Wine


Hi Nero

Have you tried Matthew Lang? My FH and I tried a bottle and we decided that it is absolutely unacceptable. We are not real wine drinkers so it is a bit hard to swallow anything too dry, bitter and vinegary. We prefer JP Chenet Cabernet-Syrah which is a bit more pricy though. The best price we have got so far is $19. you can get a sample from NTUC or Liberty. Please let us know if you can find a better price. Thank you.
 
Hi all,

After going thru all the postings, I am quite lost as to which wine cellar provides the best rates as well as service. Could someone help to clarify? I was given the contact of S Cellars by PP and not too sure whether their pricing and services are good. Any comments from existing and past Star C clients? Thanks.
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Hi,

How come champagne is less popular than wines?
I'm planning to serve champagne during the cocktail. Any comments?
 
hi
just wondering whether it sounds ok if say last 3 dishes of the night and u run out of wine?

We have around 35 tables, say 60% of guests might drink wine, is 36 bottles enough? Don't really want to burst the budget and 36 is max we are prepared to go. Ration is like 1 bottle will pour 6 glasses (est).
 
Hi Guest,

I think u dun have to worry too much about the wine. Wine is most of the time served on a first come first served basis. Dun think too much whether it will run out when and how much u are going to get. Just stick to ur budget
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hi,

just wondering is it not nice not to serve wine at a wedding dinner? Instead hard liquor and beer wil b served instead. wat is ur comments?
 
hi kite,

Though red wines are getting popular nowadays, i think there's no problem at all in not serving them in ur banquet.
Your guests still got hard liquor or beer to choose from, no problem one.
 
hi neece,

cos i wil b holding at a hotel n i thought if no red wine or any wine is served, it's like guests wil complain since wine is more popular than beer and liquor? not sure though.
 
Hi kite,
It is not a must to serve wine if u hold in the hotel, i attended those wedding dinners hold in hotels, they oso never serve wine. Guests go for beer or hard liquor, guests never unhappy w/o wine. So don worry.
 
Hi All!

Both FH & Me are absolutely clueless about wine... in fact we both dislike the taste of it but still i would like to serve wine coz most of the younger guests are wine drinkers nowadays. Also, my hotel has waived 48 bottles of wine corkage and hence it's quite a waste if we dun make use of it.

My budget is about $18 & below per bottle... Need all your help to recommend any fairly/reasonably good type/brand of Red Wine available on consignment basis & yet at the same time does not exceed our budget???

Please help... = (
 
hi clare,

wow ur hotel is so nice, wavied 48 bottles. my hotel oni agree to wavie 12 to 24 bottles, so pathetic
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btw which hotel u signed up w?
 
hi clare,

u can try:

You can speak to Johnny from the Provinage on wine consignment.
However,
they have a min. qty tt u have to order before they do consignment. Say
you
are recommended by Sharon.

You can either call or email to him.

Provignage - The Wine Cave, The Sushi Bar, The Beer Bar, The
> > Bottle Shop, The Venue
> > 30 Robertson Quay, Riverside View Service Apts, #01-12
> > (Next to Singapore Repertory Theatre, opposite UE Square)
> > Tel: 68341490 Fax: 67375910
> > Email: [email protected]
> > Mon - Thurs: 6pm - 12am
> > Fri, Sat: 6pm - 2am
 
Thanks Kite~ !
I'm with The Oriental, the co-ordinator is really nice to agree to our request when we ask for the waiver. = P

Will call Johny after work today & update again once i have more info. Thanks again!!! = )
 
asking here a rather dumb question.....what is 'table wine' ? and how is it different from the varietal wines such as merlot / shiraz , etc.
 
By defination, table wine is still wine (not sparkling wine) and usually meant to go with food. But in many loosely used terms, it means "normal" average quality wine for everyday drinking as opposed to good wines.

