vino yes no

Wedding Champange

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:38:12 -0400

Wedding gown, check. Tux, check. Venue and cake, check. And now, most importantly, what wine are you serving with your wedding?

For the traditional Chinese, weddings usually go hand in hand with red wine, preferably a Bordeaux blend. But really, the colour is really just for good luck, seldom would you have any good red wines at Chinese weddings. But really, weddings are really the best excuse to indulge and celebrate, and the clear choice is of course Champagne.

Another of our vino friends is getting married this year. Hoping to splurge a little and go down the bubbly route, we went out on a hunt for the best champagne under $300 as the official big day wine. To be fair, we tasted the champagnes blind and here are some notes & observations:

Vino 1: Aubry Premier Cru Brut, NV $260

40% Pinot Meunier, 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, and some Arbanne

This wine was our favourite. The champagne has power, body, depth and also a kick of citrus as balance. It had a trace of cheesiness to it. The price to quality ratio is unbeatable. Interesting to note that this champagne has 5% of Arbanne blended (which is allowed for production of Champagne).

Vino 2: Vilmart & Cie Grande Reserve Premier Cru Brut, NV $290

70% Pinot Noir 30% Chardonnay

This wine just made it below the price ceiling, but was highly recommended by the shop. We loved this champagne, withelegant and with depths that stands out among others. Mineral & stone fruit. Gorgeous.

Vino 3: Marguet Pere et Fils “Cuvee Reserve” Premier Cru Brut, NV

$298

50% Chardonnay 50% Pinot Noir

Ripe pear and smoky on the nose, coconut and over toasty! Lacks the purity for a wedding wine.

Vino 4& 5 : Beaumont des Crayeres Grande Reserve $239 &, Beaumont des Crayeres Grand Prestige Champagne $225

Grande Reserve – 60% Pinot Meunier, 25% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir

Grand Prestige – 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Munier

We had champagne from this house many times because it is a champagne of incredible value. We love the crisp acidity of both wines. In the Grand Prestige, the wine is full bodied with a lovely balanced of biscuits and bright fruit. The colour was beautiful, though weak on the bubbles as compare to the others.

Vino 6: Drappier Brut, NV $300

Light toast, slightly cheesy and rusty apple. Good bubbles. But a bit too overwhelming. (I tasted squid for some reason)

And the winner is:

Vino 1 Aubry Premier Cru Brut! We loved its elegance and purity. Let’s see how many bottles will get polished at the wedding!

Wedding Wine

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:16:58 -0400

Weddings are a big ordeal in Hong Kong. To begin with, the bride and groom always need to get up at the crack of dawn. Cranky and maybe slightly even hungover, they need to show their respect to elders, play stupid games, go from point a to point b to point c back to point a. Its exhausting.

For the wedding guests, it is not so bad. In Hong Kong, almost everyone has their weddings in a Chinese restaurant. The banquet menu is homogenous. Amongst the myriad of restaurants in this “foodie” town, the meal always starts with a suckling pig and ends with a chicken. There are never any surprises, which is disappointing. What’s even more disappointing is they almost never serve decent wine. And the way the waiters pour your wine, you would have thought it was coca cola instead of a full glass of cheap wine. One must always have to take a sip before you lift your drink to avoid any spills.

The last wedding I went to was for a fellow vino friend (congrats !). The wedding was light-handed on childhood slideshows, and heavy-handed on the soccer themed music. Hilarious. All in all, it was a success, and the best thing was, everyone was relaxed, and there was no crying involved at the wedding! Good job!

Another thing that was commendable, is of course, the choice of wine.

Anyone who knows me is well aware that I have a serious case of the “Asian beer tan”. For a light weight like me, it is always a nightmare for me at banquets. I am never comfortable sitting through a meal with nostalgic background music, touching photos and tear-jerking speeches. Which means that my hand is constantly clutching the vino, non-stop. By the time my turn is up to go for the group photo with the newlyweds, my face is always beet red. Seriously, it’s a disaster.

The wine at this wedding, however, was a miracle. After 2 hours of eating and drinking, I still look human. Looking at the bottle, it was a revelation that the wine was only 12% alc. by vol, which is pretty low for a red wine. The wine was easy to drink, with enough fruit and body to match with the banquet food. The tannin was not overwhelming, and the wine had a bit of floral elegance to it.

My photo turned out not so bad this time. And if it did turn out horrendous, blame the photographer.

Vino:

Chateau St. Didier Parnac, 2007, Cahors, 12% alc vol.

Leung Yik Company Limited, ~$88

Original Brunello

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:14:41 -0400

Sangiovese is a widely planted grape in Italy. From central Italy, this grape is used in the production of Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and many other wines such as famous/ infamous “Super Tuscans”. A very adaptable varietal which can survive in different soils, this grape is best known in the form of a Brunello di Montalcino.

