Wine-savvy

[bods1000]

hey, bods!!! wassup??? i'm in hk pa rin..... working.

 

you guys seems enjoying manila this halloween.hehehe

just got a sip of the chateau angelique monbousquet, nice pare, its also nice with the price. i'm also trying my collection of napa valley wines (Fife & others), wala lang.

 

have you seen the place called the cork in rockwell? the entrance to that resto had a post full of corks.

 

bods.... yung long lost meeting natin na di matuloy tuloy.... pagbalik ko na lang.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

palagi ka kasing wala eh!

call me up when you're back, ok, baka sakali matuloy na tayo hehehe.

 

yup I'm familiar with that Cork place but I have not seen it up close...pag napunta ko ng Rockwell lalapitan ko nga yon...pare hwag mong ubusin yung mga Napa mo - magtira ka sa atin as you promised

 

regards!

[bods1000]

Another thing - I'm not much into French wines because I don't know how to pronounce their darned names! I mean kelan ko lang nalaman na beaujolais is pronounced like beelaszh or something

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heh, heh, bods, beaujolais is pronounced something like this: bohw-zhjo-lay...the s at the end of a word is never pronounced...

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yun ang sabi sa akin nung ahente na nakasabay ko dati - hindi na ako nakipagtalo dahil naka-miniskirt sya eh

[KIASU]

I STICK TO CABERNETS AND MERLOTS.

I TRIED DOM PERIGNON AND IT WAS BLISS!

[caloy76]

why do u eed corks?

[freakish]

yes it has a cork - just can't recall kung oak o plastic....

god, she will really k*ll me now if I say I'm going to Toronto to pick up some cork

...you could start your own cork collection hehehe....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

hey, who knows? you might be able to visit the country sometime...and in case you'll be in town, contact me, ok? weather and time permitting, we can go to those wine tasting/vineyard tours.

 

when you say plastic cork are talking about the plastic-plastic? coz the cork of this yellow tail is kind of rubbery one. It doesn't disintegrate easily.

 

Okidoki, here’s my little review with the yellow tail shiraz as promised...so bear with me okay?

 

Just finished wolfing down a plate of spaghetti and pieces of honey garlic chicken wings, and I decided to open the bottle since my father-in-law started asking if I have any liquor available (i gave a kiddie halloween party last oct 31st with their parents). Anyways, I pour down some in my wine glass(the wine is dark red almost purplish in color), just a little amount and smelled it…nothing really interesting. So I started to swirl it (as what those guys from the tasting tour tells us to do) to bring out the flavor’s smell…and tried sniffing again…and there it was.. a fruity smell (don’t know what fruit though specifically). Then I took a sip…hmmnn, i played with it inside my mouth for a while and swallowed it. nice and good, very easy and smooth on the throat.

It was a good drink.. I ended up drinking a full glass…although it has a high alcohol content (13.5%/750ml, by my current standard anyways), I still enjoyed it. Not a bad wine for a neophyte like me. That was my first full-glass of wine for this year, hehehe...i'm still looking forward for the show at the end of this month (nov. 25, 26, 27) for more wine tasting experience.

Edited November 1, 2004 by freakish

[exciting_night_owl]

ang sarap ng robert mondavi red wines. specially yung mga reserved.

[agxo3]

  hey, who knows? you might be able to visit the country sometime...and in case you'll be in town, contact me, ok? weather and time permitting, we can go to those wine tasting/vineyard tours.

 

when you say plastic cork are talking about the plastic-plastic? coz the cork of this yellow tail is kind of rubbery one. It doesn't disintegrate easily.

 

Okidoki, here’s my little review with the yellow tail shiraz as promised...so bear with me okay?

 

Just finished wolfing down a plate of spaghetti and pieces of honey garlic chicken wings, and I decided to open the bottle since my father-in-law started asking if I have any liquor available (i gave a kiddie halloween party last oct 31st with their parents). Anyways, I pour down some in my wine glass(the wine is dark red almost purplish in color), just a little amount and smelled it…nothing really interesting. So I started to swirl it (as what those guys from the tasting tour tells us to do) to bring out the flavor’s smell…and tried sniffing again…and there it was.. a fruity smell (don’t know what fruit though specifically). Then I took a sip…hmmnn, i played with it inside my mouth for a while and swallowed it. nice and good, very easy and smooth on the throat.