Merlot, Shiraz are grape types and they usually have different characteristics. Actually, in my opinon, the best all round wine for chinese dinner is Riesling and specifically Riesling with high acidity (German, Austria, French, Oregon). You will not feel the burning sensation even with spicy food. The acid also cuts though the oily food very well. Beside the German wine typically are sweeter and only have 8-9% alcohol, making them appealing to almost all Singaporeans. For reds, the best match to our more delicate chinese food is Pinot Noir (it is also the easiest to appreciate red), but you can hardly find decent Pinot Noir at affordable prices. So most people end up with Shiraz blends because of the lower tannin taste and cheap availablity from Australia. But again, very few Singaporeans can differentiate the good wine from smooth table wines, so don't waste too much money on wines. Your guest will not remember it. If you have a table of people who appreciate good wine, you might plan a special bottle for them instead.
 
hi Ed, my hotel only waived for 24 bottles of wine, subsequent bottles will be $28+++ so i plan to buy fm them but since there's a waiver for 24 bottles, which do u recommend, please provide me the name coz i know nuts abt wine too? I've a low budget, must be below $18. Thanks for the help in advance. U can email me at [email protected]
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Christine

Wats ur budget like?

I m ordering from Parker's Wine - Caliboro Cab Sauv. it's Chilean wine.

So far, I've bn to a few wine dealers, they recm me Chilean Wine.

U may wish to contact 97557843 Meiling for a free wine tasting. She will tel u the price. I m sure the price she quoted is the same, bt bcos of '$$' is rather sensitive, I'd rather choose not to mention in public.

Sorry abt tat.

So far, all the dealers told me nt to get frm the hotel. I 4gotten the explanation, bt it's easier if u can talk to them.

Another one is A+ Wine @ Hitachi Tower, they r also selling Sins Choc, if u know there is this Soup shop @ Raffles Plc, it's just ard the corner. Reasonable price & nice wine. bt a pity slightly abv my budget, if nt I will order them. Most prob I will order frm them a btl or 2 for personal consumption on wkends.
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I m nt a very gd wine drinker bt it just taste nt 2 bad. U may ask for Canepa Cab Sauv & Monthaven - both Chilean wines if I m nt wrong.
 
Hi Christine,

I agree with Ah Ger that if you can get good South American wines, they are worth it. Problem is finding them. If you can find a source, go try it. For Chilean wine if you can find the producer Concha y Toro, they are cheap and good. OK, I have to admit that I don't know the current market prices of the cheaper wines nowadays since I away from Singapore for 1.5 years now, so you have to do your own legwork. My recommendations may be out of your budget because of how much the Sing dollar has dropped compared to 2002. Most of my personal favourite cheapies are already out of budget. But check out any special offers on these.

From Rosemount, choose either Shiraz Cabernet or Grenache-Shiraz (prices seems to be much higher than the $18 I used to get them for). Or Jacob's Creek Shiraz/Merlot/Grenache-Shiraz. Lindemans Shiraz or Penfold's Rawson's Retreat Shiraz Cabernet. If you go Australian, go for Shiraz or Shiraz blends for the best bang for the buck. The recent 2001 and 2002 vintages are also very good for Australia.

From France, even the easy to enjoy Beaujolais wines are out of budget. If you go for the cheaper French wines, try to taste it first. Most Singaporeans are not attuned to French wines.

But again, I believe that price is most important and taste is usually. As long as it taste good and it is cheap, just get it. Since you are unlikely a wine snob, whatever you find taste good will be good enough for most of your guest. Even wine experts will appreciate a smooth wine so don't worry about wine complexity at your price point. In fact, a novice is ideal to tell if a wine is smooth, wine drinkers are too used to the tannins and bitterness. If you find the wine doesn't cause your mouth to plucker up or it is very bitter/sour, it should be easy to appreciate for your guests.

There are some threads in this forum that recommends some shops that caters to dinners. Heard that you can get some really good prices in those places. Don't think you can get wholesale prices from retailers where I used to get most of my wines. Unless you get a recommendation (like from Ah Ger) or special offers.

