Wine-savvy

[idunno]

Just got back from USA. It seems everybody's busy. Anyway, I'm so tired that I need another vacation.

 

Australian wines are cheaper in the US than in our beloved Pinas. Based on the current exchange rate, the price there is about 30% cheaper.

 

Welcome back storm! I always thought that the prices in Wine Depot for Australian wines are cheaper here because I compare it to the listed prices in Wine Spectator. But I thought wrong. And you have A LOT MORE CHOICES in the States... Hayyyyy....

 

Maybe because the SIN TAX makes up a big part of the premium? They should remove that now since drinking wine is NOT A SIN. :thumbsupsmiley:

[agxo3]

Welcome back storm! I always thought that the prices in Wine Depot for Australian wines are cheaper here because I compare it to the listed prices in Wine Spectator. But I thought wrong. And you have A LOT MORE CHOICES in the States... Hayyyyy....

 

Maybe because the SIN TAX makes up a big part of the premium? They should remove that now since drinking wine is NOT A SIN. :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Good to see you got back safely, Storm!

 

One reason Aussie wines are cheaper here is the US is a MUCH larger market for their wines and between volume driving prices down, more competition for the wines, and their desire to capture more of the market, we have a situation where the market is dictating prices. California by itself has a wine market that is many. many times larger than your wine market there.

 

Don't be misled, though - this is defintely true for California where the competition is extremely fierce in the wine industry, what with the abundance of local wineries. Some other parts of the country are not expriencing the same low prices that we do here in the Golden State. Case in point - the famous two-buck Chuck (Charles Shaw) wines that are $1.99 here are THREE-buck Chuck ($2.99) in New York city.

[lordagaemmemnon]

Anyone who can recommend a store where I can find red wine that is semi sweet?

[floppydrive]

Anyone who can recommend a store where I can find red wine that is semi sweet?

Most grocery wine sections have semi sweet red wines. Even Pricesmart has them.

[floppydrive]

Just got back from USA. It seems everybody's busy. Anyway, I'm so tired that I need another vacation.

 

Australian wines are cheaper in the US than in our beloved Pinas. Based on the current exchange rate, the price there is about 30% cheaper.

Welcome back, Storm! Hope you had a great US vacation.

[bods1000]

pareng storm, welcome back!

For a change, you need to have a vacation from your vacations hehehe...

[storm]

Hahahaha!

 

Thanks for all the welcome back.

 

I'm back to work yet my dreams are still set in the USA. We really had a great time in the USA. Many thanks to Agxo for letting us stay in their beautiful home with a view, complete with magnificent state of the art dream kitchen and barbecue, plus the deep wine collection and the menacing white toy (tulo-laway ko) in the garage. We loved the food and wine matching. Cheers to the master! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Let's have an EB. I'm getting thirsty na!

[agxo3]

Hahahaha!

 

Thanks for all the welcome back.

 

I'm back to work yet my dreams are still set in the USA. We really had a great time in the USA. Many thanks to Agxo for letting us stay in their beautiful home with a view, complete with magnificent state of the art dream kitchen and barbecue, plus the deep wine collection and the menacing white toy (tulo-laway ko) in the garage. We loved the food and wine matching. Cheers to the master! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Let's have an EB. I'm getting thirsty na!

 

You're welcome any time, Storm! The dancer has a place of honor in the living room! Gets lots of compliments from everyone who's seen her.

 

I opened a 1995 Rubicon for dinner while Storm and family were visiting, and it did not disappoint! Smooth and velvety, deep garnet color, classic cabernet nose with red cherries and a hint of smoke (that's from age, I think!) Bold and bright with strawberries right out front. It was the second bottle I opened - the first was a (much) lesser bottle that I had opened earlier in the day. It was okay, but the Rubicon was the star of the night.

 

I'll let Storm tell you about my new toy that he saw in my garage.

[chefdoctor]

try nyo chateau los boldos

[storm]

Happy father's day to the winos who have children.

