BYOB at Elbert's Steak Room

Elbert’s Steak Room    

by Julius C. Labrador Jr.

On the suggestion of Rene Fuentes,Jr., the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS) Philippines Branch held this month's BYOB event at Elbert's Steak Room.  This is a favorite venue for our liquid lunches as the lunch menu is very reasonably priced and they have proper stemware and a lot of it.  Although they are normally closed for Saturday lunch, they made an exception in this case as we had filled the restaurant.

Bill Stone had a long table with about half of the guests.  Brian Connelly had a smaller table off to the side while our group opted for the private dining room in case our normal volume of laughter intrude on the other guests comfort.  Aside from the Usual Suspects Aaron, Greg, Jojo, Rene and myself, we were joined by Markus Ruckstuhl and Vigneron Edouard Miailhe how just made the cover of Wine Spectator. Jojo brought a copy of the magazine along to show everyone.

Although Markus brought a Valduero from Ribera del Duero while I brought a Ceretto Barbaresco Asij. We were prevailed upon to keep the bottles for another day as the rest of the group brought out an impressive array of Bordeauxs.  It was not planned but the lunch turned into a Bordeaux tasting.

After some preliminary Piper-Heidsieck Brut (somewhat overly oxidative; possibly an old bottle?) from Rene and very young Faiveley Puligny-Montrachet Folatieres 1er Cru 2008 from Jojo the tasting of the reds began in earnest. My apologies to those who brought the wines but I neglected to take down who brought what.

Chateau Siran 1980 - Naturally, care of Edouard. Nice nose. Some camphor and earth. Very soft. The fruit is gone leaving a very mellow wine.

Chateau Palmer 1996 - Lovely nose. Minty, meaty, leather, complex. Dry and soft. Good flavor.

Chateau Palmer 1995 - Sweeter nose than the '96 but not as complex. Slightly cheesy. Firm, Quite big. A tough call but I had a marginal preference for the '96 which showed better finesse, balance and complexity.

Chateau Montrose 2005 - Extremely dark. Plummy, Ripe fruit. After an hour of decanting, already soft enough to drink. This is put together so well. Beautiful wine.

Chateau L'Evangile 1995 - Earthy and well rounded but with a nice streak of acidity going through it. Great flavor of tobacco and chocolate.

Chateau Leoville Barton 1996 - Good flavor and about peak now. Suffers somewhat coming after the more complex and flashier L'Evangile and Montrose.

Chateau Cos d'Estournel 1983 - Stunning wine right out of the bottle. Gorgeous nose. Understated flavors but finely layered. A real treat and so easy to drink. I think this was the top wine followed closely by the Montrose and L'Evangile. It was quite clear that the wines at our table were of a very high standard.

We had dessert with an excellent De Bortoli Noble One 2007.

I was unable to get around much except to take pictures but I did make an inventory of the wines at the other tables. These were:

Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc
Montes Alpha Pinot Noir
Leeuwin Art Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Tyrrells Rufus Stone Shiraz
Marques de Caceres Gaudium
Cahors Lamartine
Ch. Cotes Trois Moulins St. Emilion GC
Banfi Excelsus
Chateau Yaldara Tawny Port
Frescobaldi Nippozano Chianti
Remole Toscana
Castello di Pomino Bianco Tuscan white wine

We were our usual rowdy selves but we could also hear that the groups in the main dining room were having a good time. As always, the Society's BYOB events are the most fun as the unstructured atmosphere allows everyone to be themselves. This was also one of the least expensive events of the Society as the average lunch at the Steakroom costs less than $ 20.00. This, and the success of similar events in the past encourage the Society have more events like this.