Wine-savvy

[igol ays]

popped open a few bottles also

 

the 2004 mcmanis petit sirah definitely left a very good impression (this was part of the loot i got from acme fine wines about 3 weeks ago)

very dark red, full bodied, berries, vanilla

relatively inexpensive at $15/bottle

 

i'm hoping to buy a case when i go to st helena this weekend

 

have a safe trip

Edited July 6, 2005 by eagleyes

[agxo3]

maybe we should post again the flavors, pare, what do you think - I myself have forgotten most

 

yeah, pare, if you can find that article, kindly post it here. Thanks for the info - The Laphroig I've been hearing about and they say it's good.

 

wow pare! isama mo na lang kami sa celebrations nyo dyan Tilt a glass for us here, ok?

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Here's the article, Bods. Enjoy!

-------------

Taken from the SF Chronicle, June 23, 2005

 

On the rocks

Single-malt scotch shortage is double trouble for distillers, consumers

Richard Carleton Hacker, Special to The Chronicle

 

Anyone perusing the shelves of the Bay Area's liquor emporiums or the back bars of watering holes like the Ritz Bar at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, with its more than 80 malt whiskies, might have a hard time believing there is a shortage of single-malt scotch.

 

But that is the problem facing many scotch distilleries, due to a lack of foresight in laying down sufficient vintages in the past, coupled with increasing demand for older single malts. So, while you may be able to find the heavily peated Ardbeg 10-year-old, you can pretty much forget about snagging a bottle of the more subtly smoked Ardbeg 17-year-old scotch -- the distillery ran out of it a few years ago.

 

"Right now, everything over 14 years old is in jeopardy," says Howard Meister, owner of the Wine & Liquor Depot in Van Nuys. With close to 700 brands, Meister's store is the largest retail source for single-malt whisky in the United States.

 

"I started building my stocks of single malts years ago," he says, "before they started really taking off . . . I remember being the laughingstock of the other retailers. Now, many of them are calling me searching for certain aged whiskies for their customers. But there just isn't that much to go around anymore."

 

Not since Scotland's first illicit stills began trickling out spirits in the 18th century has demand been higher and supplies scarcer. Although Scotland's approximately 100 distilleries produce more than 10 million cases of scotch a year, most are blends; only about 2 percent ends up in the much smaller -- but more profitable -- category of single malts. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, blended scotch sales have been relatively flat for the past five years while single-malt sales worldwide have soared an average of 9 percent annually during that same period, with a notable surge of 15 percent in 2004. That means growing demand for a product that was relatively scarce in the first place.

 

Blends cut into stocks

 

Compounding the problem is the fact that blends are made by combining a number of single malts with grain alcohol to produce a "blended scotch," such as Johnnie Walker Red Label, which uses 35 different single malts, or Cutty Sark, which gets its smooth heather texture in part from Glenrothes, one of the primary single malts in its recipe.

 

A single malt, by comparison, is a single, unblended whisky made in only one distillery. For many, a single malt is the very essence of a distillery's character, reflecting its water, barley and barrels. Distilleries get higher prices for single malts, compared with blends, but the downside is, they have to age them for lengthy periods of time, thus tying up inventory -- and money.

 

"A lot of independent bottlers -- those who buy whisky from distilleries and then bottle it under their own labels, like Cadenhead -- are having problems because they're running out of product," says Meister. "Cadenhead is keeping what little older stocks they have for their own stores in England and Scotland."

 

By law, single-malt scotch must be at least 3 years old, but no distiller in his/her right mind releases a spirit that young. Malt whiskies don't reach perfection until they are, on average, 10 to 18 years old. Some, like Laphroaig's 30-year-old and the Macallan Millennium 50-year-old, push the distiller's skills to the limit. As with wine, whiskies can be barrel-aged past their peak. But the older the spirit is, the more money it brings.

 

Although we live in a high-tech age, it still takes 30 years to make the Dalmore 30-year-old the Stillman's Dram.

 

This obvious fact was relatively ignored until a few years ago, when the Lagavulin distillery on Islay suddenly discovered it was running out of its slightly sweet and immensely smoky 16-year-old single malt, because too much had been sold over the years for blends, primarily for JohnnieWalker Black and J&B. As a quick fix, the distillery introduced Lagavulin 12-year-old Cask Strength, a 115.6 proof, right-from-the-barrel powerhouse that shaved four years off the waiting time. Currently warehoused barrels will reach their 16- year goal and once again be bottled, but that does nothing for the shortage of 16-year-old Lagavulin today.

