. Popping up all over the US Board and now the Europe Board with negative post regardless of the subject. Trolls are soooooo boring and pathetic.

You are starting to scare me now, LoveItaly. I've never been a victim of stalking before and I'm not quite sure what to do about it. Could you leave me alone please? I've apologized over and over again about contradicting your statement. I'm willing now to agree that there is only one restaurant in all of San Francisco that has authentic Italian cooking. There now. Do you feel better? Can you leave me alone please?

NeilOz, I grew up in a dry county in Kentucky (Floyd Co) which is now a wet county. We used to have to drive to a neighboring county to buy alcohol, even beer. UNLESS you wanted to go to a bootlegger to buy it illegally & pay twice the price (and there were plenty back in the day).

march123, I have 2 suggestions for you: buy a copy of LonelyPlanet's World Food France guide, there are excellent suggestions for wine & aperitifs & digestifs in there & it explains them in detail and the areas they come from. Also, you can check out Bistros of Paris which makes wine recommendations for each restaurant such as light fruity Jura wines or fruity red St Emilions. What I like to do each trip is pick a wine that sounds interesting & buy that in each restaurant such as Sancerre which reminds me of Merlot - I find it to be rich red & a little dry & fruity (fruity drys I find to be more palatable). House wines tend to be fruitier so that may be more to your taste - get a glass of the house wine or a pichet. Hope that helps!

And my condolences to the loss of your sister! I am sure she is deeply missed.

To Patrick and other inquiring minds, here are the facts:

1. I did not drink at those wineries last October. If you read carefully, you will see that I never mentioned anything about drinking wine. Since I can't afford to travel much, I rarely get a chance to add something useful to travel threads. So, there was this thread about the cost of wine tastings and, well, what do you know? My sister (not "Rocco") insisted on stopping at wineries on our way from Santa Monica (my hometown) to Santa Cruz for "Rocco's" celebration of life and I had a tidbit I could add to a thread. At the time, I was not interested in learning to drink wine. Now I am.

2. I am 51, I drink an occasional beer when I'm out of town (people at church wouldn't understand) but just had never, ever applied myself to drinking wine. I also don't drink coffee or tea. Love water and milk.

3. I am a native Californian (graduated from UCLA). I have lived in Alabama for 19 years now. Being in a dry county does not bother me since I rarely drink. I go home to Santa Monica every year. All my family lives there (except 2 brothers in Hood River, OR).

4. I am desperate to go to Europe after traveling vicariously through all of you since I discovered these boards before registration (thank you "Rocco".) I want to go to Italy especially. I have not been to Europe since 1977.

5. I have been to 46 states but will add Vermont (#47) this summer because my husband has a conference in Philadelphia. Be prepared for my postings on the US board as I try to garner info about visiting Philly, Vermont, Boston and NY.

6. Now you know my whole life story. Love to all of you.

march123- a bit off topic but i think that's amazing you've been to 46 states! and vermont is one of my absolute favorite ones (lived in brattleboro for awhile) it's gorgeous- enjoy!

i stand by my wine spritzer suggestion above, just a bit of white wine, ice, lemon and seltzer (figure on skipping the ice once you're traveling, not so readily available).

This is the saddest thread! Poor March. Why does she have to explain her whole life to us? Have we become so eager to bag a troll that we can't be kind to a fellow poster? Please people, ignore posts you find lack credibility. Some of you are just making yourselves troll bait.

March, I hope you have a great trip to Europe, wine or no wine.

Thank you, Grasshopper, for five lines of complete sanity and decency.

I would simply find a great wine shop with knowledgeable staff and buy a mixed case of recommended under $10. bottles prior to your trip.
Wines from SW France, Spain, a few IT, Chile, Argentina, and Australia can be very good values.
Check the many FF threads for specifics.
M