1996 Bruno Paillard NPU

13 Feb 2012: I finally got to try the 1996 Bruno Paillard NPU ('Nec Plus Ultra' aka 'There is nothing beyond').....perhaps not as far as this, but it was a pretty stunning champagne.  A wine that took 15 years in the making.  Only made in the best vintages, the first release being 1990 and the second 1995 and now 1996 being the 3rd time ever released.  Selection of 4 grand crus: Bouzy, Verzenay, Oger and Le Mesnil sur Oger.  Fermented in small oak barrels for 9 months, before further selection of the best barriques (50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir).  Only 6,523 bottles were produced. The wine then spent 12 years ageing on its lees before disgorgement. Tiny amount of dosage as a finishing touch.  The bottles then spent another 2.5 years of ageing in the cellars before release. All in all, 15 years!!!  

Well, the result was a very stunning effort.  Opulent, richly balanced, harmoniously mature and wonderfully complex, with brioche, pear, nutty, and floral notes...infusing a wine with a creamy and mouthfilling texture, lifted by a vibrant freshness.  Finish was extremely long....I was unfortunately too busy in the kitchen that I had forgotten to ask for mine to be served in a white wine glass....still a very remarkable wine and better paired with food, such as my roast chicken or better still pasta or risotto with black truffle in roast chicken jus (like the one they make so well at Amuse-Bouche)!  18.5/20

Same evening, we had a 1990 Meursault Clos de La Barre, Comtes Lafon, which was saved by some aeration....it had initially emerged from the bottle, tasting rather flat, but I had insisted on having it decanted....and voilà, a bit of transformation!  Still it needed drinking up.....15.5/20

The 1997 Cheval Blanc that Charles kindly brought to dinner was deliciously perfumed, showing sweet tobacco, leather, plum preserve, blueberry, violet and sweet spice.  Not a wine boasting of structure, depth, concentration or power, but rather delighted us with its approachability and charm.  Drink now.  17/20

Battle of 1959 Pomerols: Petrus and Lafleur

12 Feb 2011: A few days ago, we were generously treated by a good friend to dinner at Lung King Heen (the 3 Michelin-star Chinese restaurant) at the Four Seasons Hotel,  HK.  Each of us brought a bottle of old Pomerol. Lung King Heen proved to be a fine venue to enjoy 2 very special bottles: 1959 Château Lafleur and 1959 Château Pétrus: same vintage, same commune.  (The sommelier did a very fine job handling these 2 old bottles, even though he pretended to be rather nervous about them.)  The levels of the two wine were within a millimetre or two of each other but the results of the tasting seemed to have put them much further apart than the short distance within a commune!  The colours were quite similar, both showing a medium intensity of garnet. 

The 1959 Pétrus instantly delighted us with a very gratifyingly perfumed bouquet of plum, blueberry, leather, cigar box, spicy and mocha....gradually developing into gamey/animal notes, with a caramelised edge.  Rather sweet note on entry, a lusciously smooth and rich mouthfeel accompanying the full-bodied texture.  A long finish.  It was nonetheless a gorgeously heady drop but seemed to be a little lacking in energy and vigour, drinking just past the plateau perhaps?  Drink within 3 - 5 years for best enjoyment.  17/20 

The 1959 Lafleur was disappointing.  Herbaceous, blueberry, violet, leather, smokey and stoney.  Various nuances of caramel and metallic taints on the nose.  The palate was ungenerous and rather mean, compared to the lush silky texture of the Pétrus.  Some redeeming features on the nose giving it some claim to pedigree, but not a memorable experience otherwise.  Drink up if you still have a few bottles!  14.5/20

We had started the evening with a 1995 Meursault-Charmes, Roulot, which tasted amazingly fresh and invigorating, quite a nice surprise when one almost invariably expects the worst from white burgundies with some age. Citrus, mineral, blossom, white peach, honey, hazelnut and spice on the nose.  The palate is smooth and nicely rounded, extremely harmonious and well-structured. The sleek and clean finish lasted almost a couple of minutes.  Drinking absolutely at peak now....a marvellous wine to be enjoyed now and over next 8 - 10 years. (I had saved a few drops to try again at the end of the meal and it still tasted remarkably fresh.) 18/20