A DOCG, this is one of Italy’s most famous wines. Made of 100% sangiovese, it is often compared with Burgundian Pinot Noirs. Brunellos are know for its fruit forwardness, acidity and strong yet smooth tannins.

Upon reading a book about this wine, we learnt that Brunello is a broad term embracing many sub-zones, and many wine styles. It is always important to start from the origins, so we turned to two bottles from the Montalcino North region, and many of the oldest wineries of Brunello are established in the area.

Vino 1: Conalicchio di Sopra 2002

We got this bottle for really cheap at our neighbourhood vino shop. It was the last bottle. A difficult year, this wine from Montalcino North was aromatic, masculine with big tannins. I always sense a bit of tomato in sangiovese, and this wine was not shy with it. The fruit was not quite there, but I thought that the wine was great with Chinese Broccoli! Both had a tinge of bitterness that complimented one another.

$400 Vintage Wine Shop

Vino 2: Altesino 2005

We had some Chiu Chow food with the wine. The wine was macho yet fruity. The fruit fowardness of the wine came just in time to combat the saltiness of the food. It wasn’t spectacular, but the price tag was pretty decent~

$240 Wine High Club 13.5% alc vol.

Strawberries and Chateau Peyraguey

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:24:00 -0400

“I’ve got a motor-car and a basket of strawberries and a bottle of Château Peyraguey—which isn’t a wine you’ve ever tasted, so don’t pretend. It’s heaven with strawberries.”

After watching too many episodes of Downton Abbey, I have been obsessing with the aristocratic life of old England. So I had finally set down to finish Brideshead Revisited, a book on rotten nobles by Evelyn Waugh. Like a bad soap opera, the story was bursting with the dysfunctional and the filthy rich, all in the midst of beautiful country sides, vast mansions, and a lot of amazing wines. After reading the bit about Sebastion and Charles Ryder sipping Château Peyraguey with strawberries during a roadside picnic, I was sold. I needed to try that. I want to immerse myself with decadence, too.

So I got my hands on a bottle of the Premier Cru (Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey) , some plump strawberries, and was ready to be a part of Sebastian’s world. The wine was bronze in colour, thick with sugar, and had a great aroma of apricots. The wine was very sweet, to the point that any taste of the strawberry was indistinguishable.

You see, Sebastian loves to shock, with a penchant for all things destructive. Instead of pairing the sweet wine with the usual dessert or blue cheese, he chose to overwhelm and destroy the poor strawberries. As with his life, the delicate fruit was drowned with an intensely sweet substance of abuse. He had chosen to numb his senses, and turn a blind eye to the inevitable mortality of life’s slow but sure decay. I will stick with champagne and strawberries.

Vino:

Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2003, Sauternes

13.5% alc. by vol, Watson’s Wine, $440

Semillon Down Under

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:08:00 -0400

We visited Hunter Valley during our trip down under. After a 2 hour drive from Sydney, we emerged from suburbia to the lush landscape of wine country. In the midst of harvest season, the vineyards were in full vivacity, where rows and rows of vines were trembling under its own weight. We jumped out of the car, exposed to the scorching sun, ready for some palate adventures in air-conditioned spaces.

To be honest, I know very little about Hunter Valley, only that it is famed for its Semillon. I have tried Semillon from Bordeaux in Hong Kong, but have not had the chance to taste its Australian cousin. Before we went to Australia, we had researched a bit on the wine, where the best Hunter Valley Semillon was , unlike French Semillon, of dry style, early picked with bright citrus flavours. Never aged in oak barrels, these wines reach complexity through bottle ageing, gaining characteristics of toast and honey.

The first vineyard we visited was at McWilliam’s, and we were quite impressed, as the wines were bone dry, full of lemon notes and minerality. It was quite perfect with the hot weather. Unfortunately, the wines were more expensive than we had thought, so we only bought a few bottles to bring home. We had counted on finding better wines to buy at the other vineyards on our trail, but alas, could not find one that was as good. After we returned to Hong Kong, we immediately regretted not having filled our suitcases with more bottles of Semillon.

Searching online, we realised that some shops in Hong Kong carry our prey. Pleased with the finding, we immediately went to the store, and were pleasantly surprised that the wines were at least 30% cheaper than in Australia!

We tried the Elizabeth’s ‘05 and ‘06, as well as the Lovedale ‘05 single vineyard. All of the wines were simple and delicious, and the more complex Lovedale was creamy on the palate with austere minerality. Our analogy for this wine was “like licking a marble statue”. The refreshing wines were easy to drink, and we cleared the bottles in no time. Must buy more for consumption.

Vino 1:

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon 2005

$115, Slurp Asia (online shop)

Vino 2:

McWilliam’s Lovedale Semillon 2005

$180, Slurp Asia (online shop)

Hungarian Rhapsody

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:56:00 -0500

When you think of Hungarian wine, the first thing that comes into mind is their famous Tokaji Aszu. But how much do we know of this wine country beyond their dessert wines? The official sommelier of Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a workshop at Hotel Icon’s Vinoteca to educate wine lovers on the impressive evolution and spectrum of wines from Hungary.

