Bill Stone of the International Wine and Food Society, Manila Branch, asked me to help out in organizing the Society's September function; a game dinner at Cafe Ysabel. I was tasked to suggest some wines for pairing and to organize a lunch to see if the wines would go with the food.
We had close to 20 bottles before us and, after some discussion, decided not to open about 10 which, for one reason or another, we felt would not be appropriate for the dinner.
Among those we tasted were:
Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve 2005 - Very slight sweetness. A little fat and oily but finishes smoky and crisp. Good length. A slam dunk with the ostrich liver pate.
Schloss Lieser Riesling Kabinett 2007 - Spritzy. Kerosene. Apples and grapes. Very bright and light. Excellent. Chef Gene determined that this would make a good pairing for the pigeon salad.
Madiran Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes 1996 - Very earthy, soft and very dry. Great persistence of flavor. I found it fully mature and, by itself, I did not think it would be able to match the wild boar sausage which was rather strong, but it did its work admirably. This started out with subtlety on the palate but it picked up and built on the flavors of the food, with mostly spices and herbs coming through. A wine that needs food to shine.
Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo 2005 - In hindsight, I should have had this decanted earlier. Sweet on the nose but with sour cherry and raspberry on the palate. The acidity seemed rather shrill at first but letting it sit in the glass for 30 minutes developed more weight and fruit so that the acidity was covered up somewhat. More meaty and sweet as it sat in the glass. A modern Barolo. Although it got richer with time, still not enough weight to go with the food. This didn't make the cut, unfortunately.
Chateau Phelan Segur 2002 - Smoky, full, substantial wine. Chinese preserved plums. Good length. We decided to go with this rather than the Barolo.
Many thanks to Gene for accommodating us at lunch!