Delicious Duplicates

When Tita M. Trillo visited the Rhone Valley last summer, she imbibed "its charming backwardness, its magnificent terrain of granite and schist, limestone, chalk and clay, its steep mountains dotted with olive and cherry groves, almond and pine trees alongside the beautiful wide span of vineyards."

Further, she was "awed by the famous Chateau du Pape, the Pope’s residence in medieval times, its ruins dominating the hills of Avignon." Being head of Anthony’s Wines and Spirits in Manila, Tita inevitably noted: "Here, old vines grow on quatenary terraces reflecting different pastel colors of flat pebbles which absorb heat by day and feed this back to the vines at night. The vines are so stressed and punished by the absence of soil that the roots have to dig deeper to obtain nutrients. This condition creates less fruit but more sugar, thereby giving more depth and character to the wine."

Tita recounted still further, "I immersed myself in the beauty and romance of this country where focus is on food and great wines, my own favorite wine being La Bernardine Chateau du Pape 1990."

Having been deeply impressed by her Rhone experience, Tita duplicated it recently in a wine degustation dinner dubbed "The Magical Wines of Rhone Valley", the wines coming from the famed house of M. Chapoutier. Present were Fred Fricke, Alexander Raisbeck, Ignacio Jimenez, Reiner and Margrit Ghoor, Rudolf and Elizabeth Lietz–Chaine des Rotisseur local chapter members–Shangri-La GM Alain Borgers, Joe Ledesma and, of course, Anthony Trillo.

Guests admired Le Cordon Bleu Chef de Cuisine Bernie Olivarez who started his superb cuisine with "Pissaladiere pastry" and Cotes du Rhone Blanc/Belleruche ’96; roasted garlic soup with Crozes Hermitage Blanc ’96; Lapu-lapu (the entree) with Chateuneuf du Pape Blanc ’94; roasted rack of lamb (the main course) with Tita’s favorite wine from the Rhone Valley, Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge ’96. The cheeses, walnuts and grapes were served with Banyuls ’96; the dessert of Chocolate Mille-Feuille with Muscat de Beaume de Venice ’97.

The venue was La Cave, a private wine cellar inside Beluga Bistro and Pravda Wine Bar. Believe it or not, its perfect 16 centrigrade temperature matched that of the underground cellars of France!

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The Cheese and Wine Festival on Nov. 10 at the Alliance Francaise Restaurant will duplicate previous festivals except that this time, it will offer many more selections of the finest wine and the freshest cheese. (Do you know France has more than 300 varieties of cheese?) After Le Bazaar (3-7 p.m.), La Party (7 p.m. onwards) will feature live French music.

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Asia Society duplicated Asia’s tea drinking ceremonies at Mandarin Oriental’s Fontaine Room. Sri-Lankan Ambassador PG Karunasiri and his charming wife Sakuntala shared their authoritative knowledge of the origins and beneficent effects of tea-drinking with Asia Society’s chair Doris M. Ho, executive director Sonia Ner, Rosemary Lopez, Michael and Monette Hamlin, Helen Ong, Maricar Zaldarriaga, Tessie Luz, Sony and Mary Ng, Helen Ho-Delgado, food editor Nancy Reyes-Lumen, Tina Bonoan, among others.

After that enlightening session, expect more tea drinkers.