At the end of February, the Holiday Inn on Beach Road imported crates of Stonefish and a few Garfish and let them loose on an unsuspecting public. As a novel approach, the people in the Havana Bar were given glasses to attempt to scoop up the Aussie fish, with some being very adept, reappearing for more!
The Holiday Inn’s wine tasting night was something like that, with Stonefish CEO Peter Papanikitas (say it quickly) on hand and circulating the room explaining his company’s wines, which incidentally met with universal acclaim.
Stonefish CEO Peter Papanikitas (left) chats with Pattaya Mail’s Dr. Iain Corness.
Holiday Inn had a different way of handling the tasting procedure. With over 100 “tasters”, it would have required a small army of service personnel to distribute the wine glasses, so Holiday Inn presented the glasses of wine in different areas around the Havana Bar and guests just went up and served themselves. This worked well, and some tasters were seen replicating their results, just in case the taste changed during the evening. It didn’t!
Seven wines were on offer, starting with the Stonefish Cuvee Brut NV for some fun bubbles.
Stonefish CEO Peter Papanikitas’ wines met with universal acclaim.
The next session had three wines, the Stonefish Sauvignon Blanc, the Garfish Pinot Grigio and the Garfish Moscato. The Sauvignon Blanc was the smooth chilled white, which despite being young (2015) was eminently quaffable.
The Pinot Grigio grape is the most popular in the world at present, Peter Papanikitas said in an exclusive interview with Pattaya Mail TV, and his 2012 variety was certainly a flavorsome drop.
The Garfish Moscato was typically light and sweet and one enjoyed by the ladies.
The final three were reds, headed by a Shell Bay Shiraz Cabernet 2014. Personally, this wine did very little for me, but remember wine tasting is an individual sport and not a team game.
The second red was the Stonefish Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, a typically smooth Stonefish, enough body to make it interesting and lingering on the back palate so you remember what you are drinking.
Stonefish CEO Peter Papanikitas circulates the room explaining his company’s wines. (Photos by Rodney James Charman)
The final wine was a long time favorite of mine, the Stonefish Shiraz 2014. Not many bottles left, so try and lay some down.
For the event, the distributors Wine Dee and Stonefish pared their margins and the wines were all offered at B. 990 a bottle, a veritable bargain.
Stonefish wines are not sold through supermarkets, but it is possible to get some through Wine Dee.
Thank you Holiday Inn (great food!), Wine Dee and Peter Papanikitas.