To understand wine is to appreciate the history and tradition of a place. After 40 years under communist rule, Hungary is returning with full force in the wine world to establish its place as a quality and terroir-driven wine country. Gone is the industrialization and state owned production lines, Ms. Helga Gál opened our eyes and palates to the unique wines on offer, from cool climates to volcanic soil, a slice of Hungarian terroir was shared at the workshop.

Native Grapes from Hungary:

The first wine tasted was by Benedek Winery, made of a white varietal called Cserszegy Fuszeres. This wine from Mátra was fresh and floral, and as recommended by Ms. Helga, a great wine as an aperitif.

Another wine was from the famous region Tokaj, an area which is best known for its dessert wines. Instead, this Furmint wine was bone-dry with delicious acidity. The volcanic soil of the region was brought forth with complex mineral and smoky flavours of the unique terroir. A wonderful pairing as recommended by Ms. Helga was to pair this white wine with lightly paprika spiced fish stew, or any type of shellfish.

A New Home for Cabernet Franc:

As Hungary pushes itself as a top wine country, many of its winemakers are creating wines with international varietals. One of the success stories of modern Hungarian wine making is its Cabernet Franc from a region called Villány. Cited by experts as the “new home” of Cabernet Franc, two wines from this locale was poured during the workshop.

One of the wines was from Gere Attila Winery, a Bordeaux blend named “Kopar”. Made with a majority of Cabernet Franc, the elegant style wason par with other wines of international quality. The other wine was 100% unfiltered “Kuna“ Cabernet Franc by Malatinszky Organic Wine Estate, its ripe tannins and full body truly expressed the character of this region. The complexity of fruit and lively flavours of these wines reconfirmed the excellence of this region.

The Immortal Tokaji Aszu:

Last but not least, Ms. Helga shared with us some dessert wines from the renowned Tokaj region. A late harvest wine and a Tokaji Aszu winewere poured. Both wines concentrated in sweetness and flavours, it was a great experience to compare the two. The botrytis infected Tokaji Aszu stood out with its complexity and distinct aroma. To pair, Ms. Helga recommended a smoked goose liver with both the late harvest and botrytis wines.

Wines Available from Veritas Wines, Wiseville International Ltd., and Watson’s Wine

Pinot Noir Cousins

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 04:55:00 -0500

We have been playing a game of vino, where we serve a bottle blind for the other to guess the wine varietal and region of production.

The first wine I had bought when poured had a disappointing straw colour, which hinted that the wine was off peak perhaps. On the nose, it was floral, where Bill quickly directed the wine to a Burgundy pinot noir of cool climate. Tricky wine that I served, it was later revealed that the wine was actually from Alsace. However, I thought that Bill did a fantastic job of analysis.

To keep the momentum, I bought another bottle of wine for Bill to taste the next day. It was clearly a Burgundy at first guess. Bravo! With light ruby colour, the Pommard was floral with fresh strawberries, and simple fruity flavours. Since we had some of the Alsace Pinot Noir leftover, we compared the 2 wines, and unless you tried really hard, or you are a super wine connoisseur, it was kind of difficult to tell them apart.

Both wines had the simple floral notes, fresh strawberries, light body. The Alsace was a bit stronger than the Pommard, with a more harsh aftertaste, and as Bill put it, more masculine than the Burgundy. The Pommard was fresh, with clean acidity, and great purity. The wines were nothing spectacular, very easy to drink, and perfect to accompany a gloomy sunday. The best thing was, we learnt that if you want to drink Burgundy on the cheap, Alsace was not too bad of an option if you disregard the colour.

Vino:

Preiss Zimmer, Élevé en Fut De Chêne 2007, Alsace

12.5% alc vol, $256 Vintage Wine Shop

Louis Jadot Pommard 2007

12.5% alc vol, $385 C!tysuper

Vino Finito

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 00:42:00 -0500

This bottle of wine I have kept laying down in my “cellar”. For many years, it stayed in the dark. I had decided to drink it tonight.

After removing the foil, it was evident that the wine was ruined. The cork was soaked in brick red. My heart was broken. Doomed is my fate, there will be no wine for me tonight.

The wine was stinky, sour and dead. Like smelling a rotten bouquet, the wine had the residual taint of flowers and past glamour. And how do you cope with the fact that you have to pour a bottle of dreams and aspirations, expectations down the dark dark drain?

For me, it was utter devastation. There is no eternity. I don’t ever want to talk about this no more.

