Samui Wine Tasting - SWINES

SWINES wine tasting June 3 2008   Just three SWINES and three hostesses from Willi's Bar made it up the mountain Khao Yai for June's winetasting. This time two wines scored equal first place, a Cab Sav from Gallo (California) and Red Deer (Australia) on 86 points easily beat the Sacred Hill (Aust.) on just 66 pts. After the tastings the SWINES showed their versatility by knocking off two Saeng Som's back at sea level at Bill's Beach Bar
Interrupted by a Safari!
SWINES wine tasting Thursday 22 May
	A group of eight SWINES headed for the mountains for their 38th winetasting. In the majority were three South Africans, visibly wilting and having trouble acclimatising to the Asian humidity. Once in the cool mountain breezes though, their mood changed rapidly and the first five reds were swiftly despatched and then it was back to sea level and the shade of the Na Muang waterfall, where the final tastings were completed at Zorba"s garden restaurant. A good spread of wines resulted in two Aussie reds and a French among the first three.
The May Selection	The winner with 172 pts was a Hardys Cab. Merlot, second a Kressman from France 166 pts and third a Red Deer Cab. Sauv on 155 pts. This scribes vote went to one of the two Argentinian Malbecs, but the SWINES were particularly harsh on them, dropping them to the bottom of the points tally.

Zorba greets the SWINES

SWINES wine tasting – 22 April

A small but enthusiastic group of piss-artists, er…sophisticated wine tasters, gathered at BoPhut on 22 April to undertake the first of many planned offshore wine tastings. Despite Captain Squall’s meticulous planning (hmm….!!), we had to wait some time for a boat and a skipper to transfer us to nearby Koh Som (Good one, ‘Manuel’ Squall!) The group comprised Captain Squall, his brother Roy, Gloria (Roy’s spouse), ‘Colonel’ Alan, South Effrikan Frikkie (and companion), plus Jimmy (Seppo photographer extraordinaire). A guest taster was the stunning Wisa, the lady behind the bar.

The venue was delightful. An open bar with expansive views over the water, cool breezes to sooth our fevered brows, and no jet skis, passing traffic, nor tourists to pollute the environment. A five-star venue, as it turned out.

After some cleansing ales were imbibed, a total of five wines were tasted. To make sure we were kept honest, all wines were masked with newspaper. However, several were wrapped in A4 spreadsheets, others in pages from the Bangkok Post or the International Herald Tribune – dead giveaways to those who wrapped the bottles (and suspectedly, marked accordingly!). Contributors brought not only wine, but also some biscuits, tasty cheeses and cold meats.

The results appear below. But some comments are in order first, from your guest writer.

The Honorary Sommelier for the day, Khun Gloria, excelled herself by expertly uncorking the bottles and pouring samples, (a) without losing one milliliter, and (b) apportioning the wine very democratically. Your scribe noted that some of the tasters were distracted by the comely Wisa behind the bar.

One could be forgiven that their comments regarding ‘bouquet’, ‘taste’ and ‘finish’ were written while eyeballing Wisa, and not concentrating on the vino. And the absence of two participants for a prolonged period after the judging, only to turn up looking flushed and sheepish, merely confirmed our suspicions.

If there was one thing that emerged from this tasting it is that a taster should keep his (or her) options open, and not ‘show your hand’ too early. For example, one taster sniffed, then swirled, then sipped - before he shouted triumphantly “YES!! This is a Margaret River red! A cabernet sauvignon, for sure!” (Not only did he get the grape variety wrong – it was a merlot – but the wine was a budget-priced Italian import!) (Call in another air-strike if you insist, but for crissakes, get the coordinates right!!)

THE RESULTS

1st place. A Charles House Chilean red, 2007 vintage.

2nd place. A Santa Helena Chilean red, 2007 vintage.

3rd place. A ‘Terre Palladiane” Italian Merlot, 2005 vintage

4th place. A Red Deer Cabernet Sauvignon

5th place. A Red Deer Shiraz

Roy Stall Perth, WA 23 April 2008

Koh Som

Saturday 19th April, with storm clouds on the horizon, a hastily arranged winetasting was arranged, this time at the full summit trail, so returning visitors Roy and Gloria Stall could experience the Samui mountains for the first time.

Each time you attempt this trail, it is different each time and now there has been a marked increase in "trail humps" which if not taken slowly, will tear your sump or exhaust out. At the site, the temperature dropped rapidly as the land below became a whiteout and swirling clouds rushed below us.

The six adventurers included two hostesses from Lamai's Willys Bar who seemed quite at home with a glass of wine in their hands.

Results.

1/ A QUEEN ADELAIDE Merlot topped the vote this time (111 pts) just one point ahead of a....

2/ TWO OCEANS Sth African Merlot (110 pts) with the.....

3/ RED DEER Merlot last (104).

Hairdo at 2,000 Feet	Up in the clouds
Dolly as Chicken Man	Lunch

9th April, four bold SWINES ventured up to Samui's 600 m. plateau for their 35 th wine tasting, this time treating the Lamai based MERMAID BAR, to a picnic with some farang intellectuals, mainly to survey if there is any relief from the heat up on the high Samui plateau. Well, we decided hot air rises, yes it was still hot, we still required tree shade, but the breeze was decidedly much cooler .

 
Dolly samples the caviar

The final results were:-

1st, a FERNGROVE Merlot from Franklin River, S.W. West Australia 114 pts

2nd, TWO OCEANS, a Cab. Sav. from South Africa 108 pts

3rd, CHARLES HOUSE from Chile 104 pts

4th CARLO ROSSI, California. The two top wines were priced around Baht 450

But 3rd placed CHARLES HOUSE for Baht 250 was judged the best value.

The four SWINES, seven girls and the mandatory ladyboy, were all back at sea level by 4pm and once again Dolly Solley lost his digital camera.

Fri. 17 Mar. Winetasting no. 34.

At last a sunny day as the Swines, seven men, two ladies and a katoey, made their way up the mountain at midday.

This tasting was at a new site, a fairly large clearing beside the dirt road in a durian farm, over looking the bays and islands to the South.

Once again, the two cute little waifs found us within minutes and once again the drunk grandma came and shoo ed them back home.

Some three hours later we had a winner and it was new member Aussie Bill who, once again swept the points with a high scoring Aussie red, Red Deer, beating the South Africans and France.