Wine-savvy

[floppydrive]

Hi guys!

 

Have a problem since I got sick with the flu two months back. My taste buds are shot. I can't tell grape from cherry, chocolate from tannin. In other words, can't tell one wine from another.

 

Had the chance to try a blended port from Barrossa - Kellermeister. It's a blend of port from local vines, blended with dark chocolate and a heavy liquer. It's very good! Unique and good as desert wine. Not as finely aged as a 20 year old Tawny, but it's good. Unfortunately, I can't give a better WR.

 

That Wyndham Bin 555 is great! For me, it's the best locally available Shiraz. Best bang for the buck, you might say.

 

Bods, Spurt, you guys mentioned that it takes a long time for BFAD to approve wines for local sale. Are wines sold at Duty Free shops subject to the same process?

 

Bods, Lipstick, congratulations on being proud blue eagle parents! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

OK, back to lurker mode until I can give a decent WR.

[acidboy]

mga bro (at sis)

meronba kayong ma-recommend na rioja (reserva kung maganda ang presyo) dito sa metro manila?

[Headroom]

Any suggestions for a good dessert wine?? 

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Try and get your hands on a botryised sweet white wine - botrytis cineria is a fungus that grows on the wine grape and draws the moisture from it. This intensifies the sugar concentration, the acidity and the fruit flavour. Semillions and Rieslings are particularly good.

[bods1000]

pareng masi that's a great avatar you have :thumbsupsmiley:

 

ok as promised here are portions of what I read about Oregon pinot noirs from Jay McInerney's book Bacchus and Me

 

As in Burgundy, vintages are widely variable in Oregon. Some prefer the more delicate but balanced '93 vintage to the powerful super-ripe'94. The '95 and '96 were less successful and '97 was plagued by rains at harvest time. Fortunately the gods smiled on Willamette valley in 1998. Conditions were perfect through most of the season as well as at harvest. Look for Adelsheim, Archery Summit, Broadleigh, Beaux Freres, Brick House, Cristom, Ponzi, Thomas, Domaine Serene, and Ken Wright.

 

What you don't taste from Oregon is that hint of actual dirt that Burgundy freaks often believe to be the funky soul of their beloved, which can be as distinctive as the loamy growl of a real Delta bluesman. Let's say that in recent years Oregon pinot noir has been a little like Clapton playing "Crossroads". It ain't exactly Robert Johnson. But it's more danceable. And the '98 vintage may well be Oregon's "Layla."

 

pare your Adelsheim is one of the top Oregons pala - congrats. I forgot what vintage it was you had.

 

Well anyway, it was about 35 years ago that a former dental school candidate, David Lett, drifted up to Oregon and with a degree in viticulture and oenology from UC Davis set up the first vineyard there. He had the quixotic belief that the long, cool growing season of Willamette Valley was ideal for pinot noir. Well, what do you know? In 1980 his '75 Eyrie Vineyard Pinot Noir came in a close second, by just two-tenths of a point, to a '59 Chambolle-Musigny from the venerable Burgundian house of Drouhin! The rest as they say, is history...

[bods1000]

i somehow know the guys here doing the selling, and i also know that this requirement is not practical at all. BFAD people even doesn't know the difference between the old world wines & the new  world wines, hehehe. so we sell it as it is. i totally agree with you, let drink na lang.  :thumbsupsmiley:  :thumbsupsmiley:

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pare I'm betting you a bottle of any wine of your choice that not all wine-sellers here have gone through the BFAD requirements. Alam mo, hindi naman nag-chechek ang BFAD eh

[masi]

pareng masi that's a great avatar you have :thumbsupsmiley:

 

ok as promised here are portions of what I read about Oregon pinot noirs from Jay McInerney's book Bacchus and Me

 

As in Burgundy, vintages are widely variable in Oregon. Some prefer the more delicate but balanced '93 vintage to the powerful super-ripe'94. The '95 and '96 were less successful and '97 was plagued by rains at harvest time. Fortunately the gods smiled on Willamette valley in 1998. Conditions were perfect through most of the season as well as at harvest. Look for Adelsheim, Archery Summit, Broadleigh, Beaux Freres, Brick House, Cristom, Ponzi, Thomas, Domaine Serene, and Ken Wright.

 

What you don't taste from Oregon is that hint of actual dirt that Burgundy freaks often believe to be the funky soul of their beloved, which can be as distinctive as the loamy growl of a real Delta bluesman. Let's say that in recent years Oregon pinot noir has been a little like Clapton playing "Crossroads". It ain't exactly Robert Johnson. But it's more danceable. And the '98 vintage may well be Oregon's "Layla."