Vino:

Chateau Leoville-Las Cases 1982

St- Julien, Bordeaux, France, about $4000

Unexpected Pairing

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:00:00 -0500

Obsessed with all things Sicilian, I was treated to a dinner at Messina last week. The chef’s menu offered a 4-course dinner with wine pairing, and I must say that the food was great but the wine pairing not as great. However, there were snippets of brilliance during the dinner that I would like to share.

Sicilian Red Prawns with Drappier Rosé

For the appetizer, a seafood platter was on offer with a selection of oysters, Alaskan King Crab, clams on the half shell, and gamberi rossi, the famed Sicilian Red Prawn. Paired with a non-vintage rosé, the seafood was fresh and succulent, but my encounter with the gamberi rossi was on the verge of magic.

Vibrant red in colour, the prawn was fresh and firm. The flesh was deliciously sweet, but it was the roe which stole the limelight. Densely flavoured with creamy nuttiness, the roe evoked many sensations, dragging me to the depths of the ocean. With a swig of the rose, the brightness of the champagne lifted me away from the decadence of the prawn, and the tartness of the wine along with the mineral taste of the prawn reverberated the crashing waves of the sea.

Guancia di Wagyu with Nero d’Avola

Nero d’Avola is considered as one of the most important grapes used in Sicilian Wine. It is know for it sweetness and full body. Powerful like a Syrah, Nero d’Avola is a sure bet for pairing with heavy meat dishes. It was no wonder that Wagyu Beef Cheek for the main course was paired with this wine.

Sadly, the wine and the meat was not a great match for me. However, it was the garnish of roasted Piquillo peppers which sparked a unexpected pairing with the wine. In fact, the pairing was so delicious that we had to ask the restaurant for another plate of roasted red peppers just to make sure we weren’t hallucinating. The smoky peppers were warm and sensuous, the lush sweetness further evoking the chocolate notes of the wine.

Seeing how much fun we were having, the manager whipped out some black truffle and shaved thin black sheets of truffle onto the peppers. Without question, the complexity of the wine and peppers were magnified and we were in utter bliss. A great revelation was that heavy red wines don’t need to be taken with huge slabs of meat. Sometimes, simple vegetables executed skillfully could also work like a charm.

Drappier Carte D’or Rosé, N.V., Champagne, France, $400. www.slurp.asia

2006 Nero d’Avola, Baglio di Pianetto, Sicilia, Italy, ~$200

Happy New Year Fail

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 06:16:00 -0500

Yay! 2012 is finally over!

It’s always such a build up to New Year’s Eve. After all the festivities of Christmas, Boxing Day, opening up the presents, stuffing your face, you’ve barely got time to rid your multiple hangovers when, bam, it’s the 31st.

Everyone has a different take on crossing the line to a new year. This year, I did not feel any excitement. 2012 was not too spectacular, and I still got a mound of work to wrap up. Deciding to celebrate quietly, I stayed in and watched the fireworks on TV.

Spaced out in front of the TV, I realized that all of a sudden, they were counting down. 40 seconds left.

I ran to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of champagne, and crazily fumbled with the foil.

Ugh! Cannot open! then

The wire is so hard to twist…

Happy New Year!

Oh, we popped the bottle at 12:00:15. Belated welcome, 2013…

And my 2013 resolution is : Master the art of opening Champagne in 30 seconds or less.

Champagne Beaumont des Crayeres Grande Reserve

12% alc. vol., Park n Shop $238

(an affordable bubbly found in Park n Shop that is not too shabby.)

Champagne for the Apocalypse

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:14:00 -0500

According to the Mayan Calendar, there might be possibly less than a week till the end of the world. Some of us might be thinking of the wondrous life they have had. Some might be dwelling about lost dreams and opportunities. Some, like me, must be raiding your wine stash right this moment.

For wine lovers, if material possessions no longer matter on 21 December 2012, it’s high time to fish out all the treasures that you have been clinging onto. This is a good time to purge your cellar, and finally consume the wines that you have been saving for too long. Maybe you are thinking of decanting a Bordeaux 1st Growth of a fabulous vintage? How about a bottle of prized Burgundy? For me, an answer for any situation, may it be celebrative, or extremely morbid (like waiting for the apocalypse), would be to always drink Champagne.

So, without any hesitation, I pulled out a bottle of Salon le Mesnil 1997 from my sad little collection. The anticipation had been long, for I had kept the bottle for almost 2 years (long for my standards). Lovingly, I looked at the bottle. Yes. Carpe diem; it’s now or never, maybe? Once the cork was freed, the elegant aroma of champagne immediately filled the small apartment.

The bubbles were restrained, intertwining with others a final dance of twinkling desperation to the surface. The wine was tart and toasty, a firm powerful wine that grew livelier with the luscious foam in one’s mouth. The clear acidity lingered for what seemed an eternity, subsiding, leaving you with a wave of minerality and a large bundle of pleasure and love.