 

When is our eb so I can tell you Agxo's toy?

[idunno]

Happy father's day to the winos who have children.

 

When is our eb so I can tell you Agxo's toy?

 

Yes let's set a date na for our eb. How about June 27 (Wed)?

[storm]

Yes let's set a date na for our eb. How about June 27 (Wed)?

 

 

Sige!

[bods1000]

I was at the Manila Food Expo last week. Madaming wine stalls. All the usual suspects were there - Ralph's, Premiere, etc but the one I found most interesting was the Werdenburg stall. Some new Aussie and NZ wines there. Was interested in the X&Y Margaret River shiraz - quite affordable at P650+ but unfortunately the stall was NOT selling wine . Meron palang ganun. Told me to get the wines at Santi's.

[storm]

Hola pareng bods. Eb ba tayo sa wednesday?

Edited June 24, 2007 by storm

[Lipstick]

Am back! Yes that is my big back

 

The prodigal wino returns! Not for long but long enough to say hello to my fave people on the board. I have missed you guys so much (I've been missing my sanity too lately! ha ha ha)!!!!!!!!!!!! Eversince I started working on this certain beverage account my life has gone haywire. Imagine, my relationships with Jack and the two Glenns are totally on the rocks (pun unintended). I've somewhat been in hiatus from the reds as I find it a tad intense now (or maybe I just haven't had a nice Brooke Burke quality lately, I sure could use a drop of Tyler right now) and have taken up totally flirting with the whites from Kiwi land. And now am talking gibberish!

 

Seriously, haven't had a drop of good red lately (as my ex boss fondly puts it, maraming lasang pang hugas ng paa) but I am totally smitten by the Monkey Bay Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. I know, kinda bit sissy for a drinker like me but I just love how refreshing it is to the palate, how the fruity taste just flirts oh so sweetly with my lips and beyond. The clarity of the wine must be psychological too I think. I just get awfully giddy thinking about it. Hehe.

 

Hope you have all been well Senyors Bods, Masi, Agxo3, floppy and Senyorita Liberty and Mrs. Storm. I hope to see you all very soon (but not until I shed the 300lbs I have gained in the last 6months bwahahahahahahaha). Ola too to all the wino residents who have taken to loving this thread since I last visited. Wishing you all a very wanton week ahead. Cheers! :*

[storm]

Oooops 27th today. I forgot. Well since nobody posted, therefore no eb.

 

Welcome back mareng lipstick!!!! :flowers:

[agxo3]

Am back! Yes that is my big back

 

The prodigal wino returns! Not for long but long enough to say hello to my fave people on the board. I have missed you guys so much (I've been missing my sanity too lately! ha ha ha)!!!!!!!!!!!! Eversince I started working on this certain beverage account my life has gone haywire. Imagine, my relationships with Jack and the two Glenns are totally on the rocks (pun unintended). I've somewhat been in hiatus from the reds as I find it a tad intense now (or maybe I just haven't had a nice Brooke Burke quality lately, I sure could use a drop of Tyler right now) and have taken up totally flirting with the whites from Kiwi land. And now am talking gibberish!

 

Seriously, haven't had a drop of good red lately (as my ex boss fondly puts it, maraming lasang pang hugas ng paa) but I am totally smitten by the Monkey Bay Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. I know, kinda bit sissy for a drinker like me but I just love how refreshing it is to the palate, how the fruity taste just flirts oh so sweetly with my lips and beyond. The clarity of the wine must be psychological too I think. I just get awfully giddy thinking about it. Hehe.

 

Hope you have all been well Senyors Bods, Masi, Agxo3, floppy and Senyorita Liberty and Mrs. Storm. I hope to see you all very soon (but not until I shed the 300lbs I have gained in the last 6months bwahahahahahahaha). Ola too to all the wino residents who have taken to loving this thread since I last visited. Wishing you all a very wanton week ahead. Cheers! :*

 

Hey Ms. Lips! Welcome back! The board has missed you.......

