Cote de Beaune Evening

17 Sep 2013: Richard set a very broad theme to this dinner........Côte de Beaune! And so we did have a very diverse range of wines!

We began with a Roulot Bourgogne Aligoté: citrus fruit, herbal note and refreshing, a perfect start!

The 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Vergers Clos Saint Marc, Jean-Marc Pillot was a highlight amongst the whites. Such purity of fruit, raciness of acidity, linearity of structure, complete with intense minerality on the palate. Lemon, pear and nutty notes frame the broad-shouldered character, with the oak-infused notes still evident, but not detracting from the purity and intensity of the fruit flavours. Rich but superbly balanced and refined. Very long finish. Definitely can be enjoyed now....and over next 8 - 10 years! 17.5/20

The 2009 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes, Louis Carillon needed a bit more time to open up.....we noticed some reduction initially. The nose was rich and complex, with floral (honeysuckle), fig, honey, almonds, pear and citrus. Rich and generous mouthfeel, with balancing acidity. Nice long complex finish. Probably better enjoyed in a year or so. A long life ahead. 17.5/20

The 2005 Batard Montrachet, Leflaive, was rather monolithic at the moment.......and would need another 3 -4 years to fully unwind. The nose reminds me of acacia, lanolin and lemon confit.....the palate was a phenomenal concentration of flavours....so dense and complex that it was almost too much to cram into one mouthful! A very powerful expression. I would wait a couple more years at least before trying again. 18.5/20

As for the reds, we began with 2 old burgs......which formed great contrasts when tasted side by side. The 1959 Hospices de Beaune Cuvée Nicolas Rolin (which Charles brought back to HK from Beaune a few months ago) was sensational! A gloriously rich and intense mature Burgundian bouquet, underscoring wet leaves, sous-bois, truffle and coffee notes, with some savoury nuances. A most sensuous and silky texture caresses the palate, elegantly carrying the intensely rich and complex flavours, with such vibrancy, leading to a finish that goes on and on. A very suave and aromatic expression of Beaune Premier Cru, with such finesse and poise, at this fine mature age! Mesmerizingly enchanting! Definitely for drinking now! 19/20 (And such a beautiful label too, with an etching of the Hospices on the side!)

Etching of the Hospices on label

The 1969 Santenay, Remoissenet was a very different expression. Here there's more muscle and less flesh. Still a very fine savoury and leather note to the bouquet. Four-squared but remarkably holding so well together for a village level Bourgogne at this age! 17/20

The 2000 Volnay Clos du Château des Ducs, Michel Lafarge was another highlight of the evening. A very charming nose of red cherry, sweet spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Silky texture with such fine-grained ripe tannin, with a very long finish. 17.5/20 (I liked the Lafarge Volnay Caillerets less....found it rather uncharming.)

We rather hurriedly opened the 1985 Corton Clos des Cortons, Faiveley towards the end. This bottle combined a very fine expression of terroir, complexity, intensity and a long finish. Earthy, gamey, sous-bois still showing remnants of plum and raspberry preserve. A remarkable wine, that delivered the Faiveley signature extremely well. 18.5/20

Despite the lack of coordination, this was a great tasting, educational and interesting in many ways!

A 70th birthday bottle: 1943 Canon

21 Sep 2013: To celebrate my mother's 70th birthday, we decided to cook for her at home and open a special bottle from her birth year: 1943. I found a bottle of 1943 Château Canon. A war vintage, not particularly spectacular...but the level for this bottle was very top shoulder and we thought it would be worth a try!

We started the evening with 1996 Dom Perignon Rosé. Savoury, fraise des bois, candy floss. Fleshy, opulent, creamy and generous texture with vibrant acidity. Still plenty of energy and freshness. Very appealing and very long spicy and fruity finish. A brilliant start - so yummy! 18.5/20

Then it was time for the moment of truth for the 1943 Canon......good level and a firm cork.....we might be in for a treat??  And we were! Deep garnet hue. Aromas of violet, tobacco, coffee, leather, laced by caramel notes in the nicely mature bouquet. Medium bodied, very smooth texture. Harmonious and persistent finish with just a hint of dryness and acidity pushing through the end. Otherwise still energetic and much life ahead. 17/20 (It went rather well with my roast chicken, caramelised baby carrots and roast potatoes!)