It was a good drink.. I ended up drinking a full glass…although it has a high alcohol content (13.5%/750ml, by my current standard anyways), I still enjoyed it. Not a bad wine for a neophyte like me. That was my first full-glass of wine for this year, hehehe...i'm still looking forward for the show at the end of this month (nov. 25, 26, 27) for more wine tasting experience.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Freakish - Good review of the Yellow Tail. Sounds like it was pretty well-rounded, soft tannins (didn't make you pucker up, did it?), and therefore pretty well balanced between tannins and fruit.

 

One thing to note - if you like it, you like it! Reviews should only be there to help you choose froma stack of unknown wines. It's no substitute for tasting a wine yourself and deciding if you like it or not.

 

Wine tasting/vineyard tours in Toronto? Didn't know there was much of that up there! Last time I went wine-tasting up around that way (or at least close to it!) was the Finger Lakes area of New York. Many years ago. The wine was awful! Haven't been back since.

 

I do know that there are some wineries outside ofVancouver, on the Pacific side of Canada. I also just went wine tastin gin Washington, around the Seattle area and also eastern Washington (Yakima Valley).

 

13.5% is pretty average for a shiraz. Some zins tend to the "big" side, with alcohols running upwards of 15%, especially those that are harvested later in the season (not yet technically a late harvest but more sugars than normal).

 

The Yellow Tail I've had (and I've had more than one! ) had a synthetic cork. A closed-cell foam center with a plastic sleeve over it. It's better (I think) than the ones made of plastic that's been rolled and formed. Those are too dense and I always wonder if they out-gas. If they do, the wine will pick up a really funky taste.

[freakish]

Freakish - Good review of the Yellow Tail. Sounds like it was pretty well-rounded, soft tannins (didn't make you pucker up, did it?), and therefore pretty well balanced between tannins and fruit.

 

One thing to note - if you like it, you like it! Reviews should only be there to help you choose froma stack of unknown wines. It's no substitute for tasting a wine yourself and deciding if you like it or not.

 

Wine tasting/vineyard tours in Toronto? Didn't know there was much of that up there! Last time I went wine-tasting up around that way (or at least close to it!) was the Finger Lakes area of New York. Many years ago. The wine was awful! Haven't been back since.

 

I do know that there are some wineries outside ofVancouver, on the Pacific side of Canada. I also just went wine tastin gin Washington, around the Seattle area and also eastern Washington (Yakima Valley).

 

13.5% is pretty average for a shiraz. Some zins tend to the "big" side, with alcohols running upwards of 15%, especially those that are harvested later in the season (not yet technically a late harvest but more sugars than normal).

 

The Yellow Tail I've had (and I've had more than one!  ) had a synthetic cork. A closed-cell foam center with a plastic sleeve over it. It's better (I think) than the ones made of plastic that's been rolled and formed. Those are too dense and I always wonder if they out-gas. If they do, the wine will pick up a really funky taste.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

hey agxo3--- yes there are a lot of wineries in the Niagara Region and one i know in particular in the Greater Toronto Area (somewhere Vaughn)is Magnotta. In the Niagara Region, I think they do their Wine Festival during November and you can go wine tasting hopping from winery/distillery to another. There will also be a Gourmet Food and Wine Expo that I have been talking about on the last week of November, and they will feature California wines.

 

try visiting Ontario next time you are in the East coast and go for a those tours. aren't they fun? ( i mean aside from the free wine, hehehe)

 

so the rubbery cork is called synthetic cork...i do learn something everyday,

hehehe aside from the taste of yellow tail, i also like the price (i checked it and it's about C$11.45 only), even better if it's free(gift)! :cool:

[spicy999]

Try ko lang 'to!

Are there any wine drinkers here? Let's share naman dito...

Favorite wines.......favorite varietals (do you go for cabernet? merlot? shiraz? etc)...fave brands....opinions against the use of plastic stoppers vis-a-vis cork?

any wine bars you've been to here or abroad? fave food to go with wine?

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ever tasted chinese wine??

[50fd]

i'm a drinker i almost drink everyday. mostly beer, cuervo, black label, and gin. i rarely drink wine and champane. and when i drink i just drink and i notice wine has a lot of variety and each of them really taste different.

now can someone educate me what are the different kinds/variety of wine? what is cabernet? merlot? shiraz?

