Dinner at Stonehouse

11 Jan 2012: Last week, we were invited to dinner at Stonehouse by Kelly.  Stonehouse used to be a one-table private kitchen in a three-storey colonial house with red lanterns hanging from the door. It has recently moved into more spacious and less romantic settings at the Cosmo Hotel, Wanchai.  The signature dish is the roasted suckling pig, which arrived with delicious crispy skin, succulent, tender and flavoursome meat.....gorgeous! The restaurant staff served up the rack and trotters afterwards after the skin had been served.  Those were the best bits, I thought....so full of flavours!


Really yummy suckling pig


I was also very impressed by the soup made with hundreds of chicken feet - check it out!  The collagen from the chicken feet has been nicely extracted and given the soup a rather smooth and viscous texture.....so yummy!


A mound of chicken feet!

For the wines, we started with a 1996 Veuve Clicquot, followed by two vintages of Chassagne Montrachet Les Chenevottes, Michel Niellon: 1989 and 1992.  The 1989 showed to be a more substantial wine, with fuller body, but less acidity.  A lovely bouquet of mango, fig, honeysuckle, liquorice and mineral.  15.5/20  The 1992 for me seemed better balanced and more delineated, with firm acidity and a bit more energy.....giving lift to the bouquet of guava, pineapple, white flowers and mineral.  16.5/20 

We then tasted a 2008 Ma Belle-Fille, Peter Michael.  Butterscotch, honey, nectarine, sweet lemon tart and spicy.  Rich and unctuous, with a decent amount of balancing acidity. Almost dessert-wine like with its 15.4% alcohol.....the wine continued to develop in glass and it took about 2 hours of aeration to open up.  A monster of wine - like a very intense version of Condrieu!  More homework for me on Californian wines.....not quite getting this. 16+/20

1971 Richebourg, Camille Giroud: Garnet core.  Red fruit, tea leaves, autumn pot pourri, truffle and forest floor......sweet caramel note on entry, but quickly fading into an ungenerous palate, with lean fruit and a drying finish.  Past its peak!  14.5/20

1999 Vieux Chateau Certan (in magnum): 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Deep ruby.  A layered bouquet of black cherry, liquorice, coffee, chocolate and violet.  Elegant and velvety textured, displaying pure fruit and layered texture.  Tannin beginning to soften but still evident.  Not the richest and most opulent of Vieux Chateau Certan, but a very fine effort for this vintage.  17/20

2000 Rayas: Pale garnet. A very animale and tawny port-like nose......kirsch, herbal, strawberry, red berries, raisin, fruitcake, smokey and caramel.  The silky texture, fruit-packed palate and fleshy mouthfeel belie the whopping 15.2% alcohol.  Without the support of firm and fresh acidity, it tasted vinous (liqueur-like) and rather unflattering, but seductive all the same with its jammy charm. I had never tasted Rayas this young before....perhaps this will develop into greater things??  Not a favourite of mine today. 16/20

1997 Querciabellia Chianti Classico Riserva (in magnum): Mostly organically-grown Sangiovese, with some addition of Cabernet Sauvignon.  The estate has been biodynamic since 2000.  Deep ruby.  Herbal, sour cherry, berries, earthy, mineral, smoke and plenty of violets. A little weak on mid-palate and finish, but still showing a reasonably firm structure and good acidity. Great with food....if this wasn't tasted blind, then I would have picked this to go with the suckling pig!  Drinking at peak now, without showing signs of fatigue....can probably drink well for another 2 - 3 years.  16.5/20

The private room came complete with karaoke set.  Dawn saved the day, quite literally, with her beautiful singing!  I definitely got the best seat at the table.....next to Mr. Xiong who authored "Appreciation of The World's Top 100 Great and Rare Wines" and I even got him to autograph it for me!