Associated Info: "THE GRAPEVINE"

SAMUI YACHT CLUB REGATTA

Samui Wine Tasting - SWINES SWINES Grapevine Updated: Thursday February 25, 2010

Wines Decanted	Winetasting Number 72 saw our largest group of SWINES ever, numbering ten tasters and including returner "Alien" Weber and brother Mike, three newbies from the Pirates Bikers Club and the vivacious Countess Andrea of Lichenstein.
Countess Andrea	The host Ken Quertermass kindly offered his new villa at Pangka for the tastings and also provided a sumptuous buffet of cold cuts and home made breads.
	Ken also proposed that the wines be de cantered and then presented and this proved very successful and also hid the identity of the winre to be sampled. The SWINES responded to the task with relish and soon small red stains began to appear on people's shirts and the score sheets covered in red blotches.
Stained Scoresheet	The final scores were First Santa Loretto Chile 260 points, Second The Pump, Australia and Third Entres Valle also from Chile on 250 pts.
	Write up of Winetasting No.72 by Alien "All of the many participants were confused by the date on the score sheets November 2010 and only six spaces for six wines (we had ten), so consequently Squall has been shunted aside and Brian appointed to draw up a new score sheet by the Ombudsman Alien. Mike was overheard to remark "this wine has no after tang" Could this be a new criteria ? "Youv'e been tanged" Time was taken to decide if Neil was wearing again the same shirt as he wore in November's winetasting. Scroll down Grapevines records and yes there he is with that very same shirt ! Ken suggested we now decanter the wines and donated two decanters to the Society. Alien poured some of wine No.6 into Squalls wine No.5 and the result brought toys and prams to mind. A great day and location and special thanks to Ken's wife's freshly baked bread"

Monsieur Jaques	Winetasting No.71 featured just Four SWINES including newbie Hawaiin Max.
Cap'n Solley's Ghaddafi Bodygaurds	Once again the girls let us down and we were left with three of the third category and only one lady.
Swines, safe and alone	Never mind, on up the mountain to the rest house where we swiftly knocked over three reds instead of four, because Captain Solley did not contribute as "he gets too pissed at altitude".
Khun Paywa	Winner was Big Red from Hillstone Grove, 2nd Sydney One also from Hillstone Grove and 3rd Domaine Du Grand Saint Andre.

	With the return of Bon Vivant adman Rob Sherlock and his son Zac; SWINES winetasting no.70 was held on the Khao Yai mountain ridge and the lucky winners of The SWINES Humanitarian Award were three lasses from Lamai's Bernie's Bar who were invited to join.
	Capt. Solley got the dates wrong again so it was just a full truck load that headed out after picking up the usual som tam and grilled chicken for the girls.
	On the ascent we were met by a never ending stream of pickups heading down loaded with newly picked durians, making for a lot of tight passes, but once on the ridgeline, the going was easier.


	SWINES outing No.69 was the last of the year and was held at Na Muang Waterfall with guest sampler from Singapore Paul Lancaster. .
	Newly arrived pixies from Barnies Bar enjoyed their first visit to the waterfall


The SWINES decided to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a winetasting beside the sea, so five members gathered at Tradewinds where Capt. Solley prepared the canapes,
Tradewinds a full roast turkey and newcomer Yank Jim, the desserts.Big Roy the other Seppo was in full swing and sank the wines with barely a swallow.
Just three reds were sampled and from a possible 160 points, the Jacobs Creek Shiraz was an easy winner with 121 pts. from a Carlo Rossi with 114 and a Mathew Lang Shiraz scoring only 113.
Beach Distraction	Beach Distraction

Winetasting 66 With the NE Monsoon settled in at last and 3 m. waves rolling up to the steps, four SWINES decided on a tasting of three reds with the host sponsoring a lamb shoulder lunch. This time all agreed and gave top points to the Jacobs Creek Greenach Shiraz 2008 with 114 points from a possible 160, then second was an Alma De Chile Cab Sav. and third a Santa Helena Merlot. Cheers to the Tradewinds chefs for a superb lunch and Roger for the dessert.

Stormy weather	This has been a very active week for the SWINES and began Monday with storms rolling in from the sea, a small group of diehards opted for a pie tasting at Tradewinds. Ironically all three offered reds came from Chile with two identical Alma De Chile bottles one costing B330 (2007) and the other B480 (2008) but of different vintages and the more expensive bottle was far superior. Highlight of the day was The Singing Ice Cream Vendor.
\| Why I forget things	Then on Wednesday two SWINEs hosted a seafood lunch for wayward girls at Ban Thong Krut, where two excellent Sauv. Blancs were tasted.
\| Singing beach vendor	Thursday, eight SWINES were hosted at Brian's luxurious seaside villa on Pangka Bay. 8 bottles line up looked a forbidding task, but as Ken explained, with each getting a quarter glass, the bottle was soon done for. During the second bottle and gaffe of the day, Squall noticed a lady in the distance quaffing a glass and remarked "I say Brian I didn't think your maid drank wine !" to which came the reply, "thats not my maid, that's my wife !"
Swines largesse	The SWINES by now well tuned palates had correctly agreed wine no.4 Visan from France with 235 points from a possible 320 the winner followed by Bushmills Creek from OZ with 220 pts. and all marked the Peter Vella the worst with just 109 pts.
The best and the worst	This 65th tasting saw an Ombudsman appointed who duly noted at 1412 Alec broke the first glass, at 1428 Ken lectured the class that Worcester sauce was based on anchovies and at 1449 Bob from Samui Mountain Village knocked over the first glass of water.
Brian the host	All at work

