Wine-savvy

[bods1000]

California has more good value wines than you can imagine. Turning Leaf is a cheap wine - it's Gallo's "other" label trying to fool those that know that E & J Gallo is not fit for human consumption.

 

I like reds - cabernet sauvignon from Napa and Sonoma Valleys (Hess, Noah's), zinfandel from the Sierra foothills (Noah's!!!), pinot noir from the Russian River Valley (Armida, Davis Bynum). Neibaum-Coppola (owned by Francis Ford Coppola of "The Godfather" fame) has a great red table wine that at $6/bottle is a steal. Livermore has Fenestra (mourvedre). Calistoga has Summers (charbono). All at $8-18 a bottle at retail.

 

I guess since I live close by all these places, I've become spoiled by the sheer variety and availability of wines. I could go drink a different wine every day for years and not run out of new choices!

 

With all this at my doorstep, I find little reason to buy European or Australian wines. (But I do anyway!) For those who like the sweet wines, go find and taste a passito de Pantelleria - from the island of Sicily. One of the best dessert wines around.

Pare natawa ako dun sa Gallo mo But a lot of people here are impressed with the Turning Leaf and of course the Carlo Rossi is so popular - I think ito lang ang wine na may TV commercial. A lot of people are fooled - parang umiinom ka lang ng kinulayan na tubig. But you see during the early days at hindi pa kasikatan ng wine sa US , Gallo was the wine of choice - do you remember their "jug" wines?

Ang sama siguro ng lasa nito....Pang-masa lang talaga - not that it's bad but you see inferior wine is a major cause of why wine-drinking does not take off here. When newcomers to wine taste these bad wines, ang impression kaagad nila walang kwenta pala lasa ng wine and chances are hindi na sila uli susubok ng iba.

 

Hey you're some lucky dude living near those wines. Karamihan nyan hindi availabe dito - like the Niebaum-Coppola, the Hess and the Bynum - great wineries I guess pero hanggang pangarap lang kami dito hehehe....

 

What's the name of the $6 wine by Coppola, pare?

[bods1000]

Okay, here's my two cents from someone who went to a finishing school for young men and tutored by the late great gourmet/gourmand Lord Anthony "Lucullus" Moynihan of Leeds (the daddy of actress Maritoni Fernandez):

 

It used to be that the best and greatest wine for me would have to be French for that country truly boasts of some of the best fruits of the vine provided you have the bucks to part with. Forget he Chateau Petrus '82s we are not Erap, we do not have his money, clout, nor even a desire to be like him. But certainly, for important occasions, we could not afford to play russian roulette with the success of a business dinner. Experience with what is available will in fact drive you into greater economy. For the art of wine selection is to get the best wine for the least money. And there are gems out there. The inexperienced will go with rep*tation to ensure a successful. Here learning to read a wine label would be the best place to start.

 

A wine lover must be on the lookout for a few bits of information in the label:

 

1. The place where the grapes where grown

2. The year the grapes were harvested

3. The name of the vineyard, house or chateau

4. They type of grape used

5. The certification of origin of the wine which is regulated in different ways in different countries.

 

1. The place where the grapes are grown

 

This has to do with the nature (not quality) of the soil and weather in the area which has a large influnce in the personality of the wine. Also note that there are countries in the world that have not been tainted by the scourge of winemakers, the phylloxera virus that infects the grape. This is the bug that almost killed the French wine industry and is the same bug responsible for the emergence of wine growing areas in California and South America and even Australia.

 

To illustrate, the gravelly soil of the Tuscany region of Italy produces tart, dry reds which make perfect partners with the rich, often spicy sauces of Italian and Tuscan cooking. Drank with something else first timers would especially find these wines a bit sour as in Montepulcianno d'Abruzzo and some Chinatis. Contrast this to the heavy Merlots grown in the rich loamy soil of California.

 

The French are especially sensitive about the Loire valley wines and are finicky about which side of the Loire river the grapes were harvested from. The great Lucullus explains: it may seem frivolous but remember that there is only a small space tha separates the front side of a woman from her backside but the smell is very different. Same rule applies.

 

The bottom line is: paying attention to the source of the wine will not tell you where the best wines would come from. There is no such thing. Wine is very subjective. What agrees with you may not agree with the other guy. So be aware of the place that produce the wines that tickle your fancy.

 

Next installment... Coming soon.

I get to remember Lucullus again because Maritoni Fernandez is in the news again

 

Pare thanks for your wonderful contributions - I'm sure madami kaming matututunan sa iyo and we look forward to the next installments. As you say, uber-expensive wines like the Petrus is mainly meant for impressing and not for serious imbibing. More likely than not majority of those who buy Petrus are not connoisseurs - they are mainly for show.

 

Pare you did not mention weather. What is the effect of rainfall on a vineyard? Optimum amount of rainfall? Effect of very hot weather (like in South Australia) or Mediterranean types of weather? What personality of wine will you get from what type of climate?

[bods1000]

I attended a fine foods/wines exhibit in shangrila makati last april yata, then i got this brochure for ice wine (Pilliteri Estates Winery) Icewine Vidal from Canada, tried it and it's sweet. "Nectar of the gods", they say this wines are produced from frozen grapes when crushed/pressed giving minimal juice that is very concentrated.

......and with high-alcohol content, pare.

 

pare what's up? Contact me by text na lang at I'll be logging-off in a while.

[c0mpass]

If you're looking for good wines and hindi naman connoisseur yung makakasama mo, you'd be surprised at the number of very good wines under 1000. More likely than not, hindi mo minsan ma-distinguish yung difference between a wine that sells for 800pesos and a wine that sells for 500.