To make the occasion even more morbid, we paired the wine with some freshly shucked oysters. The champagne went well with lighter bodied oysters from the Pacific Ocean, but was overwhelmed by the briny and metallic French mollusks. As the saying goes, if the world was your oyster, the only end of the world for now, were of these poor dozen of oysters.

It was a great feeling to free oneself, and one’s cellar space, from possessions that we have been holding onto. Don’t hang on to your wine! It’s time to celebrate humanity and beautiful wines with your loved ones. You can always discover new wines later. It’s highly probable that the Mayan Calendar was misinterpreted anyways, but it sure is a great excuse to drink up.

Salon le Mesnil 1997, Champagne, France

12% alc vol., $2450 Major Cellar

Pain and Pleasure

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:02:59 -0500

For those who had the time to visit the 4th Annual Wine and Dine Festival, the place was jam-packed with people and a periphery of chaos. Luckily everybody was courteous, and I did not experience any pushing as I had feared. Since the lack of space was not an ideal atmosphere for wine tasting, I had set my mind up for a night of fun with my family, and hopefully get a slight buzz while I am at it.

As the festivities was approaching closing time. I urged my family to go straight to the Italian Pavilion. Right at the end of the harbour front, many treasured street foods from Italy were showcased. After a fortuitous day, all that was left was some sparkling wines, one wine station, and a dessert booth. With no choice and limited time, we tried some white wines and ordered a plate of suspicious looking green pastry.

One of the wines we had tasted was Tasca d’Almerita Regaleali Bianco from Sicily. Made with Inzolia, Grenanico and Catarratto, the wine was pale in colour with crisp acidity. Almost like a Riesling, it had great abundance of floral notes with pear and peaches. I poked tentatively at the green pastry. A half jade-like dome with a cherry on top, the cake glistened bashfully.

Breaking the cake in half, a mound of ivory white jiggled under the green marzipan. One bite of the cake unraveled a sensuous marriage of fresh ricotta and ground almonds. The satisfaction was much like a sipping from a bowl of Chinese almond tea, delicate and fragrant. I tasted the cake with a sip of Bianco. Washed over with the tangy fresh wine, the sweetness of the cake was subdued, bringing out the nutty floral character of the almond marzipan.

After returning home, I was determined to find out what the cake was. Googl-ing relentlessly using words such as “green”-”Italian”-”almond paste”-“pastry”, I found that the cake I have tasted was called “Cassatella di Sant’Agata”. Named after the patron saint of Sicily, the pastry resembles a small breast, which commemorates the torture and matyrdom of Saint Agatha.

A dramatic tale behind such a sweet pastry is a strange embodiment of pain and pleasure. Paired with a simple Sicilian wine, the experience was something that is deeply satisfying, yet nudges you further beyond plain gratification.

Tasca d’Almerita Regaleali Bianco, IGT 2011, Sicilia, Italy

12% alc. by vol., $145 Summergate Fine Wines

Sundays With Family

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 06:23:00 -0400

One thing that Hong Kong people can be most proud of is the city’s virtue of filial piety. Everyone in this city loves their family, and the best proof of it is the bursting dim sum places with long queues of children and their parents on Sundays. No one seems to mind the hour-long wait, as long as you get the chance to gather up your family and get a table for their weekly yumcha.

Sadly, as I’ve grown older, it seems harder and harder to get up on a Sunday for our family gathering — I am usually still in half a daze from all the “social activities” of the previous night. Since it is near impossible to order a Bloody Mary in a Chinese restaurant, it is always handy to bring a bottle of wine as part of your survival kit. Wine saves you from feeling too fragile with your throbbing head, as well as from looking too much like a raging alcoholic. For me, wine with dim sum on Sundays is not a trend, but a necessity.

It is always a safe bet to pair white wines with dim sum, but last week, I decided to spice up my week¬¬ly family session with a surprising bottle of Gamay Noir. Bought from a nearby supermarket, the New Zealand bottle of red was served slightly chilled. The main grape used in Beaujolais wines, this was the first time I’ve had Gamay from New Zealand. Unlike its Old World peer, the wine did not have the delicate and frank simplicity of the standard Beaujolais. Instead, it was smoky, a tad spicy, with the lingering sweetness of cooked strawberries. The wine was light in body, and thank goodness, had an adequate 13% alc by vol, which was acceptable with the usual fares of shrimp dumplings and siu mai. But of course, I had a specific pairing in mind.

At our usual dim sum place, my favourite dish is the stuffed chicken wings with sticky rice. Roasted to a crispy perfection, the wing is filled to its seams with ginger scented sticky rice, each bite promising a variable medley of rice, mushrooms, and Chinese sausages. The crunch of the crispy skin fills your palette with delectable oils and juices, which is delightful when washed down with a light red wine like the Gamay. The wine immediately becomes sweet, revealing its hidden pepper notes, an instant pick-me-up. I am once again awaken, ready to pour my tea, finish my wine, and enjoy the cinders of my remaining weekend. Till next week.