 

pare your Adelsheim is one of the top Oregons pala - congrats. I forgot what vintage it was you had.

 

Well anyway, it was about 35 years ago that a former dental school candidate, David Lett, drifted up to Oregon and with a degree in viticulture and oenology from UC Davis set up the first vineyard there. He had the quixotic belief that the long, cool growing season of Willamette Valley was ideal for pinot noir. Well, what do you know? In 1980 his '75 Eyrie Vineyard Pinot Noir came in a close second, by just two-tenths of a point, to a '59 Chambolle-Musigny from the venerable Burgundian house of Drouhin! The rest as they say, is history...

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it was a 2003. I also have the Archery Summit. Will let you know when I'm opening it.!

[Spurt]

pare I'm betting you a bottle of any wine of your choice that not all wine-sellers here have gone through the BFAD requirements. Alam mo, hindi naman nag-chechek ang BFAD eh

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aha!!! that's seditious, hehehe. well, yup, let's just say BFAD can not check them all. BFAD anyway, is not just the seller's issue, hehehe, there's BIR & the BOC. when i think of these government agencies & their effects on the industry, i makes me really appreciate even the one-week-opened-in-the-ref carlos rossi, hehehe. this is OT na no?

[bods1000]

it was a 2003.  I also have the Archery Summit.  Will let you know when I'm opening it.!

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aha that sounds like a plan - a delicious plan

anyway i also saw in that Wine Spectator magazine you showed me that Beaux Freres is included in the top 100....

[bods1000]

aha!!! that's seditious, hehehe. well, yup, let's just say BFAD can not check them all. BFAD anyway, is not just the seller's issue, hehehe, there's BIR & the BOC. when i think of these government agencies & their effects on the industry, i makes me really appreciate even the one-week-opened-in-the-ref carlos rossi, hehehe. this is OT na no?

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it's seditious the way things are here. If you look at how you can get around BOC reqts with just the right color of money, I bet na madami nakakalusot talaga...The day the Bureau of Customs shapes up is the day I will buy a Grant Burge Meshache

[floppydrive]

Guys,

 

A few pages back, we were discussing what wine should be paired with Chinese Duck.

Ms. Trillo of Titania served reds with Peking Duck. Read on:

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Wine first, or food first?

TURO-TURO By Claude Tayag

The Philippine STAR 03/16/2006

 

Some time ago, Tita Meneses Trillo of Titania Wine Cellars Inc. hosted a Chinese gourmet dinner and wine degustation at the Library of Li Li Restaurant at the Hyatt Casino on Pedro Gil St., Manila.

 

It was an invite hard to resist, and it was harder to imagine that it would be a success: French and Chilean wines, Baron Philippe de Rothschild at that, to be paired with Chinese food! Somehow, I always find wine going well with Western than Oriental dishes, and many around the table that night agreed with me. From experience, Chinese food is best with just jasmine or chrysanthemum tea; beer is fine, but I find it too filling. It washes down the grease instantly and clears the palate for the next dish. Isn’t that the secret, too, why there are very few obese Chinese? And the more sophisticated crowd who dine on Chinese food do order the wine of their choice or preference, like: "Do we get a red or white?" Meaning, any bottle of wine will do. But to specifically choose the bottle one by one and match it with every Chinese dish seems like a daunting task reserved only for the brave.

 

Mary Ann was as curious as I at this wine pairing dinner. During cocktails, she had the chance to meet Hong Kong native William Yuen, Hyatt F&B manager, and asked: "This black vinegar sauce you serve with the dim sum (a wonderfully golden fried yet light bean curd sheet roll with shrimp), will it not affect the taste of the wine?" William, naturally more concerned about his food than the wine, had a clever answer. "Just remember, if food is good, wine will be good. It will just follow."

 

Over the eight-course dinner, one Filipino wine aficionado declared: "Vinegar or anything with acidity will negatively affect the wine." By now, my Darleng was getting more confused than when we started. Seated to her right was the hotel’s GM Gottfried Bogensperger.

 

"How do you reckon with matching Chinese food with wine?" she asked.

 

The youthful manager from Germany replied: "Easy. With the wide variety of wines now available, especially white wines, it’s not a problem."

 

"Wine first or food first?" I butted in.