 

As the others have said, depende yan sa preference mo. If you will drink it now, don't buy the more expensive wines kasi kadalasan kailangan pa ng mga yon ng aging for several years before its full potential is realized.

 

Go look at wines with vintages 2001 or 2002 at price range of P450 to P600 - dyan safe ka na. You can choose French, Australian, California, Chilean, South African.

Kung red, you can go for a cabernet sauvignon or a shiraz; kung white, chardonnay or riesling are the best bets.

thanks for the info.

[zhaowushu]

hi bods, the terra alta was from a wine store at julia vargas in front of the driving range. name escapes me now. thanks.

[agxo3]

Pare natawa ako dun sa Gallo mo But a lot of people here are impressed with the Turning Leaf and of course the Carlo Rossi is so popular - I think ito lang ang wine na may TV commercial. A lot of people are fooled - parang umiinom ka lang ng kinulayan na tubig. But you see during the early days at hindi pa kasikatan ng wine sa US , Gallo was the wine of choice - do you remember their "jug" wines?

Ang sama siguro ng lasa nito....Pang-masa lang talaga - not that it's bad but you see inferior wine is a major cause of why wine-drinking does not take off here. When newcomers to wine taste these bad wines, ang impression kaagad nila walang kwenta pala lasa ng wine and chances are hindi na sila uli susubok ng iba.

 

Hey you're some lucky dude living near those wines. Karamihan nyan hindi availabe dito - like the Niebaum-Coppola, the Hess and the Bynum - great wineries I guess pero hanggang pangarap lang kami dito hehehe....

 

What's the name of the $6 wine by Coppola, pare?

Hehehe - one reason why I will NEVER leave this area! Too many good wines. I could go to a different winery every weekend and never run out of good wines to taste.

 

Jug wines - the Gallo stuff was, as I said, not fit for human consumption. But yung jug wine ng Mountain Winery at Almaden Valley Winery - pwede nang pagtiisin.

 

The $6 Neibaum-Coppola wine is their red table wine - called Rosso. They also have a WHITE table wine called Bianco. Both are blends, non-vintage, and the blends vary from year to year to keep consistency in flavor and style. Best bang for the buck I've found around here lately. They have 4 grades of wine - Bianco and Rosso at the bottom, then the diamond series (mga varietals - cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, chardonnay), then Director's Reserve (same varietals) then their top tier wines - Rubicon (last release was $100/bottle!! and worth it - buti na lang may discount ako), Cask Cabernet and others.

[Spurt]

bods, see you next week. anyone interested to buy a vino cab, 52 bottles ang kasya? OT ba?

[Cahoots]

thanks for this thread. I learned a lot !

 

Just want to know what would you recommend (under 1k) for

 

1. meat dinner

2. cheese (goodah?)

3. salmon and crackers

 

thanks in advance. Of course, do tell me where I could get them. Cheers!

[caloy76]

cahoots..how long have u been drinking wine ba? (it will kinda matter)

[Cahoots]

siguro, mga about 10 years na or probably more. I'm not particular on the names or brands but I'm picky on the taste - particularly the after-taste. I don't like the sweet ones. Thanks.

[Cahoots]

i think 2-3 yrs na. Horseshoe village is in Q.C. near SJ. N. Domingo, C. Benitez banda. The name of the place now is "THE WINERY"

I regularly pass HorseShoe every day but I can't seem to see this place. Directions naman. Thanks. Do you accept credit card ?

[bods1000]

thanks for the info.

you're welcome, pare, and welcome to the thread!

 

Are you the one at the traveler thread? So how was your CDO trip? teka OT yata hehehe....kumusta yung wine-buying mo?

[bods1000]

hi bods, the terra alta was from a wine store at julia vargas in front of the driving range. name escapes me now. thanks.

yeah that place is called RUFFLES if I'm not mistaken. I tried to sell wines to them one time hehehe but no go I gotta check out that Terra Alta. Thanks

[bods1000]

Hehehe - one reason why I will NEVER leave this area! Too many good wines. I could go to a different winery every weekend and never run out of good wines to taste.

 

Jug wines - the Gallo stuff was, as I said, not fit for human consumption. But yung jug wine ng Mountain Winery at Almaden Valley Winery - pwede nang pagtiisin.

 

The $6 Neibaum-Coppola wine is their red table wine - called Rosso. They also have a WHITE table wine called Bianco. Both are blends, non-vintage, and the blends vary from year to year to keep consistency in flavor and style. Best bang for the buck I've found around here lately. They have 4 grades of wine - Bianco and Rosso at the bottom, then the diamond series (mga varietals - cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, chardonnay), then Director's Reserve (same varietals) then their top tier wines - Rubicon (last release was $100/bottle!! and worth it - buti na lang may discount ako), Cask Cabernet and others.

RUBICON yes! I've read about that - matindi ba talaga ito?

 

Pare when will you be paying a visit to your homeland? Kita-kits tayo and then try to bring some of those wines - I'll pay for them

 

Ok what wine have you tasted lately? Ako I brought a Sacred Hill Shiraz-Cab by DeBortoli to Tagaytay over the weekend. Blah - just some cheap wine pero pwede na to warm the cockles

 

cheers pare!

[bods1000]

bods, see you next week. anyone interested to buy a vino cab, 52 bottles ang kasya? OT ba?

pare next week ha? I'll get in touch with you. I read something in the papers about that Amoroma place you mentioned - looks good! Pwede siguro tayo dun