Wine-savvy

[bods1000]

more notes on the good life (opium/cocaine)

 

they say the best opium is grown in the golden triangle (the area were the borders of thailand, laos and myanmar meet) and the golden crescent (the area where the borders of afghanistan, iran and pakistan converge)...the plant is known as the poppy...the sticky resin is the pure opium which is them processed by the addition of several chemicals and further refined into what we know as heroin

 

in every country where there is a large chinese population, there will always be an opium den...remember the father of maria clara who drowned his sorrows by smoking opium after finding out that padre damaso was the one who sired her?

 

today, antique opium pipes are much sought after by collectors willing to pay any price...the most valued ones are those made of ivory...here in bkk, there is one bar on sukhumvit soi 33 where the owner has his collection (about 30) displayed on a wall...

 

cocaine comes from the coca plant that grows aboundantly in the andes...its history dates back to the time of the incas in south america, particularly peru...it was the job of the foot soldiers to buy fish from the lowlands and deliver it to their chiefs who lived high up in the mountains (machhu pichhu was one settlement)...the travel by foot was laborious, since the trails were narrow and rocky...to alleviate the drudgery, boredom and hunger, these low-ranking individuals sometimes rested and chewed the coca leaf...after a while they found renewed energy to continue climbing...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Up to the early years of the 20th century, were opium dens legal? And are there still some today?

So that's where heroin comes from - thanks a lot, pare!

Is it true that Coca-Cola has a little bit of coca in it Parang I read something to that effect....

Anybody here know anything about kava?

[cebucitylocal]

Kava-A mildly narcotic drink that relaxes you.Popular in Fiji

[bods1000]

Kava-A mildly narcotic drink that relaxes you.Popular in Fiji

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

ay pare tama ka dyan hehehe....looks like you're staying away from those Chinese wines now Kava is popular in some South Pacific isles - and not only does it relax you - it also has a severe hallucinogenic effect....

[caloy76]

pare, it is even better with peaches...use a brandy snifter and fill it about half with your favorite champagne and drop a peach halve...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

mmmm.... I will definitely try it next time. Thanks!

[bods1000]

Some notes on kava:

 

It comes from the roots of the kava plant found in Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga. The roots are broken off and then stewed to make a brew. The best comes from

Tannu island in Vanuatu - the roots, instead of being stewed, are CHEWED by professional kava chewers. The resulting blob - complete with saliva, masticated roots and what-have-you - are then spat on banana leaves and slurped directly from there!

 

Kava is drank ceremonially. Men sit cross-legged around a huge kava pot and the liquid is ladled from a coconut shell and drank directly from the shell. YOU CANNOT DRINK KAVA STANDING OR SITTING DOWN. The liquid is the color of dishwater and they say the taste is revolting - nothing alcoholic to it. Think of drinking mouthwash with some mud added to it. There's a mild afterburn and the feeling is that of taking Novocaine.

 

With the first shell of kava, the lips go numb and the tongue gets furry. The second deadens the tongue and kills the facial nerves. Successive shells paralyze the legs, starting with the toes then goes up to the shanks.

 

Kava is a good, safe drink. It saps your energy and makes you sleepy and tired. You go first through a giggly stage, then a staggering stage, then complete paralysis.

[bods1000]

Some winespeak explained:

 

Finish - what happens in your mouth after you swallow or spit. There is length: A cheap wine is gone - no more flavors - in 5 to 8 seconds. A long finish can last 15 to 30 seconds, with wave after wave of ongoing flavors and sensations in the mouth.

 

Balance - describes the ratio of one component to another. An unbalanced wine might be deficient in acid and is flabby, or deficient in tannins and be soft. At times a single component dominates, thus spoiling the balance. A wine need not be a blockbuster to be balanced, it is the ratio. A wine that is termed complex and layered has a multitude of flavors that show themselves.

 

Acid - the terms crisp, fresh, or perhaps fat and flabby describe the acid content of a wine. These terms are self-explanatory.

 

Grip - when you say a wine has tremendous grip, what does it mean? Grip is the structure and backbone of a wine, more specifically the astringent, or tannic component of it. With insufficient tannins, the wine will be too soft. Tannin is a critical component and must be in balance with other components like acid, fruit and alcohol for a wine to present itself well.

[bods1000]

Ten Reasons Why Wine is Better Than a Woman

 

1. If you wanted to, you could have them two at a time.

 

2. Wine gets better with age.

 

3. You can pick up a wine without having to fake an interest in it.

 

4. It's never a problem getting a wine to go down.

 

5. Even a dry red is always wet.

 

6. Your wine doesn't mind you sharing it with a friend.

 

7. A wine bottle never loses its shape.

 

8. When you toss a bottle out of the car, it's usually the last you'll ever see of it.

 

9. If, at some point, you decide that you're just not into wine, no one calls you gay.

 

10. When a wine goes through your pants, you have shame, but you still have

your money.

