This year's last event for the Manila Chapter of the Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs was a BYOB dinner last night at Johnny's Le Buffet Restaurant at the Casino Filipino. The menu included mussels and clams in a vermouth broth, roasted peppers with a cod stuffing, Filipino goat stew on risotto milanese, and panna cotta. Everyone brings at least one bottle they think will go with a dish.
As I arrived early to help out with the seating arrngements, I was able to enjoy one of the wines I brought while chatting with Johnny:
Celler de Capcanes Cabrida 2001 - From Montsant, Spain, 100% Garnacha. Starting to brown at the edge. Roast meat with an earthy edge on the nose. Spicy and dry with prominent acidity. Some nutmeg and clove. Good length and coarse tannins on the finish. High alcohol at 14.5% but only very slight heat. Rather old-fashioned wine. Probably not to everyone's taste but I thought it was good although could probably use another year or so of cellaring.
With dinner we started with several whites:
Donnafugata Vigna di Gabri 2002 - 100% Ansonica. Silky, medium-weight. A slight sweetness on the attack. Quite nice and worked well with the mussels.
Oremus Dry Tokaji 2003 - Not much on the nose. This has a rich mouthfeel that makes you expect something sweet but ends very dry. Has some citrus character. Quirky but nice.
Domane Wachau Gruner Veltliner Steinfeder 2006 - Fragrant. Lemony. Easy gentle wine. Good quaffer.
Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett 2006 - Slightly spritzy. Apple cider flavor. Light sweetness with good acidity. Rather long finish. Very good with the stuffed peppers.
Sauvion Rose d'Anjou 2005 - Another good match for the stuffed peppers. Color of old rose. Quite sweet. Picnic wine. Simple. Another quaffer.
On to the reds for the goat stew:
Seghesio Old Vine Zinfandel 2003 - Coffee, mocha. Restrained sweetness on the palate with a dry finish. Quite spicy with good acidity making it one of the more food-friendly zins I've tried. Very good and, if I recall right, the favorite red at our table.
Susana Balbo Malbec 2005 - Very dry and slightly woody. Quite tannic. Needs time although the strongly-flavored stew was a good match.
Ventisquero Carmenere Reserva 2003 - Right away a vile stench assaulted my nostrils! Sulfur, burnt rubber, something rotten. Disgusting. Oddly enough, out of 12 of us at the table, only 2 of us thought it was awful. Most of the the others did get a whiff of something wrong but for them it wasn't strong and was buried under more pleasant aromas of coffee etc. I made sure it wasn't the glass as I poured a second serving into a new glass and also smelled the wine from the glasses of the other guests. The wine didn't taste flawed but when the vapors came back up, it was enough to make you gag.
Too bad the Ventisquero was the last wine I tried so to erase the the wine from my palate I finished with a very good 10 year old Glenmorangie.