 

Distillers caught sleeping

 

The scarcity of older whiskies and accompanying higher prices are apparent in rich, resinous the Macallan 18-year-old, which -- even at discounted prices -- has risen from $76 to $110 within the last year, while the Macallan 30-year-old has jumped from $349 to $560 in that same period.

 

"Single malts are the only sector within the Scotch whisky category that has this shortage problem," says Ronnie Cox, director for Glenrothes International. "It is totally unprecedented and unforeseen. Neither past sales nor current projections had prepared us for this situation. Simply put, the industry -- Glenrothes included -- did not prepare for the proper amount of whisky stocks to be laid down for this type of boom."

 

Cox is acutely aware of whisky shortages. By law, only the youngest year can be put on whisky labels, even though older spirits from the same distillery may be added to maintain a taste profile. In other words, a 12-year- old may also contain some 14- and 16-year-old single malts.

 

Glenrothes only releases single malts that are vintage-dated, rather than by years of barrel aging. Thus, the Glenrothes 1992 (a 12-year-old bottled in 2004) and the 16-year-old Glenrothes 1987 (bottled in 2003) must be distilled in those specific years.

 

"Unlike blended whiskies," Cox says, "where one can draw from other distilleries to replace or replenish stocks, a single malt bottled from a single distillery is not instantly replaceable. It is, by its very nature, a limited-edition item."

 

This has led to the Macallan's recent introduction of the Macallan Fine Oak 10-, 15- and 21-year-old single malts. These are "vattings" -- combinations of single malts from the same distillery and not to be confused with blends, which use single malts from different distilleries -- of single malts aged in both used sherry and used American bourbon barrels. They represent a major departure from Macallan's legendary 100 percent sherry- barrel-aged whiskies.

 

The Macallan Fine Oak contains 50 percent whisky that has been aged in white oak barrels previously used to age bourbon. This produces lighter whiskies of varying degrees, depending on their ages, which Macallan hopes will appeal to those who might shy away from its heavier, sherried single malts. Another impetus for the Fine Oak finish is that it stretches Macallan's dwindling supply of older sherry-barrel-aged whiskies by vatting them with their bourbon-barrel counterparts.

 

Springbank, a distillery that -- like Macallan -- never sold its single malts for blends, is noted for its wonderfully complex and elegant aged whiskies. Many of its 25- to 50-year-old single malts have become collector's items. But last year, a bottling of Springbank 15-year-old represented the last of the oldest whisky left in its Campbeltown warehouse. That significance was made even clearer a few months ago, when Springbank introduced a 10-year- old.

 

"For years we were quite successful with aged single malts," says Henry Preiss, president of Springbank's importer, Preiss Imports in Ramona (San Diego County). "Now there isn't that much around. Now they have to buy back some of their 30- and 21-year-old whiskies from individual wholesalers. Like many distilleries, they were selling too much without planning for the future."

 

Whisky shortages have reached such extremes that one distillery began vatting its 12-year-old single malt with whiskies from other distilleries. This caused such turmoil within the industry that the offending party was forced to relabel its product as "pure malt" rather than single malt.

 

Another factor contributing to the shortage of single malts is their recent discovery by the under-40 crowd in China. Forget the fact that young Chinese might mix it with green tea; it is common for groups at karaoke bars to go through a bottle of scotch in an hour. Even though they may be sipping blends, it taps into the shrinking supply of single malts.

 

A glimmer of hope

 

But there is hope. Glenlivet, the best-selling single malt in America, still has stocks for its limited Cellar Collection, which is comprised of the best and oldest whiskies in its warehouse. The Glenlivet 40-year-old 1964 bottling was released last year. Caol Ila launched a 118.8-proof, cask- strength 25-year-old powerhouse. Talisker, famous for its 10-year-old semi- peaty single malt, has introduced a gently muscular, slightly floral 18-year- old. And Preiss Imports has acquired a supply of Benriach 12-, 16- and 20-year- old single malts, and is also importing cask-strength whiskies from independent bottler Duncan Taylor, who, according to Preiss, "won't touch anything less than 21 years old."

 

There is evidence that distilleries have learned from their mistakes. When an appropriately named 6-year-old Very Young was bottled for Ardbeg's board of directors, it met with such acclaim that a decision was made to sell it in the United Kingdom, but not in the United States. The fear was that America's larger market would deplete remaining barrels that would otherwise mature into older whiskies.

