3kg Soon Hock!! + Virgin first growth, Haut Brion 2001!!

We have come to learn about it, the 1855 classification of wines in France by Napolean, about the selection of the best wines in world (which was France in 1885). And there were 4 candidates, 4 'first growths, the creme la creme, the best of the best, with the latest addition of Mouton, there're the 5 super stars of wine. Every grape ever harvested on the planet seeks to become a first growth , or by the ill fortunes of poor locations, weather, ie sucky terrior, most will never be close to a first growth. Magazines talk about how lavish first growths wines are, and with annual harvest surrounding the release of the first growths, as wine investors and critics....


Ok, this is it! The Haut Brion 2001 was on the table, courtesy of Michael, and my virgin night was starting to be exciting...... with a starry cast lined up, with wonderful food from Ming Kee life seafood, this was a night to remember!!

Comtes Champagne Taittinger 1995
Chateau Haut-Brion 2001
Chateau Leoville Barton 1989
Chateau Smith Haut Lafite Blanc 1999
Chateau Gruaud Larose 1989
Laflaive Puligny Montrachet 1Er Cru Les Pucelles 1994

First off, the Barton and Gruaud were chosen by Morgan from a book (Michael Broadbent's book of vintage wines) with vivid masculine/feminine descriptions of the wine. The Gruaud was just masculine, raw, thick, leather, smokey, with appreciable length. The suckling pig dish (perhaps the best ever I've tried), was truly a match in heaven with the Gruaud. The Barton was more subtle, with a more usual St Julien flavour, with complexity.

I opened the Smith Haut Lafite Blanc around 3 hours before the dinner, it was considerably sour. ~4-5hours after decanting, it was smooth, but against the other powerhouse wines, the SHL Blanc was considerably muted.

A 3 kg Soon Hock fish! Thick and succulent, we also had a raw Laflaive, a great burgundy white, from a famous 1994 vintage no less, and this was a chardonnay like no other, very smooth and pleasing, rather muted on the nose, this wine was graceful and superbly balance through th palatte. Simply amazing!! We also had the previlage to try the Comtes Champagne Taittinger 1995, an aged champagne. Simply delicious!Tp Thanks Albert!!

Towards the end, the First growth was out. Tasting very young, even though it spent 8 years in the bottle, this is a virtue of great wines with the ability to age in excess of 40 yrs! Layers of dark fruits complexed with balanced palette and short finish, this was a delightful way to end of a night. This is what wine drinking should be! Friends, Food, Fwah!!!

Monopole!

Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-montrachet -clos de la maltroie 1Er Cru
Les Pagodes de Cos Saint Estephe 2004
Clos Fourtet Saint-Emillion 2000
Domaine Comte Liger-Belair Close Du Chateau Vosne-romanee monopole 2004

It was my first time tasting a monopole, meaning only the house (Comte Liger-Belair here..the bottle on the right), has full ownership the plot of land at Clos du Chateau at Vosne-Romanee. A very different tasting Burgundy. Thanks to TK for this lovely bottle.

The Clos Fourtet deserves mention, a right bank wine from the great 2000 vintage, the first nose and palatte reminds one of left bank flair with dark fruits and a heavier cab sauv type of palette. As the nite goes, this became more right bank, smoother and delicious. Thanks to Morgan for this wine!

This was another Burgundy, great value for money at $39.

Singapore Wine Fiesta 2009!

The Singapore Wine Fiesta 2009!! A wide array of wines from Australia, Chile, France and many more countries! Held over 30th October to 1st November 20o09, this was organised by The Singapore Straits company, Denise wine shop, Uluru and the Universal restaurant & wine bar.

Crowds headed to Duxton 40 for the wine festival, with many fringe events throughout the three days!

Australian wines flank a large part of the wine area, with the award-winning Oddfellows Shiraz 2006 tasting very smooth indeed for a Shiraz.

Villa M, very refreshing sparking Muscato for the whites for the Villa M Bianco 2009 at RRP SGD$35.80, and the sparking reds made of Brachetto grapes, the Villa M Rosso 2009 at $35.80 too!

Champagne from Champagne Devaux, this is the Devaux Blanc De Noiv NV of 100% Pinot Noir, tasting nutty, and breakfast toast. Very interesting!! RRP at S$97.80. Cuvee 'D' NV has 1/3 Chardonnay with a more 'regular' champagne notes. RRP $126. The Ultra 'D' NV was dry and 'full bodied' for a champagne. RRP $136.

The foursome at the Fiesta, Ling, Loke Yuen, Wenhui and...me! Still sober!!

Very excellent Gosset Grande Reserve, with a very 'bold' structure. RRP S$112. The best champagne was the Gosset Grand Rose NV, RRP $134, simply smooth, and with a toast bread nose (yes, wonder why I kept smelling toast and Macdonald's breakfast for more than a few wines...). A 5-star wine for me..this Rose!!

