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Hey - I thought seriously about heading over there again but I was just there in January, so I figured I'd pass this time around. Maybe later this year. I'm due for a long visit in March of 2006 but I think I want to go over before then for a shorter visit. Maybe when I do my next Taiwan trip - that would be May.

 

Okay - vertical and horizontal tastings -

 

a vertical is where you taste the same wine (same varietal, winery and label. For example, Neibaum-Coppola Rubicon) but from different vintages, usually a sequence of vintages. As in my list of Rubicons - open one each of the 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000 and you have a vertical. Now THAT would be an expensive evening! But I would guess, well worth it! I wonder if I could sell tickets to that?  :lol:

 

a horizontal is where you taste the same varietal from the same or different wineries but all of the same vintage. Most effective as a tasting tool if all the wines are from the same area. For example, I can do a horizontal of 1995 zins from Napa Valley. I have the BV and Mondavi. I'd have to find another one or three. But put them all side by side, and you have a horizontal.

 

great info, pare - kung minsan kasi nalilito pa din me dyan eh...isn't it in horizontal tasting, the bottles are unmarked so that you wouldn't be biased on what you are tasting - o sa competition lang ito?

Does anybody here do those horizontal/vertical tastings?

 

yeah, May! that's near enough...we'd look forward to meeting you!

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great info, pare - kung minsan kasi nalilito pa din me dyan eh...isn't it in horizontal tasting, the bottles are unmarked so that you wouldn't be biased on what you are tasting - o sa competition lang ito?

Does anybody here do those horizontal/vertical tastings?

 

yeah, May! that's near enough...we'd look forward to meeting you!

 

Depends on the reason for doing the vertical. If it's a competition then the identities of the wine are hidden to level the playing field. IOW, so that 2 buck chuck is not judged on its label and dismissed without a fair judging, and so that Chateau Pertus does not win on the strength of its rep*tation. But if it's for fun (and sometimes profit) then the choice is yours.

 

No reason to hide the wine identity when doing a vertical - they're all the same wine from different vintages.

 

Going for a visit in May is a desire and a hope, not yet a reality but this is incentive to try to make it happen.

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...that does not surprise us :P Imagine that - a wine EB being held simultaneously in different parts of the globe - kailangan may kasama ka din dyan para masaya

 

I'm sure I'll find someone........that won't be hard. We have a small group of winos here and I am sure they'll gladly join the festivities.

 

On another note - the vendor I visited last Wednesday is being really nice to me. They're angling for new projects. But hey! who am I to look a gift horse int he mouth? All the gift does is remind me how eager they are to work with us.

 

So what was that gift - why a bottle of wine, of course! A 1997 Chateau Lynch-Bages. It's a Bordeaux, good reviews and good ratings. Could not find it on the on-line catalogs of the wine stroes I frequent, nor at Sam's Wine Club in Chicago. So I guess I should consider myself lucky to have this bottle - and I do! It's going under my house for another year or two.

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And along those lines --- I went to the release reception for Neibaum-Coppola's flagship wine -> Rubicon vintage 2000. It's a Bordeaux blend, this year mostly cabernet sauvignon, with some merlot and traces of petit verdot and cabernet franc. A wonderful wine, as usual. Great for drinking now, but I think I would hold it at least another 3-5 years. Great fruit, nicely restrained tannins. All requisite cab flavors - dark berries, etc. Not as good at the '99 (some call the '99 the best of the decade), more like the '95 (which should be ready to open just about now.

 

Okay - my mistake. That's what I get for trying to type when I am soooooo upside down! This was actually the 2001 release! Comments still hold - I just mistyped the vintage.

 

So to add to the list below ->

 

Actually, I've just been very busy. I'm in Taiwan right now on business - and just getting off a conference call with the folks back home and on the East Coast. Good thing I'm jet lagged! :lol:

 

I'm sure NC wines are exported, but to there? Dunno.

 

Many wines do sell on repurtation more than performance - that's why it's important to NOT generalize by winery or label or vintage. Or, even worse, by varietal. So to say ALL merlots are bad (or good) is a simplistic view of wine. For each varietal, region, winery or label, there are good years, and bad years. The excitement is in finding the good while avoiding the bad wherever possible.