[agxo3]

there is no such thing as starting late nor early when it comes to wine.  it is an appreciation of life and living, get your wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend and friends into wine.

 

i started more than 10 years ago and i was clueless.  try starting by buying reasonably priced wines.  Wines from Chile are reasonable.  Ranging from 250 to 500 per bottle (and this would be top end).  I started out by reading about how to taste wines, what flavors to look for, is it dry or sweet, its texture, its boquet (the smell).  Also try appreciating 1 type of grape at a time like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or pinot.  Try to master the smell of this grape variety before you take on a different grape type. 

 

some tips... make sure the bottle and wine glasses are clean.  once you uncork it observe the cork...look at the color at the tip (red or almost violet to black) dont smell the cork.  you dont get anything from the cork. pour a little in a glass then twirl the glass, this allows air to mix.  then smell it and figure out what you smell..

 

then take a small sip and wet your entire tongue and gums. swallow the wine then inhale some air through the mouth.  then identify the flavors in your tongue.

 

it is also good that you let an open bottle "breathe" for about 15 minutes before you serve it.  it allows air to mix with your wine and all the flavors come out.

 

if you dont have time, you can "decant" your wine... bibilib ang mga kaibigan mo sa yo.  but this would entail additional expense as you need to buy a decanter.

 

i hope i was able to contribute something with this long reply..

 

enjoy... live life! :cool:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Masi - great post. However there IS one thing you get from smelling the cork. No, it's not to see what the wine smells like. It's to see if the the wine is "corked" or tainted with TCS. If there's a musty smell (kinda like a gym on a bad day, someone once told me) -then the cork was tianted and the wine will be corked and not very enjoyable. Cork taint can range from very mild and almost unnoticable (leaving the wine drinkable but not at its best) to right-up-in-your-face tainted (best used for taking the paint off a rusted piece of iron).

 

I'd also add taking whiff of the wine to your tasting ritual. There's usally some hints in the nose of what the various flavors in the wine will be and the combination of the two can be a really poerful experience.

 

The question was asked about sediment, and yes, that could be one reason to decent/ In fact, the decantin ritual in most fine restaurants involves holding the wine bottle and decanter over a candle as the wine is poured into the decanter, the better to see if sediment is present and if it's getting fromthe bottle tothe decanter. If you suspect the wine has sediment, let it rest standing up for an hour (at least) to let the sediment settle to the bottom before you decant.

 

Decanting also does not require an expensive decanter - any widemouthed glass container will do. My friend uses two 1.5 liter glass beakers (like what you see in chem labs) and will sometimes double decant - that is, pour into one beaker first then from that into the second beaker. Really seems to help the marginal wines become drinkable.

 

I, too started clueless, as I believe do us all. The good news is I live in northern California, and the major wine-producing areas are within a two hour drive for me, so I had every incentive to learn.

 

I started with whites - chardonnays are a pretty friendly wine to start with, but soon grew tired of vanilla and toast and moved onto more challenging wines. Current favorite among the whites is viognier.

 

Merlot is the chardonnay of reds and is an easy wine to drink, but soon got boring for me as well. I still have a case of Noah's '98 merlot that I gotta drink up one of these days, but I just can't seem to find a good food combo for it anymore. Current favorites among the reds are cabs and syrahs. And one I recently discovered - charbono. Only 80 acres of it left in the US where it once was dominant.

[agxo3]

My sister highly recommends a california wine that made good during one of the wine tasting conventions in Europe. It costs only two dollars hence it's called two-buck chuck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You have to remember that every vintage is different. Even within the same vintage, there will be differences. 2 Buck Chuck (formally known as Charles Shaw) is much more prone to that than other wines. It's produced by a company called Bronco Wines based in the Central Valley (Modesto, I think).

 

It's a mix of bulk-produced wine and surprlus wine from different wineries, including some wine that was deemed below the stnadards for the supplying winery. Therefore, while there will be some good bottles, there is also the chance of some really stinky wine.

 

The wines that scored well were most likely cherry-picked, meaning they were known to be good. Recent 2 Buck Chuck wines do not live up to their early rep*tation. It's off MY list, that's for sure! BTW - their whites seem to fare better than their reds, but that should have been obvious.....

 

For a cheap wine, look for an Australian label called Yellow Tail. It's more consistenly drinkable, at least for now.

[bods1000]

agxo, welcome back to the thread

yes I heard Yellowtail is a big hit there - it's been available here for some time and it's quite a good value -great for unpretentious drinking. I like their shiraz..it used to be Jacob's Creek that had such popularity....TwoBuck Chuck is not available here but i guess it is in the same league as Carlo rossi and all those tasteless but popular wines...

[bods1000]

about cork:

 

there's now a big movement worldwide towards plastic/synthetic corks and screw caps, mainly because of that cork taint. It's the same old issue of aesthetics versus practical sense...........

