Craft Beer Tasting Event in KL

Have you ever tried craft beer?

  
What a great way to start this year! Wine Talk and La Bodega have organized the first craft beer tasting event to start 2016 with fun and discovery.

Wine Talk encourages you to bid goodbye to watered down, soulless beer and begin your journey with craft beers which is really, beer with flair! Craft beer may sound like something new to some of us but it has been around for a long time, decades or even a century in the U.S.

But you might be wondering what makes craft beers so special. Craft beers are independently produced in small amounts using mostly traditional methods. Craft beer makers or craft breweries pay more attention to the details of the production. You can expect more depth in taste and flavor, less calories, higher alcohol levels and a wide variety of beer styles; allowing you to discover your preferred brew.  

Craft Beers have an amazing, beautiful range of types. Blonde ale? Amber ale? Red ale? Sound so good and tempting. 
different-types-of-craft-beer

If you want to discover more about craft beers or if you have already started enjoying them, join this upcoming craft beer tasting. You’ll get to try 10 different craft beer labels and discover amazing beer flavours that you've never enjoyed before! 

When: 
23rd Jan 2016, Saturday, starts at 3:00pm, ends around 4:30pm

Where:          
La Bodega Lounge, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar, KL

Range:           
Pale Lager, Blonde Ale, Pale Ale / Indian Pale Ale, Stout

Price: RM110 - Early Bird, RM120 - Normal / Walk-In 
  • Limited tickets available 
  • Light canapes will be served 
  • Guests also get early access to pre-CNY deals, lucky draws and loads of fun!





Champagne Tasting with Maison Moet & Chandon in KL

Something like this should not be missed...

moet_chandon_champagne_tasting


Oh, how we love the beautiful sparkles and bubbles of Champagne. Not to be confused with just any other bubbly, Champagne is a sparkling wine produced from grapes grown specifically in the Champagne region of France. Champagne is typically more expensive than other sparkling wines here mainly because it is considered a luxury item.

moet-chandon-champagne-flute-glasses-cheers
(image from moet.com)
And who wouldn’t know of one of the world’s largest Champagne producers in the world, Moët & Chandon? This iconic bottle has been gracing celebrations, happy moments, weddings, parties and car races all over the world!

Moet & Chandon, together with Wine Talk Malaysia, will be hosting a Champagne tasting session on 21st October 2015, 3:00pm at Neo Tamarind Kuala Lumpur. Early Bird tickets are available for purchase now, limited seats available. You’ll enjoy tasting of 4 variants of Moet & Chandon Champagne with Maison Moet & Chandon Brand Ambassador, Pierre-Louis Araud. If you are a true lover of Champagne, you wouldn’t want to miss this exclusive experience!

Moet & Chandon Champagne Tasting


Purchase your tickets HERE or call 1300 88 9788. Tickets are in limited availability.

Early Bird Tickets - RM199
Normal Price - RM250

moet-chandon-champagne-in-gold-bucket-christmas
(image from moet.com)

different_variants_moet_chandon






Mateus Rose Wine - A 'Pink' That I Love

Who said you need expensive wine to enjoy wine?

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal 
  
I am not easily convinced to buy low-priced wines that I haven’t tried before. Not that I’m a snob but I believe that I cannot expect an RM40 bottle to taste good enough, unless of course you just simply want alcohol in your mouth and down your throat. It wouldn’t hurt much to add another RM15 – RM20 if you really want to have an enjoyable wine. And for more experienced wine lovers, they’d even add several hundred (or thousands) more to please their tastes.

For us who are still learning to appreciate wine, we can stick to a price range of RM55 – RM90 and I just discovered a new beautiful wine, which is surprisingly only RM58!

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal

Grape: Baga Blend
Type: Rose wine
Origin: Portugal
Vintage: Non-Vintage
Flavour: Sweet
Body: Light
Cork? Nope, screw cap
Price: RM58.30 with GST
Where to buy:
Supermarkets, Jason’s or via www.winetalk.com.my


What caught my eye was the unusual whiskey-like shape of the bottle. How often do you see something like this in a wine shop? I’ve never heard of this wine before and after some digging online, I was surprised to find a lot of interesting facts about this wine brand.