TeMATA Estate, Gamay Noir, Hawkes Bay 2009, New Zealand
$160, C!tysuper

Stuffed Chicken Wings, Farm House, 1/F Phase 1, China Taiping Tower, 8 Sunning Road, Causeway Bay

Hong Kong Breakfast

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:56:00 -0400

I was being poked at all sides with dripping umbrellas, busy keeping my head down, dodging the furious red mini buses while avoiding the inky puddles all at the same time. A typical rainy day in Hong Kong, when I turned and smelt the most luxurious aroma coming from Kam Wah Cafe. The shop is a bustling cha chaan teng in Prince Edwards, barricaded with glass cases full of steaming hot pastry and tarts. Hordes of people were already seated, and I had to treat myself to a buttered Pineapple Bun ‘to-go’ for breakfast.

$8 later, I quickly ran home, paper bag in hand, hoping to keep the warmth of the fresh pastry till the final moment. Once I shut the front door, it was certain that I needed some wine to sooth my nerves stirred by the mad traffic and dreadful weather. Luckily, a bottle of Riesling, readily chilled in the fridge, was available for consumption. I set myself up quickly with a glass of wine, clear lemon in colour, to be paired with my carb-centric pastry breakfast.

The wine was a Riesling Kabinett by JJ Christoffel, the light coloured wine was subtly tinged with a hint of honey and lemon on the nose. I had always found German Rieslings to be similar to lemon tea in a box. It is sweet, rich in zesty citrus, with a tart finish that leaves you thirsting for more. Meanwhile, the pineapple bun had an admirable sturdy crust that instantaneously crumbled into sugary bliss once devoured, and the soft dough, sandwiched with a thick slice of sinful butter without reserve, melted in my mouth. Surprisingly, the bun had a fresh citrus kick to it, like a lemon curd filling or even a fresh Madeleine, which echoed beautifully with my Riesling. The combination was a great consolation to the gloomy weather, and I now have a new breakfast routine to stick to.

Weingut JJ Christoffel, Urziger Wurzgarte, Riesling Kabinett, Mosel Germany

$250, Watson’s Wine Cellar

Buttered Pineapple Bun, $8, Kam Wah Café, G/F 47 Bute Street, Prince Edward

ATW Week 5 – Libourne It Up

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:58:01 -0400

(I am posting week five of Around the World Vino first. We will go back to week 1 to 4 soon, when I feel like it…)

Last week, we tried the wines from the Medoc, and learnt about the 1855 classification, First Growth wines, as well as the notorious Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. The grape varietals used in wines from the Medoc are blended with a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon, with some Merlot and perhaps a dash of Cabernet Franc. The wines had black fruit, capsicum and firm tannins.

This week, we leave Medoc “the Left Bank”, and cross the river Gironde, landing on ” the Right Bank”, or the “Libourne” in French. Since the Right Bank has a predominant mix of clay and limestone soils, the region is more suited for planting Merlot. The wines in this region are made with a higher proportion of Merlot, creating a style of wine with red fruit and plummy characters.

The most famous regions of the Right Bank are Pomerol AC and Saint-Emilion AC. In Pomerol, there is no classfication system such as the Grand Cru Classe, but a number of famous chateaus are present in this tiny region. With the limited supply of wines from this region, Pomerols fetch very high prices. For example, the precious $40000 bottle of 2000 Chateaux Petrus makes Chateaux Lafite sound like a steal, or at least a buy one get 2 deal. The wines of Pomerol are dominantly merlot, making wines with less grippy tannins, and more apparent fruitiness. These wines can drink well even in younger vintages.

Adjoining Pomerol is Saint-Emillion. The region is based mostly in a mixture of sand, clay and limestone, and the most praised wines are ranked (A) in the Premier Grand Cru Classe system, the famous Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Ausone, also known for using a high proportion of Cabernet Franc grape. Cheval Blanc has more than 50% of Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot. Chateau Ausone is a blend of 50/50 Cab Franc and Merlot.

But who are we kidding? It’s just not right to drink wines that costs more than your monthly salary.

A more budget friendly alternative comes from the region Cotes du Bourg AC. Still in the Right Bank, this region makes mostly red wines, with some white wine production. The main varietals in this region are Merlot, Cab Franc and Malbec. These wines are made for early drinking, with softer, and less tannic wines.

Although we might not be able to afford some of the above wines, we were able to taste some wines representative of the Right Bank.

Chateau La Croix du Casse 2000

Region: Pomerol

Blending:

70% Merlot

30% Cab Franc

$575 Bordeaux etc.

Tasting note: very fragrant, with coffee and spices. The tannin was high, kind of gritty but was very creamy after the bottle was opened for an hour. Ok, but still expensive for what we get.

