A few photos of what I woke up to this morning. Love a good thunder storm! A Saturday Morning Storm Singapore Style!!
Saturday Morning Storm Singapore Style
2016 September Brown Bag
The first Brown Bag Wine Night for a very long time was held at the Singapore Tower Club 06 Sep 2016.
What is a Brown Bag Wine Night?
The Singapore version of the Brown Bag Wine Dinners is basically a night of the Wine Options Game, the game rules are provided at the end of this post, where each attendee brings a “masked” bottle to share that meets the theme criteria. The owner of the wine will then ask the table questions about their wine in accordance with the rules of the Wine Options Game. By “masked” I mean that the wine is hidden in a “Brown Bag” or, as they are not so easy to come by in Singapore, wrapped in alfoil.
Wine Options nights are lots of fun and informative, even more so when everyone brings their “A” game like on this night.
The Theme
The theme, selected by Robert Rees of Wine Exchange Asia the Chair Person of our group, this month was meant to be Australian Cabernet that are from regions that have a cooler climate than the Coonawarra of South Australia. Luckily a few of the attendees were not so attentive and only read Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon and bought along a few great Coonawarra Cabs.
My favourite wines on the night were:
- 1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon Magnum
- 1996 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
- 1980 Brokenwood Coonawarra, South Australia, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Cabernet Sauvignon Hermitage Magnum
- 2002 Clarendon Hills Hickinbotham Cabernet Sauvignon
To be honest all the wines on the night were very good, but if I have to choose these were my top four.
There was no standout favourite on the night but both the Riddoch and the 707 being discussed the most at the end of the night, so I guess they could be considered the top two, although, IMHO, the Brokenwood should have been added to the mix as it was also outstanding. For more
Aug 2016 Wine Reviews
Below are my notes on the wines that I was lucky enough to taste on Singapore National Day 2016. Thanks to my friends for sharing so many great wines!
What have you been tasting?
From this batch my favourites are the:
- 1994 Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 1 Sémillon
- 2001 Zema Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2005 Mr Riggs Shiraz
- 2002 Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz
- 1999 Veritas Winery Hanisch Vineyard Shiraz
- 1933 Seppelts Para Vintage Port
The disappointment of the night was the:
- 1970 Marchesi Villadoria Barolo Riserva Speciale DOCG
2016 Singapore National Day Fireworks
Another year has flown by, time for the 2016 Singapore National Day Fireworks. 2016 is the first year that the Singapore National Day Parade was held in the new(ish) Singapore National Stadium. This year’s parade was definitely a lower key event than last year’s 50th Anniversary, no Military Parade or Flypast, IMHO, this years fireworks were better than last years. Luckily for me my balcony is a perfect location to watch them from.
Hope you like the photos. For more
Singapore Elderton Command Vertical 2016
Recently Wine Exchange Asia held a vertical of Elderton Single Vineyard Command Barossa Valley Shiraz where we were lucky enough to taste a vertical of vintages 1999 through 2007 inclusive.
I am a big fan of Command and Elderton wines, so was really looking forward to this. It was an interesting night, made more so because of a fire in Boat Quay on the day of the tasting, which meant a late change of venue. Both Wine Exchange Asia and the venue, Boomerang, did a great job to accommodate the late change of notice.
Gaggan Bangkok July 2016 – Another Awesome Meal
For the second time this year, check out my previous post, my friends and I were lucky enough to secure another booking at Gaggan in Bangkok. Second time around it was also an awesome meal, made even more so by being sat at a table in front of the kitchen followed by a surprise visit by Gaggan Anand himself at the end of the dinner.
The menu has changed a fair bit from last time, which made it more interesting. There were a number of dishes that polarised the table, there was not much in the way of middle ground, so there was a lot of debate, which was fun. It also helped that there were a couple of Chefs at the table, including Frank Kilian one of the Singapore Tower Club’s Executive Chefs, so he was educating me as we went. For more
