Chateau Guiraud: Saccharine Harmony

Sauternes, the Capital of Sweet wines! Presented by Profiters International and we had 3 excellent vintages 2000, 2002 and 2007 to savor from one of the top houses making these sweets. Chateau Guiraud.

Augustin Lacaille, brand ambassador from Chateau Guiraud sharing the history of Guiraud, wine making and various insights regarding Guiraud.

Dezmand from Profiters and Augustin having a toast with the golden wine.

The stars of the night. The 2000 had the usual white flowers on the nose, some honey on palette, acid was still there, shor tinifhs. Having 50% semilon and 50% sauvignon blanc, it was a year with 6hl/ha, a relatively small yield even by sauterne's stanard. (regular Bordeaux yield 50hl/ha and Sauterne's generally would yield 15hl/ha. The 2002 had apples, and it's elegant and light, ready to pair with chinese roasts (65%/35%) . 2007 was minty, quite refreshing and elegant. I find the 2007 the most complete, not quite ready to drink now but I believe with right preparation and glassware, this can pair well with smelly cheeses or be served as apertif or a desert wine on it's own.

With the Sauvignon Blanc in the blends, it brings away a lot of the sweetness and heaviness associated with Semillon heavy type of wines.

The lovely trio which I can drink all night long without my palette growing tired. Thanks to Profiters International and Chateau Guiraud!

Kopi-O

What's in a wine? Usually you have the 'nose', ie the fragrance commonly described with flowers, fruits and minerals. The 'body', or the palette, describe with names such as silky, lean, brooding. The 'finish' or after taste as sharp, smooth, long, sweet.

One in a while, a wine appears and throws the terminology dictionary out of the window, and the 2003 Hermitage Chapoutier is one of them. Opened at 3pm, and till ~9pm+, the wine was compellingly huge, still purplish at the rims, and threatens to beat any nosy drinker into submission. When serve lightly chilled, the palette was silky, creme, akin to heavy dose of condensed milk to a Kopi-O (Plain black coffee). At a certain stretch, the nose AND the finish was darlie-liciously minty. The palette was big, but smooth....until the bouncer jerks you at the neck and gives you a sharp blow right at the end with unusually rough tannins of 8 years. Even with food, this wine was difficult to handle. I enjoyed the experience of this, especially when the stars was aligned with another bottle (the 1988) of the same maker and plot at the same tasting was totally unexpected! The 1988 was herbish, delicate, smooth on the palette and was completely different!

Decanting - 吃风

It was an experiment, to really see how decanting affects a wine. The victim, a 1997 Talbot. Decanting half of it for ~2hrs showed tremendous difference, with the decanted losing out in an direct TKO by unanimous decision. 97, being a 'lean' year, usually wouldn't show much balance nor fruit. Having uncorked the bottle, it wasn't exactly obvious deciding the amount of time to decant (if any was needed). I went ahead with a Bodum large base decanter. Hindsight: A Riedel Merlot decanter for 1hr should do the trick? More victims along the way..

'the NOSE', at Extra Space storage, having 3 identities to confuse the rest of the drinkers while Kenneth, demonstrates the lost arts of reverse decanting.


Château Branaire-Ducru 1975, fruit going, bordeaux, but can't guess the plot at all.

Chateau Talbot 1997, decanted version: lean, uninteresting, bord-like? Bottle version, left-bankish nose, decent palatte.

Chateau Grand Mayne 1999, decent

Caparzo, Brunello di Montalcino 2001. Can't tell any sangiovese from the nose nor palette. Need to drink more italian!

Di Fatto Monferarrto Rosso (vintage?), an interesting Australian, big and sweet, there's softness to it too.

Morton Estate, Hawkes Bay, NZ, Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 1998. Also pretty sweet, high merlot content. Cabernet which gives the structure.

Lychee Creme

Full of lychee, white flowers, citrus, this Cewuz is fresh, a bit sharp in the finish. The palette was smooth and creamy, akin to having a dose of Lychee Creme! Delicious maybe with more decanting. Fruit could be going so start drinking yours if you have any!

Marcel Deiss Gewurz St Hipplolyte 2002
Rating: 8.5/10 $69 (before 30% discount)
RTD: Yes if price right!!


*rating is my personal view, taking price into consideration

A Rhone affair

WW: look at all the Aluminum clad warriors at the back, waiting for their turn patiently to be entered into the foray.

A very delicious dinner, here we have wasabi prawn and salted egg yolk.

Some big names of the night, CDP, Cotie Rotie, Hermitage rule the night!

The view from OCBC building, 33rd storey!

The menu!

A poorly taken shot, but one of the highlights that made me speechless. A thick broth, ulra smooth, with Shark's bone cartilage, fish maw and bamboo pith.

A picture perfect roasted lamb shoulder. Yummy!

Wine #3, similar to #2, with cloudy/unfiltered look. This was in fact the WOTN of many, E. Guigal Cotie Rotie 1988.

An excellet desert to end the night, chilled royal jelly in young coconut!

Wine affociados taking notes and pictures.

Three of my favourite wines.

Chateau Rayas blanc 2006
Côte Rôtie Barrière 1970
E. Guigal Cotie Rotie 1988
Domaine Font de Michelle Cuvee Etienne Gonnet Chateauneuf de Paper 1998
Paul Jaboulet hermitaget la chapelle 1989
Domaine de Lavieielle Julienne VV CDP 2000
Domaine de Lavieielle Julienne reserve CDP 1999
Giaconda Shiraz 2000
Jean-Michel Gerin Cotie Rotie Les Grandes Places 2001
Chateau du Vatican CDP 2003

Wine photography: An intimate session with wine and lights

Tattered labels and half-broken cork, I had a good session with a 41yr old wine, photographically at least! Contact me at perqjon@gmail.com if you have to have your wines 'shot'!

Tattered label and cork. '1970' is barely visible on the cork.

A top down look at the cork, looks pretty healty while keeping out all the fungi!


A classic shot of a wine bottle.