Finally, not sure how many tables in your dinner. You may not need a lot of wines. I think for my wedding, I offered wines, beer and liquor to mixed guests (mainly family and some friends, some drinkers and others not drinkers), they finished on average 0.5 bottle wine per table and really very little liquor (less than 0.1 bottle per table). Unless you have a lot of guest who are drinkers, a bottle of wine a table should be sufficient. But you have the advantage that the Hotel will always have stocks available.
 
to get gd Australian wines, usually it is nt cheap. Sames goes for French & Chilean or watever wine u r thinking of getting.

I dun really like French also.

I hv a simple calculation here, you gals may wish to try tis out & order, most of the time it's accurate, according to those dealers.

I quote an example - banquet - 300 guests, 60% of them drink (equivalent to 180 guests). On the average each person may drink 1.5 glasses (some may be 2 glasses). Eac btl can pour ard 6 glasses

Therefore 180 x 1.5/6 = 45 btls.

This is just an estimation, so you may want to order 36 btls or 48 btls.

Bt anyway they work on consignment basis, so no need to worry.

Parker's way of selling is min. 10% (can pay thru credit card) x # of btls u order, say each btl is $18 x 45 x 10% = $81 (ard 4.5btls only). Rest of the payment will be done after wedd by cash or cheque only.

If u r confident tat ur guests will finish 20 btls, then just pay 20btls of wine $$ thru credit cards then u can earn pts also.

As for A+, min order is 24 btls. They also wk on consignment basis, even u plc min 24 btls, bt u can request them to bring 48 btls. So if there is any unused btls, they will go & collect back.

If u think ur guests drink wine just for the sake of drinking & nt appreciating wine (which is usually very seldom cos banquet is just drink drink drink & drink, they may even 4get hw it taste like), then dun get so exp wine, less than $18 will b more than enough.

Also another thing to take note is, is ur hotel waiving all btls for u? If nt if each btl's corkage is $15 + $18 = $33, may be abit 2 exp right?

So you may choose nt to bring in so many btls also, try take the limit that hotel gives u, then if finish, then just stop, dun serve already, or else nv ending story. Also try to avoid Merlot cos 2 drinkable tat everybody will kip drinking non-stop.
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Ok, end of my grand-mother story liao, so ti-ta.
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*just sharing w/ everybody wat I was adviced lor.
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hi gals, i'm so grateful to all your advises. thanks alot.. i'll discuss wf my hubby & see what he says, probably he'll juz leave everything to me... stress!
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if anyone of u got good recommendation, please email me [email protected]

i'm catering for 42~45 tables. my budget ard $18 lor, if got cheaper 1 better la.. :P i've got low budget coz my mama is asking for 10 tables & also she's keeping all the ang pow PLUS ping jing she also want, can't neg further wf her liao, final decision made.
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Christine,

^5, my mum asked for 6 tables cos I'm the 2nd liao, bt bride price, we already know hw much she wants, then suckling pig & pigs' trotters everything replc by $$ leh.

So also a large sum.

When is ur AD? No harm calling Parker's, they hv a wide selection of wine.
 
Hi Christine and Ah ger

Me also like ur case, abt 42 tables. Parents may take 10tables and most probably all ang bo n things will be kept by them. Thus all these are factor into cost.

I got my wine at abt S$19. Taste is good. Will write you the contact
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He got a vary of wine.

My AD is coming Oct. Now start to get busy already.

Cheers
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hi Rabbitwsh

me - nt so many tables lah - we cut & cut & cut until left @ most 32 tables, bt still we hv to meet min 30 tables lah.

Hb's the youngest son le, so we said
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or else nv ending story. Besdies we r the ones paying so y shld they interefere on the invite list?