The crabmeat baked in its shell went very well with the Roulot wine.....there was just enough acidity from the wine to balance the richness of the crabmeat.  Given the old Pomerol theme, our host had chosen some gamey items to go with it.....Peking duck with delightfully crispy skin which was most professionally served in 2 courses (with plenty of second helpings of each course, as the duck was only shared by 3 people) and roast pigeon, which was rather tasty - both dishes worked amazingly well with the old Pomerol.  The Wuxi style pork at the end was less well prepared than I remembered.....the best version came individually served in mini-casseroles.  A final dish of stir fried long beans was all we needed to round off this most indulgent meal. 

A very interesting comparison of 2 wines from the same commune and same vintage.....had they been so different from Day 1?  I would love to find out.......(By the way, one bottle had come from a US source and the other from a UK source.)

Faiveley: for the patient winelovers

10 Feb 2012: I helped organise the Faiveley wine dinner last night at Island Tang Restaurant. Decanting was not possible with so many bottles of wine – so we just arranged for the red wine to be opened at 6 pm, with the white wine around 7:30 pm. Young Etienne Payen, brand ambassador of the domaine, joined us from Shenzhen.

The 2008 Corton Charlemagne was a little closed at the beginning and took about an hour or more to open up in the glass. Citrus, green apple and white peach notes, with hints of toasty oak and nutty character. On the palate, subtle nuances of oak influence and minerality are nicely complemented by flavour intensity and acidity, giving the wine a classic and ageless quality. This wine is already enjoyable with some aeration, but it will be an absolute beauty in 3 – 4 years’ time. Giving the youthfulness and nicely chiseled acidity, it made a very fine accompaniment to the baked crab meat served in its own shell.

The 2007 Gevrey Chambertin Clos des Issarts was drinking beautifully now. A slightly funky nose of red fruit and rose petals, layered with something earthy and mineral. On the palate, it shows a more delicate structure of finesse and gracefulness, combining just the right amount of acidity, fine tannin and gorgeous fruit, wrapped in lighter style frame, with reference to its higher altitude.  The pairing with deep fried frog’s legs with pepper and salt was impeccable. The Peking duck also worked beautifully with this wine…..much better than with the still very robust and tannic 2005 Echézeaux, which showed a concentrated nose of black fruit and spice, still very austere, despite its mouthfilling richness. To be honest, I didn’t mind the tannin so much and thought it robust enough to stand up to the intensely flavoured and rich preserved liver sausage stuffing inside the pigeon’s leg! Clearly a wine for the medium-long haul, with further life of 10 – 15 years, and drinking much better from 2015.

Frog's legs with salt and pepper and pigeon leg stuffed with preserved liver sausage

2004 was a challenging vintage but it was well expressed in the style of the 2004 Chambertin Clos de Bèze. A lovely perfume of raspberry, plum, leather and tea leaves, with a slight herbal and vegetal quality. A little sappy on the palate.  A wine with much sophistication, depth, elegance and finesse, if not density, concentration and power.  A wine better enjoyed in the longer term. Try it again in 2016+!

2000 Mazis Chambertin was a clear favourite amongst us…..In true Mazis style, the wine demonstrated more firm structure, concentration, power, enhanced by a suppleness from the vintage and warm spicy note. Black fruit, liquorice, forest floor…...this wine has beautiful acidity and ripe tannin that makes it a perfect pair with the grilled rack of lamb with sea salt, and also the wok-fried rice noodles with sliced beef and XO sauce.

