Wine Entry : Penfolds BIN 138 Old Vine - Barossa Valley GSM 1999 (Australian)

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A delightful GSM (Grenache Mourvedre Shiraz). An appearance of ruby-red in the glass.
Smell : Jammy blackcurrents, uplifting alcohol coupled with mild oak.

Taste : Forward-coming sweetish summer cherries, cassis and dark fruits. Flavoursome and medium/full bodied.

After-taste : Mild constituted tannins with an oaky finish.

Description at front of bottle : Carefully selected fruit from old, low yiedling vines was blended to produce a rich earthy wine with just the right balance of complexing oak maturation. A truly distinctive wine from Barossa Valley.

Wine Fair (Field Report) : Carrefour Beer & Wine Fair 20 Dec 2007 - 1 Jan 2008, Carrefour Plaza Singapura Atrium

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Hiya, as promised here is the field report for the Carrefour Wine Fair on going at Plaza Singapura right now. I realised that this is the third Wine Fair organized by Carrefour this year after the ones in May 07 (Suntec) and Sep 07 (Suntec). Carrefour seems to be increasing the number of Wine Fairs each year and we may hopefully be seeing quarterly ones soon.
Carrefour has the economies of scale and the buying power to bring in some quality French Wines. Overall, I was happy with the number of Bordeaux Classifed Growths present at the fair, especially some of the 2005s e.g. La Tour Carnet, Croizet Bages , Cantenac Brown, Smith Haut Lafite (Graves) and Carbonnieux (Graves). I have not seen any of the 2005s in other shops except for en-primeur. From what I understand they may be coming in Feb 2008. For tasting they had the VIP's night Chateau Bernadotte Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois S$47 and a nice Giscours 2002 for tasting at S$118. However, the rest of the tastings offered were mediocre.
I grabbed two reds and two whites, Chateau Solon 1999 (Sauternes) S$35, Carrefour's Monbazillac 2006 S$23, Chateau Lalande-Borie 2005 S$45 (Second Wine of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou) and Smith Haut Lafite 2005 S$138 (this was flying off the shelves).
The only gripe I have was that the space for the Wine Fair was really limited and we were bumping into everyone, luckily none of us bumped into the bottles.

Also Carrefour deceided to have the 10% instead of 5% rebate for POSB Everyday Card on 20 & 21 Dec, we poor wine fans paid for the wines on 19 Dec at an additional 5% premium ! So if you are reading this today and have the POSB Everyday card...go grab some wines !

Wine Fair : Carrefour Beer & Wine Fair 20 Dec 2007 - 1 Jan 2008, Carrefour Plaza Singapura Atrium

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Hi All,

A heads up, Carrefour is organizing their X'mas season Wine Fair from 20 Dec 2007 - 1 Jan 2008, Carrefour Plaza Singapura Atrium.

VIP Nite is on 19 Dec 07, Wednesday 7pm. The specials are a Magnum bottle of Chateau Pichon Lalande Pauillac 1993 (U.P. $349) now at $288. Or, for a more affordable treat, Chateau Bernadotte Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2005 is now at $47 (U.P. $59).

The Chateau Pichon to me is not of a recommended vintage, probably over the hill and too large a bottle to finish with family. The Chateau Bernadotte looks a lot more interesting and coming from the consistent and well-acclaimed 2005 vintage, this is the wine I would recommend picking up a few bottles of. Of course, the actual tasting on the night will validate if this recommendation is correct.

Also remember to bring your POSB everyday card for an additional 5% rebate! See you there! And wait for my field report...

Wine Book : Quotable quotes for the wine lover

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QQ got me this book on wine quotes as she knew I was a Wine Buff.
Some of my favs from the book include :

"Life is too short to drink bad wine" - Anon

"The juice of the grape is the liquid quintessence of concentrated sunbeams" - Thomas Love Peacock

"Wine is bottled poetry" - Robert Louis Stevenson

"Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it." - Anon

"The wine-cup is the little silver well, where truth, if truth there be, doth dwell" - William Shakespeare

"A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world" - Louis Pasteur

Wine Entry : Andes Collection D.O Itata Valley Merlot 2004 (Chilean)

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This bottle was part of the Crabtree and Evelyn hamper that SIA sent me. I am not very fond of Chilean wines, but this wine was a pleasant surprise. It was of a clear purplish violet colour in the glass.
Smell : Warm fragrant plum, berries, lifted by substantial alcohol with a touch of rose.

Taste : Easy drinking, light, smooth filled with summer fruits of berries, cherries. Temptingly invites you for a second sip.

After-taste : Oak barrel vanilla tastes with a light-medium finish of mild/ non-existant tannins.