Comments on: A Special “Ruby” Dinner, Part IV

By: quiapo

quiapo — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:48:16 +0000

In Australa, Penfold’s Grange Hermitage is the supreme red wine. The company offers a service, which travels to different areas, examining any bottles , and should there appear to be a loss in volume, they will uncork the bottle, replenish the wine to he appropriate level, and put a new cork on it. It is a free service but the wines start from about $500 a bottle, and is always sold out a few days after each vintage is put on sale.

By: nina

nina — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:19:57 +0000

My former boss is into wines and he has a collection of vintage wines. He once opened a 1953 wine for us. Wow, it’s really good and different!

By: Dodi

Dodi — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:03:21 +0000

Hahahahaha! Alicia, that “mana wine-drinking” is something originalI I would like to do it for my nephews and nieces but I would probably end up an alcoholic.

By: jules winnfield

jules winnfield — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:59:08 +0000

hande is right. vintage, in winespeak, is year of harvest. so the term say ‘2007 vintage’ is technically correct. but of course anyone could also refer to a very old wine like the carruades above as vintage wine. i think the winesnob wouldn’t mind.

what you could also do mm in terms of what hande has to say about decanting wine, is pour a glass separate from the decanter. try the wine in the glass after something like 5 minutes. then afterwards, taste the wine you have decanted and allowed to ‘breath’. if you taste a difference and favor one over the other, then hallelujah you now have a personal preference in serving ‘vintage’ wine. Ã¼

By: brownedgnat

brownedgnat — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:56:51 +0000

Pricey wine!! Good friends indeed!

By: Hande

Hande — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:11:41 +0000

A great wine you had! Just my 2 cents: When you have such an old wine, you shouldn’t decant (or let it breath) it. Filtering is a very good idea but such an old wine will lose much of what is left of the aromas if you let it breath. And, Maria Clara is wrong. What she says is true for ports etc, there the vintage/classification depends on the time it spends in the barrels in the vineyard. But wines are always the vintage they have been havested in. The time in barrels (if any) will determine classification in some countries/wine areas, like “reserva”. And of course the years after bottling should be under good conditions (cellar with constant temp and humidity).
Sorry for the long comment, I just wanted to clarify some wine-related stuff! Most important is always: enjoy it!

By: alicia

alicia — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:02:26 +0000

Nang, I am glad, it makes me laugh too just thinking about it!… Not sure if his children are laughing though!

By: lee

lee — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:52:53 +0000

crumbled cork remnants look like weird dessert, or ginger something.

By: jules winnfield

jules winnfield — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:29:13 +0000

gotta love that label! think dark narrow steps leading to underground dome caves, dusty wine bottles dating as far back as the 1800s, yellow-ished neck tags hanging from their necks, stored in shelves behind steel gates, cobwebs, dirt, old french guy holding up minimal illumination. the quintessential first growth pauillac cellar, where your 1966 carruades once held residence. ahhhh….

honestly, if it did turn out to be vinegar, i still would’ve sipped it and enjoyed the bordeaux soil, the weather, the workers, the history. spit or swallow? swallow pa rin.

By: nang

nang — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:57:05 +0000

alicia, that story about the mana of your friend’s children just made me laugh!