Wine-savvy

[cakebread]

Naahhhh - I like a good cab more than just about anything else, so for me the cab still wins. My second choice would actually be the reisling.

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Is BV available there? One of my go to cabs is the BV Rutherford. It sells for around $17.00 here but tastes like it's a $60.00 bottle.

[Guest the_eight_of_orbs]

You can go to Magnum at GB2, just a few steps from NUVO.  It's a wine bar, restaurant and store all in one.  Otherwise, you can go to Bacchus at the Shangrila Hotel (Ayala Avenue side shops) or  Wine Depot at the Zuellig Loop.  If you have a driver, he would know the place or Santis in Yakal or at Forbes.

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OR you can go to CYRANO Wine Selections! Where everyone knows everyone by name! CHEERS! :boo:

[agxo3]

You can go to Magnum at GB2, just a few steps from NUVO.  It's a wine bar, restaurant and store all in one.  Otherwise, you can go to Bacchus at the Shangrila Hotel (Ayala Avenue side shops) or  Wine Depot at the Zuellig Loop.  If you have a driver, he would know the place or Santis in Yakal or at Forbes.

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OR you can go to CYRANO Wine Selections!  Where everyone knows everyone by name! CHEERS! :boo: 

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Good suggestions - I will hit one of those places for the wine before we head up to Baguio. Thanks!! Where's Cyrano?

[tokiojoe2003]

Is BV available there? One of my go to cabs is the BV Rutherford. It sells for around $17.00 here but tastes like it's a $60.00 bottle.

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Yes the Rutherford line is available in Manila. As well as Cakebread, Duckhorn, Opus One. Bacchus in Makati Sharila and Happy Living will have these.

[cakebread]

Yes the Rutherford line is available in Manila.  As well as Cakebread, Duckhorn, Opus One.  Bacchus in Makati Sharila and Happy Living will have these.

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I have been drinking a lot of red wines for the past few years and have tried California, French, Italian, Chilean, and Australian. All have different falvor profiles which are probably attributed to the geographic locations. I find it hard to believe though that there are vintage French wines that can really command a lot of $$$ especially in fine restaurants. I was at Ruth's Chris steakhouse a week ago and they were selling a bottle of 85 Lafite Rotschild for $999.00.

 

I can probably tell the difference between a $100.00 wine from a $20.00 one. But I don't know if I will appreciate a $1000.00 bottle though.

[Guest the_eight_of_orbs]

Cyrano's at the ground floor of the Legaspi Parkview Condominium Legaspi cor C Palance St. Legaspi Village Makati, it's near greenbelt 1.

 

In baguio you might find interesting find at Tatiana'a Wine shop on Legarda Street or the wine depot thing at the John Hay commissary

 

 

Good suggestions - I will hit one of those places for the wine before we head up to Baguio. Thanks!! Where's Cyrano?

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[agxo3]

Yes the Rutherford line is available in Manila.  As well as Cakebread, Duckhorn, Opus One.  Bacchus in Makati Sharila and Happy Living will have these.

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There's a label called Rutherford, which is NOT the same as the BV Rutherford, which is Beaulieau Vineyards Rutherford Cabernet Saugivnon. With the BV, it is so named bacuse the grapes come from vineyards in the town of Rutherford, which, not coincidentally, is where BV is headquartered. I believe that most of the grapes come from their Rutherford vineyard (s in - their vineyard im the town of Rutherford).

 

Rutherford winery is located near the town, but I am not sure if it's in the town of Rutherford itself. However, a majority of the grapes they use come from the area around the vineyard, including the town of Rutherford.

 

BV and Mondavi are two of the largest producers in California, and their labels appear on a staggering range of wines of all varietals and wildly differing styles, and made from grapes from manh different California appelations - Napa, Rutherford, Oakville, Sonoma Valley, Coastal Range (Mendocino County and Anderson Valley), Central Coast (Santa Cruz south through Monterey to San Luis Obispo and as far south as santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley), Central Valley (mostly Lodi - zins and syrah).

 

I once went to Mondavi looking for a specific wine to taste before buying - the 1995 Mondavi Napa Valley Zinfandel, made from grapes from the Cross vineyard just down the road. They didn't have it open for tasting (not surprising - at that time, which was 1998, it was selling for $60/btl). I was lucky enough to find that the winemaker (Bill Cabin himself!) was tasting zins with a local wine distributor and I was invited to join since I had expressed interest in their zins. we tasted the 92, 93, 94 and 95 vintages - complete with a lecture from Bill on the qualities of each of the vintages. I ended up buying a couple of the '95s, but also some '93 vintages! Still have a '95 left, and it will sit in my wine ref for another 4 years - 2010 is the target date for enjoying that wonderful wine.

 

For dinner tonight, opened a bottle from Spenker Vineyards located in the town of Lodi. The Lodi area is known for zins and syrahs - it's in the central valley and the springs are cold and wet, but the summers are hot and dry - leading to large grapes and grape clusters but very high levels of ripeness and the resulting high levels of sugars in the grape juice. The wines tend to be big (as in highly alcoholic - 14%+ is not unusual), ripe and rich, tannic but bursting with loads of fruit. This was a 1992 zin from Spenker Vineyards. Spenker has been owned by the same family for over a century. Old man spenker was also one of the founders of the Jesse Winery just north, and he split off some hundred-odd years ago to do his own thing. Very ripe, loads of blackberry and plum.Very light black perpper (unusual for a Lodi zin) but some cocoa and leather. A touch of smokiness. Looooooong finish!!! For a $15 bottle, not bad at all! Have to go back for more!!!

