WSCP BYOB Parrillada @ Café Ysabel.

Multi-awarded chef-restaurateur, Gene Gonzalez, normally throws an annual Parrillada* at his Café Ysabel for the Wines & Spirits Club Philippines (WSCP). I've not attended any of the past ones, but Bill Stone told me the one he attended before was pretty fun. This year, I made sure to sign Catha, my two teenaged boys and myself up for it.

*i.e., a big Argentinian barbecue event. Gene, I understand, has attended quite a few of these in Latin America. Most all the photos were taken by my 2nd son, save for the ones he's in which either I or Catha took.


Thus, on Tuesday evening, the 5th April 2011, around 50 carnivores, more or less, trooped to San Juan to partake in this barbecue bacchanalia. My family and I sat at a long table with J-Lab, Arnie, Matt & Chinkee, Bodjie, Martin, Gino (Garcia), Dicky, Sanju & Cutie, Kate, Jay-Jay, Gino (Gonzalez) & China, etc. Gene had days before cautioned us to "Have a light lunch and no merienda," as we would get "more than what we bargained for".

That, indeed, we all did.

Beef, goat and pork. Tons of each. On a spit is gaucho bread.

No part of the animals was wasted. All the naughty bits were served, including bull genitalia.

That's the bull penis being sliced up. No, I didn't have any of it.

These were just the appetizer courses, served with...

...Green Salads...

...Potato Wedges and Goucho Bread.

I started off with some 2000 R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rosado - My bottle, which I've written about before. Bone dry, red currants, strawberry, bit of citrus, orange peel and the hallmark López de Heredia gentle sherry/oxidative notes. Complex. Again, a very particular wine; it's not for everyone - but I certainly liked it (made sure not to serve it too cold this time).

This was the main beef course tray. I had a lot of the beef belly.

The event being BYOB, I also brought along a bottle of 2006 Domaine Tempier Bandol Cuvée Classique (brawny, rustic, ruggedly handsome, driven with enough smoothly rounded muscle to easily take on the beef and goat together) and, it being a summer barbecue, I simply had to bring along some Craft Beer from Jimmyton Araneta's Global Beer Exchange, namely: 2 Bombers of Rogue Double Dead Guy (perfect for a summer's BBQ: macho, cold and refreshing with a good kick), 1 bomber of Rogue John John Hazelnut (the 2nd insisted on bringing it) and my last 2 bottles of my favorite Rogue Juniper Pale Ale (most refreshing indeed). Sorry, apparently no photos of the bottles as they quickly got passed around.

Catha and the 2nd.

I also had glasses of many wines brought and generously shared by friends. Honestly, though, I was just trying to relax and enjoy the meal and camaraderie, I don't now remember those wines.

The goat gets axed.

Dessert was a Crêpe with Home-Made Rum-Raisin Ice Cream.
Gene's is the only rum-raisin ice cream I like.

The boys; Sanju and I chat in the background.

J-Lab, Gino Garcia, Bodjie, Arnie & the boys.

Fun night. ¡Salud y hasta la proxima Parrillada!

Post IWFS Wine Fair @ No. 38 Sports Lounge & Grill.

After the IWFS Wine Fair subject of my last post, Catha and I proceeded to No. 38 Sports Lounge & Grill, a hopping bar owned by Chinkee & Matt's family (114A Jupiter St. Bel-Air 2, Makati City). Chinkee & Matt, Sanju & Cutie, Bodjie and Mark left the Wine Fair earlier with my two teen-agers in tow for less sedate enjoyment.

Sanju, Chinkee, Chinkee's dad & Matt.

I'd been there a couple of times before, the first time before opening hours when the bar was new for a quick see and a couple of beers. The second time was with Miguel, again for a couple of beers, but after dinner when the bar was in full swing. The place was packed then. This third time was the same.

The Sommelier Selection ladies with Future Trade's Neil McLeod
pop in for some beers after the Wine Fair as well.