Chateau de Fonbel 2002 (same owner of Ch. Ausone)

Region: Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Blending:

70% Merlot

20% Cab Sau

7% Petit Verdot

3% Carmenere

$250 Enoteca

Tasting note: expectations for this one was high. Owned by the same family that looks over Chateau Ausone, we were looking for any hint of magic, but alas, we found none. Earthy notes, soy sauce and a tinge of fruit.

Chateau Moulin De Guiet 2002

Region: Cotes de Bourg

Blending:

Merlot : 60 %

Cabernet Sauvignon : 31 %

Cabernet Franc : 9%

$220 Enoteca

Tasting note: super funky! I instinctively grimaced. Shit. This wine tasted like mushroom, chinese herbal tea, dried black fungus, all sorts of weird. It was bitter and over extracted with a rusty gloss over the entire experience. I retasted after half an hour and some glasses of wine. Definitely improved with time, but still a dubious bottle.

Conclusion: I got no plummy fruitiness in this trip to the right bank. Just a lot of mushroom, minerals, tannins and a sad aftertaste. There’s got to be some affordable bottles for us to try. Very frustrating.

Short Lived Promis

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:19:39 -0400

Part of the brand-centric phenomenon in the Asian wine market, Gaja was the busiest booth at the Hong Kong Vinexpo. A producer known for its quality and expensive bottles, everyone was all over the poor exhausted wine rep. I, of course, willingly joined the queue, my empty glass pleading for the sought-after drops of liquid gold.

Bill had then declared that the Gaja barbaresco was the best wine he had ever tasted.

Recently, while browsing at the wine store next to the bus stop, I saw a bottle of Gaja IGT, Promis. It’s no Langhe, but at $300 HKD with discount, it sounded like a fun weekend wine. This wine is harvested from two of Gaja’s Tuscan estates, the Merlot and Syrah come from the Ca’Marcanda Estate, and Sangiovese comes from Pieve Santa Restituta. A wine made to please, it’s a Super Tuscan with a hot name and an affordable price tag.

Hoping that it would live up to its pedigree, I poured the wine for Bill to blind taste. He quickly guessed that the wine was a blend of Merlot and Syrah. He had explained that wines made from Syrah grapes have a distinct taste of bug spray. That does not sound good at all. On first encounter, the wine was smooth, cool, refined and elegant. It was a very manicured wine. The wine had generous plum notes and controlled alcohol. A great drink, but it was a pity that the palette could not sustain till the end of the night, and quickly turned sour and bitter.

The promise was short-lived, and come to think of it, kind of shallow. It is a good bottle to get for your family and friends, but not a must for your cellar.

Promis

The name stems from the Latin abbreviation, promissio, meaning promise. The grapes are cultivated in the terre brune dark soils of the Ca’Marcanda vineyard.

Its grape variety distribution is ca. 55% Merlot, 35% Syrah and 10% Sangiovese, aged in somewhat used barriques for 12 months followed by several months of bottle aging before release. It is classified Toscana IGT.

$300 Red Wine Cellar

Back to Palermo

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 23:16:00 -0400

The heat. The dust. The scorching earth and blinding sun. Air stays stagnant. The oven like atmosphere purges the sweat out of your every pore. Smell of burnt gravel lures you a deep, stuffy lullaby. Sleep, sleep.

As you walk, trudge, unwillingly through the narrow streets, the faded charms of the city of decay and past glories jolts your fainting senses. The dusty patina washes over the broken ancient doorways and cornices, while old men squint lazily past their glossed over eyes, their wrinkles reading with lines of disenchantment and disconnection. The palette of the town is oxidized with cracked patches of yellow and red.

I look at the bottle. A Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the sole DOCG of Sicily. We had opened the wine the night before during a gathering with friends. A portion of a glass had remained, and I poured it in a glass, a solace for me, for I had missed Sicily.

I sniffed in the faded aromas, with my eyes shut closed, hoping to be cradled once again in the heat of Southern Italy. The wine had maintained its full structure, hot and direct. The no nonsense wine played like a slightly out of tune ballad, simple with ripe fruit, yet melancholic with fading acidity and an aroma of burnt dust. It’s chewy, gritty, heavy, pulling its weight, luring you with the rustic alcohol into a trance of laziness.

Dream, dream, a night of rustling dresses and forgotten skeletons.

Azienda Agricola COS, Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, is Frappato 40%, Nero d’Avola 60%. Fermented in concrete tanks, not filtered, aged 18-24 months.

13% Alc. Vol. 19 Euros

Chateau d - Ampuis

Thu, 31 May 2012 22:11:00 -0400

Three years ago, I had tried the wines of Guigal. The minute I tasted them, an immediate reaction was: “OMG, this wine is way funky”.

Of course, back then, my palette was craving for straight forward flavours, big fruit, with fresh acidity, and alcohol. The wines of Guigal had the full package, but somehow along the way, I got a hold of rancid, awkward preserved veggie flavours that just would not go away.