Wats the wine u ordered? Who u order frm? Star Cellar?
 
hi,

btw my hotel only can wavied corkage for 20 bottles of wines. then i thought of not hving wine for my wedding dinner, hv hard liquor n beer only. cos mine is a military wedding, if order Wine, sure very very the siong one cos u know lah.

Btw if never serve wine, do u think it's funny or embarrassed?
Thanks.
 
hi Kite:
If u hv 20 btls of wine, then hw much is the corkage for the 21st btl onwards?

Then mayb u can also ask them hw much will it b if u order frm them?

Perhaps u can still order bt limit to 20btls only, then once finish then u stop.

Hw many tables do u hv? & hw many u 4c will drink? Army ppl usually drink beer & hard liquor, wine usually is brides's frens & colls.

U tried using my calculation on wine - ?? guests x 1.5 glasses/ 6 glasses per btl = ~??? btls req?
 
hi Ah ger,

my hubby tell me his army guy frens mostly drink wine like water. we hv 30 tables but got 10 tables of army guys leh. cos per table already costs $850 excluding wine. is it paiseh not to serve?
 
kite

My hb also said his colls also like tat, tats y he said if I m ordering wine, cater my own grp of frens enough liao.

Do u hv free flow of beer? Does ur hotel/ restaurant allow u to bring in DFS btl? If so, then gan gan buy more btls, cos very cheap. Cheapest - Martell VSOP Medallion only $65, the rest are $68 & abv.

bt I notice, usually during banquets, they wun drink like when they go out for pubbing cos afterall it's a wedd mah. If they really wanna drown ur hb, it would most likely b sometime 2wards end of the dinner le. & if ur old folks also drink, perhaps bring in 6 - 8 DFS btls? Pls also note DFS - 1L, duty paid - 750ml, so 3 DFS btl (3L) can pour into 4 duty paid btls. So if u hv 6 btls then u can hv 8 btls lor.

If the hotel/ restaurant doesn't allow u to bring in DFS btl, u also hv to take into consideration tat if u trsf btls, can they all finish them? Wat if cannot, then hard liquor cannot be opened for so long, will spoil one. tats y I intend to buy ard 4 btls to trsf lor.

It's alright if u dun bring wine lah, bt again, most of the ppl nw will serve wine lor. Hw many tables/ guests u expect to drink wine leh? U try follow the formula abv then u shld agar know. I will prob bring in 36 btls, then any bal hb & I wil kip cos we usually drink wine. Then cheap also mah, so can buy & kip lor. + drink wine is better for health rather than hard liquor which can burn the lungs.
 
zhuzhu,
its leftover bottles of wine from my high tea reception. 16 bottles are still unopen. let me know if u are interested. following is the description.

Provignage Vin De Pays Cornerstone (S) 2003 Blend between the Carignan, Gernache, Cinsault and Syrah, which provides for a deep coloured powerful wine. A slight addition of Merlo and Cabernet Sauvignon intensifies the lovely mellowness, developing an attractive fleshy wine, firm and full of flavour. A generous, soft and fruity red-wine with full body, good colour and an elegant bouquet.

I can fwd the picture of the bottle if u want. Pls adv yr email address.
 
hi Ah ger,

sigh my hotel no free flow of beer, only giving free 30 litre barrel of beer, guess not enough rite if i never bring wine, wil definitely hv to open another barrel of beer n each barrel costs $650+++. my hotel like eat $ one lah. aiya. i thought of getting barrel of beer from outside but not sure got corkage charge anot.

eh we got standby 10 bottles of hard liquor from DFS, wil bring them in.

btw the corkage charge for wine is $17 per bottle if i remember, forget e exact amount. sianz.
 
hi Kite

Def there'll b a corkage charge for beer barrel if u r bringing in. Hw abt u ask them hw much? Cos I know if u take frm outside, 30L if I m nt wrong it's ard $300+?

Hotel charges for beer is ard tat price.

So gd - ur hotel can let u bring in DFS btl. Mine cannot. Ur wine - $17 is nett ot +++? Must ask clearly leh.
 