The music was cool, the band entertaining. I grabbed a beer when I arrived and Sanju poured me a slug of special lambanog which was the smoothest lambanog I've ever had and tasted vaguely of olives. The boys each had liter-sized mugs of beer in hand, which was after lambanog shots and, for the second, a glass of scotch I understand. This was after many glasses of wine before and during dinner. They seemed fine though - and very happy.

Sanju loads up the second for a beer bong race against Matt.

Later that night, the second got it in his head to challenge his Tito Matt to a beer bong race. Matt is German, much taller and with many years more drinking experience. The eldest and I knew the second didn't have much of a chance, but, he'd learn for himself.

And they're off.

The second downed his pretty fast, I must say. It was a valiant effort indeed; but Matt was much faster. Not a bad show. I surely couldn't down that bong as fast as he did, but, then, both the boys are taller and heavier than I already.

Chinkee, Matt & the boys.

A few minutes later, the second started insisting on a re-match. I knew then it was time to take them home. Good thing we brought a driver along. Thanks for a really fun night, Matt & Chinkee! The boys had a blast, and I'm sure they'll be back at No. 38 before long.

The 2nd IWFS Annual Wine Fair.

Due to the resounding success of last year's 1st International Wine & Food Society Philippine Branch's Wine Fair, the IWFS Board decided to make this an annual event - the 2nd of which took place on Thursday, the 31st March 2011, at the Alliance Française de Manille. Catha & I attended along with our 2 older boys as the kids are on summer break.

From the get-go, this 2nd Wine Fair was evidently as well-attended with a steady stream of members and guests making their way to the different booths. This year, the IWFS-Philippines, IWFS-Ladies and IWFS-Cebu members-participants were as follows:

Alex Lichaytoo - Bacchus International, Inc.
Dondi and Corrine Joseph (Cebu) - Darras + Bowler, Inc.
John Lim - Happy Living Philippines Corporation
Robert Burroughes - Future Trade International
Edwin Ong - Global Noble International Corporation
Manny Osmena (Cebu) - Manny O’s
Jojo Madrid - Premium Wine Exchange
Luciano Zanirato - Silver Secrets, Inc.
Jerome Philippon - Sommelier Selection, Inc.
Tita Trillo (Manila Ladies) - Titania Wine Cellar
Romy Sia - Wine Story
Jay Labrador - The Wine Steward, Inc.

8-Term IWFS President & Wine Master Bernie Sim flanked by Future Trade's Robert Burroughes and Neil McLeod.

All friends here: The Wine Steward's Jay Labrador, Darras+Bowler's Dondi Joseph & Future Trade's James du Vivier.

Same as last year, Dondi & Jay had some luscious Cebu Lechon at The Wine Steward's and Darras+Bowler's shared stall. One, naturally, had to buy some wine from them to "legitimately" snack thereon - which I did very willingly with some of the 2004 Bodegas Resalte Reserva that impressed me during the recent Bodegas Resalte dinner.

My notes then were as follows:

The 2004 Resalte Reserva, on the other hand, though a year younger, seemed softer and more accessible alone. This was another wine that made me sit up and take notice. It seems, at this tasting, the reservas were putting forth a very strong quality statement - both in the Peña Roble and Resalte lines. Notable depth, precise concentration, balancing acidity with a modernish candied-ripeness of fruit accented by notes of coffee, licorice, well-integrated toasty oak and cinnamon. Very nice, and well-recommended at P2665/bottle.

Bernie Sim at Jojo Madrid's Premium Wine Exchange (PWX) booth.

PWX's impressive display of Bond and California Cult Cabernet: Harlan Estate.

