Abrau-Durso Sparkling

Drinks at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1 Observation Point.

Abrau-Durso Semi-Sweet - definitely tasted the higher sugar levels.  Very pleasant to drink.

Full post on the day is here.

"Not too serious" wines

Dinner at Locanda dell'Angelo.

2010 Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Perrières - nice acidity here.  Flinty with a little lemon on the nose.

1985 Faiveley Chambertin Clos de Beze - served without decanting.  Very clean, with sweet fruit and a little leather.  Nice and mature, very smooth.

2015 Guigal La Doriane - really ripe, flinty, with tropical banana and stone fruits.  Very rich and sweet on the palate - almost chewable.  14.9% alcohol, supposedly...

2000 Branaire-Ducru - smoky with leather notes.  Solid with no surprises.

1975 Massandra Rose Muscat - having tasted some of Massandra's dessert wines before, I knew that this was gonna be deathly sweet.  At 24.3% sugar, this has easily 50% more sugar than something like Yquem...  Pure honey and sugarcane, with a hint of savory notes like salty plum (話梅).

In glass.

Full post on dinner is here.

8 + 2 for birthday

Dinner at Wagyu Kaiseki Den.

1980 Dom Pérignon Rosé - nose of raspberries, minerals, a little plummy, savory, fruity.  A lovely wine.

1998 Haut-Brion Blanc - decanted, of course.  Surprisingly sweet, like marzipan.  Oxidized nose but still wonderful, like cooked sugar cane drink (竹蔗茅根水), dessicated coconut, Chinese licorice (甘草) and toast.  A beautiful wine!  Interesting that the accelerated oxidization has produced such an orange color in a 15-year-old wine.

1955 Massandra Collection Sherry - dry on the palate, straw, plums, caramel, savory and mineral.  Very much like Chinese yellow wine.

1979 Rousseau Chambertin - really lovely wine.  Animal, farmy, bacon notes.  Sweet fruit, plummy, fragrant and beautiful.  There's an elegance that belies that masculinity here.

1970 La Mission Haut-Brion - old and over the hill.  Nose a little cooked, dusty and chalky, brett, wet cardboard, and savory soy sauce.

1983 Jaboulet La Chapelle - surprisingly sweet creamy corn, straw, and a little toasty.  Drinking nicely.

1982 Latour - WOW!  What a beautiful bottle of wine!  Classic pencil lead, smoke, black tea, cassis and minty.  Slightly savory on the palate.  When was the last time I saw such perfect balance between power and elegance?  Amazing condition.

1971 Günther Mehrlein Mittelheimer St. Nicolaus Riesling Spätlese - marmalade, salty plum (話梅),  savory, desiccated coconut.  Flat and dead on the palate, acidic.

Kokuryu Hachijyu-hachi Go (黒龍 八十八号) - classic banana, tropical fruits.  Soft and elegant.

1983 Margaux - another lovely wine but would have benefited from additional aeration.  Sweet fruit, grassy, toasty.

Full post on dinner is here.

Massandra or bust

Dinner at West Villa in Hong Kong, at Bonham's invitation featuring wines from Massandra.

1955 Massandra Collection Sherry - nutty, raisins, plum, toasty and dates.  Beautiful nose.  Dry on mid-palate, with 4% residual sugar.  Made with a solera system and a blend of Sercial, Verdelho and Albariño.

1945 Massandra Collection South Coast Red Port - savory nose of preserved plums (話梅), mineral, medjool dates, apricot.  The last few drops in the glass even showed a little sweet potato notes.  Sweet on the palate and slightly tart on the finish, with 10% residual sugar.  A blend of grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Saperavi and Mourvedre.

2010 Pieropan Calvarino - white peach, very floral with white flowers, a hint of flint.  Very refreshing.

2008 Vietti Barolo Castiglione - a little bit of pine, forest.  Really tannic on the palate and not enjoyable.

2006 Argentiera Giorgio Bartholomäus - very ripe, a bit cooked, stewed prunes and a little smoky.  Not bad.

1989 Massandra Collection South Coast White Muscat - literally smells and tastes like honey, almost like dissolving manuka honey in water.  A little bit nutty with tangerine.  VERY sweet, with 20% residual sugar.

Full post on dinner is here.

A trio of Baltikas

In Bukhara, Uzbekistan.  We finally lined up three cans in the Russian Baltika range - Nos. 3, 7 and 9. We did a taste test... No. 9 has the highest alcohol content at 8%, while No. 7 was probably the winner in terms of taste.