The Singaporean way of storing wine.

[Claudius2]

Folks
Wendy came home yesterday with 13 or 14 bottles of wine which were salvaged from her boss’s office. They were on the top of bookcases, in a few cabinets and at the bottom of a few drawers. They were given to the guy as gifts by industry colleagues over the years. There were another 20 odd wines she left behind including numerous Cloudy Bay wines.

The oldest is a 1995 Chateau Prieure Lichine. Does not look completely dead. Others include a 2007 Ch Cantemerle, a 2001 Ormes de Pez, a handful of NV Champagnes and one 2004 Laurent Perrier, plus a few Shirvingtons from 2006, a Crozes Hermitage Blanc 2002 and various wines of no great repute from Australia, NZ and South Africa. There is also a 2009 Sauternes (Giraud) that looks like it is 50 years old. The Tawny Port was also dead with the cork crumbling and the wine was cloudy and stinky.

I have little hope that any will be drinkable. Two Champagnes were completely destroyed and the corks were virtually nonexistent. The Aussie white opened was vaguely okay in pasta sauce but not exactly drinkable. Luckily it had a Stelvin cap.

Now I am sure the same thing happens in other countries but it is unfortunately rather common here. The local auctioneers as a result are rather cautious handling any wine if they cannot guarantee provenance.

It is very common throughout Asia for businessmen to give each other wine and spirits and I have seen first growths standing upright on tables, desks and bookcases looking the worse for wear.

Cheers
Mark

[Musigny 151]

In Italy, many restaurants have their wines on display in the hot dining rooms. One restaurant in Florence had a 1966 Romanee Conti standing up. Cost was 500 euros no returns. We bought it, opened it, and it was awful. So we ended up drinking beer which with the meal was comped. The wine we paid for.

[Claudius2]

In Italy, many restaurants have their wines on display in the hot dining rooms. One restaurant in Florence had a 1966 Romanee Conti standing up. Cost was 500 euros no returns. We bought it, opened it, and it was awful. So we ended up drinking beer which with the meal was comped. The wine we paid for.

Yeah, my sympathy and what a shame another famous wine went down the sink.
It did however make me wonder what proportion of expensive wines are ruined by poor storage and handling.
It is common for gift giving in Asia, even when neither the giver or recipient actually drink wine - or anything more than local baijiu.

Twenty or so years ago in Bali, I noticed a restaurant which was covered with no more than a tarpaulin, which had what appeared to be a 1982 Ch Margaux on the outside bench - in the sun - where they hold the menus. Some young guy was standing next to it, trying to grab customers off the dirt road. So I looked closer - it was Pavilion Ch Margaux, which I suppose isn't such a waste, but I would also say that in the hot Balinese sun, a day or two would entirely destroy any wine.

The strangest anecdote I have of wine consumption was in HK in the early 90's.
I was at the Hyatt, and at dinner, there was a bunch of Chinese businessmen talking both English and Cantonese.
One was drinking a red wine and whenever he sipped it, he waited a while and pulled a face and sometimes sipped water as well.
I just happened to leave at the same time, and asked him what it meant.
He said that the wine was nice but he could not get the taste out of his mouth.
It was 1970 Mouton. Oh well.

[JimHow]

I watched a Singaporean movie on Netflix recently, Claudius, "Lang Tong," it was a pretty ridiculous sex/revenge movie but nonetheless entertaining, the ending was great, I don't recall the rating but it must have been NC-17. I was surprised that the Singapore government would allow the release of such a film, have things loosened up over there as far as art, pornography, etc.?

[Claudius2]

I watched a Singaporean movie on Netflix recently, Claudius, "Lang Tong," it was a pretty ridiculous sex/revenge movie but nonetheless entertaining, the ending was great, I don't recall the rating but it must have been NC-17. I was surprised that the Singapore government would allow the release of such a film, have things loosened up over there as far as art, pornography, etc.?

Jim
I think that things are a bit more relaxed now than when I first moved here, but the idea of squeaky clean morals in Singapore is a chimera rather than reality. For example, prostitution is rife here (presumably Covid has reduced it somewhat) yet it is legal only in the Geylang area. However, it is very common elsewhere, most notably in Orchard Towers which is called: "four floors of whores". When I first got here, I met a business associate and he was staying at the Hilton opposite it. Later we walked thru the place to the car park and I knew nothing about it. We were handed a brochure from a tout, which showed what is called here: "soapy massage". The guy I was with just laughed at my surprised expression - he then explained why it is famous locally. Similarly, there are plenty of the typical Asian hostess bars, massage parlours, KTV lounges etc.