I immediately went for PWX's 2008 Jean Marc Brocard Premier Cru Fourchame Chablis 2008 - from one of the more well-known Chablis 1er cru vineyards that tends to produce comparatively heftier, rounder and richer Chablis. Very nice, it maintained typicity in its nervy, tense, cold-stone-and-flinty fruit. Another one for my list together with the 2008 Brocard 1er Cru Montmains that I loved during Hiro-san's Kaiseki dinner.

The boys with Tito Jojo.

Catha and the boys favored PWX's 2000 La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva, especially, noted Catha, with the main course of beef served later on - the acid balance making it more food friendly than many of the other reds.

I also had a glass of PWX's 2005 Spring Mountain Vineyard Napa Cabernet Sauvignon - Quite impressive for such a youngster; it shows good, solid, comparatively understated Cali cab cassis and fine underlying minerality. My type of quietly confident Napa cab.

Vimla Gopaldas, Catha & Dondi Joseph.

Lawrie Martin clowns around with Brendan Egan.

Bodjie Tobillo with Matt & Chinkee Koppe.

Gene Gonzalez shares some quasi-wine-related videos from his trip to Thailand.

Of course, at Jerome Philippon's Sommelier Selection, I simply had to have a glass of 2009 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé - a wine I've written about several times. Regular readers know that I think Tempier's rosés are the best in the world. Its vintage 2009 just continues to bolster such assessment. It went great with the lechon Cebu as well.

Markus and Lawrie at Happy Living's booth.

From Happy Living, of course got a glass or two of the bright, dangerously drinkable, citrusy-and-lemony 2005 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs. One could have some bottles of this at the beach to sip throughout the day.

With my dinner, I made sure to get a glass of their 2005 Joseph Phelps Insignia. The Insignia is Joseph Phelp's well-respected and highly sought top bottling. It certainly drew a good deal of attention that night as many flocked Happy Living's booth for glasses thereof.

I like that, during IWFS Wine Fairs, one can choose to eat anytime one feels like it, and, in addition, during one's meal, one has a vast array of wines to choose from.

As mentioned earlier, Catha and the boys felt the 2000 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva went best with the beef main course. Aside from the 2005 Spring Mountain Vineyard Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Joseph Phelps Insignia that I had with the meat, I also got a glass of...

2006 Garofoli Podium Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore from Bacchus International's booth to go with more of the delicious Cebu lechon. Alex Lichaytoo suggested the pairing to me, and the wine's (it's a white, by the way) relatively bright, citrusy fruit with an underlay of almonds (that continues to a dry, food-friendly finish) indeed made for a good match with the lechon.

Eat, eat, drink, drink, toast in between.

Oscar Ong, who conceptualized and organizes this annual event, addresses the crowd.

I stopped by Bernie's table after dinner where Bernie shared some bottles of red Burg from his vast collection with myself, Jojo, Richard and others. I didn't try all of them as I knew I'd be drinking even more later that night.

The 2002 Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru Clos St-Jacques had an interesting, vaguely perfumed nose, but was somewhat closed in the mouth. Heft and mouthfeel seemed quite proper though. Probably has good potential, but we didn't find it very interesting at this point.


2003 Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru Le Poissenot - Much more open than the previous wine, showing vintage ripeness, heft and fruit drive. Though there is a touch of jamminess to the fruit, its meatiness made for an easy and entertaining enough drink.

By that time, Ed Lee had switched to some scotch, while Oscar Ong soldiered on with wine.

Until the next IWFS Wine Fair!

How I Learned About Wine.

Many people ask me how I learned about wine. My stock answer when I do not feel like going into the whole story is that "I drink the stuff." Flippant as it may sound, it's the truth in a nutshell.

The long of it, though, is that my father has been into wine since I was very young. I recall that when I and my siblings were 9 years old, our father would offer us a small glass with dinner when he was having some. Naturally, my brother (older than I by 11 months) and I would accept since we wanted to feel grown up. As we got older, we started liking wine's effects, and, eventually, its taste.