The 1998 Latricières Chambertin demonstrated a very sophisticated structure with subdued fruit quality and firm ripe tannin that was starting to mellow.  Latricières has deeper and cooler soil (more clay content) and needs a wamer vintage to show its finest.  The wine took a long time to speak to us….it could have done with some decanting. There’s an untamed/austere edge to it at the beginning , but eventually it opened up to reveal a more harmonious wine of immense muscular dimensions and great complexity of plum, earth and mushroom like vegetal character.  A wine built for the really long haul, best to be enjoyed after 2015+, or now with plenty of aeration. Finishes long.

The stewed Wagyu beef cheef with Zhu Haw sauce was delicious, but it didn’t quite find good company with the wines of the evening….perhaps the 2000 Mazis Chambertin?



Grilled Rack of Lamb with Sea Salt

 I thought the restaurant did a very good job with the food and the serving of the wine - I particularly recommend the pigeon leg stuffed with liver sausage, the simply grilled rack of lamb with sea salt and the Peking duck.  The baked crabmeat was not as good as the version at Lung King Heen or China Club - the breadcrumbed top was more like a doughy skin than a light dusting.  The braised kale was also not as successful - should have just asked for simply stir-fried kale.

Dinner at The French Window with a 1951 bottle and a Jayer

28 Jan 2012: Dinner at The French Window. As it's a slightly special event, we organised a bottle of 2002 Cristal, Louis Roederer from the restaurant's wine list to be opened.  (We had brought the other bottles with us.)  We all had the champagne served in white wine glasses as it's still rather closed, and needed better aeration to release aromas of blossom, granny smith apple, pear, citrus and toast.  On the palate, minerality, herbal and cardamon notes abound, leaving a slight almond aftertaste, in the rather long and crisp finish.  Racy and classic, with beautiful delineation.  This is still very much in its youth, with plenty of evolution to look forward to. 17.5/20



Foie gras terrine

 I had the foie gras terrine, served with intensely flavoured blackberry and fig preserve, as starter, because I thought it would go well with the 1951 Laville Haut Brion.  This wine went through the most amazing evolution during the 2.5 hour dinner.  Medium golden colour.  A whiff of musty stink at the beginning was not enough to put us off the rich undertone of honey, honeysuckle, spicy and smokey bouquet.  The mustiness gradually disappeared and a note of ripe fruit returned, like guava and gooseberry. The rounded and viscous texture was laced with very fine acidity, rendering a timeless freshness to this 60-year-old wine.  An intense spicy note of ginger preserve and rich fruit character dominated the palate.  As the evening progressed, the bouquet took on a macadamia nutty and nougat like complexity.  The finish lasted almost 2 minutes, leaving us with a most memerable smokey and spicy honeyed aftertaste.  We were all totally gobsmacked with how this wine transformed during dinner and it was just the most wonderful revelation.  17.5/20  (We bought this bottle with a very special purpose: 1951 is the birth year of our dear friend and it's just the most wonderful experience to share it with him on this special occasion!)

Our red wine was a bottle of the 1985 Vosne-Romanée Cros Parantoux by the legendary Henri Jayer.   We wanted to try this bottle ahead of the Christie's auction next week of wines directly from the cellars of the domaine!  Well, our bottle, though with a stained label, was absolutely stunning!  Still showing much youthful vigour and energy.  Rose pot pourri, redcurrant, cherry and blackberry aromas, layered with leather, mushroom, star anise and mineral notes.  On the palate, the wine shows a freshness that belies its age and a concentration and power that is understated but very much present.  For me, this wine is nowhere near its apogée, which may come in 4 - 5 years' time.  There is already a very harmonious structure of vibrant acidity and fine tannin.  The velvety texture leading to a nice long finish that could easily last a couple of minutes for me.  A very fine example of first rate burgundy from a master at the top of his game.  Drink till 2025+.  18.5/20  (Just a thought: what price would you pay for a bottle of wine like this?  Does the market price really  justify the enjoyment?)