 

"It does not matter. When wine choice is limited, wine first and then match the food. But if wine choice is unlimited, choose the food you like and find the wine," he said.

 

He must have seen Mary Ann perplexed, and continued. "Here is your guide. Sweet and sour is okay; bitter and bitter (tannin), no. Sweet and sour, good; salty and salty, no."

 

Mary Ann scratched her head and wondered how wine could be salty. She was about to ask another question but decided it was best to drop the topic. She was not sure if it was the wine or the topic that was giving her head a nice light feeling of spinning (to think we were just on our third sip.)

 

The good GM wanted to say more, but sensing my Darleng’s confusion, he suggested we buy an educational wine kit (like Le Nez du Vin; look it up at wine.com) that will help train our noses to identify the common aromas found in different wines and learn to spot faulty ones. It costs $150 and consists of a set of 12 varietals of red or white wine. That will be a good start, he promised.

 

Tita, our lovely hostess (blushing like a sparkling rosé, I wonder why) that night, talked passionately about wine. Every time a new bottle was brought to the table, she would gracefully rise to the occasion and share with us details about the particular wine. Of the seven wines she made us try that evening, two are Mouton Cadet (a rouge and a blanc), which are the flagship of Philippe de Rothschild branded wines. From over three million bottles sold back in 1975, a staggering 15 millions are sold at present, 75 percent of them outside France. One of the key factors behind the company’s undisputed success is the art of blending, which it practices with exceptional skill. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the majority shareholder of Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, works closely with the executive directors to maintain, modernize, and develop the family business.

 

Since 1933, Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, located at Pauillac in the Médoc region in southwestern France near Bordeaux, has been motivated by a constant ambition: to make the world’s finest wines, each in its own category, whether the chateaux wines for which it is responsible – the renowned Chateau Mouton Rothschild, a First Growth, and its distinguished lieutenants, Chateau Clerc Milon and Chateau d’Armailhac – or branded wines, like the famous Mouton Cadet.

 

Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA has also exported its know-how beyond Bordeaux: to the Pays d’Oc, with a range of varietal wines and, more recently, Domaine de Baron’arques; to California, with Opus One; and to Chile, with Almaviva.

 

Oh yes, going back to the lesson plan: the wine and food pairing. I’ll jump ahead of the story. The degustation went very well without much of a hitch. All the whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc Chile, Mouton Cadet Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc France) went very well with the seafood dishes they were paired with (chef’s dim sum specials, shark’s fin dumplings with crabmeat soup, wok-fried live garoupa, and wok-baked baked lobster, respectively).

 

Then came the reds (Mouton Cadet Rouge, Chateau d’Armailhac and Baron ’Arques) that complemented quite well Li Li’s specialties (imperial Peking duck, wok-fried beef with glazed walnuts in XO chili sauce, and braised spinach noodle in abalone sauce, respectively). All one could hear from the 18 guests were the same oohs and aahs. Even Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin was smiling and awfully quiet all throughout the dinner, and to think there was no rice in sight.

 

Was it the wine, the food, the service, and the company that made the evening a most memorable one? All of the above, I must say. And thanks to Tita for an impeccable choice of wines and William Yuen for a well-planned menu and well-orchestrated service. It should make a good model for Entertainment 101.

[bods1000]

up till recently (about 10pm last night ) never did I look at German wines because their labels are, to put it mildly, a bit confusing. German wine labels make French labels easy. Aside from listing the region, the village, the vineyard, the producer and the grape, German labels also carry a designation indicating the level of ripeness at which the grapes were harvested. Even wonder what those Spatlese or Kabinett are on a German label? Dati akala ko grapes yun eh

 

In ascending order of ripeness, German wines are classified as Qualitatswein, Kabinett, Spatlese and Auslese.

 

Qualitatswein, the greenest, has ferocious acidity, which requires the addition of sugar to balance out this quality. The best makers produce dry and racy aperitifs.

 

Kabinett, the next level, is acidic too but requires that no sugar is added.

 

Spatlese, slightly less ripe than an Auslese, is the golden mean of German rieslings. It can be either dry or semidry, or even semisweet depending on whether the winemaker decides to stop fermentation before all the sugar has converted to alcohol.

 

Auslese, the ripest, is nearly a dessert wine.

 

Ok aside from this, there's trocken on the label. Trocken simply is an indication that the wine is dry; halbtrocken is half dry with a touch of residual sugar. But sometimes the label is silent on this - you can get a clue by looking at the alcohol level. A low alcohol level of 8 or 9 percent indicates residual sugar; 10.5 or 11 means the wine is dry - the sugar turned to alcohol.