Special mention is the J Cacheux Vosne Romanee 1C Les Suchots 2004. RRP $126, nose of fig, berrys, dark fruits, very well-balanced structure, palatte, finish!! Another highlight of the Fiesta!!

Wine for Asia 2009!! 22nd to 24th October 2009

It was a 'must-go' for any wine lovers at the Wine for Asia 2009. With more than 100 hosted buyers at the event, and covering an entire hall at the Suntec Convention, this was simply Disneyland! Wenhui and I went for two days, albeit only short visit on each of the days. Besides the following images, we were also at BDX wines. Served by a very friendly Joseph Ang, they have fantastic value f0r money wines from Chateau Moulin de Corneil! Check them out at www.bdxwines.com!

This was a tasting of more than 30 French Chateaus of the 2005 and 2006 Vintages. Hosted at The Wine Review corner (with reknown wine writer Ch'ng Poh Tiong as it's publisher) it was a wide range of wines displayed from Smith Haut Lafite, Pichon Baron, Loeville Barton, Giscours, Le Fortis and many more mostly the Left back of Bordeaux. The 2006 was generally more approachable for drinking now while the 2005 has more tannins than we can take now.

Here Wenhui enjoying a tipple!

A humourous Has Haans, wine maker from Barossa Valley with approachable Shirz Prestige and Merlot Prestiage.


Another booth with lovely French wines, with 1982 Clos des Moines

My favourite of the lot! Smith Haut Lafite Blanc 2005!! The 2006 can only stand in the 2005's shadows...


At yet another booth, we bought the Stella Ridge Estate, Kyoho 2004 for SGD$35. Lovely wine of Umeshu's flavours!!

Drinking wine older than you. Chateau Ausone 1975

Finally, a Benchmark in wines, drinking wines older than one self, imagine the bottle of wine was already made, grapes picked seasons and years before you were born.

We had the opportunity to taste the Chateau Ausone 1975 (Magnum!), Chateau Loeville La Case 1981, Clos de la Roche Armand Rousseau pere e fils 1995. All were uncorked and decanted up to several hours. But all are still very tannic and not drinking!

We'll await reports from TK about the progress in the decanting, as they headed off for dinner and we have to prepare for our trip to Japan.

Mooncake + wine

We had our virgin wine dinner at our place, on the 16th day of the 8th lunar month, where the moon is supposed to be the brightest! Anyway, we had great fried 面线 (vermicelli) from Ming Kee Live Seafood (556 Macpherson Road Singapore 368231 Tel: 6747 4075), and duck/pork parts from Sin Fong Restaurant (Duck and Kway Chup). 560 MacPherson Road, blue cheese and pear, roasted pork sausages, with

• Duval-Leroy (lovely champagne, my liking of the dryness, absolutely important to keep the bottle in the ice bucket at all times!
• Langeron Nuits St George 2002 (Very light, classic NSG/pinot)
• Mount Tamborine Shiraz Cabernet 2005 (Tannins soften after ~1hr of decanting, approachable!
• Chateau Lambrounge 2000 (possible typo here, a garage wine from St Emillion, relatively big wine reminiscent of the left bank instead, tannins still on the palette after 5-6hours of decanting).

Till the next full moon!!

Smith Huat Lafite 1994, La Croix de Gay 2000, Corton 1995, Charmes Chambertin 2000, Chateau Filhot 2001

Had a blast of time..with five 5-star wines.
In order of tasting:

La Croix de Gay 2000
This was very tough, TK opened it ~3pm, and it was evidently horrible. I tasted it ~7pm after 4 hours of decanting, it reminded of the Certan de May that I tried earlier...sourish-bitter, awful palette, muted nose. It gradually got better thru 8pm and by 10pm, it was pretty drinkable.

Corton 1995
High in tannins, after 2-3 decanting, it became more drinkable. After 4-5hours, very minty nose emerges, great stuff!

Charmes Chambertin 2000
Opened for 6hours, great smooth Burgundy red!! Not very 'fig-like' in nose, balanced drink.


Smith Huat Lafite 1994
Great wine from a great house, came out of the gates racing with huge nose of burnt rubber, dark fruits, and with some decanting, evolves to a well-balanced palette with excellent finish. 5-star wine!

Chateau Filhot 2001
My first ever Sauternes! Much anticipation, the 2001 of a great vintage. Served very chilled (~11C?), big nose of...latex gloves with a lather of honey(images of my latex-gloved orthodontist plunging into my mouth comes to mind..). Very sweet on the palette, not as fruity as gurzetraminers or canadian ice wines. Still learning to appreciate!! One day I shall drink Y'quem!!