Pheasant in soya sauce

I chose a rather creative dish as main course: pheasant cooked in soya sauce with celeriac puree and grapes.  It's the best pheasant I'd ever had. I normally don't like pheasant much and find it quite bland.  This version however was moist and tender, and full of lovely soya sauced flavoured meat jus, which married rather well with the somewhat challenging flavours of the celeriac.   The restaurant has a page dedicated to some creative game dishes.  I rather liked the sound of the venison dish too (wish they would call it venison, rather than deer on the menu though) - another visit would be necessary!  Richard and Frank shared the côte de boeuf which was juicy and cooked perfectly rare!  Anne had the lobster dish for main course which looked rather nice too.  Decoration is a big thing at the French Window and all the dishes came artistically decorated - quite appropriately served in plates that took the shape of an artist palette. 

We ended the meal with a 1996 Yquem in half bottle.  Just perfectly sweet, with great balancing acidity within a more delicate and elegant framework.  Honey, marmalade, apricot and rye bread came to mind. Nicely harmonious, but it's not a massively rich, unctuous and concentrated Yquem.  Rather delicious, with a very long life ahead!  17/20    

We enjoyed it over a couple of desserts and a cheese platter to share.  Not a bad selection either: we had munster, comté, mimolette, livarot and Ossau Iraty.  When we asked for bread, they had to bake the rolls again.....which took quite a bit longer to arrive.

It was a very high quality experience at the French Window, from the quality of the food, the presentation, the service to the ambiance. (Quite a change from our experience there last time. The most improvement came from the service.) Pity that it wasn't busier, the restaurant looked half empty.  Located in the shopping mall, quite a few people started their dinner rather early.   Our waiter came round to ask us for our feedback on the dinner - a rather nice touch!

1999 Bonnes Mares, Roumier

25 Jan 2012: Garnet-ruby core.  A sophisticated wine marked by finesse and elegant structure, subtle complexity of primary just turning secondary, raspberry, dark cherry, tea leaves, mushroom and undergrowth with mineral nuances.  Very 3-dimensional, rounded mouthfeel, and a long-lasting finish with hints of sweet fruit.  The fine tannin not fully integrated, and there is a good level of acidity.  This is drinking well today, with food, and has the material to last a couple more decades.  Totally indulging! 18.5/20

Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze

23 Jan 2012: Chinese New Year Day.  French bistro-themed dinner and everyone brought a bottle.  Rachel brought us some really delicious home-made pissaladière (3 types - plain onion, with anchovy and with olive), accompanied by a 1979 Lanson in magnum (48% Chardonnay and 52% Pinot Noir).  A bright lemon colour, with fine bubbles and a creamy mousse.  Tasting very fresh on entry, with complexities of brioche, ripe pear, marzipan and a little savoury on the nose, but a little simple on the palate.  Still pretty remarkable for its age to show such verve and freshness.  

1983 Corton Charlemagne, Louis Latour was a golden colour, but did not taste madeirised at all, just a mature bouquet of honey, apricot and oatmeal, rather characteristic of a vintage that delivered a bundle of over-ripeness to healthy Chardonnay grapes (evidence of noble rot in certain patches).  The richness was perhaps not matched with sufficent acidity to give the wine the ideal balance, now that the wine was almost 30 years old.  I found it rather cloying and this certainly did not go well with the much-praised jambon persillé (from Monsieur Chatté), complete with dijon mustard and cornichons! Drink now! 15/20


The reds


The still robust structure, with the still to be resolved, yet fine-textured tannin, of the 1988 Pommard Les Vignets, Leroy was true to form.  It showed some rustic characteristics, meaty and earthy, but also managed to retain remnants of the rich fruit of the vintage, with some spicy nuances.  Good level of acidity.  This wine is drinking now, further development in bottle would probably help integrate the residual tannin, but I am not so sure the fruit will hold out that long!  16/20

