The battle of the bottles

Normally, when I receive an invitation to go to Manila, the first thing I do is find an excuse not to go. Really! Going to Manila and back home to Pampanga has been taking a toll on me lately, especially when the affair drags way past my bedtime. My gouty knees and bad back often whine from the wining and dining. Oh, such occupational hazards!

But you see, just a week before, I searched high and low for a bottle of wine in our poorly stocked pantry – how I wish I could say cave, one of those temperature-controlled refs where you keep wines. Only then did I realize that we opened the last bottle when Mary Ann had her birthday dinner party just days before.

I had no choice but to eat the smoked tanguingue from Peninsula’s Exclusivites with a can of diet soda. I poured us the chilled soda in wine glasses filled with ice. I really like it quite strong and abrasive on the throat. Taking a sip of it with my eyes closed, I declared, "This is an acidic red wine on the sweet side, without the taste of fruit or bouquet, but bubbly enough to pass for a sparkling."

Mary Ann coquettishly giggled. "Oh, come on, admit it. You are just envious of those wine connoisseurs with a cave in their homes, with a budget to stock it to boot," she said.

And maybe she was right, I must admit.

But even in my sober mood, I cannot comprehend how one wine can be described as having the aroma of a cigar box, while another bottle is said to have the aroma of tobacco leaf. And to think that I don’t smoke, and I detest the smell of cigarette smoke! On the day I come across wine that is described as reeking of cigarette butt (My foot! Why not kachichas for a change, pun intended?), I swear I’ll stick to my diet soda forever, and shove the bottle up their @$$es! Though such detailed appreciation is admittedly beyond my league, nevertheless I enjoy wine with my food.

Just this month alone, I received invitations from three different wine importers to try their new lines of wines. Isn’t it a good sign of the times that Filipinos have come of age when it comes to appreciating wine? The availability of wines on the local market is just amazing, both in terms of variety from old and new world producers, and the price range that makes them affordable. Of course, there are wines and there are pseudo-wines, simply grape juices in fancy labeled bottles.

I still remember a time in the early ’70s when the only wines available on the market (PX to boot) were the California Gallo, Portuguese Mateus Rose, and the Italian Chianti in those round straw-covered bottles. We’ve really come a long way.

During the time I was searching for a bottle of wine in my pantry, I received a phone call from Mimi Reyes of Werdenberg Intl. Corp., the company that brought us Santi’s Deli, that gastronome’s treasure trove of a store) inviting me to try some of the award-winning wines from the Ventisquero Winemakers of Chile at a wine-pairing dinner at the Peninsula’s Old Manila. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I jumped at the invite to make up for the sparkling soda Mary Ann and I had that night. The downside was I had to don a formal jacket but sans the tie given the venue. (I’m getting the hang of it with the frequency of these formal dinners.) The finer things in life come with a price, I had to console myself.

The six-course dinner prepared by German chef Tobias Gensheimer started with a scallop/prawn fricassee bathed in cucumber butter. This cold appetizer, served in a chilled cocktail glass, was so subtle (a tad too bland, if you ask me), but when taken with the chilled Ventisquero Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2003 (an award-winning wine in Chile, France, and UK competitions), the dish’s full sea flavor was heightened. This trend followed the rest of the dinner, with chef Tobias’ dishes being somewhat bland initially – intentionally so, I imagine – but when paired correctly with a particular wine, some chemistry just worked, each complementing the other.

The second bottle introduced was a Ventisquero Chardonnay Grand Reserva 2003, another white with a golden, yellow color with the intense aromas of tropical and citrus fruits. It went very well with the terrine of duck foie gras.

Next was Grey Carménére 2002, another gold medallist at Chile’s national wine competition. It was paired with a mildly smoked Chilean sea bass with braised eggplants and Grey Carménére-flavored butter. This deep, ruby red wine had a somewhat leathery taste to it (one of those love it or hate it wines), with the aroma of blackberries and notes of black pepper. This, together with the next three deep ruby wines, is part of a suite named after the Grey glacier towers in southern Chile. The Grey Merlot 2001, that has aromas of prune and black fruit with traces of vanilla, was served with a slow roasted Bresse pigeon breast.

The third Grey, a Cabernet Sauvignon 2001, was served with a gratinated beef tenderloin with braised veal cheeks (so tender) and cepes mushrooms, a very classical big-wine, big-meat pairing. The last of the suite was a spicy shiraz, somewhat intense on the palate with the aromas of wild fruit, black pepper, vanilla, tobacco (uh oh!), and spices. It was served with an aged Gruyere cheese with fresh fig, olive and nut salad. Dinner was capped with a hot chocolate fondant with wild berries and iced champagne foam.

The best wines from Chile, according to Citadelle du Vin, that prestigious international wine competition held yearly since 1992 in Bordeaux, France, comes from the Maipo Valley in Central Chile, which is famous for its Mediterranean climate. It seems like the perfect area for grape growing, immune to diseases from the outside world because of its geographic isolation by formidable barriers – the Andes Mountains on its eastern flank, the Atacama Desert in its northernmost area, and the Pacific Ocean on its western side.

Vina Ventisquero (which means "glacier" in Spanish) was born only in 1998 as a new challenge of the Agrosuper Holding, a world leader in agro-industry, giving birth to its first plantations of grapes and the building of a modern winery. Yet in such a short span of time, it has garnered several international awards with its wines, confirming its commitment, and the high quality and consistency of its products. Its Carménére Reserva 2003 was voted as Chile’s best wine and earned the highest distinction of the Citadelles Trophy at the Citadelle du Vin 2005 in Bordeaux. Its judging panel was comprised of 60 specialists who tasted 1,353 wines from 30 countries. And that calls for a toast!

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Ventisquero wines are available at all Santi’s outlets.