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal-glass-bottle

Mateus Rose is the first product of the Sogrape Vinhos S.A., a Portuguese winery founded in 1942 by Fernando van Zeller Guedes. Sogrape continued to produce quality wines with its style while it also expanded through acquisitions, diversifying into other areas of the Portuguese wine industry. By 1980s, Sogrape has succeeded to become the largest wine producer in Portugal. And it started with this wine that I’m enjoying now…

I just love the light, sweet flavour of this wine. Very easy to drink (and finish the whole bottle myself). Check out the light fizz of this wine.

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal


mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal

Some interesting facts via Wikipedia:
  • The Mateus Rose was among the brands found stockpiled in the vaults of Saddam Hussein’s palaces
  • The Mateus brand was mentioned in the lyrics of the 1973 Elton John song entitled ‘Social Disease’


When I first saw this bottle, I took a while trying to see if it really was rose wine inside. The bottle color is green and it hides the real color of the wine. But there’s great news. According to its brand site at www.mateusrose.com, there will be a clear glass version of the Mateus rose! I wonder when it will reach our shores…

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal-clear-bottle
Mateus Rose Wine in clear glass bottle (photo from mateusrose.com)

mateus-original-rose-wine-portugal-in-glass
Mateus The Original Rose Wine (photo from mateusrose.com)


Tasting Notes via www.winetalk.com.my
Mateus is an iconic Portuguese wine, created in 1942 and has been one of the most popular wines in the World. Mateus Rosé Original is a light, fresh, young and slightly sparkling wine; a rosé with a very appealing and bright hue, it is a fresh and seductive wine with fine and intense bouquet and all the joviality of young wines. In the mouth, it is a well balanced and tempting wine, brilliantly complemented by a soft and slightly fizzy finish.

For more beautiful, pink/rose wines, you can visit https://www.winetalk.com.my/all-wine/type/rose.html

To know more about the brand Mateus, please visit the brand site at



Viu Manent Secreto White Wine - Viognier

Beautiful Chilean white wine to enjoy after (or during) a busy day…

white-wine-viu-manent-viognier-2013

I got interested to try this white wine last year because of its interesting, fun, cool label. It is a rare occasion to find an artistic figure, somewhat cartoon-style image on a label of wine, after years of getting acquainted with mostly texts and vineyard-inspired sketches on a bottle. You might not see something like this easily on an Old World wine, which makes me even more interested to discover New World wines even if the former has earned its reputation for century-old experience in winemaking.

I love white wines and have been lately learning to enjoy more rosés. This Viu Manent white wine from its Secreto range is a Viognier. It has a light, fresh yellow color. I’m not an expert in describing the taste, see tasting notes below taken from online wine delivery site, but what I do know is I like its flavor, easy on the palate, and this wine is definitely something that I can enjoy any day in the office or at home after a stressful day, or better yet, to share with friends!

white-wine-viu-manent-viognier-2013


white-wine-viu-manent-viognier-2013-wine-talk

Grape: Viognier
Type: White  
Vintage: 2013
Flavor: Fruity
Body: Full
Country: Chile

Tasting Notes, taken from online wine delivery site:
Viognier is a great aromatic white varietal and this is a perfect example of its kind. The fresh nose recalls exotic fruits such as guava as well as apricots and ripe pears with subtle notes of citrus fruits and flowers. The palate is viscous yet fresh, with tremendous volume. It is very fruity and balanced with a long and persistent finish.

Viu Manent is a Chilean winery owned by the Viu Family. It was founded in 1935 when the Catalonian immigrant Miguel Viu-García and his two sons Agustín and Miguel Viu-Manent founded Bodegas Viu in Santiago de Chile. They bottled and sold wine on the local market under the “Vinos Viu” brand. In 1966 Miguel Viu Manent fulfilled his long-time dream of making his own wines when he acquired the Hacienda San Carlos de Cunaco in Colchagua. This traditional estate included 150 hectares of vineyards planted to noble, pre-phylloxera vines, as well as a winery and manor house. The estate is certified sustainable, so all works in the vineyards and the winery are done with an environmentally friendly and socially equitable approach. All wines are made from their own vineyards within the heart of the Colchagua Valley; one of the countries’ most acclaimed wine regions, famous for its robust, full-body reds.

The ‘Secreto’ range has a closely guarded secret related to land, proportions, and balance. The result is a line of blended wines made with a primary varietal component that is recognized and complemented by a closely guarded ‘secret blend’ of up to 15% in each of these factors.

So, YES, I will definitely be ordering this lovely white wine bottle again.  


white-wine-viu-manent-viognier-2013-instamag