 

Storm and Mrs. Storm were out here visiting last month. Napa/Sonoma made a nice day out, but we didn't get to visit that many wineries. Well, maybe next time!

 

Nothing wrong with a good, cooling, white on a warm day! See if you can turn up a Vouvray or any oher white from the Loire Valley. Chill it (but not too cold!!) then chill WITH it! :upside:

[bods1000]

I have a question.

When can stale white wine be safely used as vinegar?

 

Hi there, lips!

Welcome back!

[agxo3]

So no EB the 27th? When's your next EB?

 

Going to Taiwan again end of the month but no side trip to Manila - I have to get back for a driving event Aug. 3 and I can't be jet-lagged for that. However - we're scheduling our QBRs for week of August 13 in China so I'll have to go via HongKong. I'll try to get myself on PAL from SFO to HKG via Manila either heading out or returning. If I can do that I'll make plans to spend the weekend. My nephew is now at Ateneo on his soccer scholarship so there's some incentive to stop by.

 

Storm - if it's okay with you to give him your phone number, please let me know. Actually you'll have to PM me your number since I lost it!!

[new2dabeat]

I have a question.

When can stale white wine be safely used as vinegar?

 

Hi there, lips!

Welcome back!

 

I'd say "anytime." Do you mean you're waiting for it to develop more piquantness? Or just that it's generally no longer good for drinking?

 

It also depends on what you want to use the vinegar for. If for salad dressing, I typically use wine as-is (meaning even in a drinkable state). Ditto for some (but not all) cooking. If it has really gone south, I'd use it for pickling - leavened with some actual vinegar and spices.

 

Most "no longer fresh but not quite vinegar" reds also make excellent sangria bases.

[idunno]

I'd say "anytime." Do you mean you're waiting for it to develop more piquantness? Or just that it's generally no longer good for drinking?

 

It also depends on what you want to use the vinegar for. If for salad dressing, I typically use wine as-is (meaning even in a drinkable state). Ditto for some (but not all) cooking. If it has really gone south, I'd use it for pickling - leavened with some actual vinegar and spices.

 

Most "no longer fresh but not quite vinegar" reds also make excellent sangria bases.

 

Also, some wines are also vinegar-y as it is. Like Carlo Rossi. Might also be useful for cleaning the toilet... :goatee:

[new2dabeat]

Also, some wines are also vinegar-y as it is. Like Carlo Rossi. Might also be useful for cleaning the toilet... :goatee:

 

Personally, I'm not a believer in such a thing as "bad" wine - wines are organic (in every sense of the word - except the 'health' hype angle, and don't get me started on that one) and hits every person's palate differently. Hence why I stay away from wine reviews in general. You can't really tell someone what it should taste or smell like, that's like trying to tell someone what the color blue looks like or what a pineapple tastes like - either they like it or they don't. Best to stay with just the general classifications of dry vs sweet, red vs white.

 

That being said, yes, there will be wines that taste more sour to some people than to others - that does not mean it's a bad wine or that it has actually turned into vinegar. Note that "vinegar" itself owes its etymology to corrupted Franco-Latin for "sour(ed) wine." In other words, there is a distinct difference (chemically) between "sour" wine and "wine that has soured."

 

Enjoying wine is an adventure and voyage of discovery, not a rote vocation. Never be afraid to say you like something that friends have said "tastes awful." And vice versa. In short, never let anyone tell you how you should enjoy your wines, or which wines to enjoy. Trust me, wine has been around for eons and anything anyone can think of in terms of an "improper" way to enjoy it has already been done - so who's to say it's right or wrong? Even the Romans, Greeks, and Persians have been known to ice their wines in the summer - I doubt even the likes of Robert Parker have the moral authority to say that was "wrong."