	Winetasting No.63 only just got underway with mass cancellations from the two Lamai bars invited as none of the girls had awoke by midday, so it was decided by just three stalwarts to hold it at the Na Muang Waterfall" From a possible 120 points the Two Oceans Shiraz scored 90 just pipping the Sydney One Merlot on 86 pts."
	A larger crowd assembled for Wintasting No. 64 but once again the females had slept in. With two new SWINES Brian Goddard and Ken Quartermass and the return of Adrian, we headed for the mountains in two pickups. With Squall's Navarra developing a slipping clutch and Ken's flat tyre, it was decided not to be too ambitious, so we settled for a nearby resthouse near The Peak Restaurant.
	With Squall's Navarra developing a slipping clutch and Ken's flat tyre, it was decided not to be too ambitious, so we settled for a nearby resthouse near The Peak Restaurant.
	This time a well stocked table of breads, meats and cheese was set up and the blind tastings began. It was during the second bottle that Brian commented, "Next time I will bring my Somali along, he'll show you a thing or two". Hearing this, all the SWINES had furrowed brows, each one thinking WTF ! They're those scrawny dark f---ckers who pirate ships aren't they ?
	Well it took Brian's mate Ken a few seconds to understand what he meant was a Sommelier ! Tastings complete, it was back down the mountain to the Bikini Bar to tabulate the results. From a possible 200 points Ken's Hardy Crest won with 153 pts. followed by Brian's cheap Mont Clair with 131 pts, Adrians Napuche from Chile and Alec's Long Neck. This time the most expensive wine at Baht 490 won but Brians Mont Clair at Baht 295 was by far the best value."


Cap'n Solley	Winetasting no.62 included 3 newbies not only to SWINES, but they also had never been up the mountains before. The SWINES had only just laid out the lunch table and the wines when a large storm front moved in, but luckily the abandoned restaurant provided perfect shelter as the clouds swirled around us and the temperature plummeted to shivering stage.
Whiteout	As the winetasting progressed, Andreas from Lichenstein managed to break the same glass twice but was forgiven, as she did bring the most expensive bottle of wine. Bob and Sylvia from Samui Mountain Village drove behind with their own 4WD pickup, Sylvia showing a flair for the rough roads. Wine no.1 was marked down by everyone, Alan even tossing his with the jibe, “Life’s too short to be drinking bad wine” .
Shelter	He could afford to be cocky as his wine “Tyrone Estate” from Australia scored first, then an old favourite “Two Oceans” second, Andrea’s expensive “Peter Lehman Clancy’s” was third and the Argentinian “Fuzion” last.
Uncovered	Back on to the trail after the storm passed, it was in to Woodlands for a palate cleansing ale and then stopping at The Ghost House where we were outnumbered 5 to 1 by Lao Kao drinking farmers and found some new friends.


	Monday 14th September 6 SWINES gathered at Tradewinds for their 61st winetasting, once again our Kiwi guests bailing out at the last moment (what an unreliable race of people they are). Two new guests John Everingham and Chris Ryan never having been up the Samui mountans before, the old guard decided to drive to the old viewpoint site where the abandoned restaurant was sited.
	As usual, Alan Solleys navigation skills got us off to a bad start as we overshot his chicken BBQ stall and had to U turn whereby we were then closer to the Na Muang ascent road than the Lamai trail which we had intended. Not to fear, this turned out to be a good decision as we found much of the dirt road had been paved and we were soon laying out the glasses, wine and snacks at the old abandoned wooden picnic tables.
	5 wines were tasted and Alec's South African Flamingo Bay scoring 190 from a possible 240 won the day. 2nd with 162 pts was John Ev's Four Rivers from Chile followed by Chris's Spiny Back Merlot. Suitably Alan's Plaisir, a vin de table was caned, scoring just 110 pts.
	During the descent, the group stopped off at Woodlands, where Alan showed off his language skills by telling one of the waitresses "I love you" in Cambodian and to his surprise got an answer back in the same language. Then down to The Haunted House, to find the old owner had restarted his fruit orchard and cold beers were served by his pretty daughter, who apparantly had never seen farangs in the flesh before.
	Alan's bottom scoring wine, the vin de table, was lowest scored by all the judges except Alan who gave it 2nd highest ! Could he have recognised his own wrapping and thus gave his wine an overly generous score ? Disciplinary action is being considered and the need of an independent wrapper is ever more required.
	First the stem, then later the bowl