[agxo3]

i'm a drinker i almost drink everyday. mostly beer, cuervo, black label, and gin. i rarely drink wine and champane. and when i drink i just drink and i notice wine has a lot of variety and each of them really taste different.

now can someone educate me what are the different kinds/variety of wine? what is cabernet? merlot? shiraz?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, shiraz/syrah, petite sirah, grenache, mourvedre, alicante bouschet, charbono, zinfandel/primitivo, cabernet franc.............all of these are different varieties of grapes. This is not a complete list, BTW. Some are made into wine by themselves, others are blended with outher varietals. For example, a claret is typically a blend of cab. sauv. and merlot, sometimes with some cab. franc thrown in.

 

French and Italian wines are typically labeled by region - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chianti.......they all use different varietals. For example, a Bordeaux may be a cab. suav., a merlot, a blend of the two, or a blend of the two plus cab franc. Chianti can be a sangiovese, or a merlot, or a blend.

 

They do all taste different, and that's what makes wine tasting so exciting.

 

One thing to note - the only wines that can be called champagne are those made in the Champagne region in France (Reims, Epernay and that area). All others are sparkling wine, but not champagne. That doesn't mean that they're not good, just that they're not champagne.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[bods1000]

I STICK TO CABERNETS AND MERLOTS.

I TRIED DOM PERIGNON AND IT WAS BLISS!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you can't go wrong with these reds, pare!

 

cheers!

[bods1000]

why do u eed corks?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you mean, corks in wine bottles? Well, sabi nga nung iba, it's for that unquantifiable element called romance in winedrinking....

 

if you mean naman why we collect the corks - that I can't explain to you - we don't know why we just collect them for some unknown future purpose siguro, like how some people collect stamps, coins, ballpens, fountain pens, matchboxes hehehe

[bods1000]

  hey, who knows? you might be able to visit the country sometime...and in case you'll be in town, contact me, ok? weather and time permitting, we can go to those wine tasting/vineyard tours.

 

when you say plastic cork are talking about the plastic-plastic? coz the cork of this yellow tail is kind of rubbery one. It doesn't disintegrate easily.

 

Okidoki, here’s my little review with the yellow tail shiraz as promised...so bear with me okay?

 

Just finished wolfing down a plate of spaghetti and pieces of honey garlic chicken wings, and I decided to open the bottle since my father-in-law started asking if I have any liquor available (i gave a kiddie halloween party last oct 31st with their parents). Anyways, I pour down some in my wine glass(the wine is dark red almost purplish in color), just a little amount and smelled it…nothing really interesting. So I started to swirl it (as what those guys from the tasting tour tells us to do) to bring out the flavor’s smell…and tried sniffing again…and there it was.. a fruity smell (don’t know what fruit though specifically). Then I took a sip…hmmnn, i played with it inside my mouth for a while and swallowed it. nice and good, very easy and smooth on the throat.

It was a good drink.. I ended up drinking a full glass…although it has a high alcohol content (13.5%/750ml, by my current standard anyways), I still enjoyed it. Not a bad wine for a neophyte like me. That was my first full-glass of wine for this year, hehehe...i'm still looking forward for the show at the end of this month (nov. 25, 26, 27) for more wine tasting experience.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

oh I'd love to - never been to North America! and yes, I'd get in touch with you if ever talaga....

that's synthetic, as agxo also said ..... most wines that do not use real oak corks use these rubbery stoppers - they're quite good for the purpose. Lindemans of Australia have been using these synthetics since I started buying them four or five years ago.....

Thanks for the review - now if only all wine reviews were as unintimidating as yours - very homey hehehe...very seductive pati your description as you took a sip of it hehehe....Yang Yellow Tail medyo may short finish lang pero it's good for the buck na din....as agxo also said, it's not tannic so it's a very friendly easy-drinking wine...

[masi]

oh I'd love to - never been to North America! and yes, I'd get in touch with you if ever talaga....

that's synthetic, as agxo also said ..... most wines that do not use real oak corks use these rubbery stoppers - they're quite good for the purpose. Lindemans of Australia have been using these synthetics since I started buying them four or five years ago.....

Thanks for the review - now if only all wine reviews were as unintimidating as yours - very homey hehehe...very seductive pati your description as you took a sip of it hehehe....Yang Yellow Tail medyo may short finish lang pero it's good for the buck na din....as agxo also said, it's not tannic so it's a very friendly easy-drinking wine...