 

My interest in this was piqued as I was looking for a Gruner Veltliner (well, this is actually Austrian) in a supermarket shelf. Medyo mahal din pala ang Gruner - cheapest I could find was around P600. I put off buying until I buy some crabs first

[storm]

White Night EB tomorrow night at 830pm till sawa in QC. PM me if you're interested to join.

[agxo3]

Any suggestions for a good dessert wine?? 

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Lots of good dessert wines from Australia - and they should be available there. Look for some from the Yalumba VAlley. An old vines muscat, I think. Some port-style wines as well. although I don't like those as much as the muscat and the late harvest wines.

 

For French wines, look for a Sauternes. Chateau d'Yquem, of course, but that's extremely pricey. But there are others from the same region that are quite nice also and a lot less expensive.

 

California wines - mostly late harvest wines and port-style wines. Or look for a Muscat from Merryvale. Over ice with a squeeze of lime - very nice! Bonny Doon produces a dessert wine made ice wine style (that is, they freeze the grapes before pressing) called Vin de Glaciere. Not quite an ice wine,but very, very good nonetheless.

[agxo3]

Wine of the Week -

 

I opened a bottle of 1998 Niebaum-Coppola Estate Zin to go with dinner last night. Dinner was BBQ ribs/beef brisket with a pretty spicy (as in hot! spicy) sauce. I figured the zin would go better with that than a cab.......

 

....and I think I was right! Big, bold and slightly peppery. Nicely tamed tannins. Fruit coming forward. Dense, dark fruit, prunes, raisin, cassis. Some anise, I think. Black cherries on the nose. Smooth and velvety. I was looking for some good chocolate to go with it, but didn't have any Oh well, c'est la vie.

[masi]

Pareng Storm, thank you for accommodating us at your art gallery... este home last night . It's surely a great way to end a long week at the same time start a great weekend being with friends and sharing a laugh.

 

Of course no evening with wine savvy habitues will be complete without the fruit of the vine.

 

Villa Canlungo Corno Rosazzo Collio Pinot Grigio 2003 - Light lemon color with a teasing green citrus bouquet. A certain dryness on the palate which reminded of green mangoes. Is it just me or is there something in Italian wines -- I've tried a few Chiantis before and they all have this certain dryness to the palate which would match/blend with olive oil and the herbs and spices attendant to Italian cuisine.

 

E & J Gallo Sierra Valley 2003 White Zinfandel - This was strawberry from start to finish with residual flavors of raisin. Had an uncanny sweetness to it. Is the sweetness naturally occuring or made through human intervention?

 

Pareng Storm and Mrs. Storm, I loved the shrimp kinilaw. First time for me to try it. The okoy too, was MORE THAN OK-oy! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Until the next EB.

Edited March 18, 2006 by masi

[masi]

It's a hot and humid Saturday night and there's nothing much to do. But a true wino that I am, I will not surrender a night without some discovery.

 

I am trying a Spanish Gate, semi-sweet red wine! :boo: A really economical spanish table wine abundantly available in leading supermarkets except your suking tindahan! My experiment rested on the theory that the type of glass used gives the wine a different character.

 

I used a Chardonnay and a Bordeaux red wine glass. Here are the results.

 

Chardonnay stemware:

Visual - deep red

Nose - vibrant, blossoming

 

Bordeaux red stemware:

Visual- mid-dark red

Nose - rounded

 

 

I detected cherries/berries and pepper spice in the nose, in general. However, the Chardonnay glass revealed a character of some cab sauv. I felt more tannins from the Chardonnay glass than the Bordeaux red.

 

Body was hollow as such would be expected from a red table wine.

 

No, I am not drunk as I wrote this piece :sick: . My better half was with me doing this test. Who do you think was holding the paper backdrop as I took the photo!

 

Your opinions and comments on my findings are welcome.

 

[Note: conditions for testing, such as temperature, humidity, etc. are what economists would say "ceteris paribus". ]

 

 

 

(for ref: Bordeaux red stemware on left-hand side of photo; Chardonnay stemware, RH-side of photo.)

[Pinay_Canuck]

Clos du Val, any variety. The best.

[storm]

Pareng Storm, thank you for accommodating us at your art gallery... este home last night .  It's surely a great way to end a long week at the same time start a great weekend being with friends and sharing a laugh.