King's feast on eve of NDP, NDP, post NDP... 2009

It was a crazy 3 days, with a taste of 7 bottles of wine.... + meals including Roast Duck/Pork Knuckles with home made delicious apple paste (hand made by TK)/heavenly soba/salmon sashimi/tenderloin beef/buffalo wings/pork ribs/and a host of pasta/salads/etc. It's enough to satisfy any King!!

Thanks to TK's and Albert's invitation 1997 Château de Villars Fontaine, here seen in the middle with a 2005 bottle (labelled customised for Albert). Crisp Chardonnay from the great Burgundy region, very easy in the palette with balanced acidity and fruit with a short finish. A white to start the sashimi/sushi with.

I brought a Gewurztraminer from Domaine Weinbach 2007 from Alsace region. A grape traditionally on the 'too sweet' on the palette, this is typically a favourite among girls. Fruity aromas fill the nose. A tad young, the tannins relax after ~30mins of decanting, revealing a smooth and crunchy palette with a bouquet of lychees in your face!!! Serving temperatures for sweet wines need to be ~12 degress Celsius or less. Absolutely fantastic! TK mentioned this has notes of Sauternes (wine) or even hints of Y'quem. (I've no idea as I've never been close to the 'great white wines..')

The reds were served almost concurrently with the whites and notable the Aloxe Corton 1ER cru Les Fournieres under the house of Tollot Beaut & Fils. This 1996 vintage has classic burgundy notes of Fig, and pleasant lightness on the palette. Wine opens beautifully after ~hrs of decanting and it's very drinkable!

The Pommard clos des epeneux is from the house of Comte Armand and as Pommards are known to be hard, this 2000 vintage bottle was uncorked hours before decanting for ~1-2hours before revealing it's flavours. With nose of burgundies (fig), this Pommard could do with more years under proper cellaring?

The 5th bottle is the Duhart Milon under the Lafite label. This 1997 is 12 years old already but still has considerably tough tannins and spiciness to challenge another 10yrs in the cellar? After another 16 hours of 'corked decanting', it lightens a little but yet refuses to reveal it's secrets. The 1989 vintage has been known to be a great tasting vintage.



And on NDP itself, we had the Chateau Certain from Pomerol of the 1997 vintage, courtesy of TK. Still a fan of the Left Bank, I've yet to come to terms to appreciate Saint Emillions and Pomerols. This Pomerol is a tad spicy and a little heavy. With light nose of dark fruits, the palette is heavy and the tannins are still a tad offensive. TK mentioned that another bottle he's tried was much better, hence bottle-to-bottle variation at play here?


Finally, on Post-NDP, I wasn't too keen to drink much anymore. We were at lunch at Janice's and with plenty of red meats and a bottle of Wolf Blass Riesling 2007 (courtesy of Anne), there wasn't much to think about, and pop! With 30mins of decanting (un-cork only), this Riesling was surprisingly easy on the tannins and acidity, proving very drinkable. The crispness I like in Riesling was missing though and perhaps a hint of Sulphides was present as I had a slight headache afterwards.

All in all, a great NDP long weekend with many great wines, great food and company!!

Happy birthday SIngapore!!!

Brie de Meaux

Priced at S$63.90 /kg. A classic Brie with creamy taste, a little on the strong side.

A tale of 3 Australian wines

2006 Grant Burge Miamba Shiraz

2004 Punters Corner Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Penny's Hill Merlot

2006 Grant Burge Miamba Shiraz

Tried these 3 at an Australian wine fair by Vineyards direct, only the Shiraz had a decent nose with interesting enough palette and length. The other two, need perhaps some decanting or cellaring to soften the tannins, else it's simply torture to drink them. It is probably unfair to judge these wines as the tasting was done using....mini plastic cups!

WolfBlass Eagle Hawk Shiraz

Not-image worthy, unless to warn one never go even nose one. Vintage? Does it matter? Tannins hitting the your face, and engulfs the palette. Absolute piss. Next!

2009-05-08 Burgundy night!

Thanks to Tiong Kiat, Albert and gang for organising this wondeful wine dinner at the China Club. A venue with a spectacular views and exquisite decor. And this was Burgundy night! With carefully selected wines from the Burgundy region of France, and wines purchased from wine culture, this was set to be a mind-blowing night of Pinot noirs. It was tough to look for the images of the wine labels on the net, hence, only one is attached here. I shall take the images myself and post it up.

This was my first foray into such a wide selection of Burgundy wines, the nose is distinctively more crisp and fresh than Bordeaux. The following Burgundys are all very approachable, with hidden tannins and almost non-existant lengths, leaving me with little to note about. Burgundys known to be more complex than Bordeaux and we'll see.

