Wine

[ikileo]

just got back from the Carrefour International Wine Fair VIP Night. This is the VIP Night on the night before the actual wine fair which will run from 20th - 30th May 2010. There's lots of good deals there and i would recommend for those interested to head down ASAP as many of the better deals are disappearing fast.

depending on your budget, there's lots of stuff from bordeaux you can choose. however, do not be too tempted by the lower prices of the 2007 vintage as that was not a terribly good one. i would suggest to top up a couple more bucks to snag bordeaux wines from the 04/05/06 vintages.

one of the better deals is the 2005 Château Lamothe Bergeron going for about $27+ and it is drinking very well indeed. but the stock is running out very fast.

the other one that is pretty good is the 2006 Chateau Picque Caillou going for around $39, so is the 2005 Alain Jaume Gigondas for $39. of course there are several more out there but you might have to top up with a bit more cash. if u like something with a little bottle age on it, the 2001 Chateau Gloria for $52 is pretty good too.

on the new world side, the Leopard's Leap Cabernet/Shiraz/Cinsault blend for $23 is tasting very good.

have fun there and take your time to choose.

 

[ikileo]

are any of your drinking or buying any wine this week? if so, what is it?

 

[nautilus]

are any of your drinking or buying any wine this week? if so, what is it?

Headed down yesterday and went a bit bonkers over there. Bought quite a few bottles with Chateau Lamothe Bergeron and Picque Caillou amongst them. Opened a bottle of Chateau Taillefer 2005 yesterday and it was really good. VFM for the quality. Swept up 6 Pomerols as the deals for 2005 vintages were good indeed.

 

[ikileo]

did u taste/try any of those.

which pomerols did you buy?

 

[nautilus]

did u taste/try any of those.

which pomerols did you buy?

Bought 3 Fugue de Nenin, 2 Chateau Taillefer and 1 Chateau La Pointe, all 2005 vintages. I tried Fugue de Nenin 2004 before and I thought it was excellent although it is a second wine. 2005 is supposed to be better. Opened Taillefer over the weekend and it was darn good as well.

Besides those i bought a few bottles of Pessag-Leognans, St Emillions, Haut Medocs, and a Wolfblass president cab sav. Tried the cab sav at the fair and i thought it was quite ok. Hopefully this will bring back faith in Australian wines for me as I bought a pretty ex bottle of Penfold Sangiovese previously and was terribly dissappointed by it.

 

[ikileo]

penfolds is not exactly a sangiovese specialist. go for their more famous bins like 389 or if you can afford it, a grange. there are good aussie wines out there, just that you gotta really look. Majella is another good label, so is Henscke, but the latter is more expensive.

as for the Fugue de Nenin, I dunno, I tasted it during the VIP night and personally for my own palate. i didn't like it that much. maybe it was a closed bottle or maybe i didn't give it time to open up. but I felt it wasn't worth the $50+ price tag; but then again that's just my opinion.

haha, that night i only ended buying two bottles.

 

[doran_lum]

hi.. was also at suntec .. other than the wines .. are the wine chillers a good buy too ? not too sure if the brand Farfalia is good as compare to brans like vintec ?

 

[nautilus]

hi.. was also at suntec .. other than the wines .. are the wine chillers a good buy too ? not too sure if the brand Farfalia is good as compare to brans like vintec ?

I'm using it with no problems. But I've outgrown my 12-bottle fridge and i'm looking at 80-100 bottles now. You can't really compare with Vintec as they are in a different price league. Anything <$500 can be considered as "budget" wine coolers.

 

[ikileo]

had a steak dinner last night at a friend's house. opened 3 bottles.

a 2005 Grand Cru Bordeaux from St Emilion (i forget the name)
I brought a 2002 L'Aventure Zinfandel, Paso Robles, California
and my friend opened an italian white wine: a Gavi ( again i forget the name)

all drinking very nice. I bottled breathed my Zinfandel and double decanted it before heading off for the dinner. drinking beautifully.

 

[Memphis]

hi.. was also at suntec .. other than the wines .. are the wine chillers a good buy too ? not too sure if the brand Farfalia is good as compare to brans like vintec ?

I bought one at the fair, $129 which can hold 8 bottles. However there is some condensation in between the 2 pieces of glass door after switching it on. My temp is set at 12deg.

 

[ikileo]

i think that's fine...
if you have an internal monitor, you can check if there is any increase in temperature. moisture is fine, at a relative humidity of 70% is optimum.

and unless you are keeping it for over 10,20,30 years, even if there is slight fluctuation in temperature it's fine.

