1982 Grand Puy Lacoste

25 Feb 2012: The deal was that Ken would do the cooking and I would supply the wines. So I got an abbreviated version of the menu in advance: lobster, linguine and lamb and 4 drinkers. I had totally not prepared for the endless dishes that kept appearing on the table: fresh crabmeat salad, oysters (Belon and Fine de Claire), mussels cooked in white wine, deep fried eel, linguine with crayfish, grilled lobster in a rich parmesan sauce, and finally 3 beautifully roasted racks of lamb - what a feast (I didn't quite count how many we were, but Ken's clan formed a majority!). I had decided that I would take a champagne, a white wine with fresh acidity, complexity and concentration, a red burgundy that would provide appealing red fruit complexity and approachability, as well as a 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste (Pauillac) to pair with the lamb.

Selosse Initial was the starter wine that I had prepared. Gorgeously oxidative nose of honey, ripe pear, grapefruit, marzipan, acacia, grilled nuts and shortbread, layered with chalky mineral and yeast. Creamy mousse and a very long finish, with a spicy kick at the back. Such a beautiful wine. Best paired with the rather savoury crabmeat and crab roe..... 17.5/20

The 2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Charlemagne Cuvée François de Salins was simply divine. A very sophisticated and elegant bouquet of citrus, lemon curd, smoke, gingery spice, just deftly complemented by some fruity aromas of melon and passion fruit. Need just a bit of time in the glass to achieve a more harmonised balance. Vibrant acidity balancing the lightly viscous texture. Finishes extremely long. Drinking so well now and for the next 10+ years. 18.5/20 (Though a gorgeous wine, not the best match with the rich parmesan sauce.....a Riesling Spatlese or an Alsatian Pinot Gris might have done a better job...)

Grilled lobster in rich parmesan sauce

I had not decanted the 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste, just had the cork removed. A little worried whether it would withstand a few hours even in this position, I thought we had better try it before the burgundy. Deep garnet. A very classic Pauillac nose of blueberry, blackberry, cedar, tobacco, cigar box and pot pourri, with some hint of liquorice. Silky texture, mellowed tannin, fresh acidity. Very very smooth, with a long long finish of almost 60 seconds. Very sophisticated and very classic. Beautiful now, and will drink at this peak for another 8 - 10 years. 18/20

The 2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton Grand Cru Cuvée Docteur Peste as every bit as I had remembered. In fact, most of us had preferred it in pairing with the lamb, as the wine still showed some ripe but firm tannin, and plenty of very refreshing red fruit (cherry and redcurrant) and spices, with gamey, leather and earthy notes slowing developing in the glass. Such a well-made wine and so easy to enjoy right now! 17/20



Perfectly cooked lamb rack- deliciously pink!

 Such a treat to have Ken and his sister cooking for all of us. I loved the creamy texture of the fine de claire and the salty tang of the belon.  The very plump mussels were from Australia.  The lobsters were cooked al dente (apparently he had steamed the claws a little in advance) - only I found the parmesan sauce a little rich and a little too intensely-flavoured, overwhelming the freshness of the lobster.  The lamb was perfectly cooked to a coral-pink colour.  That really was a feast!  It took me a good few hours to digest the food. Apparently, we had not quite exhausted Ken's repertoire this evening....I'll make sure to starve in preparation!

2002 Charmes Chambertin, Dugat-Py

22 Feb 2012: A classic bouquet of very ripe dark fruit, dark cherry and blackberry, layered with violet, wet leaves and Asian spice. The intensity somehow fades a little on the palate and the flavours do not seem to linger as long.  Possible that the wine has shut down a little.  The ripe tannin still needs to be fully integrated.  Vibrant acidity.  A charming and elegant wine, harmonious and well-balanced.  Suggest to try again in 3 - 4 years' time when it emerges from this muted phase. 17.5/20

Syrah and Shiraz

19 Feb 2012:  The theme was a very broad one: Syrah or Shiraz.  No vintage or region was specified.  So the bottles that everyone brought did cover a wide scope but what was interesting was that after all said and tasted, all displayed a true expression of variety and regional characteristics.  Wines from  cooler climate regions faithfully showed more peppery character and a less chunky frame and those from warmer climate regions something a little more beefy and a more hefty structure and richer texture.

All the wines were served blind (except they were known to the owners of the bottles).  To keep us focusing on the wine, I had kept the food simple: steak, lamb chops and sausages on the barbie, with some eggplant curry, spicy chickpeas and salad.  Everyone had to say something about each wine, before the owner revealed the identity of the wine.

1992 Hermitage Blanc, Guigal: Still showing an unmistakable Marsanne nose of honey, quince, grilled nuts and a hint of marzipan. Not much acidity left, hence a slightly cloying feel on the palate endowed with richness and weight. Still drinkable but past peak.

1990 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz: First time trying a sparkling shiraz with such age.  (I've never really quite understood sparkling shiraz, so it was very interesting for me to try this sparkling shiraz with age!)  I didn't know what I was expecting, but probably something like leather and spice. Still showing a lovely creamy mousse and persistent bubbles, the immediate impression was how youthful this tasted, displaying such sweet plum and blackcurrant fruit, with hints of pepper and liquorice. Karen and I both thought it was rather like a sparkling blackcurrant fruit juice!