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just to add...

 

on reviews.... reviews are ok but be wary as taste buds of every reviewer are unique to the reviewer... i usually ask for the tasting notes... a good wine store would have an "official" book for notes of the wines they sell. the notes provide a general guide to the character of the wine...body, boquet, etc. so when you taste it you know what to look for and what you are getting. i recently got a 2002 cab sauv rostchild -chilean from magnum. it was good, little tannins, smooth, body was alright but i expected it to be fuller... this wine needs to be kept for about a year.

 

on artificial corks ... this is to keep the cost of the wine lower. the demand for corks have put the supply at critical levels. so to keep the cost of corks in check the artificial cork was created. Its good to as an alternative for your drinking wines but not for collection. Todate, most topend wines still use cork.

[bods1000]

guys, get a load of this:

 

Apparently, even in wine, sex sells. There's a wine called Marilyn Merlot and their new Velvet Collection brand features the famous "Red Velvet" nude photo of Marilyn Monroe on a peek-a-boo label - a first for the wine industry.

The actress' figure is covered with iridescent sparkles and to see all of her you have to simply peel away the overlay.

[bods1000]

ever tasted chinese wine??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

not yet, but planning to....but somebody whom I trust said it tastes of cough syrup....

Edited November 3, 2004 by bods1000

[bods1000]

just to add... 

 

on reviews.... reviews are ok but be wary as taste buds of every reviewer are unique to the reviewer... i usually ask for the tasting notes... a good wine store would have an "official"  book for notes of the wines they sell.  the notes provide a general guide to the character of the wine...body, boquet, etc.  so when you taste it you know what to look for and what you are getting. i recently got a 2002 cab sauv rostchild -chilean from magnum.  it was good, little tannins, smooth, body was alright but i expected it to be fuller... this wine needs to be kept for about a year.

 

on artificial corks ... this is to keep the cost of the wine lower.  the demand for corks have put the supply at critical levels.  so to keep the cost of corks in check the artificial cork was created.  Its good to as an alternative for your drinking wines but not for collection.  Todate, most topend wines still use cork.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

thanks, pare.

I also ask for the full tasting notes of the wines i bring over - every vintage has a different tasting note because every year varies and I also fax a copy of these notes to my customers to get them interested....it's a good way to sell wine..

 

but I ask a question - isn't it that the tannic wines are the ones that need to be matured, in order to round-out the rough edges...if the wine is not tannic, then hanggang dun na lang yata talaga yun - no cellaring/maturation will improve the wine...correct me if I'm wrong....

[masi]

not yet, but planning to....but somebody whom I trust said it tastes of cough syrup....

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i agree... the reds are simply a waste of cash. but if you are referring to the xao xing or shao shing (chinese rice wine)... this is good....

 

 

if you are in a japanese restaurant... try the shocho (i think it is their version of gin) iso sake... shocho or sometimes known as shochu is taken with hot water and either a plum preserve or a dash of calamansi juice. it is good in yakitori.

[masi]

thanks, pare.

I also ask for the full tasting notes of the wines i bring over - every vintage has a different tasting note because every year varies and I also fax a copy of these notes to my customers to get them interested....it's a good way to sell wine..

 

but I ask a question - isn't it that the tannic wines are the ones that need to be matured, in order to round-out the rough edges...if the wine is not tannic, then hanggang dun na lang yata talaga yun - no cellaring/maturation will improve the wine...correct me if I'm wrong....

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yes. i could not agree with you more... in my previous comments, i was referring to the lack of body of the cab sauv i drank which could improve thru time.... but may be not, since it was an artificial cork. maturing may not occur in this case, i stand corrected.

 

i suggest that if you are getting that wine, you get the reserve which has a cork stopper.

 

thanks

[agxo3]

guys, get a load of this:

 

Apparently, even in wine, sex sells. There's a wine called Marilyn Merlot and their new Velvet Collection brand features the famous "Red Velvet" nude photo of Marilyn Monroe on a peek-a-boo label - a first for the wine industry.

The actress' figure is covered with iridescent sparkles and to see all of her you have to simply peel away the overlay.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Great label, mediocre wine........lots of people buy it for the label but never drink it!

[agxo3]

just to add... 

