Wine Dinner : Best of Bordeaux Wine Dinner Pan Pacific Singapore (11 March 08)

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The nice people at Pan Pacific Singapore contacted me to share this Wine Dinner event with my readers, so I am doing so :) To be honest, I am not familiar with the wines being paired with the food, but based on the reviews on the web, they do seem positively interesting. Some of the wines below are also carried in our local restaurants like Sage and Mag's Wine Kitchen.

BEST OF BORDEAUX WINE DINNER

Recognised as one of the best wine-producing appellations in France, wine aficionados will enjoy the Best of Bordeaux wine dinner at Global Kitchen on 11 March.

A five-course dinner created by Executive Chef Joseph Martin will be paired with wines from five different wineries in Bordeaux. The dinner promises fine contemporary cuisine with highlights such as Hot Smoked Duck Confit with Asian Mushroom Salad and Wagyu Beef with Shallot Puree, Spinach, Parmesan and Truffle Sauce. The dinner will be graced by Antoine Mouiex co-owner of Château Taillefer, Pomerol, a 258 year-old winery.

Date: 11 March

Time: 7.30pm

Location: Global Kitchen, Level 3

Price: $98++ per adult

For reservations, please call 6826 8240 or email celebrate.sin@panpacific.com

MENU

Pan-fried fondant potatoes with crayfish terrine and pancetta chips

Château Ducla Experience, Bordeaux Entre deux Mer 2005

Hot smoked duck confit with Asian mushroom salad

Château Picoron, Cotes de Castillon 1998

Oven-baked pesto-crusted snapper with sauce Diane

Château Val d’Or Saint-Emilion 2001

Wagyu beef with shallot puree, spinach, parmesan and truffle sauce

Château Taillefer, Pomerol 2002

Passion fruit parfait with crispy praline

Freixenet Sparkling Wine

*Prices quoted are subject to 10% service charge and prevailing government taxes including GST.

For reservations and additional information,
visit panpacific.com, or call +65 6336 8111

For more information, please contact:
Carolyn Goh / Cheryl Ng
Marketing Promotions Manager / Public Relations Manager
Tel: (65) 6826 8092 / 6826 8091
Fax: (65) 6339 1861
E-mail: cgoh@panpacific.com / cng@panpacific.com

Wine Tax in Singapore (revised)

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In this year's Budget speech, the Singapore Finance Minister has announced changes in the liquor tax which will also affect wine taxes. The move would be towards taxing liquors on the basis of alcoholic content, rather than on the basis of volume. Currently beer and stout are taxed on the basis of their alcoholic strength. However, other liquors like wine, whisky, and brandy are still taxed based on volume. With immediate effect, all alcoholic beverages will be taxed on the basis of their alcoholic content.

How does this affect the price of our wines? Based on the table below, not much, only some wines slightly on the higher side. But unlikely to be discerning to the wine consumer.

15% vol (which is the high alcoholic end of wines, e.g. overly ripened Aussie wines) will attract taxes of 15% X S$70 = S$10.50 per litre, compared with S$9.50 per litre currently.

For wines of an average nature, e.g. French Bordeaux with alcholic content ranging from 12-14%, the taxes attracted will be between S$8.40 to S$ 9.80 per litre. Therefore a price revision of at most a dollar both ways. The fluctuations in the Euro or the Aussie dollar would likely to have a high impact than the revision in this tax structure. Overall, the wine tax structure is still competitive compared to countries such as Thailand and HongKong. And hopefully it remains or gets even more competitive, benefitting wine lovers like us!

Well, the assessment above is based on the assumption that the alcohol levels stay within the existing ranges and wine-makers do not jump on the bandwagon of "more alcohol is better" mentality.

Wine Entry : Chateau Prieure Lichine 2000 (French)

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This bottle was purchased from Ponti Wine cellar's sale at $88 instead of the usual price of $108.

Wanted to keep this bottle longer as it was from the celebrated Millennium vintage, but was discouraged to do so due to the lower than usual ullage of the liquid level. Thankfully the wine was still in a good state and I did enjoy the complex oak flavours in this classified growth. Though my family who tried it found it overly wooded.

Smell : Pleasant blackcurrent, rasberry and oak vanilla spice.

Taste: Bursting of flavour, cedar wood and oak. Smooth middle tannins.

After-taste : Nice firm warm lengthy finish. Worth keeping a few more years.

Wine Entry : Hawke's Bay Ice Wine 2004 (New Zealand)

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Dun believe that this bottle is available in Singapore, remembered I got it at the DFS shop in New Zealand Airport, costing me NZ$ 14, which is a steal for an ice wine. We had it at our pre-New Year celebrations at Chin Lee Restaurant in Bedok. Complemented well with the HK-styled steam fish and coffee pork ribs.

Smell : A little closed, touch of lemons, lime and chrysanthemum.

Taste : Lemonade sweetness but direct and not complex. Poor cousin to a Sauternes

After taste : Medium finish but contained peel bitterness.

Description at back of bottle :
Mission Estate Winery has produced wines from the European vinifera varieities for more than 150 years. We have a tradition of sourcing fruit from our vineyards at Church Road, which we have owned for over 90 years. Fruit is also sourced from our vineyards on the Gimblett gravels and other quality grape growing regions around New Zealand. We apply modern and traditional winemaking techniques to produce wines with classic varietal and regional expression. Ripe Chardonnay fruit was used to make this sweet, concentrated wine that shows stonefruit flavours and a long finish.