Hi Ed,
seems you are quite knowledgeable on Australian wines.

Would u have any opinion on the following?

Rothbury Merlot
Rothbury Shiraz
Lindemans Shiraz
Flinders Shiraz

And why do u prefer Shiraz to Merlot? I've heard more people recommend Merlot as more easy to consume.
 
Merlot is nice, bt 2 easy to drink, hence ur consumption will b high.

If u hv budget, either take Shiraz or Cab Sauv. Shiraz, some ppl may nt like cos got abit of peppery taste.
 
Hi Rihini,

I'm not a wine expert, I just happen to drink wine. For the table wine question, I've posted the answer before up there on Aug 18.

You are right that Merlot is indeed easier to drink but Australia excels in Shiraz. So cheap Shiraz from Australia is not neccessary lousy and certainly is less tannic than Cabernet. It is a personal choice. If you expect your dishes to be mild, then it is better to get a blend. And interesting about Australian blends is you get a lot of Shiraz Cabernet blends and less of Merlot blends.

For my wedding, I think the most important thing is to save money. If you feel the same, people do drink less of a fuller bodied stronger tasting wine (and think highly of them). Read Shiraz ? Cabernet ? Unless you buy really lousy wines, 99% of your guest is not going to notice. So don't worry. Of course, if it was my daughter's wedding, I'll make sure she has excellent best wine at her wedding. OK back to your question.

Linderman only has a Shiraz Cabernet blend at the low end, I assume you mean that rather than the Bin or Reserve series (read more expensive). And I assume you mean Flinders Bay (which also is more expensive, what's your budget anyway ??). Rothbury belongs to Beringer Blass and produces their everyday drinking wines. They all look like reliable choices. But I rank
1) Flinder's Bay
2) Linderman
3) Rothbury
And if you can't decide, pick the 2002 vintage.

I know I sound miserly, but which guest is going to come up to you and say, "Gee, I really like the wine you serve. It is a medium bodied wine with hints of dark fruits and matches really well with the food." None my friends can figure if they are drinking one that cost $20 or one that cost $60. So let your budget have the greatest say.
 
Hi Ed,

you sure sound like an expert.
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I was looking at Lindeman Shiraz Bin 59 or Cabernet Sauv Bin 45. Are these considered good? I haven't tried them. Personally tasted Rothbury Merlot and quite like it. Dunno how their Shiraz taste.

What about you? Have you tasted any of these?

Both Lindeman and Rothbury wines are priced similarly and well within my budget. I'm not buying a lot so I still afford something around $23. If I had to buy say 3 crates, I'll go for $16. That's miserly too for you :P
 
Hi ladies,

have u heard of the following wines :-

1) Martins Road Shiraz Cabinet Sauvignon 2001
2) Bin 888 Cabinet Merlot

Both are from Australia.My fren say the first one is quite affordable while the second one is quite good.
 
I hv nt heard of it, bt since the price given out frm those wine dealers r already so reasonable & affordable, I dun c any reason to go & soure for any others already.

They r already w/in my budget. As I dun think it's convenient to reveal the price over here it's best tat u call them up & ask for the pricing.

As always mentioned, if u r willing to pay ard $20 for a btl of wine frm supermkt, I guess if u buy direct frm those wine dealers, $20 u can get a very gd btl of wine which could b selling @ $20+ outside.
 
Hi Rihini,

If you have tried the Rothbury and like it, buy it because you know it is a nice wine. A wine does not a wedding dinner make. You'll have a lot of other planning and work to do for your wedding. So don't spent it all on choosing a wine. Start designing your invitation cards.

All the best.
 

Weekday as in when?

24 btls shld b more than enuf. If u hv no budget then by all means get more wine, since they r on consignment. bt if u wanna ctrl then 24btls is more than enough.

I m also taking 30 or 36 btls max for a Sun bt my wedd is already coming to Xmas liao lah.
 

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