White wines for crab

Dinner at Tien Heung Lau (天香樓).

2005 Marc Morey Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Referts - nose of minerals, sweet and really ripe.  A little hot on the palate but with a slightly acidic finish.  Nicely balanced.

2002 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Vintage Rich - definitely "richer" and sweeter than your average Brut, since this is Sec.

2007 Ram's Hill Sauvignon Blanc - I think most people had no idea who made this wine, so had very low expectations.  This limited production "reserve" wine from Marchese Lodovico Antinori - who makes a very delicious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc under the Mount Nelson label - blew us away.  It was intense and rich, with an explosion of fruit like muscat and white grapes, minerals, flint and green apple.  The only other New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which gives me this much pleasure is Cloudy Bay's Te Koko, but some of us think Ram's Hill may be even better.  I think this calls for a blind tasting face-off!

2005 Hétszőlő Tokaj Late Harvest - lots of honey, marmalade, acetone and floral notes.  Pretty sweet since it's a late harvest wine.  I was always under the impression that Tokajs are made only with Furmint, but that just shows you how little I know... This was made with 95% Hárslevelű and definitely very fragrant, thanks to maceration with the skin.

Full post on dinner is here.

2006 Taille Aux Loups Montlouis Sec Rémus

Dinner at Tim's Kitchen (桃花源小廚).

2006 Taille Aux Loups Montlouis Sec Rémus - showed floral notes along with orange marmalade and honey.  Nose was kind of sharp.

Full post on dinner is here.

Brunello and Barolo

Dinner at Kimberley Chinese Restaurant (君怡閣).

2003 Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino - sous bois, pine needle and a little sweet.

2004 Marengo Barolo Brunate - some spices and potpourri.

Full post on dinner is here.

MNSC Dinner - Tim's Kitchen Macau

MNSC dinner at Tim's Kitchen (桃花源) in Macau, hosted by Dayliao.

First came a flight of white wines, which were a pair of 2002 Meursaults from Comte Lafon:

2002 Comte Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Goutte d'Or - muted nose with some oak, vegetal, chalky and minerally.

2002 Comte Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes - a bit ripe, oak, sweet on the palate, and also hot on the palate.

First flight of reds was a pair of 1991s:

1991 Comte de Vogüé Bonnes-Mares - ripe and mature. Suddenly oyster sauce notes emerged, along with a little salty plum (話梅). Really silky smooth on the palate. Later on the wine was much more acidic. 91 points.

1991 Dominus - brett and medicinal, smoky, lead pencil and some fruit. 93 points.

Second flight of reds was a pair of 1994s:

1994 Dominus - mint, smoky, brett, sweet and a bit of caramel. Should have known from the caramel that this wasn't French... 93 points.

1994 Latour - initially closed, later some smoke. Actually still a little tannic. 94 points.

Third flight was a pair of 1988 Clos de la Roche:

1988 Dujac Clos de la Roche - very fruity, sweet and full of berries. Vibrant and lively. 95 points.

1988 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche - orange marmalade, a little farmy, nose seemed a little cooked. A little grassy and vegetal, with some potpourri. 93 points.

Last flight was a pair of 1985s:

1985 Margaux - very bretty and medicinal, green, vegetal, mint, and almost a little ripe on the finish. 94 points.

1985 Mouton-Rothschild - ripe with a little brett, and a little sweet on the nose. 94 points.

Full post on dinner is here.

All-Rhone evening

Dinner at Tubino. Theme was an all-Rhone line-up.

2002 Gonet-Medeville La Grande Ruelle - this small production blanc de noirs was very very yummy. Prominent nose of minerals, yeast, lemon, slight hint of caramel giving sweetness, gooseberries... Very fragrant and beautiful.

1997 Chapoutier de L'Orée - for some reason I've always had trouble with this wine... and once again it was too cold when we opened the bottle. Straw notes and very ripe and hot on the palate. Much later the nose turned chalky. Not a good thing...

2000 Rayas - notes of tea, tropical fruits, violet and floral, bacon fat, smoked meats and pine needle. Color was incredibly light for a wine that is still relatively young. Syrupy. If I didn't look at the color, I would have figured it to be Guigal's La Mouline. The classic telltale lychee notes of Rayas were curiously absent. A very beautiful wine, and most certainly my wine of the evening by far.

1995 Château de Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah - while the wine was also made by Rayas, the difference between the two bottles was like night and day. Even thought this was an older wine, its color was much, much darker thanks to the Syrah, and the wine was much more powerful, even a little sharp in terms of alcohol. Nose was a little minty.

2001 Chapoutier L'Ermite Rouge - notes of forest, potpourri, smoke and coffee. Once again, a prestige cuvée 100-point Chapoutier that didn't even come close to wowing me.

2002 Two Hands Ares - kicked Chapoutier's butt... spicy, sweet and syrupy, very typical Aussie Shiraz... ripe prunes, blackberries, then turned herbal and medicinal - like Chinese 涼茶, and a little coconut butter. Yes, I do appreciate high-octane Aussie Shiraz...

2000 Guigal La Landonne - pretty minty and fruity. Nose wasn't as open as its sibling, which was to be expected. After all, the pair is still relatively young at 10 years of age!

2000 Guigal La Mouline - some fruit in the nose, a little more floral than its sibling, with some sweetness and bacon fat. Even a little sharp on the nose. Amazingly, this wine actually paled in comparison to the Rayas from the same vintage.

2003 Pegau Cuvée da Capo - very powerful and alcoholic. Still needs more time to develop.

1998 Pegau Cuvée da Capo - I brought this bottle to match the 2003, knowing there was a little risk involved. I bought the wine on release from a reputable London broker, and hand-carried it back from London one winter several years ago. The first bottle I opened a few years ago was cooked. Very obvious heat damage. So I brought this bottle with some trepidation. This bottle was not cooked, but corked. Very prominent vegetal nose. We asked the restaurant for some cling wrap, swirled it in the glass to let it absorb TCA. While the others thought it worked well, I still smelled nothing other than vegetal notes in my glass... Oh well. What a huge disappointment!

2005 Pibranon - I got nothing out of the muted nose.

2007 Clos des Papes - I couldn't get anything out of the nose other than minty notes. Either the wine wasn't open enough, or my olfactory abilities had been shot by this point thanks to the amount of alcohol I consumed. I vote for the latter...

Full post on dinner is here.

2003 L'Esprit de Chevalier + 1990 Guiraud

Dinner at On Lot 10.


2003 L'Esprit de Chevalier - this was pretty dry when I first tasted it. It got better.

1990 Guiraud - this mature Sauternes drank very well. Definitely lots of honey, marmalade and honeydew melon in the nose. Very yummy.

Full post on dinner is here.

1940 Angelus

1940 Angelus - drank at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Taipei for dad's 70th.   I didn't have any expections for this wine.  After all we've drunk bottles of Latour and Haut-Brion in the past, and 1940 ain't exactly a stellar vintage. Still, it was the significance of the vintage.  Benoit didn't decant the wine, and poured it into glass pretty much right after opening.  Initially there was nothing but preserved plums in the nose, although it wasn't as intensely savory as I'd expected.  There was also some sun-dried tomatoes and a hint of smoked meats.  The wine improved after a wine and gained a little more body.  Nothing spectacular but it served its purpose well tonight.

Full post on dinner is here.

1996 Peter Michael Chardonnay Belle Côte

1996 Peter Michael Chardonnay Belle Côte - drank at Whisk.  This was just too sweet, and definitely over the hill. The nose was clearly oxidized, caramelized, with honey, straw, white flowers and marmalade. Kinda alcoholic at 13.9% and burned a little...