At a recent dinner tendered by partners Genaro Yupangco and David Harder, our newcomers in the Philippine wine trade scene, we were able to sample the Legends line which is a very dynamic Canadian winery that has won quite a number of awards.

The evening started with a rather austere and lemony Legends Semillon. The light straw colored white wine’s acidity did cut down the richness of the fully mature Davao cheese that was married into choux pastry and served as gougeres. They were served straight out of the oven still piping hot.

A Legends Gewurztraminer 2006 was paired off with a Tea Cured Salmon Gravlax sprinkled with smoked salt. This dry wine was low in alcohol but spelled out fruit flavors on our palate such as lychee, panple mousse and figs with flowery attributes like rose petals.

It had enough weight in the mid palate for the fatty salmon and I would assume it would be a good pair with cream sauces.

Next came the Abundance White Diamond, a daring blend of two white grapes Semillon and Chardonnay. It was citrusy, lemony, with touches of honey dew, grass, gooseberry, and hints of vanilla and toffee. It did rather well with our seafood and saffron chowder covered with a buttery crust of puff pastry.

Two reds were tasted side by side with fried breaded pork ears in béarnaise sauce. This was a Coyotes Run Black Paw Pinot Noir, a very light, peppery wine with the lightest hints of strawberry and raspberry. This wine had no tannins and needed to stay on the glass as it developed rose petals on the nose. It was much better at room temperature.

The other Pinot was a Legends Pinot Noir Reserve 2003 where malolactic fermentation was done to add complexity with grapes gently pressed for more skin contact. This wine was soft, jammy, with pomegranate, cranberry, hawthorne berry, and a light flowery finish.

The next dish of a long simmered wild duck cooked with capers, sausage, and ham was paired with an Abundance Red Ruby. Projecting a dark red color, the wine was a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. It was chewy with good tannins and structure.

It had plums, currant, dried Chinese fruit, oriental spices, and chocolate on the palate. Also served with the braised wild duck was a medium bodied Legends Cabernet Merlot 2003 that showed traits of coffee, molasses, and stewed fruit with tart cherry acidity. This was achieved with extended maceration and two years in French Baniques.

Personally, my best wine for the evening was the Legends Malbec. It has spicy, extreme vanilla and black olive characters. This masculine wine with classic Bordeaux leaning further showed ripe fruit, diacetyl, tart cherries, cranberries, and dried fruits with a light mocha finish. A slice of Malagos Pecorino drizzled with lavender honey completed the spectrum of flavors for this course.

A classic German baked apple dessert stuffed with marzipan and pine nuts served with a large dollop of whipped cream and creme anglaise sauce was served and had further given life by an eggnog ice cream that had a fragrant mix of sweet spices in its creamy custard blend. This paired off very well with a lip-smacking Legends Vidal White with a brix of 40.7 before fermentation.

This collector’s wine which will age and develop in the next 10 years was already sumptuous with flavors of honey, peach and apricot preserves and figs with vanilla and lemon and hints of honey suckle blossoms. No wonder, it was a 2005 Wall Street Journal’s best Ice Wine.

Lastly, a Legends Late Harvest 2006 was paired off with our Caramel Milk Chocolate Truffle Ganache. This late harvest wine presents a honey and luscious white tropical fruit all over with a light toffee finish. It ended the dinner eliciting contented smiles from everyone who had this final combination for the evening.