Not your regular wines

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Been to quite a few wine dinners n tastings over d years. The most recent one was different. There were only four wines, and they were pretty much out in the left-field, as far as taste is concerned.

Waiting..

Sip session was at a joint called Las Delicias in Citta Mall, Subang, and organized by SixCents. (It’s a site to pick up free vouchers for F&B outlets.)

The squad

A sommelier, Bernd Eisermann, lead us through the tasting, starting with the whites of course.

‘Sup Johnny

Johnny Q (12.5%, $150) from the Quarisa winery in Southeastern Australia is a chardonnay, with some viognier grape in da mix, a strong varietal i havent tried before. I found a very floral bouquet. And then thought… it smells better than it tastes. I got a lot of acidity. Long finish. My friend liked it tho. Weirdo.

Sommelier dude

The next white was an Austrian, Gut Holzer (13%, $150). The grape – gruner veltliner.

Who??

It’s Austria’s own grape variety, and it’s known to be a food-drinking wine, with little making it out of Austria alive.

Survivor

I got a nose of chardonnay-ish floral. On the sip, i found in-your-face honey notes, but immediately, dryness. Weird. And then a long, almost-bitter finish.

Didnt know what to make of it. So had two more glasses.

The third vino was a red, Yves Cuilleron’s (France) Gamay (13%, $180).

Vin-de-pays (aka country wine)

The gamay grape is from the Beaujolais region. I found the wine dry, a lil fruity, and  a lil bland.

Then we had a malbec, not from Argentina as is the norm, but France, Combel la Serre (12.5%, $180).

Another Frenchie

This guy gave me a whiff of fruit, esp raspberry. It tasted balanced and easy-to-drink, but too bland for me.

I dunno, maybe my palette was on leave dat nite. Or the wines probably need some gettin used to. The second or third glass tends to be better. But the first sip? Not good.

Tasting crew

Everybody seemed to react differently to all four wines. I basically didnt enjoy them all, but others did, finding different nuances from me. Am not sure if others felt the bitterness of the gruner veltliner grape, which wine drinkers are calling the gru vee grape. Haha.

The enjoyment for me was definitely trying different styles of wines from different producers.

 

Brain damage: 6/10

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Kronenbourg Blanc @ Marini’s

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Kronenbourg threw a great party at the rooftop joint, Marini’s on 57.

It was to introduce the beer, which launched a year ago, to more drinkers. The party was called Project Pleasure: Unmasking the French Taste of Summer.

It’s a beer with various flavours, as it has wheat, coriander n orange peel as its ingredients. I like it.

Marini’s is a new bar, lounge and soon-to-open restaurant. It’s taken the entire rooftop of Tower 3, KLCC.

Welcome drink

Waay up

Lots of glass & steel all round

The turf was a nice touch

Closest neighbour

Will checkit once fully completed.

 

Brain damage: 8/10

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Baiju goin places

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Some say it tastes like kerosene. Others say it tastes like kerosene.

Well, dats baiju, the Chinese brew dats now hitting the export market. In fact, none other than Diageo is now marketing it in UK, the first European market to get Shui Jing Fang.

I’ll forget the name by tomorrow

Baiju (literally, white alcohol) is grain liquor. It’s typically Asian – it’s basically rice wine that’s been distilled, with an abv of between 40-60%, like soju (Korea), lao lao (Laos) or langkau (Malaysia).

I dont think many Malaysians have tried it, dunno why. With the right mixer, like fruit juice, it could rock. Maybe Diageo Malaysia will bring it in.

It dont really taste like kerosene. It’s kinda sweetish n fruity in a weird way. I still have some left from my Beijing trip.

Two baiju brands are already in the Top 10 of the world’s most valuable alcohol brands, Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye.

Say dat again?

Personally, i think the Chinese need to look into renaming their products. It’s even more difficult to remember than Chinese people’s names.

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Jose Cuervo reloaded

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The well-known tequila, Cuervo is back, with a vengeance. I think everybody with a mouth has had a shot or ten of this particular brand of Mexican fuel.

“Are you a Mexican, or a Mexicant?” (Name the movie…)

Hello

The best-selling tequila in the world, Jose Cuervo from the town of Tequila is now brought in to Malaysia by Carlsberg Malaysia via Luen Heng. They sure are diversifying, especially with beers. GAB shd be worried.

Anyway, to mark this merry occasion, a fun poolside party popped at The Pool, Jln Ampang KL.

Party spot. Warmin up

There was a dude from Cuervo, Rajiv Ghumman, who spoke about d heritage of the brand, goin back centuries; 250 years to be exact.

The Especial is a reposado, ie, aged at least two months but below a year, in oak.

He seems to be on tour introducing a new method to drink the Especial – from a frozen bottle. Makes this tequila a lot smoother obviously. Cuts out the roughness.

Personally i prefer 100% agave tequilas, which to many drinkers, is real tequila. The others use 51% agave and 49% other stuff, but by law, is still allowed to be classified as tequila.

Is that an agave, no, it’s a palm, no it’s Pineapple!

We then got to try Jose margaritas – various cool flavoured ones. Some really rocked.

Swallowed all

The mango, raspberry and kiwi are kick-ass mixes.

Awesome

Whooped d traffic lights too

Products of José Cuervo includes José Cuervo Reposado, Especial Silver, Reserva de la Familia and its range of premium 100% blue agave tequilas namely the 1800 Silver and 1800 Añejo.

The Anejo is one of my fave tequilas ever, and i had a crazy, no crap-barred test session of this one at Frontera. Super-smooth, Cognac-like sweetness. Da best.

Dats d one!

The José Cuervo flavours varies from the default José Cuervo Especial Reposado versus the full, mellow taste of rich oak, and vanilla of the José Cuervo Reserva de la Familia.

Did target practice. Didnt win anything, but at least did it in style, backwards, two-guns n shit

Had the family reserve one only once, what it being a limited production and all.  Awesome. It has a nose similar to a single malt or cognac, with more caramel. Its super-smooth in the mouth, velvety, with a sweet, intense finish. Definitely not a regular tequila.

There are eight tequilas is total from Cuervo.

Some of d guys from the Cuervo familia

Anyway, expect to see more Jose Cuervo in d scene real soon.

Just to ensure we were well loaded, Dax brings out trays of shots. Forget slurpees. Kicked it ol skool in d end

The brass doin their thang. Someone shd have been thrown into d pool, followed by d ice bar

 

 Brain damage: 7/10

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