By around high school and college, we'd have wine with our dad during dinner (not everyday; wines were mainly French, with a bit of Spanish and Italian thrown in). We took it for granted and viewed wine as a nice beverage to eat with, but never really bothered to learn about it (i.e., we'd not take note of vintages, origins, producers, etc.) - it was just "this one's good, that one not so good." You get the picture.

Having graduated law school in March 1991, I took the bar later that same year, got married in January 1992 and moved out. I started working in ACCRA the day after Catha and I arrived from our honeymoon (Egypt and the US - my dad also wanted us to spend some days in Paris but Catha didn't want to as it was way too cold there at the time). From then on, I couldn't rely on Dad's collection and had to buy my own wine (he gave me a bunch of bottles to start off though, and would occasionally bring nice bottles when he'd come over for dinner).

My new independence brought about the necessity to start really learning about wine. Obviously, as a young lawyer, I was earning very little. Thus, I had to pick and choose, carefully taking note of which bottles I liked so I could buy them again. This rudimentary knowledge progressed slowly - it was only in 1994, when I moved to my father's law firm, that I started making enough money to afford what I used to enjoy from my dad. I started regularly buying the 1855 classed growths wherever I could find them, but, still paid little mind to vintage traits - it was still pretty much "this one's good, that one not so good."

Thereafter, around 1995, Tonji, a very close, longtime friend, got into wine and started buying and reading books about it. I had never read any wine books until he lent me his that time. That was the start of my current geekiness - I devoured all the information I could get my hands on. Throughout this whole time, I continued imbibing, but, at that point, got more selective in purchasing and careful about proper storage and service.

The rest, tritely put, is history - traveling to and tasting through the wine-growing regions of France (i.e., Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire, Alsace), California (Napa & Sonoma) and Spain (Rioja and others) is a relatively recent development - circa 2001 (Napa/Sonoma) to present. I return to Bordeaux and Burgundy as often as I can, but not as often as I'd like, and, the past 2+ years, due to Miguel's influence, I've been obsessing over Riojan wines.

Along the way, I've been fortunate to have met and become friends with some confirmed winos with whom I further explored the wonders of different regions. With Bernie, the Stockbroker and Doc, I "explored" the wines of the Rhône and Burgundy regions; through Jerome I learned more about the wines of the Southwest France, Provence and Alsace; through/with Miguel and, of course, JC de Terry, the wines of Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat, Rías Baixas, Bierzo, the País Vasco, etc.; through Aaron, the world of finer cava; and, through/with the Vigneron and the Grand Crew, I deepened my knowledge of Bordeaux by a great extent and honed whatever little blind tasting skills I have.

That all said, one thing remained (and remains) constant - I drank the stuff; one cannot truly learn otherwise*. In my opinion, one cannot truly know wine through books or professional reviewers - no matter how popular or revered. One must drink and pay attention to what is in one's own glass - that's really the only way.

* I vividly recall attending a lecture of a so-called local wine "expert" on Spanish wine around a couple of years ago. He made a statement to the effect that the best Priorats can age up to 10 years. I then asked him what the oldest Priorat he's ever had was, and he answered that it was a 1999 Cims de Porrera Classic. I wondered how he could make such a pronouncement when he never had any older Priorats (top producer or otherwise). Just for the record, I and a few friends have had top Priorats years older than that, and they were very fine indeed - not that I consider myself an "expert" on Spanish wine. In that regard, as far as I am concerned, when it comes to the the wines of Spain, the only expert in the Philippines is Juan Carlos de Terry.

1st Philippine Wine & Spirits Auction.

The evening of last Thursday, the 24th March 2011, saw the Philippines' 1st Wine & Spirits Auction. The event was conceptualized and organized by wine retailer/direct merchant Forth & Tay and leading alcoholic beverage importer/distributor Future Trade International, in cooperation with Salcedo Auctions, Mandarin Oriental Manila and media partners.

Karen Kua-Lerma, president of Salcedo Auctions, makes the opening remarks.