 

And because of whisky shortages, at least half a dozen dormant distilleries have been revived, including Bruichladdich, Tullibardine, Glengyle and Tormore.

 

"People have been enjoying the really good stuff for years, with no thought to the future," Preiss says. "Now the time has come to take stock of the situation."

[agxo3]

Hello to all winos.

 

I've been a lurker of this thread for months now.  I also am fond of wines and collect them. Haven't tasted the varietal that suites me best or maybe the ones that I've tasted were on the category of the "not so good". Tried Cab Sauv, Merlot and just recently Pinot Noir but didn't like what I tasted. Also tasted Chards and Semillon.  Maybe I am not the wine type. :-)

 

Just bought 2 bottles of Prahova Pinot Noir 2001. Is it any good? Saw plenty of it in a supermarket rack last week and hesitated in buying but when I got back last night and found only 2 bottles left, I bought them both!

 

Anyway, will try it tonight to find out if it is any good.

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Or maybe you're not tasting the good stuff!! Reds are not as friendly as whites - most of us started with whites and progressed to reds later. Which cabs did you taste, or merlots or pinots? Each of them is different, and each has distinct charactersitics. Not all appeal to all tastebuds.

 

Pinots, for example, sometimes have what's called the "barnyard" chracter. At its worst, I would describe it as having a wet sheep taking a dump in the mud at your feet. Zins tend to have a somewhat spicy black or white pepper flavor to them.

 

I once had a cab whose origins I could name without even trying - it was from Monterey county, where some winery had planted grpaevines on what had been an artichoke field. You could taste the artichokes, and in red wine, that's not necessarily a good flavor.

 

Thre are LOTS of wines out there - some good, others not so. I personally tend to stay away from supermarket wines. Generally, they're the lower cost wines, mass produced and therefore of uncertain quality, and many times they are improperly stored. Go to a good wine store, one that has a tasting bar. Talk to the owner, taste some wines, and learn what you like and dislike. It's okay to dislike an expensive wine and like an inexpensive wine.

 

Best of all, there is an infinite variety of wines available, and each vintage is different. The permutations are endless! If you ever get bored, all you need to do is look outside of yor comfort zone.

 

Welcome to the group!

[agxo3]

quite right, pare!

that said, I think I'm gonna splurge on that nice expensive Pinot Noir I've been eyeing hehehe....

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Go for it!

 

To quote someone famous (my mind's blanking out! help me here! who said this???) Life is too short to drink bad wine!

[agxo3]

ok editing the last doubled post whew!

 

Be careful about buying those wines in boxes because most likely they are filled with a liquid which resembles wine Kool Aid than pure wine.

The reality is that most of these box wines have been adulterated with substantial quantities of added alcohol, water, citric acid, fruit juices and other flavors and chemicals.   :sick:

Under a strict interpretation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms rules, a box of this sort could contain as little as 38% wine.

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OTOH, I just bought some box wine from a rep*table store in SF. It's an Aussie wine - a cab. Got good reviews! It will get tasted next week at my regular Thursday night soiree. This week is a dry week - no wine (at least not until later in the evening when most people except the diehards have left) and at least one print as the price of admission.

 

I will report on the quality (or lack thereof) when we do pop that plastic screwtop.

[agxo3]

uhmmm, not good, but able perhaps.

Like a good, serviceable everyday wine, we try to give you company no matter how humble we are. We may not be as grand as a Grand Cru or as great as a '97 California Cab, but we are always here on the shelf trying to attract your attention to take us everyday. When the day ends and you are alone with your thoughts, us humble wines are here to give you great company......

 

now when is the awards' night

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Great? Well, delicious is more like it. Lip-smacking yummy (with apologies to Ms. Lipstick). Smooth, dense, full-bodied and full-flavored. But great? Ask me again 10 years from now. Let's see how they hold up. I went looking through my stash the other night and found another 8 bottles fo that yummy '97! I'm in goooood shape for the next few months.

 

And - remember the great port fiasco? Well, I picked up my (now full! ) case last Sunday and am looking forward to popping the cork on a bottle within the next couple of weeks. Need some cigars, some good company, and a nice meal (hmmmm - tapas at Va de Vi maybe??) I will file my report as soon as the botlle is consumed, monsieurs et madamoiselles..

[bods1000]

thanks...will see...will let the thread know..

