WTN: Manila offline with Ramon Cabrera

NY based WLDG member Ramon Cabrera was in Manila for a few days last week. Despite our rather hectic schedules, we managed to meet up for dinner last Wednesday at Johnny’s Le Buffet Restaurant at the Airport Casino. Johnny made sure the buffet that night would be wine-friendly so there was pizza, a pasta bar, baked fish and a special goat stew. It was agreed there would be no theme to the wines, just bring whatever you want.

Domaine Emilian Gillet Macon-Vire Quintaine 2002 – My contribution. Made by J. Thevenet. Rather sweet fruit on the nose. Stony. A bit green. Dry, crisp finish. Ok but nothing special.

Charles Melton Nine Popes GSM 2003 – Brought by Arnie. Corked aroma but tasted OK. The corkiness blew off after extended airing. Oaky but well balanced. Smooth, chocolatey. Easy to drink. Tastes aged. Probably not showing full potential due to cork problem.

Decoy 2003 – Contributed by Johnny. By Duckhorn. Very fine. Spicy. Still a bit of tannin. Sweetish but has a good deal of acid to make it food-friendly. Nice.

The next 3 wines were all courtesy of Ramon.

Clos de Papes Chateauneuf du Pape 2004 – Cream/milk nose. Smooth sweet fruit. Menthol and chocolate. Later, curry spice. Tannic and dry in the long finish. Impressive, easy to drink.

Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape 2004 – Odd bubblegum nose at first then lovely scent of violets. Dry, elegant, dried herbs. Good complexity and finesse. Young and tannic but an outstanding wine with the goat stew. Easy to drink. Great stuff and unanimous WOTN.

Pride Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2004 – Oaky, Coca-Cola nose. Sweet and smoky but has an obvious acidity. Medium –bodied. The oak is intrusive not only on the nose but also on the palate. A bit woody. This hasn’t come together yet. Angular. Needs a few years in the cellar, I think.

We finished with a very good Dutschke Liqueur Tokay from Arnie.

Ramon says he should be back in Manila sometime in February so we have plenty of time to plan the next offline.

Hi Jay,

Thank you and the gang for the get together in spite of the horrendous city-wide traffic that evening. It was good to see you, Johnny, Arnie and Helen, again.

Also, thank you for your notes.

Here are some of my notes:

2002 Dom. Emilian Gillet Quintaine, Bourgogne
I’m totally unfamiliar with this producer (actually, as with most in the Burgundy area), but this light straw wine had slight fizz, some mineral component, decent fruit and was refreshing to start with especially after just battling congested traffic.

2003 Nine Popes, Charles Melton, Barossa Valley
Some lushness, medium body, but dries out at the finish. Could be corked.

2003 Decoy, Duckhorn Vineyards, Napa Valley
Very fruity and light-drinking red. I didn’t get much in terms of complexity and structure.

2004 Clos des Papes, Chateauned De Papes Rouge
It’s the 2nd time that I’ve had this and this started with some slight tartness but morphed into the well-structured wine that I remembered it to be with notes of garrique, earth, the firm tasty Grenache, and a fine wine to drink with food. I’m not familiar enough with whether and when the bottlings from this producer will close, but this one, imho, looks to be near its closing phase.

2004 Chateau Beaucastel CdP Rouge
This one embodies what I would think of as a sexy wine. It was nicely-drinking with layers of fruit in the middle and notes of spices, garrique and meat. At this point, I liked this better than the Clos des Papes.

2004 Pride Mountain Reserve Cabernet
This was very tannic, oaky, big bodied with some decent blue fruit, vanilla, tea, and chocolate. I can’t tell where this wine is headed with additional bottle aging, but I’ve had better Pride Reserve from earlier vintages at similar age from release.

Ramon

thanks for the notes, especially the '04 CdPs.