Shun De Cuisine and Wine Evening

8 May 2010: Last night, a group of us went to Charisme Pavillon (restaurant name in French!), a private kitchen in Wanchai that specialises in ShunDe cuisine. As usual, each person brought along a wine or two of their choice. We started with a New Zealand Deutz sparkling wine made in the traditional method. A good effort but a relatively simple wine. Then we tried the Piper Heidsieck Cuvée Rare, which had structure, roundness and plenty of complexity. 35% Pinot Noir and 65% Chardonnay, with minimum of 3 years of ageing. Layers of honey, roasted hazelnuts and brioche, interlaced with ripe pears, almost Poire William like, figs, candied fruits, marcipan, nougat, mineral and floral/rose. Good level of acidity and a long finish. A perfect match with the "special recipe spare ribs", given its unusual flavour and the slight oiliness from the deep frying. Equally interesting was the 2006 Trélans by Domaine Alain Chabanon, a certified organic domaine, which is transitioning to biodynamic viticulture. A complex but elegant wine made from 45% Chenin Blanc and 55% Vermentino, with 30 months of ageing including 12 months in barrels. A very interesting nose of herbal, pot pourri, chamomile, honey, almonds. I thought it was almost fino-like on the nose. Less on acidity but incredibly well-structured. Its 14% of alcohol strength was well-disguised by the complexity and skilful winemaking. As if made for Oriental food, it went very well with the lotus root and pork patties, which were really yummy at the restaurant.

Then we tried 3 red burgundies in succession. The first was a 1996 Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes by Alain Hudelot-Noellat. For me, perhaps the wine had already passed its peak. It was much less vivacious than the other two wines and on the palate, it tasted rather thin and less interesting. The 2000 Vosne-Romanée Aux Reignots by Sylvain Cathiard was delicioius, drinking at peak now, with a nose of red fruit, earthy and spicy character, like cinnamon and cloves, well-integrated tannins. A soft elegant wine, rather low profile. The 2006 Echézeaux by Gros Frère et Soeur was not really ready for drinking yet. It was still evolving in our glasses despite having been decanted an hour before. A powerful wine, of medium-deep ruby core, with a firm structure, bolstered by fine-grained tannins and great concentration of red and black fruit character initially, raspberries, strawberries and even blueberries. Then the nose evolved to reveal sandalwood, herbal, medicinal and spicy notes. One could drink it now but it would certainly benefit from another 3 - 4 years of ageing in bottle to reveal its true colours. By this stage, I had lost interest in matching food with wine, but I did feel like a second helping of those special recipe spare ribs and hence ordered some more! (Probably because the Shun De Pan-Fried Chicken was rather disappointing!)

The house special fried rice was tasty, but not spectacular. It tasted like the usual "Yangchow Fried Rice" with the addition of soya sauce and a lot more barbecued pork and other ingredients!
When we opened the 2007 Villa Maria Reserve Pinot Noir, it became clear that it was a little unfair of us to try it just after the powerful 2006 Echézeaux. New Zealand David facing the French Goliaths! It was fruity and had some complexity but the finish was rather short and frankly less interesting. It did improve a little while we continued the meal and started planning our next get-together!

All in all, a very enjoyable evening and I look forward to going back to the restaurant to try other dishes especially those ones which required advanced ordering, such as an "Eight Treasure Duck".