Yquem tasting

Château d'Yquem tasting at Hong Kong Wine Vault, with Pierre Lurton.

2011 Y - pipi de chat, oaky, flinty, green apple, kinda ripe.  Acidity high mid-palate, and the wine burns a little going down the back of my throat.  The Sauvignon Blanc clearly dominates here.

2000 Y - wow!  This was so much more complex!  Lots more acetone, plastic, marmalade, apricot, salty plum (話梅) and perhaps even a little marzipan?

Pierre said that Y is actually not a "dry white", as it is picked just before they start picking for Yquem.  The proportion of Sauvignon Blanc here is larger compared to Semillon.

2010 Yquem - a little funky and stinky... changed to a new glass and it got a little better.  Perhaps it's the bottle.  Ripe and pretty sweet.

2007 Yquem - a little more acetone, orange blossom, floral and fragrant.  Sweeter on the palate.  Picked over a period of 40 days.

1995 Yquem - acetone, apricot, really sweet and fragrant now with orange blossom notes.

1986 Yquem - really sweet on the palate, with honey, orange blossom, a little nutty, ripe marmalade notes.  Slightly bitter towards the finish.  A beautiful wine to drink now and the wine of the evening.

1970 Yquem - nutty, marmalade and apricot.  Lovely nose, very open.  But it is after all a weak vintage, so the finish was very short with a weak palate.

Later on we adjourned to a friend's house for some cheese and wines.

Paul-Etienne Saint German Charme - yeasty, pungent, a little sugary.  Feeling a little raw here... not much finesse.

2002 Bertagna Vougeot 1er Cru Clos de la Perrière - lovely after opening up a little, with dried herbs, floral, black fruits.

2000 Croix de Beaucaillou

Dinner at Cuisine Cuisine in IFC.

2000 La Croix de Beaucaillou - sweet and fruity on the nose, with cedar, mint, and smoke.  Also some coffee notes.  Really lovely after 2 hours.

Full post on dinner is here.

Champagnes and Burgs in Taipei

Dinner at Silks House in Taipei.

2005 Philipponnat Grand Blanc - not bad.  Better than the rosé.

Charles Heidsieck Rosé

2009 Albert Grivault Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - oaky and flinty.  Sweeter on the palate.

2006 Roulot Meursault Les Meix Chavaux - wow!  As I said last weekend in Singapore, I will drink anything from Jean-Marc Roulot!  Big, toasty nose, mineral and flinty.  Acidity is higher here, but it's a little ripe and sweet at the same time.

2006 Hudelot-Noellat Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers - forest and black fruits.

1999 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes Chambertin - dried herbs and black fruits.  Softer, more elegant.

Full post on dinner is here.

3 from Mr. Ho

Drinks at Mr. Ho's, followed by dinner at André in Singapore.

2010 Roulot Bourgogne Blanc - beautiful toasty nose with lots of corn and ripe on the nose.  Nice acidity balance here, with an acidic finish.  Yum.

2000 Pol Roger - toasty, yeasty on the nose.  Smooth and round on the palate.

1995 Cos d'Estournel - smoky, minty, brett, a little floral, coffee.  Drank after at least opening for 5 hours…

Full post on dinner is here.

Auslese, Sandrone and Yquem

Dinner at Yin Yang.

1993 von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Auslese 83 - nose of citrus lemon, plastic and white pepper.  Perfect balance of acidity and sweetness.

1997 Sandrone Cannubi Boschis - pine forest, fruity and sweet, smooth on the mid-palate but with a tannic finish.

2003 Yquem en demi-bouteille - really sweet on the palate.  Viscous like honey.  Nose of orange and acetone.

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.

80s Bordeaux

Dinner at Mandarin Grill + Bar.

1982 Dom Pérignon - what a beautiful nose!  Very toasty, definitely savory, mineral, salty plum (話梅) for sure, with a hint of Chinese licorice (甘草).  Later on there was toffee, caramel and maple syrup!  Wonderful!  Fat, thick and round texture, but the finish was a little on the short side.

1990 Krug - mineral, savory, toasty.  Later on the toasty notes got heavier, along with citrus.  Always a beautiful wine.

1986 Cos d'Estournel - mint, a little sweet, smoke, surprisingly floral, black pepper.  Lost a little of the structure on the edges, resulting in a lighter palate, but there was still reasonable length in the finish.  We agreed that the '86 looks like it's going downhill and best to drink them up.

1989 Pichon-Lalande - smoky and earthy, with some cassis and black fruits at the core.  Classic Pauillac from a great vintage.

1989 Conseillante - a little ripe and stewed, slight hint of rubber perhaps...  Sweet on the palate.

2009 Italo Pietrantonj Passito Rosso - a red dessert wine that is sweet but not heavy on the palate.  Nose of forest pine, herbs.

Full post on dinner is here.

MNSC does casual

Dinner at a friend's house.

1996 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs - a little savory, plummy and yeasty.

1999 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St.-Jacques - a little sharp and alcoholic, slightly ripe on the nose, a little potpourri and a little floral, with some animal notes.  Still pretty young.

1988 Armand Rousseau Chambertin - a bit more animal, exotic spices and red fruits.

1996 Mugnier Musigny - much cloudier and seems older.  Ripe red fruits, also slightly sharp, with a little coconut butter.  Later after chilling down a little, rose and floral notes emerged.

1966 Lafite-Rothschild - really smoky, soy sauce, earthy and black tea.

1990 Angelus - green pepper, a little tight at first, kinda ripe but needed time to open up.  A little soy sauce towards the end.  A little more smoke and earthiness.  Nice but not as good as I had hoped.

1989 Margaux - mint, earthy, concentrated and slightly sweet on the palate.

1976 Lafite-Rothschild - a little grassy, sweet.  Pretty enjoyable.

1986 Margaux - alcoholic, ripe, minty.  Still tight as it's just been opened.