St Emillion and St Emillion. 2nd Jan 2010

I"m hardly a right banker. A big fan of the Right, TK has been involving me with interesting stuff from Pomerol and St Emillion. And what a night to succeed the gastronomical heights which I was brought to just a night before(refer to the 2010 new yr's day post). Here we have Willy Wong, big fan of the Canon la Gafferliere, and we had the 2004, and with 3-4hours of decanting, the OMG it had great bouquet, balanced palette the finish lingered with sweetness of (can't find a word to describe..)! My mind was blown the very forward 2004, and and I was ...a FAN!! The other wine is a garage wine, the Chateau Fombrauge which opened after ...10hours of decanting! However, standing next to the great CLG, the Fombarge had to take 2nd place!

The Brand New 2010. Chateau Lanessan 92, La Croix de Gay 2000,

It was a the perfect way to start a year. The well-balanced mixed-duck with al-dente pasta, followed by exquisit steak in trufflie oil complementing with flavours of sea and flower salt, PLUS amazing a 2000 La Criox de Gay (pomerol), absolutely fantastic Chateau Lanessan 1992, intriguing 2007 Errazuris Wild Ferment Chardonnay and a Bottega sparkling muscato, plus great entertainment from William, Kin & Barney topped by the culinary skills of TK, it was...truly..amazing.

The first bottle of the 92 was a tad sour. Known to have bottle variation, we had a second bottle and thank goodness we did and it turned out great! The pomerol, on the other hand, started off at 8hours of decanting and that wasn't enough!! and only until 10hours did it truly open and on my...I've finally tasted pomeral which suits my palette. The chardonnay was intriguing, as I thought it is too acidic on an earlier tasting but this turned out really pleasant on the palette and unlike any Oz over-sugarred Chardonnays. The Bottega was a tad sweet for me.

The only regret is not capturing the food, and I shall bring my DSLR in future!!

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.