This one was organized by Adventure & Leisure (A&L), a company that deals in all sorts of cool outdoor gear, like the Igloo coolers featured here, as well as wines and ports.

Adventure & booze: My two favourite things.

Wine 'em, dine 'em, sixty-nine 'em

Went down in Italiannies @ The Gardens, KL. My camera was missing for a week (don’t ask), so pix here are from a borrowed a camera dat dont really shoot at night. (Actually, not much diff with my camera then!) To top it off, i was late. A disorganized day.

Dealer

Seven wines, seven courses. All Italian. $90 net.

My fave was a rosé – Zenato Bardolino DOC, served right at the start (with bruschetta man, one of my goddam numero uno appetizers!). Good drink to kick-off – Easy to drink, not very dry, enough body, and a light finish. Had to have more than one.

Nice spot

Of the food, notable ones were the first course – Prawns & zucchini balls with capers, basil & sun-dried tomato cream. Also the Lamb cutlets, served with butternut squash, roasted cherry tomato & beans, in a rosemary, thyme and mint sauce. Quite a hit. This one came with a red obviously, the Notte di Gallileo Reserva.

Course number 5 - Baked chicken chillin on Milanese risotto, which is drier than normal

Various other Italian wines were featured – 2 whites, 3 reds, and a sparkling red, Merzemino. This was served at the end, as opposed to the regular procedure of opening the evening with a bubbly. Thats coz this one’s sweet, so it became a dessert wine, which came with a Tiramisu, Panna Cotta (i swear this sounds like a vulgar Tamil word or sumtin) and a Rum Baba, which is some pudding made with rum. Surprisingly, not my thing.

Prices range between $65 – $93, although on the nite, they were priced $55 – $75. Very reasonable.

A&L director LC Leong does sessions like this quite regularly. Look forward to the next one, and this time i’ll be more prepared! And will detail more.

The right way to end the night

Brain damage: 7/10

A researcher has found that wine judges cant really tell what they’re tasting. There’re inconsistencies in their judging, although they’re sober. There’s a short article on this on Drinks International.

It's confirmed - paperwork & booze cant mix

Quote: “Robert Hodgson created a stir earlier this year when he claimed that individual judges in the California State Fair Wine Competition often rated the same wine differently.” (Blind-tastings.)

I think when they say shite like “exhibits extraordinary purity, and beautiful sweet blackberry and cassis notes along with hints of graphite, camphor, and a subtle, but intense meaty character”, then they’re probably talking cock. They might as well swallow d goddam wine rather than spit during tastings. Fuckin wastage. They are people starving around d world man.

At least then they’ll get drunk. And instead of rapping about aromas of red ink and goddam goat leather, they’d say, “O yeaaaaaaaa, i liiiike this one. Hit me again! *Buuurp!* It’s a ffff-fff-fuckinggggg good wine!”

Easy enough to understand.

The manner in which the judge says “fucking” determines the level of the wine’s quality.

Well, I guess u just need to sound cool (superb tips here), and u can pass off as a pro!

This is what’s known as a hypothetical question, cos it dont require an answer.

This session was pretty specific – a blind-tasting focused on wines below $80 (retail). BTW blind-tasting dont mean u get blindfolded.

So at 2pm a few days ago, there were four glasses of chilled whites staring at me. Seemed like a sweet deal for a Monday afternoon. The tasting notes chart, where i fill in my comments & ratings, looked like it had many sheets. Hmmm. I assumed we will try about 10 wines, tops.

Bread and a water bottle were the other accompaniments.

O yea, and a spit bowl. Haha. Yea right! Like am gonna spit out perfectly good vino. Gross man.

Yea, u stay empty. Just get dat bowl outta here! Reminds me of a bed pan

Yea, spit bowls are for pussies.

But then i was told that we had to go through goddam 28 wines! Huh? Insanity! I want my money back!

Well, since i didnt pay shit, sallgood.

Shy wines havin a cold bath

Anyway, the first four wines went pretty quick. They were chardonnays, followed by several sauvignons. Penfold’s Rawson Retreat Riesling was good. A nice blend of fruitiness and acidity, plus a pleasant, mid-length finish.I could hear mumbled curses from another judge right around wine number 10. Maybe coz it was sweet. Thing is i did expect it to be a lil sweet, and in fact luved it!

I later found out it was a white zinfandel, by Delicato of California. The awesome colour is what grabs u at first (i scribbled into d review comments – “A beautiful deep orange-red – would love to have my V-dub in this colour”.) Haha. It’s got a candy-like nose. If u like something slightly-sweet with a light sherry-like finish, dis is d one. Can be drunk at any time.

Me like dis Delicato. And received a bottle to take home. Thanks Suzanne

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At wine 13, i realized i was quite buzzed! Gosh. Only like halfway. There goes gym!

After 15, i was like “Lord have mercy!”

Then i was staring at these:

Merciless. 16-19 were the second wave of reds, 20-23 (background) were ready with d third wave

The army of reds attacked – there were seventeen to go thru.

Fuck. My commitment to the cause ‘swayed’ a little.

I leaned back into the chair, took a breath and assessed my situation. Intense. Would i be able to write any sense into d tasting charts?

What did i say about spit bowls earlier?? Dam. Hmm, how do i always get myself into this kinda mess?

Okay 16-19, u wanna dance, we’ll dance!

I was soon back on track, knockin ‘em back. There were some real smooth reds – the Delicato Cabernet Sauvignon and Jacob’s Creek‘s Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon notably. Straight-forward easy reds dat would go well with most meals, as not too overpowering or bold. Should suit all casual drinkers.

But at 20, confusion starts to kick in. They all start smelling d same. I dont know what notes to write! I feel like i was a confused kid in an exam. I bet the deep breaths i took of d reds also got me high.

Other ones i liked were the Kilikanoon The Lackey Shiraz and Penfold’s Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet. Easy-drinkin wines, plesantly surprising, considering under $80. Very suitable for parties too.

OK la i guess. Most wines i liked came from wineries dat have won awards.

Wine connoisseurs in really serious thought

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I sat there for almost three hours, sipping away all d time. Eventually my notes were a lil messed-up. Missed a couple of entry columns too. By 5pm, i was THERE.

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The finale. Salud!

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So i took the complimentary bottle of Delicato to Sid’s and had it right away.

I hope d top 5 wines that i submitted to Flavours for publication purposes weren’t like 20 bucks. Haha. Would say something about my taste!

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Brain damage rating: 8/10