Wine Discoveries from Sommelier Selection's 100 Wines 2012

Before we left for Spain (more on that later...), my box of wines arrived.

We attended Sommelier Selection, Inc's "100 Wines 2012" event last June. I usually enjoy these events as this allows you to taste A LOT of wines in one sitting and buy them at a discount.

As we just got back from my trip, I was only able to organize these wines during this stormy weekend and took advantage of the "house arrest" situation caused by this year's UPCAT and the Anti-RH Bill rally in EDSA.

During the tasting, I was particularly fascinated with three wines and I'm now trying to recall the experience.

The first was a lovely 2009 Mario and Giorgio Brunori Fonteascosa La Battinebbia Marche IGT.

This is an Italian wine from the Marche area (pronounced "Marké"). Distinguished by it's absolute dedication to the "organic" wine philosphy. A Moscato varietal, resulting in a lovely floral, but not perfumy, white wine balanced by light citrus flavors enhanced by some apricot and peach notes. A well-balanced and medium bodied wine that is complex enough to drink alone just to enjoy how it plays around in your mouth ending in a moderate to long finish. It should pair well with well seasoned crustaceans and cream pastas.

This wine is classified as Marche IGT ("Indicazione Geografica Tipica") or a "Typical Regional Wine" of Marche. This is because it wasn't made with Verdicchio or Trebbiano. Personally however, their Moscato worked extremely well.

The next memorable wine for me was the 2006 Domaine du Pech Buzet Le Pech Abusé.

This is a fascinating red wine from the Buzet appellation in South-West France. Buzet wine usually has similar characteristics with Haut-Medoc in the Bordeaux region, but this wine is absolutely far from that.... It is aptly named, La Pech Abusé... "abused peach"? This to me is a lighter bodied, silky vino rosso bursting with red fruit, plus peach notes dancing around your mouth. Mushrooms and minerals can also be discerned with smooth tannins and a decent finish. Quite complex, fascinating and fun to drink. Pairing would probably be perfect for Asian non-spicy meat dishes, in particular Lechon.

The last wine looks very unassuming, thus hiding the powerhouse inside. This is the 2008 Azienda Agricola Il Carpino Merlot Vigna Runc Venezie IGT.

This was one of the favorites of the night. Another "Super Friuli-Venezia" for want of a better term. This is wine which can disprove the bad press that Merlot had received from the movie, "Sideways." At first taste, one will not think it is Merlot. Then later, you find out that there's absolutely no oak fermentation. What you get is a balanced preserved black fruit with herbal notes, but not too grassy. Quite appropriately, this one will be best paired with tomato-based Italian food and some of the lighter meats, such as well-seasoned chicken and pork.




These notes are just preliminary impressions, mind you. I have yet to have them with with a properly paired meal, but I will eventually.

Start of my public blog... the Nth attempt

“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”
”Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”
— from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno

Again, here I am starting and restarting my blog... and again the line above from Dante’s Inferno comes to my mind for any unwary web surfer who stumbles across my blog.
What usually prevents me from going through with it is not really lack of time, as blogging can be as short as doing a status update in Facebook, but rather being a perfectionist and my own worst critic, hesitating to post something that may displease someone in the world. As it is impossible to please everyone... I just decided to go ahead and turn off user comments... :-)

Why start again now? This is the direct result of a conversation with my high school daughter which goes something like:

Me: "You know, if you want to improve your vocabulary, not only should you read profusely, but you should also write."

Her: "But what will I write about?"

Me:"Why don't you make a blog, and write about your day, just like the classic diary, except a blog is public so you have to be creative in writing stuff that shows your feelings, be politically correct and will not incriminate you in anything."

She: "What for, no one will read my blog anyway?"

Me: "So what, at least it's good practice for you, but then what if people do read it and you become famous and then make money from it?!"

That's when I stop and think, "Hmmm, why not?"

And so, here we are again... another blog attempt to set down some of my thoughts regarding life as a Urologist, Father of three, Husband, Gadgeteer, Apple Fanboy, medical informaticist, Foodie, Wine Connoisseur, Pig Farmer, Art Galerie Groupie, World Traveler, shutterbug, and Information Junkie... (Note that this list is a work in progress…)

Thus, here's to not caring whether anyone comes and reads this... but for those who do, "À votre santé" with a glass of Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé, my favorite wine that I can actually afford!