 

Where is City Golf Plaza? Sorry .. i am bobo with Ortigas area..Makati and Cavite girl po kasi eh...heheheh

 

Thirsty Traveller is a tv show in Discovery Travel and Living. The host would really travel to places and showcase the best wine, liquor and beers. They also tackle how it is made and other stuff. they even showed one time how real wine tasting happens and how to determine if it is a good A-OK wine or not. One time I saw how they do wine tasting..they don't really drink it..they just take a sip, have it in their mouth and spit...something to that effect.

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yeah parang I caught a snippet of that show once - what's the sked ba?

I better see it regularly...

 

I used to watch I think it was Lonely Planet Traveler where the host used to go to different places in the globe. It was great fun seeing all these places. The best was when the host found himself eating balut in Pateros

 

If you are coming from C5, make a U-turn going to J. vargas. City Golf Plaza is a complex of eating places on the right side of the road, just before Home Depot.

 

Hope you be there

[bods1000]

one of the few dreams i have --  tour italy, spain and the french wine country, play golf in scotland and sip a single malt after, smoke a cigar and drink a mojito in cuba.  i have to work for it!!!!

 

i received a gift from a friend, Beaulieu Vineyard Coastal Estates 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Cellars.  I'm planning to keep it for a year before I open it unless I get advice that I should take it now.  Will appreciate your comments.

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it's a great dream, pare - sama 'ko dyan

I just finished a book wherein this guy bicycled his way from Cadiz in Spain to the Hebrides Islands in Scotland - passing through the countrysides of Spain, France, England and finally the harsh Scottish Highlands and lochs.

 

Along the way, he savored rural cuisine and always with some vino tinto or some local wine. Nagbabaon pa nga sya ng bote on his trip and take a swig or two while resting in some secluded meadows. What I'd give to do that :thumbsupsmiley:

 

cheers for that Beaulieu!

you got a great wine!

[bods1000]

hello, fellow wine-lovers:

 

what's this i hear about an eb??? i must try to attend this one since i missed the last. details, please?

 

huwait. am i invited?

 

whatever the case, monsieur bods, you know my digits.

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It's tonight, 7pm onwards or until the liquid runs out.

BARCINO, City Golf Plaza, Julia Vargas Ave.

 

of course, you are invited. Ladies are invited!

We guys are fed up flirting with each other

[bods1000]

Belated happy 4th! Hope you had a good weekend.

 

Had the usual suspects (minus one) over for the umpteenth annual bad wine contest and ritual tree feeding. (You gotta back read to understand that reference - sorry!) Small turnout this year - one was sick, the other seems to have been gone underground for a while (not unusual) and the other went "mid-West"-ing. So just me and two others.

 

We never got to the REALLY BAD wine (there was a Cleavage Creek this year!) but we did pop open a Cuvee Noir from Florida. Interesting flavors, not what you'd normally get in ANY red wine. Some stone fruit (apricot and nectarine), some kind ofspice (nutmeg? allspice? I'm not a spices guy.....), some vaguely grape-ish kind of flavor. None of the normal berries, strawberries, cherry kinds of flavors. Wierd.......

 

I'm already thinking of a follow-on to the event to try the Cleavage Creek and other unknwon wines. My tree will not grow much this year if I don't feed it more bad wine!

 

We did pop open a couple of good wines - one of the Retzlaff New Vines, but also a dry French rose from the Rhone Valley, and a demi-sec Vouvray. All were big hits, but with only 3 wine drinkers in the group, that was about all we could do without degenerating too far.

 

Fireworks at Great America - we can see them from our yard so we didn't make the drive down. Great display, as usual, but none on the 4th! Only on the 2nd and 3rd! I wonder why? San Jose did their display on the 4th and it was pretty grand.

 

Sounds like Taiwan the week of the 18th, but I have to be back on the 25th - jury duty. Yecch! - so no side trip to Manila.

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hehe you really should give second thoughts about having that bad-wine contest. Guys are getting sick, guys are making themselves scarce, guys rather go to the colorless Midwest just to avoid drinking plonk during those events

how are the trees, pare? It's a good thing trees don't talk :upside:

 

That Cleavage Creek sure sounds interesting

Another great evocative name for a wine hehehe...

 

cheers pare!

we miss you here! If there's a way, haul your booty here for a quick sip with us......