 

I just LOVE living in the SF Bay Area! Other than France, where else can you go from big zins, to elegant and refined cabs, to wild pinot noirs, to stately syrahs, to steely chards and fruity viogniers, seductive sauv blancs and racy pinot grigios, and everything in between? And unlike France, it's all no more than a 3 hour drive!!!

[tokiojoe2003]

There's a label called Rutherford, which is NOT the same as the BV Rutherford, which is Beaulieau Vineyards Rutherford Cabernet Saugivnon. With the BV, it is so named bacuse the grapes come from vineyards in the town of Rutherford, which, not coincidentally, is where BV is headquartered. I believe that most of the grapes come from their Rutherford vineyard (s in - their vineyard im the town of Rutherford).

 

Rutherford winery is located near the town, but I am not sure if it's in the town of Rutherford itself. However, a majority of the grapes they use come from the area around the vineyard, including the town of Rutherford.

 

BV and Mondavi are two of the largest producers in California, and their labels appear on a staggering range of wines of all varietals and wildly differing styles, and made from grapes from manh different California appelations - Napa, Rutherford, Oakville, Sonoma Valley, Coastal Range (Mendocino County and Anderson Valley), Central Coast (Santa Cruz south through Monterey to San Luis Obispo and as far south as santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley), Central Valley (mostly Lodi - zins and syrah).

 

 

Great info...thanks :-)

[masi]

I have been drinking  a lot of red wines for the past few years and have tried California, French, Italian, Chilean, and Australian. All have different falvor profiles which are probably attributed to the geographic locations. I find it hard to believe though that there are vintage French wines that can really command a lot of $$$ especially in fine restaurants. I was at Ruth's Chris steakhouse a week ago and they were selling a bottle of 85 Lafite Rotschild for $999.00. 

 

I can probably tell the difference between a $100.00 wine from a $20.00 one. But I don't know if I will appreciate a $1000.00 bottle though.

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I was even more surprised to read in Wine Spectator December edition that a collector bought a bottle of Screaming Eagle for US$12,000!!!! :boo:

Edited January 26, 2006 by masi

[masi]

OR you can go to CYRANO Wine Selections!  Where everyone knows everyone by name! CHEERS! :boo: 

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ooops! my oversight!!!! sorry..

[agxo3]

I was even more surprised to read in Wine Spectator December edition that a collector bought a bottle of Screaming Eagle for US$12,000!!!!    :boo:

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Yeah - I don't get it either!! It's a really good wine, but $12,000?? That tells me it's not because it's a good wine, but it's a trophy wine. You know, one of those - "see what I got! I'm soooo rich I can afford to throw money away like wine!" - wines. Some people have more money than sense.

[cakebread]

Yeah - I don't get it either!! It's a really good wine, but $12,000?? That tells me it's not because it's a good wine, but it's a trophy wine. You know, one of those - "see what I got! I'm soooo rich I can afford to throw money away like wine!" - wines. Some people have more money than sense.

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When I take clients out for dinner, I try to stick with the brands that I've had good experience with. Favorites have always been, Far Niente, Silver Oak, Chateau Montelena, Cakebread, Duckhorn, Joseph Phelps, etc.

[agxo3]

When I take clients out for dinner, I try to stick with the brands that I've had good experience with. Favorites have always been, Far Niente, Silver Oak, Chateau Montelena, Cakebread, Duckhorn, Joseph Phelps, etc.

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Good labels all. And with clients you certainly want to impress.

 

If they're really winos, though, it might be fun to find a lesser known but very high quality wine. Then you can impress them with your knowledge that goes beyond the common realm! "Thinking out of the box" - isn't that the over-used buzzword? In fact, bringing something NOT on the conventional wine list but that blows everyone away is guaranteed to score points, right? I've had a someelier off to waive the corkage if I gave him a taste of my wine! The answer was - but of course!!! And that led him to offer ME a taste of something else that he thought was similar to my wine. (It wasn't, but I took the glass anyway! Never turn down a free glass of good wine, I always say! )

 

Like everyone else, I have MY favorites, which tend to be smaller wineries with smaller marketing budgets - Retzlaff, Noah's, Wood Family, Fenestra, Tenuta, Mitchell Katz, Davis Bynum, Armida, Castle, Rosenblum. There are also some on my list that ARE well-known - Neibaum-Coppola (now re-named Rubicon Estates), J, Stags Leap, Castle Rock, Grgich, David Bruce, Bonny Doon, Ravenswood.

 

What will you find in my wine ref? Mostly Niebaum-Coppola, Retzlaff, Noah's, Fenestra and Wood Family. Some Mitchell Katz, some Rosenblum. A smattering of Opus One, a few Bordeaux and a couple of Burgundies, a J or three. The rest come and go - a bottle here, a bottle there......

[cakebread]

Excellent choices there! I've had the Niebaum-Coppola, Stags Leap and Grgich and they're all very good. I'm surprised at how decent the price is for Grgich Hills. I remember buying them a few years ago for $35.00 a bottle at Sam's Club.

 

What happens is that the clients look mainly at the conventional brands and the $$$ attached to them. It helps seal a lot of deals though.

[masi]

Yeah - I don't get it either!! It's a really good wine, but $12,000?? That tells me it's not because it's a good wine, but it's a trophy wine. You know, one of those - "see what I got! I'm soooo rich I can afford to throw money away like wine!" - wines. Some people have more money than sense.

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yup!! you couldn't have said it any better!!!!