The historical "clean" image of Singapore includes no graffiti, no spitting, no trash in the streets, etc. Yet historically, the sex trade was huge. Political leaders particularly Lee Kwan Yew, wanted a clean image in many ways - including an uncorruptable govt and having the sex industry out of sight. Thus it is clean on the surface but what is just out of sight is not. So this ideology has been extended to the media including movies.

Movies here often are pixelated. Even breasts for example ae hidden behind them. I have not watch the movie you mentioned (Lang Tong means "good soup") but I did check out the Netflix preview which didn't show anything risque'. I have a Netflix subscription and every time there there is the slightest hint of body parts, there is pixellation. Clearly, genitals don't get govt approval.

cheers
Mark

[Claudius2]

Guys
last night we opened the Moet Brut Imperial and 2004 Laurent Perrier.
The Moet was dead. Enough said.
The LP was a dark gold colour (it reminded me of the colour of Indian jewellery) and was sort of drinkable but on par with a $5 Spumante or lower ranked Cava. We sipped some and the rest went down the drain. Oh well.

[Ambrose]

How is the wine culture over there? I can’t imagine drinking much more than whites and Pinot in that kind of humidity. Do Singaporeans crack these poorly stored wines and just think - that’s what it’s suppose to taste - wine just isn’t for me?

[Musigny 151]

About ten years ago, I spent a few days in Singapore. I kind of enjoyed, but it was incredibly humid, and all I wanted to drink was beer. But I had obligations, and one night we went to an incredibly expensive restaurant on tip of a hotel. My host handed me the wine list; very large, full of trophies and of course incredibly expensive. A totally no win situation.

I ended up going with a ten year old Pichon Lalande, which was in the bottom third price wise. My host chose a Lafite which was corked, badly corked. He didn’t say anything, again no win.

[JimHow]

I was in Singapore once, in late 1999, on the way back from Bali. We spent one night there, had dinner in the Indian section, like 20% of the population was Indian, at least back then. We were supposed to do a big trip through China and Asia in late 2020, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over there at this point, this damned pandemic.

[Claudius2]

Guys
The industry here is growing quite strongly and I’m sometimes surprised by the number of competitors there are. Yet wine is expensive due to taxes and duties not to mention freight. And at restaurants it is a waste of money, you will pay SGD100 (USD75) for a really ordinary wine.

The weird thing about Singapore is that reds are much more popular than whites. I have never got this. A cool Riesling, minerally Chardonnay or similar is fine as is a decent NV Champagne which I’ve gulped down by the pallet load here. Yet I’m a voice in the wind. Red wine is seen as more prestigious and more flavourful. Oh well.

Not sure if many people anywhere have the taste buds and nose of us BWEers….

Jim
Singaporean population is about 75% Chinese, 15% Indian and about 8% Malay. The remainder are just lumped together as “other” including Europeans, Aussies et al. In the condo I live in, the proportion of Indians is above 15% and I think the area you visited was probably Little India which has thousands of Indian restaurants not to mention rather seedy nightclubs and bars. The restaurants are variable in quality understandably as are the nightclubs which always give me a rather cold feeling. Oh well.

Musigny
I think your name is Marc like mine with a c?
Storage conditions are a disaster here. Reminds me of Australia in the 70’s though things are rapidly changing. There are now several professional storage facilities that are used by the trade and collectors.

The temperature here is pretty much the same every day as is 99% humidity. The locals think 90F is cold. I fight with them all the time at the gym as they think nothing of running on treadmills when it is 95F outside with the air conditioner off. I put it on 65F.

There are however plenty of good things about Singapore and after nearly 13 years here, I have lost interest in going back to Australia. We have vaguely talked of moving to Europe in future but I am not planning anything.

Cheers
Mark

[JimHow]

Yes, we were in Little India. We were not in Kansas anymore. The restaurant we went to was great.

[Claudius2]

Jim
Wow that was fast!
There is a lot of competition in Little India and I just wish Wendy liked Indian food as much as I do. The Chinese and Indians account for about 40% of the world’s population yet won’t eat each other’s food. Otherwise they get on okay here. Back in Australia my two fav restaurants were French and Indian. I’d take Bordeaux and Burgundy to the former and Aust whites to the latter.

Cheers
Mark