[agxo3]

<...>

mostly that i know also for california wines are the generic makers, didn't you know that a cellar in US produces a generic cab sauvignon & merlot for any distributor worldwide putting the any brand they like, & what funny someone sells it her in MNL, and a known distributor pa.

 

de loach & apprilles are my favorites medyo expensive nga lang.

 

<...>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

While there are some California wine aggregators (Bronco Wines, for example) it is simply NOT accurate to portray ALL California wineries as generic wine makers.

 

There are a few that will put any label on the wine that you want - again, Bronco Wines anf E & J Gallo come to mind. That's the cheap stuff that's a step above Ripple and Thunderbird. But for every one there is like that there are a hundred or more who take much more pride in their wines.

 

Over 95% of California wineries are small to medium sized family businesses and most of their wines are only available at the winery, or perhaps at a wine store in their hometown. For example, you can't find Retzlaff or Fenestra wines in any wine store outside of Livermore, or Noah's outside of Yountville or St. Helena, or Zenaida outside of Paso Robles. Try finding a Vincent Arroyo wine under a different label, or a David Bruce, or a Davis Bynum, or a Neibaum-Coppola, or a Wood Family or........the list is endless.

 

The bigger producers (Neibaum-Coppola, Sebastiani, Bonny Doon, Ridge - to name just a few) are more widely distributed, but are still decidedly not generic. They are generally marked by varietal - i.e., cabernet suavignon, merlot, pinot noir, etc. - as opposed to the French tradition or regional (appelation) markings, but that's the same for New Zealand and Australian wines, isn't it?

 

If you were to tell Francis Ford-Coppola that his wines are "generic" he'd certainly call you some not very nice names. His Rubicon (retailing at $100/bottle for the 1999 vintage - released last January) ranks among the top wines worldwide. Same for Opus One (joint venture between Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe Rothschild). Cabernets from Caymus Winery (Screaming Eagle), Helen Turley and others retail in the $300+ range. Some generics!

 

That's like saying all cabs are the same, or merlots, or chardonnays. Or that all Bordeaux or Burgougne are the same. Simply NOT true at all.

 

If all you know of California are the Broncos and Gallos then you really don't know much about this part of the wine world at all!

[agxo3]

about cork:

 

there's now a big movement worldwide towards plastic/synthetic corks and screw caps, mainly because of that cork taint. It's the same old issue of aesthetics versus practical sense...........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Among premium wines here, Plumpjack and Bonny Doon have started using screw tops on some of their wines, including a $100 bottle from Plumpjack. MOre are coming.......it's the wave of the future.

 

I dunno - I like the romance of the cork. I do agree that cork taint has become a REAL problem lately. Estimates are that up to 10% of ALL wine bottled is tainted to some degree.

 

I guess I like the scewrtop better than the plastic corks. The plastic corks can be REALLY hard to pull out, and really do a number on your corkscrew.

[bods1000]

The main beef against generic wines is that they did not go through the same meticulous methodology as vintaged, varietal wines.

For the latter, the grapes that go into the wine in the bottle usually come from some carefully maintained vineyard - the best of which is owned by the winery itself. The grapes are grown and cultivated and the winemaker himself makes the decision on when to harvest the fruit. Usually there's a window of about 2-3 weeks if I'm not mistaken that the grape can be harvested. Within that window is a crucial decision to be made by the winemaker (the top honcho in the winery who puts his stamp on the wine's character) - if he harvests too early, the wine may be thin or lacking in body; if he harvests late, the grapes may be overripe thereby have high sugar and high alcohol - which is also not ideal.

 

This is just an example. Now imagine those generic winemakers who just buy grapes , or worse, buys grape concentrate, to make into wine. They do not know the source of the grapes, how they were grown and harvested, the background of the vineyard, etc. Madalas, pinaghahalo-halo nila grapes from different sources - imagine na lang kung anong quality ang lalabas dun sa wine na gagawin nila.

 

This is also the reason why you have $2 dollar or P180 wines here and $100 wines.

The effort, study and winemaking skills that go into those high-end wines make all the difference.

[bods1000]

Among premium wines here, Plumpjack and Bonny Doon have started using screw tops on some of their wines, including a $100 bottle from Plumpjack. MOre are coming.......it's the wave of the future.

 

I dunno - I like the romance of the cork. I do agree that cork taint has become a REAL problem lately. Estimates are that up to 10% of ALL wine bottled is tainted to some degree.

 

I guess I like the scewrtop better than the plastic corks. The plastic corks can be REALLY hard to pull out, and really do a number on your corkscrew.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Mahirap na sigurong kontrahin ang trend na ito. A lot of people, I'm sure, and that includes you and I, will still prefer the romance of corks, no matter how chancey the wines will be.

In fact, iniipon ko yung mga corks ko - may isang garapon na ako I really don't know for what purpose....