 

Lastly, there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many wines out in the world to enjoy - why limit yourself by sticking to the same thing(s) over and over again, or only trying wines that someone else has recommended?

 

"The wines that one best remembers are not necessarily the finest that one has ever tasted, and the highest quality may fail to delight so much as some far more humble beverage drunk in more favorable surroundings. - H. Warner Allen"

[hifi]

i recommend torbeck woodcutter shiraz at wine depot. 90+ parker rating for P1,100

[storm]

Welcome to the group hifi. It seems that you're into sounds (high fidelity) too. :goatee:

[agxo3]

Personally, I'm not a believer in such a thing as "bad" wine - wines are organic (in every sense of the word - except the 'health' hype angle, and don't get me started on that one) and hits every person's palate differently. Hence why I stay away from wine reviews in general. You can't really tell someone what it should taste or smell like, that's like trying to tell someone what the color blue looks like or what a pineapple tastes like - either they like it or they don't. Best to stay with just the general classifications of dry vs sweet, red vs white.

 

Let me guess - you've never had a corked or cooked wine. Or if you have, yo didn't realize it.

 

While I would agree in general principle to your statement, I would also say it is not totally true. For wines that are what the winemaker intended, or as the winemaker produced, this statement is more true than not. Most wines will in fact taste better to others than some other wines, and not everyone has the same tastebuds.

 

However, there are some wines that are really and truly bad - for example, those have have been "corked". "Corked" is the term applied to wines whose corks have the taint from 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole better known as TCA. In practical temrs, it imparts a "wet gym socks" kind of smell to the wine, along with the accompanying taste (yeccchhh!). It can be slight, and I would wager that all of us have had a corked wine at some time and passed it off as just being "not what I like". But many times it is right out front and center and is truly terrible! What's worse is that one bottle from a case may be corked, while the others are not - it is truly random?

 

For another example, a wine that has been mistreated in storage, and allowed to get too hot. If you pull the cork and find that the wines appears to have seeped up the cork and out the top of the bottle, however slight, the wine has been "cooked". Thsi will impart a whole range of unappetizing flavors to a wine - caramelization where none is expected and is unwelcome, for example, or a distinct burned taste and smell.

 

Then there are the wines that have oxidized - in which oxygen has gotten past the cork into the bottle and has caused the alocohol in th wine to start decomposing into an acid. At this point the wine is well on its way to being vinegar, if it hasn't got there yet.

 

And then there are the wines have been just plain poorly made - incomplete fermentationleaving live yeasts in the wine; improperly handled crush resulting in the crushing of leaaves, stems and seeds resulting in a very bitter taste that completely overwhelms any hint of of the grape; wines improperly stbilized......the list goes on. Yes, there definitely ARE bad wines!

 

That said, simply not liking a bottle does not make it a "bad" wine and even in the finest of restaurants, should not be returned. Only a wine that is truly bad in the sense of being spoiled or improperly made or bottled should be returned.

 

I agree that exploring wine is one of the great pleasures of wine. However, finding and treasuring and supporting a good winemaker is also a good thing to do.

 

And there are times when a wine whose taste and properties are known is called for. When you are enjoying a special meal on a special occassion, for example, I would NOT experiment. There is no better way to ruin a perfectly good (and most likely VERY expensive) meal than to pair the food with a wine that it just simply does not get along with. Neither the wine nor the food will taste good, and your whole mood will be ruined. It would be a colossal waste of time, money and the great talents of both the chef and the winemaker(s). In that case, either personal experience (or your own bottle) or the carefully considered recommendation of the sommelier is a goo dthing to go by.

 

Finally, WRT icing wines. I don't - but only because adding water to wine dilutes the wine and changes the flavors to the point where you do NOT get the experience the winemaker intended. I have no trouble cooling down a red or warming up a white. In fact, I strongly believe that most people drink reds too warm and whites too cold. Remember that "room temperature" to the French winemaker means the temperature of his wine cave which would be around 62 deg F.