1990  Underhill Shiraz, Yarra Yerring: From Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia.  100% Shiraz.  Made from vines planted in 1974, from soils with a high clay content.  Use of stalks prevalent for this cuvee from Yarrra Yerring.  A lovely herbal garden perfume of garrigue, brushland, earthy, with leather and savoury nuances complementing some dark cherry notes. Elegant and graceful, harmonious, within a medium body with well-integrated fine tannin and mild acidity.  Drinking very well now and for another 10+ years.  (http://www.yarrayerring.com/)

1996 Reserve Syrah, Kathryn Kennedy Winery: From Saratoga Santa Cruz, California, USA. (Thank you, Vernon, who dutifully decanted the wine at home before getting into the taxi!) This really was lovely. Harmoniously rich in texture and intense in flavour, with a depth of character, that belied its New World identity.  Dark fruit, pepper, liquorice and floral. Soft ripe tannin.  Loved the chewy texture and freshness on palate. Not particularly high in acidity.  A very fine example of extremely high quality Syrah from the New World. (http://www.kathrynkennedywinery.com/)

1971 Penfolds Grange, reconditioned in 2004: Strictly this did not qualify, as it was 87% Shiraz and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon.  A blend of grapes from Kalimna Vineyard, Barossa Valley, Magill Estate, Adelaide, Clare Valley and Coonawarra.  As it was reconditioned by the Recorking Clinic in 2004, David said it could have been topped up with the 1998 vintage. Menthol, spicy and peppery, but rather dominated by baked blackberry fruit and raspberry preserve.  Given how "this was always considered one of the great vintages of Grange" (best since 1955), this was a little disappointing in complexity and character.  There was a good display of medium firm tannin and a good level of acidity in the robust structure, but what seemed to be missing was some tertiary character (smoke, savoury, earthy) to give credibility to its age. I wonder how much of the more recent vintage was used to top up.  Could it have been topped up with the same wine from the same vintage, rather than tweaking with a younger vintage?? (http://www.penfolds.com/)

2005 The Laird, Torbreck: A 100-pointer wine from the Wine Advocate.  First vintage of this brandnew wine from David Powell.  From a single 2 hectare vineyard of Shiraz in the Marananga sub-region in Barossa planted in the 1960s. Aged for 3 years in new French oak barrels. 14.8% alcohol. A powerful wine, harmonious and elegant at the same time.  Loved the sweet and opulent nose of plum, dark cherry, fruitcake, black pepper, roses, herbal and menthol with savoury nuances.  A good dose of acidity, giving freshness to the rich texture of very ripe and velvety tannin. Mouthfilling, with plenty of concentration and complexity.  A wine with everything in sync, leaving you not asking for much more!  Finishes extremely long.  Better enjoyed with a few more years of bottle age.  From 2015, with another 15 - 20+ years ahead! (http://www.torbreck.com/)

2000 Côte Rôtie La Landonne, Guigal:  100% Syrah.  Pepper, plum,  blackberry, liquorice, kirsch-like, with some earthy, leather and mineral notes.  Elegantly structured.  Rather simple and much less interesting when compared to the far more superior 1999 vintage (which we were rather generously treated to by Stephen just 2 days before this dinner - Stephen had his wine decanted for about 3 hours before we tried it).  Perhaps it would have benefitted from a longer decanting time.  Not a hit with us.  Definitely drinking well now and for the next 6 - 8+ years.  (http://www.guigal.com/)

2004 Poker Face, Sine Qua Non: A 100-Parker pointer wine.  96% Syrah, 2.5% Mourvedre, and 1.5% Viognier.  Vines from  the Eleven Confessions, White Hawk, Alban, Bien Nacido, and Alta Mesa vineyards in Santa Barbara.  At 15.5% alcohol, it was more like a fortified wine to me than a wine.  In fact, I left it to pair with the chocolate brownie dessert.   Dark chocolate, raisin, dried prune, fruitcake, blackberry, very dark cherry jam, kirsch with some nutty and toasty oak character (reminiscent of a black forest gateau).  Totally explosive on the palate, mouthfillingly unctuous, totally intensely flavoured ripe fruit character.  Mind-boggling purity, intensity, concentration and density (only wish there were less alcohol!).  Dense and opulent, this wine deserved a much longer decanting time than we had given it......in fact, if I had a bottle (which I don't), I would probably leave it for 5 - 6 years before trying again! 

1969 Dom Perignon Oenotheque: George introduced to us this concept of 1969 Dom Perignon Oenotheque and Pu-Erh tea to cleanse our palate (and our head) before leaving the party!  Honey, yeasty, marzipan, dried apricot, slightly spicy, and Chinese liquorice, with that very particular bitter-sweet quality analogous to the flavour of really good quality Pu-Erh tea (unfortunately, our supply at home was not of this quality). A fully mature wine and to be drunk now!  A rather nice way of ending what was a most indulgent and educational evening. 

It was a wonderful way to share bottles!  I was most impressed by the Kathryn Kennedy bottle which for me gave the best balance of style, character, elegance and power.  The sheer power and concentration of The Laird and Poker Face rendered most of us speechless but I would prefer to try them again in 4 - 5 years' time.   Thank you so much to our friends who brought all these great and interesting bottles!  (Next time, we should start an hour or two earlier, so that we would have more time to finish the bottles!)

 

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.