As with all great mature wines, the 1943 Canon slipped down rather nicely, and almost too quickly. So we opened a half bottle of 1949 La Mission Haut Brion. A deeper colour, ruby-garnet. An extremely sensual bouquet redolent of cassis, dark raspberry, blueberry, leather saddle, mocha, sweet tobacco with bacon fat, herbal and bell pepper notes. Still vivacious with a firm structure. Not particularly fleshy but there is a very fine minerally graphite and smokey note on palate. A persistent finish. Simply jaw-dropping! 19/20

We finished with a 1975 Rieussec (half bottle). A tawny colour. Fully mature notes of marmalade, dried fruit (raisin and apricot), with honey and treacle. Rich and intense on the palate. A little dryness on the lusciously sweet finish. It went beautifully with the birthday cake (orange marmalade cake, served with vanilla flavoured yoghurt)! For my style, I would have preferred this Rieussec a few years earlier.....16/20 (the 1975 Coutet that we had recently contrasted quite interestingly with the Rieussec....the 75 Coutet was made in a lighter, less concentrated style but showed a little more freshness, purity of fruit and elegance at this stage.....16/20)

The Enigma of Clos de Vougeot

11 Sep 2013: Clos de Vougeot: this iconic enclosed vineyard, initially created by the Cistercian monks in the early part of the 12th Century, is a Grand Cru appellation that accounts for almost 75% of the Vougeot appellation area. Given its large size of almost 50 hectares, and the number of producers (about 80 in all), it has often been criticised for its lack of consistency across the myriad of producers and terroirs within the 'clos'. At the top where there is a thin (40cm) topsoil of chalk and gravel on limestone , the vineyards that abut Musigny and Grands Echézeaux, enjoy better drainage at 255 metres above sea level. The middle part (250 metres) offers moderate drainage, with a shallow topsoil of softer limestone and brown clay, with some gravel, overlying broken limestone. The vineyards at the bottom (240 metres) that extend towards the D974 and having regional and village level vineyards as neighbours, have a deeper topsoil of brown colour (90cm) on top of a layer of marl, rich in clay and alluvium. Blending across the clos is a possibility for producers owning different plots.

The Clos de Vougeot Line-Up

A few days ago, a group of us got together over dinner to try some Clos de Vougeot bottles, across different vintages and producers, to see whether we could differentiate between the terroir expression and the winemaker's style. I looked up some official sources for a description of Clos de Vougeot, and here's an amalgamation of what I found: "a suave bouquet.....roses, violets, mignonette,......blackberry, raspberry, wild mint, liquorice and truffle.....underbrush.....fur.......on the palate....succulent and mellow....full-bodied and fleshy......combining elegance and delicacy with meaty fullness.....discreet acidity.....muscular and quite long on the finish......long ageing potential".

Before we started with the reds, we enjoyed some Vougeot 1er Cru Clos Blanc de Vougeot by Domaine de La Vougeraie. We had a magnum of 2006 Clos Blanc, which seemed to be drinking a point now, rich and concentrated, perhaps a little lacking in acidity. The 2009 showed much more tension and structure and paired rather well with the smoked trout pâté!


We decided to start from old to young this time, allowing the younger wine further aeration and a chance to pair with some French cheese (sadly no Cîteaux, the cheese still made by the monks of the Abbey of Cîteaux, which would have been the ideal marriage)!


1959 Clos Vougeot, Joseph Drouhin: Level was upper to mid shoulder. Brick colour, with a warm and sweet bouquet that suggests richness and a fine maturity, reminiscent of prune, coffee, sous-bois, truffle, earth, animal and savoury notes, with a complementary nuance of caramel. Almost sweet on entry. Mouth-coating silkiness, delivering a refined degree of richness and depth of flavours, which just went on and on. Just a hint of dryness on the finish. Simply sublime, elegant and mature! A very well-stored bottle, showing perfect pedigree and character of the vintage. 19/20

1969 Clos de Vougeot, Jospeh Drouhin: Garnet colour. Underneath the strong note of volatility and evidence of maderisation, there was a bouquet of undergrowth, wet leaves and earthy notes. Sound underlying material for the wine, but sadly succumbed to oxidation and volatility.

1961 Clos de Vougeot, Leroy: This needed some time to coax the plethora of Burgundian aromas, including dark fruit, Asian spice, mushroom, violet and some sauvage character. The complex flavours glide across the palate, affirming intensity, concentration and a fine robust structure. Good level of acidity keeping the palate fresh. I feel that we did not quite give it enough time to breathe and blossom......18.5/20


1988 Clos Vougeot, René Engel: Initially, a little subdued....except for nuances of animal, earth and farmyard. With aeration, this revealed a core of red fruit and mineral note underneath the firm structure. Lithe and elegantly poised. Rather attractive, except for the dryness on the finish. I would drink this wine now! 17/20


1988 Clos de Vougeot, Méo-Camuzet: A suave and stylish interpretation of Clos de Vougeot. Mature bouquet of dark cherry, plum, Asian spice, violet with some earthy notes. Not a wine that impresses by its volume or concentration, but rather its velvety texture, fine backbone of vibrant acidity and velvety tannin. Very fine indeed. 17.5/20


