Wine Lottery

What's better than free wine? Getting a wine which is out of reach! Especially the aged and rare...

Chateau Cazeneuve 2000. Hint of rich chocolate in the first nose, then banyard all the way. Heavy and round, but balanced. Should be great with Stir-fry, BBQ, Roasts. Suggest decant 2-4hours.

Rioia 1975. Fruit still alive, tannins are still heavy, suggest 3hours decanting. Surf chilled.

Chateau Matras 1982,

One liner: Chinese herbs! Pretty heavy still and very interesting

Also had a Rhone white, can't remember the house/plot/year - pretty good

Louis Roederer Champagne lunch at Capella

Erm, yes it was a champagne lunch, but the one served was only the NV. Hence this post is dedicated to J instead, as she loves desert.
Notable delicacies included all version of Salmon: in a benedict sandwich, smoked, grilled, etc, all were fabulous. Mussels canape was great, and of course, the deserts,...many were spectacular! So was the Nesspreso Cuppa and Gryphon gold-dust infused flower tea specially concocted for the WGS 2011!

Birthday wines at Imperial Great World

Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny Amoureuses 2002 - Figs and the usual, didn't had the impact of the Amoureuses 2003 Pascal that A opened before. Still a pleasure to have an Amoureuses anytime!
Romanee St Vivant Ricolte 1992 (can't rem the domaine here) - Pretty cult and unknown? Not an exceptionally well-known year, balanced figs, floral, some spice, very balanced. opened 7am, decanted 11am. WOTN
Tignanello 1993 - My first Tignanello, very elegant Sangiovese. *LIKE
Chateau La Nerthe CDP 1998 - Beginning to indentify CDP more now, good stuff
Rene Rostaing Cote-Rotie 2001, 'pretty Rhone', a bit too much plum aftertaste for me, coming off the tannins of the Syrah grapes I guess
Philippe et Vincent Lecheneaut Nuits-Saint-George Premier Cru - Les Pruliers 2004 - Good
Robert Weil Kiedrich Grafenberg Auslese 2006 - honey, balance came in a little late
Joh Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenur Auslese 1990 - good stuff, wished for more acidity though.
Dom Perignon 2002 - disappointing, 2000 drinking in 2010/2011 is much better than this 2002. Though DP themselves advocate that all DP can be drunk old and new, this is clearly way too young. Opened for 3-4hrs and it was still very tight.

Yummy roast duck/pork/ Alaskan crab was good, though a bit 'oil' and the steam crab + egg whites was fantastic though the salt level could be tuned down a notch.

My WOTN, mid palette and finish reminds me of Faiveley Mazi Chambertin 2004 which I adore.

A lovely Lychee Martini cake from Pine Garden in Ang Mo Kio for the birthday boy

Domaine de Chevalier masterclas

It was the World Gourmet Summit once again! This time round, it was the 15th edition and we were glad to have joined the Domaine de Chevalier's Wine Masterclass with Mr Olivier Bernard.

NK Yong, Olivier Bernard and Perotti-Brown

The drop of God, 41yrs old!

1970, 1990, 2000 rouge...

Domaine de Chevalier, L's Espirit de Chevalier Blanc 2009
Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 2007
Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 2005
Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 2005
Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 2004
Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 2000
Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 1990
Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 1970

The whites, the 2009 was good for early drinking, notes of Honey, not overly sweet. Wait another yr or two, should be drinking. Olivier mentioned that this should not be aged for more than 7 yrs. The 2007 and 2005 were great too. Both took time to open up, with creamy, vanilla notes, these would need more cellaring or some hardcore decanting to bring out the flavours.

The rest. The whites of Chevalier are famous, making them quite unaffordable at times. The reds however, are of better value for money. All the wines exhibited chocolate, raisins and leather. This might reflect terroir which is has lots of pine trees around the region. This could also show the excellent wine making to produce wines of the character in the region. The 2004 is particularly open for drinking, pretty big and sweet. 2005 shows good balance, not too heavy,which is a testament of the winemaker's skill to tame the Cabernet Sauvignon in times of good vintange (when Merlot would be added less in proportion as the CabSav's grapes should be sufficiently ripe). Both 2000 and 1990 were excellent, both with classic dark chocolate notes and excellent balance. The 1990 could show signs of fading? The 1970 was pretty much anticipated, the whiff of chocolate is there still! Smooth tannins and a bit 'watery' at times, which I take as a sign that the wine might be reaching it's end?

Random wines

I haven't had the discipline to write proper notes, and having favoured Facebook over blogspot to put my thoughts on wines which I've tried. Here're some wines which I've missed putting up on this blog!

This was a stella line-up with a 1974 Latour as the star. Unfortunately, it didn't wow. Hence perhaps the lack of note writing.

2011-04-06 Extraspace Wines

Had a good time with WW and gang. A visit to the huge storage spaces at Boon Keng (www.extraspace.com.sg). A locker for 24 cases can be owned for ~SGD$80/month. We had packed food from Bendeemer food center and had the following wines.

Leitz Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Spatlese 2009. Fruity, cripsy, very nice.
Marcel Deiss Riesling Beblenheim Alsace 2004. Would have preferred more acidity.
Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Spatlese Nahe 1997. Not bad.
Domaine Fourier Gevrey-Chambertin VV 2007. Opened by Henry, tasted blind, big and brooding pinot; pretty forward wine, perhaps the old vines helped.
Machiavelli Vigna Di Fontalle Chianti Classico Riserva 2001. Opened by Marcus, this fooled me initially thinking that it's a left bank with the rich black fruity nose of Cab Sav. Turned out to be a Chianti? Having little experience in Sangiovese, this was a very pleasant and balanced wine!