Fate had it for me to revisit these wines during Vinexpo HK. We tasted from Viognier, Cote du Rhone, Croze Hermitage, Côte Rôtie to Chateau d’Ampuis. I am not a big fan of Viognier, its cloyness and intensity was too much for me, icky apricots, gigantic perfume, kind of like an artificially scented cab ride. I cannot take big floral characters, but after tasting La Doriane, it helped me appreciate the Côte-Rôtie afterwards.

Côte Rôtie is from Northern Rhone, with the wines largely syrah based. You can expect something dense, chewy, floral with meaty impact. The Côte Rôtie we tried was a wholesome wine, but unexpectedly had a perfumed floral backnote that added much elegance to the drink. The previous Viognier cab ride in subdued format blended with Syrah is much more approachable. Apparently, up to 20% Viognier can be added to Syrah for Côte Rôtie AOC (usually only up to 5% is added). The wines we tasted were a blend of Côte Brune and Côte Blonde, grapes cultivated on the brown and blond slopes respectedly. Story has it that some dude/ lord way back when had given the lands to his brunette and blond daughters. I think I just ruined the story.

Anyways, the wine that truly impressed me was Chateau d’Ampuis 2007. I was taken away. On the nose, it was warm with the complexity of fruit, lavender and bountiful earthiness. On the palette, I got spices, olives, berries, and a finish that wowed me over. It is amazing when the power of a great wine can transport you to far away places. Words cannot do it justice.

I went back to Vinexpo the second day to beg for some more of that Chateau d’Ampuis. The wine was gone, finished, meaning that others have gotten to it before I did, and now I have to shell out one grand to get my own bottle. Damn.

Chateau d’Ampuis 2007, Côte Rôtie

13% alc. vol, ~$1200 ouch

Bozcaada Whites

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:09:55 -0400

Four years ago, Bill and I embarked on a journey to Bozcaada, a little island off the beaten tracks in the north Aegean sea. As promised by Lonely Planet, this was a paradise filled with beaches, seafood AND vineyards. We were enticed.

After an overnight journey from Istanbul to Geyikli, we hopped onto a ferry to the magical island. It was everything as hoped, plus a hardcore bike ride, for me at least. Without a single clue about the world of wine appreciation, we went searching for rustic vineyards and free flow fermented grape juice on our rental bikes. After what seems like an eternity, struggling with my bike over the rolling hills, I was swearing at full force. My bike nugded uncooperatively.

We could not find any vineyards as suggested by our imaginations and retired with a beer at the beach instead. Getting sun soaked and a bit buzzed, we hitch-hiked back to the “town centre” - I was NOT going to bike back. We returned our not so trusty bikes and went in search of wine bars. We tasted some wines, I have only some faint recollections, but luckily, we had bought some bottles of “dry white wine” back to Hong Kong.

After years of ”cellaring” in the back of a closet, we finally unearthed the wine like some archaeological treasure. We had much doubts on the bottle, a 2004 vintage of some a white indigenous grape called Çavuş. Surely, we thought, this wine was not to have survived, but it would be an adventure to taste this long lost souvenir with our new found wine tasting goggles. The wine was honey-hued like a roll of yellow tracing, and upon the first whiff, there was plenty of oak. The fruit had pretty much checked-out, leaving us with puckering acidity, spicy astringency and seemingly loads of alcohol.

Drinking while reminiscing of the good ol’ times, we suddenly realized that the wine wasn’t so bad at all, and had finished the bottle fairly quickly. Was it nostalgia working it’s magic? Maybe it’s just the power of alcohol.

Teneia 2004, Çavuş, Corvus Vineyards, Turkey

11.5% alc. vol. , ~$105

Rue de Margaux

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:46:00 -0400

Rue de Margaux, a street in the Bordeaux suburbia of my imagination, is a great place to be.

I visited 2 chateau’s, #1985 of La Gurgue, and # 1993 of Dauzac, and I must say, they were pretty decent. Referencing to vintage charts, the numbers are quite disheartening, a 86 pt for 1985 and a 77 pt for 1993 in Margaux . But numbers don’t mean anything, and everyone should drink with an open mind/ mouth.

The La Gurgue was super herbaceous, with loads of green pepper character, and the Dauzac was excellent, with a lovely fragrance and smooth finish. I had to refill my glass twice with the Chateau Dauzac, and it wasn’t only because I was thirsty.

Thinking back, I should really start cellaring some wine and age them instead of popping bottles left and right in order to quench my thirst. The time in bottles make such markable difference, even for lesser wines, and the subtle elegance of Bordeaux wine this time, really shone through with such austere grace and beauty. It’s gonna be a tough battle, cellaring without drinking, but I will try my best.

Chateau La Gurgue 1985, ~$320 according to Winesearcher

Chateau Dauzac 1993, $448 GDV