 

So - personal Rubicon rankings from 1995 to 2000:

1995 - second best of the bunch, but a much friendlier wine than the best

1996 - not as good as 1995, but still worthy of anhyone's cellar

1997 - tied with 1995 for second best, but an altogether different wine. Not as friendly - needs a couple more years (1995 was good to drink even then) - but may last longer than the 95

1998 - no Rubicon released. The wine was just not good enough to call Rubicon.

1999 - best of the bunch (and if I believe others, of the decade). MOre structured, more a classic Bordeaux than 1995 or 1997.

2000 - think 1996. More tannins than 95 and 97. should be awesome in 3-5 years.

2001 - friendly like the '95, almost as structured as the '99. Makes this #2 of the lot. I'll hold this for another 2-3 years before I start drinking my stash.

 

If I have a good enough excuse, I'll do a vertical some time this summer.

 

Don't know if this was mentioned here (and too lazy to backread) - turns out the title of the film "Sideways" is a reference to - what else? - being drunk.

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oh hehehe...dunno if we'll be happy or not for that...

but what's clearer on the horizon is that when you're here, tuloy ang wine binge natin :P

 

Yeah - well, life goes on I guess. Wine! Yes! More! More!

 

Just got out of a phone conference. What makes these particular calls tolerable is the wine we drink while on the call. Today it was a Diamond Grove zinfandel. 1999. Cheap wine. I got it for $20 A CASE!!! That's $1.83 a bottle!! Less than 2-buck chuck and lots better. The wine merchant (a big merchandiser with lots of different labels) was changing his labels so he had to get rid of the current stock. So - anything he had in stock, case lots only, $20 a cse, no limit! Some was good, like his zin, other stuff was just terrible. The good news, they had tasting tables set up so you could taste before buying. I bought 5 cases that day, my friend bought 8. I saw someone loading up a van with what must have been 30 cases. Some days, you feel like you've accumulated some good karma.

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Yeah - well, life goes on I guess. Wine! Yes! More! More!

 

Just got out of a phone conference. What makes these particular calls tolerable is the wine we drink while on the call. Today it was a Diamond Grove zinfandel. 1999. Cheap wine. I got it for $20 A CASE!!! That's $1.83 a bottle!! Less than 2-buck chuck and lots better. The wine merchant (a big merchandiser with lots of different labels) was changing his labels so he had to get rid of the current stock. So - anything he had in stock, case lots only, $20 a cse, no limit! Some was good, like his zin, other stuff was just terrible. The good news, they had tasting tables set up so you could taste before buying. I bought 5 cases that day, my friend bought 8. I saw someone loading up a van with what must have been 30 cases. Some days, you feel like you've accumulated some good karma.

 

nothing of that sort here even if you've got good karma...no wine store here comes up with something like that...At that price I could have made some good profits selling it here :P Siguro that guy loading up 30 cases will be doing some reselling.

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nothing of that sort here even if you've got good karma...no wine store here comes up with something like that...At that price I could have made some good profits selling it here :P Siguro that guy loading up 30 cases will be doing some reselling.

 

Oh, yes! I can't see anyone stocking up on cheap wine just for personal pleasure. I think he might have been a restaurant owner or caterer. Drinkable wine at that price is unheard of!

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Even Chinese wine ????:lol:

I said "drinkable"! :P :lol:

 

Also - I'm speaking from the perspective of one buying and consuming wine in this part of the world - that is, the San Francisco Bay Area, where everything is pretty expensive. (OT - Have you checked out real estate prices around here lately? A run-down, 50 year old, fixer-upper in a slightly scary neighborhood - that is, the sounds of gunshots that are your nightly lullaby are more than 2 blocks away - 2-3 bedrooms 1 bath, about 1300 sq. ft./130 sq. m. -> $400,000. 20 million Pinoy pesos.)

 

Back to the subject at hand - fellow wine geeks, check out www.egullet.org. Scroll down a bit to the eGullet Culinary Institute board. Now running - a course on "Evaluating Wine", covering the basics of wine tasting, among other things. Check it out - it may be a bit challengining to find ALL the items listed so you can compare and identify the aromas in wine, but I think you should be able to find most of them in your local stores. Remember where the instructor says "fresh", she later says if fresh is not available you can substitute dried fruit, which I believe is available there. I would figure that you could even substitute a fruit jam where a fresh or dried fruit is nowhere to be found.

 

Bods, may I suggest that this could be one of the activities for your long-planned EB.

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