The 1978 Volnay, de Montille was one of the star performers of the evening.  It showed a bright ruby-garnet colour.  A raspberry and mocha bouquet, infused with minerality, and some hints of caramel.  The feminine characteristics suitably delivered in the soft silky texture.  The palate lifted by the just right amount of acidity.  A divine expression of Volnay and testimony to the very fine and ripe fruit from the vintage of 1978, with a lot of ageworthy material.  This wine was made to last the ages and this fine example at the Village level just went to show what a fine craftsman Hubert de Montille was!  Drink now and with at least 6 - 8 years ahead of enjoyment at this peak.  17.5/20

Finally, we had two vintages of Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Rousseau to go with Richard's coq au vin: 1985 and 1995.  The 1985 showed a completely tertiary bouquet of mushroom, gamey and savoury notes,with some nuances of Asian spices.  The velvety palate, though very approachable and appealing, revealed a less robust structure, less stuffing, for this wine to age much further.  Long finish.  A beautifully aged wine for drinking now and over the next 8 - 10 years.  (I thought the wine collapsed a bit in the glass after about 2 hours.)  17/20

The more youthful 1995 version was totally different: pure red fruit of strawberry and raspberry, violet, spicy and toasty oak, with some Asian spices.  A lot of energy still contained inside the robust structure of ripe tannin and a medium level of acidity, with plenty of complexity on the palate.  A wine graceful and elegant on the one hand, and powerful and structured on the other.  Drinking beautifully now and will continue to drink well for next 10 - 15+ years.  18/20

Continuing with the theme of bistro style supple, we had lots of cheese (Maroilles, Epoisses, Comté, Mimolette and Wasabique) served with proper bread (all the way from L'Atelier de Robuchon - thank you Eric!).  And then my pear tart!

My pear tart!

To finish, I served a half bottle of Autumn Glory from Chiltern Valley Winery in Hambleden, England.  I cannot really remember the grape variety, was it Huxelrebe or Seyval Blanc??  Herbal, grapefruit, white chocolate and nougat.  Luscious, well-balanced.  Finish a little on the short side.  Not a shabby effort at all for an English dessert wine!

1988 Richebourg vs 1988 La Tache

19 Jan 2012: Richard's birthday.  We had a good honest meal at the Hong Kong Club and a couple of bottles of 'grown-up' wine.  The 1997 Meursault-Charmes, Comtes Lafon showed a golden colour with amber glints and was unfortunately madeirised, which didn't bother me as a dessert wine to go with cheese!  So we ordered a bottle of 2005 Corton-Charlemagne, Bruno Clair.  White blossom, lime zest, green fruit, flinty and chalky, with the slightest hint of toast.  Crisp acidity.  Medium-full bodied, in a rather delineated and muscular style, with some complexity and understated power.  This perhaps could do with a bit more time to develop in the bottle.  16.5/20

1988 Richebourg, Meo-Camuzet. Medium garnet colour. A mature and developed bouquet of tinned raspberry, coffee, Asian spices (cloves and nutmeg), tobacco, leather, earthy and gamey. The wine effortlessly coats the palate and gives the most ethereal and enchanting sensation of what great burgundy at its peak must taste and feel like: silky, elegant, sublime, harmonious and otherworldly!  A very classy finish.  Drinking totally at peak now and will drink well at this plateau for another 4 - 5+ years (depending on storage)?  18.5/20

1988 La Tache, DRC: Deep garnet colour. As if the two wines were separated by a good decade, the La Tache was still relatively developing its bouquet, a little closed on the nose initially. After some time in the glass, it revealed a nose of bright cherry and strawberry, floral, tea leaves, savoury, floral, Asian spices, with a hint of eucalyptus on the nose.  Medium bodied, tannin still not fully integrated, needing a bit more time to round off the edges. Though a little backward and unforthcoming, I was rather impressed by the power yet to be unleashed, and its vibrancy and energy. It was for me the better wine to go with food...It might not be as elegant and accessible today as the Meo-Camuzet Richebourg but I am confident it has the potential to develop into the better wine in 5 - 6 years' time?  18.5/20

So happy to finally taste the 1988 Richebourg, Meo-Camuzet as our last effort was met with cork taint!