2001 Clos de Vougeot, Georges Mugneret: Here's a very fine Clos de Vougeot. Notes of dark fruit, coffee, sweet tobacco and sauvage character. Intense, with profound concentration, and a muscular core. The linear structure deftly balanced by richness. Finishes extremely long. Excellent winemaking here. 17/20


2003 Clos de Vougeot, Méo-Camuzet: From a warm vintage, this showed a warm and rich bouquet, a mouthcoating velvety texture but also a fantastic freshness, keeping everything in balance! Dark fruit, cloves, liquorice and coffee. Ripe but firm tannins and vibrant acidity giving an opulent but not clumsy structure. Perhaps there was none of the minerality or restraint that we love to see in Burgundies but this was a very fine effort for the vintage. 17.5/20

We finished with a 1971 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese, S.A. Prüm. A golden amber colour. Notes of dried apricot, mango and marmalade leapt to the nose. Medium-bodied and firm acidity. Finishes long......Quite fine, good complexity and balance, but not an intensely rich or profound example. 17/20

Did we reach a conclusion? I think we certainly did reach one: in the right hands, Clos de Vougeot was certainly capable of living up to its long-ageing reputation......the 1959 and 1961 were very fine examples of how well they aged!

1991 Clos de L'Arlot Premier Cru, Domaine de L'Arlot

25 Aug 2013: When a bottle of well-priced Bourgogne wine hits the perfect pitch, it's simply irresistible. I found this last bottle of 1991 Clos de L'Arlot Premier Cru, Domaine de l'Arlot with a label that probably saw better days, somewhere in our rack at home and thought we might give this a try, expecting the worst. Yet, it opened to reveal a most alluring Burgundian bouquet of prune, undergrowth, wet earth, tea leaves and Asian spices, with a hint of sauvage character. The palate went on to surprise us, such silky texture, delivering a lively freshness and an intensity and richness of flavours, that would make some Grands Crus seem pale in comparison! Maturity, harmony, balance, complexity and length all came together in perfect expression, delivering a most complete and memorable experience. If you see a case of this with good provenance, grab it! I would guess this would be well within GBP 100/HK$ 1200 a bottle? 18/20

Super Tuscans

25 Aug 2013: Earlier this week, a group of us got together for a Super Tuscan evening.  We didn't really set the vintage parameters, but it was nice to see a showing of some older vintages, from 1988 and 1990. The staff at Messina Il Ristorante at The Harbourfront Landmark looked after us really well, from quality of food to the wine service.  I highly recommend the burrata cheese ravioli with Pachino tomatoess (perhaps better without the anchovies that were adorning the dish) as one of the starters and the crispy suckling pig, braised Castelluccio lentils and onion marmalade as main course.

As for the wines, we organised them into 3 flights, based on either grape varieties, producers or stylistic similarities.

Flight 1: 

Tignanello: 1995, 1997, 2003

Solaia: 1988, 1998

Flight 2:

Ornellaia: 1990

Sassicaia: 1998, 2002, 2005

Flight 3:

Galatrona: 2006, 2007

Masseto: 1993, 1998, 2007

I only managed to write a few brief notes on the wines, but there were a few key points that were established from this tasting:

1) 2002 Sassicaia was the biggest surprise of the evening.  It was still showing a deep ruby colour.  The nose revealed some vigourous notes of blackcurrant, cedar, tobacco, hint of tar and mineral character. While not opulent or powerful, there was good concentration and intensity of flavours coating the palate.  Nicely integrated tannin giving a silky texture, with good acidity.  Very elegant and classy, almost Saint Julien like?  There's no hurry to drink up this wine, given the energy, depth and complexity it's showing at the moment. Drink now and over next 6 - 8+ years. 17.5/20

2) Vintage 1998 was on cracking form now.  If we were to rank the 3 1998 wines here, we would probably all agree that they would  go like this (starting from the top performer): Masseto, Solaia and Sassicaia.  The Masseto was a total stunner. Voluptuous and lush on the palate. Layers and layers of rich flavours of plum, chocolate, black fruit preserve, with some gamey notes, kept coming back to seduce, the sensation intensifying with time in the glass.  The richness and fullness was matched with vibrant acidity, giving the wine a very fine balance and delineation. An utterly sensational expression of the Merlot grape from the soils of Tuscany!  Drink now and over next 10 - 12+ years.  19/20

The 1998 Solaia also showed a deep ruby colour.  Here the notes were dark fruit, liquorice, earthy with hints of mint.  Velvety texture, lovely balanced density.  A very classy showing.  Drink now and over next 8 - 10 years.  18/20

The 1998 Sassicaia seemed a little weak, compared to  the other 2.  Medium-bodied, and lacking in weight and substance on the mid palate.  Cedar and herbaceous notes dominate here.  Drink now and over next 5 - 6+ years. 16.5/20