The proceeds of the auction would go to Virlanie Foundation, an NGO dedicated to helping street children.

Virlaine Foundation founding president, Dominique Lemay.

Ina Gemperle who ran the PR of the event and Eric Kahn, Senior Marketing Manager, of Future Trade Int'l. earlier on tapped J-Lab and I to act as the event's "wine experts"* (we're really just geeky winos with around 40 years of studied consumption between us who happen to write about wine) for the inspection of the wines. J-Lab and I inspected the wines on separate days, I visited Future Trade's compound for that purpose after work on the 3rd March 2011. I recall J inspected a day or two before that.

The few bottles brought in the auction from 3rd parties, however, we did not inspect. We were also asked to give a short talk during the formal viewing of the lots and to talk about some of the wines during the auction itself.

Future Trade Int'l. president, James du Vivier.

Yours truly.

*Neither J-Lab nor I charged nor received payment for doing this (we've our real-life jobs to keep ourselves fed and lacquered) and just did it for the love of wine. Besides, the organizers' officers, James du Vivier and Robert Burroughes are friends of ours. They did offer to give us some bottles, but it's not like either of us really need any. We've more than enough fine bottles of our own.

There were hundreds of people at the Mandarin's Ballroom on the 3rd floor. No less than a hundred wines were available for tasting and there were a lot of pica-picas on tables in the middle of the room, situated just before the cordoned-off auction area and stage. Happily, I bumped into so many friends there, among whom were Robert & Jen Burroughes, Juan Carlos de Terry (who entered into auction a 1994 Château Latour and vintages 1972 & 2002 of Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos), Chef Colin Mackay, fellow WSCP member Bodjie, and, of course, Usual Suspects the Stockbroker, Greg & Arnie.

Auctioneer Hamilton McLeod.

J-Lab commented earlier on that he didn't think the Stockbroker would be bidding that night - likely because he already has over 11,000 premium bottles in his collection. I replied that having a lot of wine never stopped the Stockbroker from buying more - the truth of which J acknowledged with a silent nod. J and I had our own plans for a few of the lots and did our homework on retail prices in the US - so we were ready to bid, our bail prices well in mind - and so proceeded the auction.

David Beddows picked up the lot of 6 bottles of 2004 Penfolds Grange.

Colin got, among others, the 1949 & 1957 Glen Grant Single Malts.

The Stockbroker picked up 3 lots, adding up to 20 bottles, amongst them a mini vertical lot of Santa Rita Casa Real, and promptly reported that the 1995 vintage was delicious, reminding him of "an aged St-Émilion". I picked up one lot of 3 bottles of Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Wellington Palo Cortado VORS Jerez - I wasn't really planning to, but, when the auctioneer announced that lot, Catha (who loves Palo Cortado sherry) turned to me and asked "Is that my sherry?" Of course, I had to get it for her then. Fortunately, J-Lab, gentleman that he is, didn't challenge my bid, so I got it at a very good price. Among other active bidders were...

...Stephan Granroth & Stein Melsbo (Neil McLeod between them), and...

...Roger Simmond.

I had my eye on the lot of 6 bottles of 2004 CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino, but other bidders quickly drove up the price so I bailed. Another lot I was interested in was 6 magnums of 1999 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Since there was only one lot of this and J-Lab, Bodjie and Colin were interested as well, we decided to let J-Lab bid for us all and we'd divide the 6 magnums amongst us. Well, we got the lot at a superb price - so we were all very happy about that.

The organizers with representatives of Frescobaldi, Penfolds, Torres and Santa Rita.

In my estimation, the auction was nothing less than a smashing success. I understand from Ina that 85% or so of the auction lots were sold - not bad at all for a maiden voyage. James, Eric and Ina all thanked J-lab and I for our participation. We were more than happy to have helped - besides, we had fun and picked up some wines at very good prices - what's not to love?