The first wine tasted, was the Vosne-Romanee Domaine Robert Arnoux, 1ER Grand Cru Aux Reignots 2004. The nose was light and crisp at first, with woody tones and sour-plum notes.

The second wine was the Chambolle-Musignx by Pascal Lachaux, 1Er Grand Cru Leammoreuses 2003. Nose of fig and chery.

The third wine was again from Vosne-Romanee, Les Brulees 2009. The nose was 'big'. Hints of rust at the end of the nose.

The fourth wine was from Vosne-Romanee, Beaux Mont 2004. A rare wine with crispy and ripen fruit nose. Christophe Perrot- Minot. VV.

The fifth wine was from the same as the first wine, from Aux Reignots. This is from the 1999 vintage. Nose with hints of mushroom.

Jacob's Creek, cabernet sauvignon 2007

I tried the Vintage 2007 at one of the most popular hotels in Singapore, Marina Mandarin! The nose is really pleasant, with medium acidity and decent length. Can a structure of a wine improve over time?

Penfold's Rawson Retreat Shiraz Cabernet 2006 & Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

I brought these two to Alfred's place. Thanks to TK for the wine glasses! This Cabernet Sauvignon is from the 2001 vintage. The cork had almost dis-integrated! The wine has matured into a dark ebony. The nose is unlike any other wines. I'm unfamiliar with South African wine, and this has been a refreshing nose. The wine has interesting structure, with well-mannered tannins, slightly sharp, and an unfamiliar length.
We also had the 2006 Vintage of Rawson's Retreat, Shiraz Cabernet. The nose is excellent, wonderful floral/fruity bouquet, with well-balanced tannis/palette/length. It's really a good value-for-money wine! I wonder how well it'll mature in 5-10years?

Chateau Corbin 2000 & Blason L'Evangile 2005

We had the pleasure to taste the Chateau Corbin Grand Cru Classe St Emilion 2000 & Blason L'Evangile 2005 at TK's place. The Corbin was a 2000. It was decanted for already an hour before Wenhui and I arrived. And fresh from the memory of the Loeville Poyferre's masterclass a week earlier, everything of the Corbin was 'benched-marked' against the Poyferre. It was indeed tough to match the classic vintages of the Poyferre but the Corbin had strong tobacco scent, (not my favourite), and hints of aged fruits (can't tell what). Overall it's decent Bordeaux wine. The Blason L'Evangile 2005 was a surprisingly youthful wine which doesn't need any decanting and had bountiful fruity nose and very approable for such a young wine. All it needs now is a few years in the cellar and it will blossom beautifully!!

2009-04-22 Chateau Léoville-Poyferré Wine masterclass!

A long anticipated wine master class!! Thanks to recommendation from Wenhui's brother, Tiong Kiat . We went for this wine master class, of Chateau Léoville-Poyferré. The wine owner, Didier Cuvelier, was here himself to showcase his wonderful selection of grand vin, Chateau Léoville-Poyferré. Second wine Chateau Moulin Riche is also made by vineyard.

And off we went to St Regis, an impeccable hotel with a Ferrari F430 with several Bentleys lining the porch. We were to taste 8 vintages, the very first time I was doing such detailed wine tasting, and through EIGHT vintages! We started with the 2006 and went all the way to 1982. I shall attempt at writing notes per vintage. Wine experts, please correct me!

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2006:

A red-purplish wine with a smooth nose with a hint of fruit (can't figure out which fruit). Mild acidity with trace of tannins. Decent length. 6% Petit Verdot (PV), 21% Merlot (M), %73 Carbenet Sauvignon (CS).

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2004:

A pretty 'weak' nose, with chocolate? notes. With mild-medium tannins, sharp on the palette. OK length. My least favourite.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2002:

Interesting smooth nose of hints of Sulphur. Sharp and crisp, medium to strong acidity. Complex, dry and long length. Didier suggested 15 to 20 years of aging!

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2001:

Fruity nose of plum and mocha!! Smelled 'woody' too, smooth, mildly-sharp, very dry, long length.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1998:

The first of the 'mid vintages'. Dark chocolatly nose. SUPER nose, I can nose it all day! Extremely well balanced, tannins/acidity/length go hand-in-hand all the way! My favourite!!

40% M, 58% CS (2% PV?)

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1995:

Floral notes, pleasant on the palette, smooth with aged tannins. Acceptable length.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1989:

A 'true' vintage! Very dark brown red colour. Fantastic nose (which fruit??). Another vintage which I can nose it forever. A bouquet of roses! Nothing to nitpick, acidity/length/tannins are balanced.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1982:

A 'out-of-this-world' feeling. Doesn't look, nose like that I'm used to. Fruity, smooth nose. Strong on the palette, mild length with complex tannins. A true gem of ripen age.