 

[ikileo]

although i have been buying wines from them i have not mentioned this retailer here on this thread before: Marks & Spencers

yes they sell wines, all of them are private labels meaning its under the M&S label and only available in their stores. but before you think its all plonk crap, M&S has been winning awards in the UK in recent years for having the best wine selection, with some of their wines even winning awards from the pre-eminent UK wine magazine 'Decanter'.

The wines available in Singapore's M&S are from pretty much every major wine producing country and prices range from under $20 to $70+, with most of them in the $20-$30+ range. What M&S does it that they tie up with wine producers to create an exclusive line of wines just for M&S, that's why M&S can sell it at competitive prices and with good quality. And you can experience the more uncommon wine regions and appellations such as Vouvray (france) and Toro (Spain), both of which make excellent wines and at comparatively low prices.

The M&S at the basement of Wheelock place has the largest selection that I know of compared to their other branches. I just bought and drank a Spanish white made from their native Verdejo grape; very nice and under $30.

 

[nautilus]

although i have been buying wines from them i have not mentioned this retailer here on this thread before: Marks & Spencers

yes they sell wines, all of them are private labels meaning its under the M&S label and only available in their stores. but before you think its all plonk crap, M&S has been winning awards in the UK in recent years for having the best wine selection, with some of their wines even winning awards from the pre-eminent UK wine magazine 'Decanter'.

The wines available in Singapore's M&S are from pretty much every major wine producing country and prices range from under $20 to $70+, with most of them in the $20-$30+ range. What M&S does it that they tie up with wine producers to create an exclusive line of wines just for M&S, that's why M&S can sell it at competitive prices and with good quality. And you can experience the more uncommon wine regions and appellations such as Vouvray (france) and Toro (Spain), both of which make excellent wines and at comparatively low prices.

The M&S at the basement of Wheelock place has the largest selection that I know of compared to their other branches. I just bought and drank a Spanish white made from their native Verdejo grape; very nice and under $30.

Thanks for the recommendation. Didn't expect M&S to stock good wines. Do you have any recommendations for reds?

 

[ikileo]

Thanks for the recommendation. Didn't expect M&S to stock good wines. Do you have any recommendations for reds?

they have a rack where they placed all their wines that were awarded in the Decanter magazine. so i don't think you can go wrong from there.... the most recent red i had from M&S was not on that rack but instead on their regular racks but nevertheless very good. it was a 100% old vine Grenache from the Calatayud region in Spain (i am a spain nut), single vineyard wine, 2007 vintage. Easy drinking but not simplistic. Fruit forward but developed nice secondary flavours as time progressed.

 

[ikileo]

did another visit to M&S again last night.

bought a bottle of 2009 Vinalta Malbec, Mendoza Argentina.

costs $25, drinking great. simple but not simplistic. delivers good value. loads of red fruit on the nose along with some secondary earthy scents. has good fruit on the palate but not over extracted or fruit-bomby. meant to be drunk now. paired well with the beef la mian at imperial treasure.

 

[nautilus]

did another visit to M&S again last night.

bought a bottle of 2009 Vinalta Malbec, Mendoza Argentina.

costs $25, drinking great. simple but not simplistic. delivers good value. loads of red fruit on the nose along with some secondary earthy scents. has good fruit on the palate but not over extracted or fruit-bomby. meant to be drunk now. paired well with the beef la mian at imperial treasure.

Wow, did you pay corkage?

 

[ikileo]

Imperial Treasure does not charge corkage


sigh so sad, seems like only myself and you post stuff on this thread...not enough vino quaffers here i guess.

 

[nautilus]

For those who are looking for cheap wines for parties, NTUC is now having a promo on Chilean wines. Quite a few varieties going at 2 bottles for $18.95! Deducting the taxes, i can see that each bottle costs about $2.50 only. Cheap if you want to get drunk or if you have a house gathering.

 

[ikileo]

Carrefour is also having a sale now on a lot of their regular stuff. just head down to PS or Suntec to walk around and take a look. there's also a 2003 Latour going for $2220 if you are interested

 

[nautilus]

Carrefour is also having a sale now on a lot of their regular stuff. just head down to PS or Suntec to walk around and take a look. there's also a 2003 Latour going for $2220 if you are interested

Bro, Latour is way out of my league. My wallet is not deep enough to drink stuff like Le Pin, Petrus or Latour. Do you know what are on offer at Carrefour? Any interesting deals?

BTW when i was at NTUC finest just now, i noticed a lot of "faux" deals on the french labels. Quite a few bottles labelled as "special offer" ain't so special after all when compared to the prices outside. I still think carrefour wine offers are good for french. If you're interested in Aussie wines, bottles and bottles is having a promo on Penfolds at the moment. Bin 328 going at $68 (i think), St Henri going at $78. Very good deal.