3) The best of the Tignanellos was the 1997 Tignanello.  Deep garnet.  Bouquet of dark chocolate, cherry,  leather, smoke and some capsicum notes.  Velvety texture, still maintaining a nice firm structure, with impeccable balance.  A very commendable effort, that delivers harmony, elegance and finesse that is quite old worldly. A touch of astringency on the finish. Drink now and over next 5 - 6 years.  17.5/20

The 2003 Tignanello by comparison showed notes of liquorice, earthy, dusty, tobacco with some meaty notes.  There was just a whiff of grreen-ness.  Robust ripe tannin with firm acidity. Quite a meaty wine.  Enjoy now and over next 6 - 8 years.  17/20 

The 1995 Tignanello and 1988 Solaia had probably seen better days, based on these 2 bottles.

Then the rest of my impressions are:

The 1990 Ornellaia was very variable because it was poured from 3 different bottles, decanted individually. The best showing delivered a wine that had a mature bouquet of roasted herbs, cedar, leather and sweet tobacco notes, with a generous mouthfeel. An elegantly aged wine, now showing at its peak. There was no dryness at all on the finish.  18/20

The 2007 Galatrona kind of shut down in the glass, after about an hour.  It was nicely rich and concentrated but perhaps lacked the finesse, precision and minerality of the 2007 Masseto, which only went from strength to strength in the glass, while retaining a much more floral and restrained style than the flamboyant 1998.  I would give the Masseto 2007 score of 18.5/20 and the Galatrona 17.5/20.

The 2006  Galatrona showed gobs and gobs of very ripe fruit, layered with nuances of chocolate, plum and tobacco.  Full-bodied, very lush, but there was sufficient freshness to carry this weight forward and for a long time coming.  18/20

The 1993 Masseto was a little disappointing.  It showed notes of tea leaves and vegetal.  It seemed a little weak compared to the usual Masseto.  Drink now.  16.5/20

The 2005 Sassicaia was an understated effort....a nice bouquet of black fruit, roasted herbs, tar and smoke.  Drink now and over next 8 - 10+ years.  17.5/20  Perhaps it could turn out to be a nice surprise like 2002?

A most educational evening, thanks to everyone's generosity in sharing!  

A Couple of 2002 Le Montrachets

18 August 2013: We've had such mixed luck with these supposedly top white Burgundies...but at least we found one that dazzled us...and it's from the 2002 vintage!

2002 Le Montrachet, Fontaine-Gagnard: If there was any doubt whether this fell victim to white Burgundy's nemesis of premature oxidation, tasting it side by side the 2002 Blain Gagnard, immediately confirmed this. The colour was medium gold. Notes of roasted hazelnuts, fig, toast, smoke and spice, with wihiffs of caramel adorning the bouquet. Though rich and unctuous with a relatively full body, the flavour intensity was weak, lacking in fruit, and did not support the complexity on the nose. Finishes short. This simply didn't have the class of the Montrachet! Better with cheese. 16/20

2002 Le Montrachet, Blain Gagnard: Medium lemon colour. Still very reserved on the nose: lime zest, green apple, green pear and some white flowers. This is classy juice, dazzling with tons of minerality, precision and mouth staining flavours on the palate. First rate. As youthful as this bottle shows now, I wouldn't wait too long to enjoy this, given the inconsistency we have found with this wine (an earlier premoxed bottle from the same case). Better enjoy now with some aeration! Such a contrast with the 2002 Le Montrachet, Fontaine-Gagnard. (Note that we opened a bottle of the same wine, from the same case, a year ago and it was totally oxidised!) 19.5/20


Plus we had this recently.....

2007 Meursault Les Poruzots, Henri Boillot: Medium lemon colour. A relatively reticent nose of lime zest, green apple with some toasted almond note coming through. Very tightly wound on the palate, all muscles and not much flesh at the moment, with mineral and spice dominating the palate. This needs time to develop the middle palate and add some weight. Persistent finish. 17.5/20

1955 Petrus

17 August 2013: Special Saturday treat from Richard: a nice supper of pot-roasted chicken and a bottle of 1955 Pétrus!

1955 Pétrus: Level into neck. It was a spectacular evolution in the decanter, with a crescendo of aroma/flavour complexity, finesse and grace, even over 4 hours after it first opened. Medium garnet core. After about an hour of decanting time, there was a whiff of soya sauce on the nose and some acidity poking through the finish. As the wine developed in the decanter (and the glass) over the next 3 hours, the transformation took us quite by surprise. A gracefully matured fine bouquet of blueberry and plum fruit, intermingled with sweet spices of cinnamon and nutmeg, layered with mocha, leather and smokey notes, culminating into a most seductive bouquet, matched with intensity of flavours that caress the palate. Medium bodied, with a silky texture. A very long and fine finish. In a word, sublime and classy, and totally not expected! 18/20