 

Of course no evening with wine savvy habitues will be complete without the fruit of the vine.

 

Villa Canlungo Corno Rosazzo Collio Pinot Grigio 2003 - Light lemon color with a teasing green citrus bouquet.  A certain dryness on the palate which reminded of green mangoes.  Is it just me or is there something in Italian wines --  I've tried a few Chiantis before and they all have this certain dryness to the palate which would match/blend with olive oil and the herbs and spices attendant to Italian cuisine.

 

E & J Gallo Sierra Valley 2003 White Zinfandel -  This was strawberry from start to finish with residual flavors of raisin.  Had an uncanny sweetness to it.  Is the sweetness naturally occuring or made through human intervention?

 

Pareng Storm and Mrs. Storm, I loved the shrimp kinilaw.  First time for me to try it.  The okoy too, was MORE THAN OK-oy!   :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Until the next EB.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Many thanks for your company. Sayang, Bods missed the EB. I think Mrs Storm will have a name of her own very soon.

 

I guess the sweetness of the White Zin is made through human intervention.

 

Till our next toast. Cheers! :cool:

[bods1000]

sayang talaga ah -I missed another food and wine adventure last Friday...oh well, till next time...

pareng storm kindly make another shrimp kinilaw ok and I'll be bringing a top-notch white

 

pareng masi, from your picture parang mahaba pala legs nung Spanish Gate although I really haven't entertained the idea of trying out the same wine from different glasses. Seems the shrimp kinilaw had a rioutous effect on you

 

Kayo lang ba? Had a bottle of Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Cabernet Sauvignon (I forgot the vintage) last Saturday with one of our chefs and it was pleasing - a great taste of fruit on the tongue but a medium finish, albeit not disappointing.

 

Have a nice week ahead of you, folks!

[masi]

More on the Spanish Gate!

 

After taking a picture of the Spanish Gate last Saturday, I said I had enough of this wine. Usually, not so good wine gets donated to the bermuda, san francisco and hibiscus but this time I said, "who knows I may find need for this bottle for a "rainy day"! A rainy day at the height of Philippine summer?

 

Thanks to a vacuum pump and a cold ref, I kept the bottle there not knowing that tonight will be a "rainy night". Got a glassfull... lo and behold, it now taste like Welch with a twang!!!!

 

Ha ha! It's good when you have nothing else to drink!!!!

[bods1000]

pare, the Gran Tierra is also good if you have nothing else to drink although it's quite difficult to like in the long run - quite sweetish to the tongue. In the budget stakes, I think nothing would beat Angove's Butterfly Ridge. I have been buying their shiraz-cab for a long time now - nung naubusan sinubukan ko yung merlot nila - masarap din pala I think you can't go wrong at P205 a pop ( Wine Depot went ahead with their price increase but surprisingly bumaba pa presyo ng Butterfly Ridge. It was selling for P225 before. I should be thankful for little things )

[bods1000]

btw, there's a wine tasting gig at Wine Depot on the 31st. Any takers?

[storm]

Sige kita-kits tayo.

[agxo3]

Last week's wine of the week -

 

was a very young 2003 Vouvray demi-sec from Olivier Carmere. Nice, just ever-so-slightly sweet. Clean, light refereshing. Lots of green apples and a hint of lemon on the nose. Had it with Thai food one night, and fish the next. Equally good with both, but mroe memorable with the Thai food. It was the perfect foil to the spiciness of the peppers and the citrus of the lemongrass.

 

And tonight - (yeah, starting the week off right!!!) I opened another young wine. 2003 Syrah from Montes Alpha (Chile). Bold, bracing, peppery. needed a bit of time to open up - so I decanted it for about 15 minutes. Still bery peppery, but that went well with the chili (beans and beef) that I was having for dinner. Lots of smoke and tar, a lot of pepper, a bit of smoke and ash (dare i say charcoal?). Berries and cassis. A little hint of anise on eht nose. Long finish. I bought two bottles - the second one goes into the wine ref for another two years.

[Lipstick]

Bods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out the last entry on March 26 of this blog--> http://wysgal.blogspot.com :thumbsupsmiley: Great reviews too on the comments section.

 

Hehe sorry OT pero na excite ako.

 

Ola Winos! I miss all of you heaps!!! Was at Cyrano the other night for an office function and we had the 2004 Hardy's CabSav, wasn't all THAT bad when it was allowed to breathe Either that or I just haven't been drinking lately that's why everything is pwede pasar!