 

on reviews.... reviews are ok but be wary as taste buds of every reviewer are unique to the reviewer... i usually ask for the tasting notes... a good wine store would have an "official"  book for notes of the wines they sell.  the notes provide a general guide to the character of the wine...body, boquet, etc.  so when you taste it you know what to look for and what you are getting. i recently got a 2002 cab sauv rostchild -chilean from magnum.  it was good, little tannins, smooth, body was alright but i expected it to be fuller... this wine needs to be kept for about a year.

 

on artificial corks ... this is to keep the cost of the wine lower.  the demand for corks have put the supply at critical levels.  so to keep the cost of corks in check the artificial cork was created.  Its good to as an alternative for your drinking wines but not for collection.  Todate, most topend wines still use cork.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The Chilean cabs I've had tended to the light side and seem to be made in the "drink me now!" style. Even Montes Alpha, which some consider the best Chilean cab producer, has some cabs like that. And I've found that reds taht start out light remain so, even after a few years under my house. (I store a lot of wine in my crawl space, since it tends to remain relatively consistent in temperature through the seasons.)

 

You're absolutely right about reviews - we're all different and we all taste different things in the wine. However, if you know someone (directly or indirectly) whose taste in wines is close to yours, then you can use his/her notes as a guide to what you might like. Still, no guarantees! I found that the Wine Spectator is about 75% reliable for me when it comes to pinot noirs from CA and WA, but not so much so for cabs. A good resource may be Robert Parker's Wine Buyers Guide. New editions every year to note latest wines and tasting notes.

 

Bods, I am not sure that a wine with a synthetic stopper will NOT age, since I tend not to age those wines, at least not deliberately! It may, since aging is supposed to be a function of no contact with air and time, both of which are true for synthetic stoppers. The fact that wineries that produce premium wines - Plumpjack and Bonny Doon are just a couple - are beginning to go to synthetics or to screwtops indicates that aging is expected to occur.

[bods1000]

yes.  i could not agree with you more... in my previous comments, i was referring to the lack of body of the cab sauv i drank which could improve thru time.... but may be not, since it was an artificial cork.  maturing may not occur in this case, i stand corrected.

 

i suggest that if you are getting that wine, you get the reserve which has a cork stopper.

 

thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

thanks too!

are you referring to the Lindemann's Reserve here? I used to buy Lindemann's back when Jackie Chan was endorsing it

 

Any other celebrities endorsing wine?

[bods1000]

Great label, mediocre wine........lots of people buy it for the label but never drink it!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I thought so, pare

 

Mas maganda pa siguro yung mga labels featuring art works. I saw a series of Peter Lehman's which feature a series of paintings.

[bods1000]

The Chilean cabs I've had tended to the light side and seem to be made in the "drink me now!" style. Even Montes Alpha, which some consider the best Chilean cab producer, has some cabs like that. And I've found that reds taht start out light remain so, even after a few years under my house. (I store a lot of wine in my crawl space, since it tends to remain relatively consistent in temperature through the seasons.)

 

You're absolutely right about reviews - we're all different and we all taste different things in the wine. However, if you know someone (directly or indirectly) whose taste in wines is close to yours, then you can use his/her notes as a guide to what you might like. Still, no guarantees! I found that the Wine Spectator is about 75% reliable for me when it comes to pinot noirs from CA and WA, but not so much so for cabs. A good resource may be Robert Parker's Wine Buyers Guide. New editions every year to note latest wines and tasting notes.

 

Bods, I am not sure that a wine with a synthetic stopper will NOT age, since I tend not to age those wines, at least not deliberately! It may, since aging is supposed to be a function of no contact with air and time, both of which are true for synthetic stoppers. The fact that wineries that produce premium wines - Plumpjack and Bonny Doon are just a couple - are beginning to go to synthetics or to screwtops indicates that aging is expected to occur.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

yes you're right...a cork or a stopper is just a closure to prevent oxidation. Maturation is a function of the composition of the wine...Some winemakers deliberately make their best wines massively tannic for purposes of aging.....I personally haven't tried out my wines which were recommended for up to 10 yrs aging. It should be fun - taste a bottle upon buying, open another one a year later, another one 5 years later, then 10 years after - just to see how the wine progresses. Have anyone here tried that?

 

Ako kasi nauubos kaagad - di na nagtatagal

Edited November 4, 2004 by bods1000