[bods1000]

OTOH, I just bought some box wine from a rep*table store in SF. It's an Aussie wine - a cab. Got good reviews! It will get tasted next week at my regular Thursday night soiree. This week is a dry week - no wine (at least not until later in the evening when most people except the diehards have left) and at least one print as the price of admission.

 

I will report on the quality (or lack thereof) when we do pop that plastic screwtop.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

the author could probably have been talking about American wines in boxes, most notably Franzia :sick:

Those Aussie wines in boxes are a different breed. I believe Wyndham Estates do wines in boxes, and they're not a run-of-the-mill winery. But I could be wrong.

Please do give us an evaluation of it

[bods1000]

Great? Well, delicious is more like it. Lip-smacking yummy (with apologies to Ms. Lipstick). Smooth, dense, full-bodied and full-flavored. But great? Ask me again 10 years from now. Let's see how they hold up. I went looking through my stash the other night and found another 8 bottles fo that yummy '97! I'm in goooood shape for the next few months.

 

And - remember the great port fiasco? Well, I picked up my (now full!  ) case last Sunday and am looking forward to popping the cork on a bottle within the next couple of weeks. Need some cigars, some good company, and a nice meal (hmmmm - tapas at Va de Vi maybe??) I will file my report as soon as the botlle is consumed, monsieurs et madamoiselles..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

hehe good luck on that port - hope there'd be no more surprises when you pop up the cork...

 

pare what's the greatest vintage ba of cabernets in the 90's? Parang you have posted something about that before - I forgot na

[agxo3]

hehe you really should give second thoughts about having that bad-wine contest. Guys are getting sick, guys are making themselves scarce, guys rather go to the colorless Midwest just to avoid drinking plonk during those events

how are the trees, pare? It's a good thing trees don't talk :upside:

 

That Cleavage Creek sure sounds interesting 

Another great evocative name for a wine hehehe...

 

cheers pare!

we miss you here! If there's a way, haul your booty here for a quick sip with us......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks! I did raise a nice, cool glass of dry rose to you guys. then drank it right down with nary a second thought!

 

Perhaps the contest has had its last run - I don't know. We do need to sample the Cleavage Crrek at least. the tree's doing well, thank you very much. 20 feet tall and still growing!! Not bad for a supposed 8 ft. shrub, huh?

 

 

hehe good luck on that port - hope there'd be no more surprises when you pop up the cork...

 

pare what's the greatest vintage ba of cabernets in the 90's? Parang you have posted something about that before - I forgot na

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If the port's bad you'll hear my screams all the way across the big pond.

 

Best cab vintage of the 90s? For me it's got to be either the 99 or the 95. The 97 is pretty close, and the 94. The 92 and 93 are not bad at all. 90 and 91 were respectable. 96 was not bad at all! the 98 feels left out, doens't it? Not bad, just not as good as the others, at least in the napa valley. Shorter summer than the other years, and some rain at just the wrong time!

 

This year feels like it will be not as good as 98. Long, wet, cold winter, followed by soggy spring and a late summer (and cooler than normal, on the average). That will make for some less than optimally ripe grapes unless we get a nice, long warm spell that lasts well into October. Only time will tell. Should make for some pretty decent pinot noirs out of the Russian River area, though.

[Lipstick]

Oh just a quickie post before the flavor of this wonderful bordeaux I had last night bids a fond goodbye to my palate.

 

I've mostly stuck to Aussie wines simply because it was my first introduction to the world of wines. Since then I have tried a whole slew but somehow I found myself going back to Aussie. Am not all that adventurous perhaps as I believe in the maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But last night I had the most wonderful introduction to a vintage bordeaux .... Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint Julien 1989.

 

Lush does not begin to describe it. It had a beckoning and almost tempestuous character and I wasn't quite sure if seductive was proper to use to describe this red but I checked out some of the reviews and to my surprise this is exactly how this red is described! Seductive to a point you just want to totally surrender ... tannin was quite strong but oh I have learned to love this mouth-puckering sensation lately, color was deep and dark which was reflective perhaps of the various black fruits you could taste.

 

The 89 vintage is meant to be kept till 2005 and sipped before 2006. I have to say I was truly impressed not just with the wine but with my date who went out of his way to prepare an intoxicating evenining for me down to the last minute detail .... the seduction worked.

 

Cheers!

 

p.s. my date asked me to include this: he loved the wine, good drop especially when drank off the skin.

[heavygatin_but_cutie]

i wonder what happened to the wine EB at Barcino last night... hello winos!!! wassup? intoxicated still? :upside: