MNSC Dinner - Amuse Bouche

MNSC dinner for Dr. Poon's 50th at Amuse Bouche.

Wines for the MNSC tasting portion:

Flight 1: opened 1½ hours prior to serving.

1947 Mouton-Rothschild - very smoky nose, a bit minty, with a hint of sweet grass and a little stinky and bretty.  92 points.

1948 Mouton-Rothschild - pungent, smoky, with toasty notes and a little coffee.  93 points.

Flight 2: opened more than 1½ hours prior to serving.

1952 Petrus - more elegant and focused, with sweet fruit but a hint of medicinal notes.  A little savory with mineral and soy sauce.  94 points.

1962 Petrus, ex-château - beautiful nose, toasty, some fruit here but not too ripe, along with pencil lead and coffee.  A little more cloudy.  96 points.

Flight 3: opened 2 hours prior to serving.

1967 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze - nose really fragrant and beautiful, with a little toast and a bit of forest.  95 points.

1967 Ponsot Clos de la Roche - also very fragrant, more grassy but still fruity.  94 points.

Flight 4:

1981 DRC Romanée-St-Vivant - elegant with a little floral and a little leather notes.  97 points.

1981 Henri Jayer Echezeaux - much more dusty in terms of the nose, but also more floral and fruity later after more aeration.  95 points.

Flight 5: opened as an afterthought and decanted 45 minutes prior to serving.

1959 Mouton-Rothschild - minty, savory, smoky and meaty, with a hint of brett.  Slightly sharp alcohol.  94 points.

1959 La Mission Haut-Brion - very minty, smoky, a little earthy, and a little stinky...  Very savory with lots of soy sauce.  94 points.

Other wines tasting during the evening:

2002 Louis Roederer Cristal, en magnum - pretty toasty.  Nice and ripe on the palate.  Easy to drink.

Jacques Selosse Version Originale, dégorgée le 10 Novembre 2009 - definitely bigger nose than the Cristal, with sharper acidity in the nose, along with caramelized notes.  Almost a little too ripe on the palate.

1997 Salon - very lovely and ready to drink.

1967 Lafleur, en magnum - very savory nose.  My glass  had lots of sediment.

1978 Cheval Blanc, en magnum - opened for 2 hours.  Lots of smoke, coffee, and cedar notes.  Beautiful.

1967 La Conseillante - a little pungent and smoky.

1976 Mouton-Rothschild, en magnum - minty, smoky, and a little earthy.

1995 Kistler Chardonnay Cuvée Cathleen - a little flinty with plenty of toast.  Ripe but not too much.  Fucking beautiful.

1976 Jaboulet La Chapelle, en magnum - smoky, a bit of animal, minty.  Lovely.

1999 Robert Groffier Bonnes Mares - soooo ripe and sweet on the nose, almost like Robitussin or some other cherry-flavored cough syrup...

Full post on dinner is here.

MNSC Dinner - Hong Kong Club

MNSC dinner at Hong Kong Club, hosted by Pineapple.

Pol Roger Extra Cuvée de Réserve en magnum

First flight: opened 1½ hours prior to serving from bottle.

1994 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard - very sweet nose, with lots of coconut butter, exotic, tropical notes, minty.  Nice forest and dried herbs on the nose.  Surprisingly dry on the palate and not sweet.  My first instinct was that this was a 94 Colgin, but was thrown off by the dry palate.  I was ready to guess this was a 94 Harlan, but when someone offered a guess of Le Pin, I thought that also made sense... Should have stuck to my guns!  97 points.

1994 Screaming Eagle - lots of forest pine, a little smoky, grilled meats, very classic Left Bank nose, plus some savory black olive at the end.  Lots of sediment in my glass, and still some smooth and round tannins on the palate.

Once again this showed me that for a very good vintage of this wine, I could never tell it was Californian at all... and always mistake it for a Left Bank claret!

Second flight:  opened just prior to serving from bottle.

1984 Henri Jayer Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Meurgers - beautiful, floral nose of Mei Kuei Lu (玫瑰露)-infused Cantonese duck liver sausage (膶腸), and savory black olive.  Nice acidity here.  Had it been anyone else serving this wine without a label, I would have seriously doubted the authenticity of the bottle... 93 points.

1984 Mouton-Rothschild - very meaty, a little stinky... nose of pencil lead, and a little savory.  Acidity on the palate here, but could still feel the tannins.  94 points.

Third flight: opened more than 2 hours prior to serving from bottle.

1964 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Vino Monfortino - very savory nose, with animal, blood, iron, and slightly dusty nose.  Acidic on the palate.

1964 Haut-Brion en magnum - wine was off so we did not taste it.

Fourth flight: opened 3 hours prior to serving from bottle.

1947 Vieux Château Certan - really lovely and sweet nose, slightly metallic, some nice fruit, minty.  Later on the sweet fruit disappeared and the nose turned stinky and very peppery.  90 points.

1947 Canon - big nose of sweet grass, with a good amount of sweet fruit, a little animal, and slightly stinky. 94 points.

1947 La Conseillante - even more grassy and green than the Canon.  Some sweet fruit here, but a little leaner.  A little bit of savory soy sauce in the nose.  93 points.

Full post on dinner is here.

47 La Fleur-Petrus and old Burgs

Late night tasting at a generous friend's home.

1947 La Fleur-Petrus - I literally drank the sediment from the bottle, as this was a leftover from the dinner my friend attended earlier in the evening.  The nose had plenty of salty minerals, soy sauce, along with plenty of fruit and some smoke.  My friend reported that this was a stunningly beautiful bottle.

1978 Roumier Bonnes Mares - another leftover bottle, but I didn't get the dregs this time.  Nose was initially dusty and dirty, but once that was gone the wine showed a beautiful fruit core.  Very elegant and feminine.

1966 Rousseau Charmes Chambertin - plenty of fruit.  Nice and ripe, a little prune.  With further aeration the floral characters emerged, making this a beautiful and elegant wine.  There was a little salty mineral on the palate.  Later on the nose suddenly turned medicinal like hospital disinfectant, but this faded.

The bottle of Rousseau was the reason why we had the late night tasting... The wine arrived via air shipment and apparently the change in air pressure pushed the cork in a little, causing some slight leakage.  My friend decided the bottle should be consumed right away.  The cork was indeed very loose, and dropped into the bottle with the slightest pressure in the attempt to extract it.  It was decided that wine would not be decanted, and the cork was left floating on the surface for the remainder of the evening.

MNSC Dinner - Caprice

Part 2 of Dr. Poon's 40th celebration - the MNSC dinner at Caprice.  Another bunch of really old wines...

First flight:
1945 Grand-Puy-Lacoste - a very good wine from this stellar vintage, and demonstrates why GPL holds such a special place among lovers of Bordeaux

1945 Beychevelle - also a wonderful wine and we scored it slightly higher than the GPL

Second flight:
1947 Margaux - we knew this was a step up from the last flight, and really enjoyed this pair. I noted the hint of grass in the nose so I was able to guess that this was a Margaux

1947 Palmer - as enjoyable as the Margaux

Third flight:
1953 Figeac, ex-chateau - this was an awesome wine and all of us loved it. Wine of the evening for the group as a whole with an average score of 97 points

1953 Angelus, ex-chateau - I thought this was even better than the Figeac and gave it 98 points. These wines just taste incredibly fresh and you would never guess they are 50 years old

Fourth flight:
1981 Sassicaia - I thought this was an awesome wine with lots of rich, sweet fruit. I never would have guess this was an '81...and scored it 98 points

1985 Sassicaia - I was glad to have finally tasted the legendary '85, which is now going for around GBP 900 a bottle. As delicious as this was, I actually rated the '81 better! And to think that the '81 cost less than 1/10 of the '85...guess I'll be buying lots of the '81!!!

Full post on dinner is here.