Chateau Grenouilles Chablis Grand Cru

 

One of the seven Grand Crus of Chablis is Les Grenouilles,  so named because apparently because of an abundance of frogs living nearby (grenouilles = frogs in French), as I blogged about Trittenheimer Apotheke. It turns out that this smallest of the Grand Crus of Chablis is close to the River Serein, where a large number of frogs live and which even get into the vines! Much of this Grand Cru is owned by the cooperative La Chablisienne, which makes a quarter of all the wines from Chablis. The wine above is one of the flagship wines of the cooperative.

This 2011 was a golden yellow colour with a crisp minerally lemony nose. The palate was rich fruity with a touch of lemon citrus character, well supported by a backbone with good acid and a touch of astringency. Nice!


BTW, the following web page had all this info and more about Les Grenouilles:
http://vindeling.com/2013/09/19/how-well-do-you-know-chablis-grenouilles-grand-cru/

New line of wines at the Club

I saw these two new wines at the coffee shop at the Club the other day. Now I know that KCC prides itself as a good sporting club here in Hong Kong, and I know it on good authority that the Club's wine and wine service is also well regarded. After all the Hong Kong Wine Society holds a joint Christmas Party with the KCC Wine Society every year for some time now.

Perhaps this is a new marketing gimmick from F&B to increase wine sales. I am not a golfer so I don't know of Ernie Els, but everyone knows Yao Ming irrespective of whether you are a fan of basketball or not. Until that moment I have not known that either had purchased vineyards and produced wines. There again in the first month of this blog, I had written about Gerard Depardieu's wine-making adventures  and also mentioned other celebrities in the entertainment business who had got into wine.

The myriad changes with extended breathing for the Coulee the Serrant

When we tried this wine at the PWC Loire tasting, I decided to open this wine the night before, so that it had a chance to breathe. Of course, I took a small bit to nose and taste, so that I would be able to see if this extended breathing helped bring out the best in this famed wine. At that point, the wine was a golden colour with a honeyed pruney acid nose and a sweet acid fruity palate supported by an acid backbone.

When we tasted the wine on the night(around 22 hours later), the colour had darkened to light tea, with more sherry like notes on the nose. In fact it smelt more like a Tokay with a bit less of the dried apricot acidity that the sweet Hungarian wine. The palate had become drier yet richer than the night before.

When the wine was revisited 3 weeks later,the tea colour seemed to have taken on a hint of pink. The dried apricot Tokay like nose had become richer and perhaps more honeyed (maybe even with a hint of sweetness, just like when it was first opened). The palate had now become very much like a Tokay, but without the sweetness (perhaps like the szamorodni). The acidic backbone was unchanged, giving sterling support for the wine. Interesting evolution over an extended period!

A 45 year old Coteaux du Layon

 

One of the highlights of the Loire tasting the other day was the 1971 Domaine Touchais Coteaux du Layon. After all, it is not everyday that one gets to taste a well aged wine and wines of over 30 years are decidedly special at any time. I had blogged about Domaine Touchais 3 years ago and this wine was mentioned then and it is finally being tasted now.

This wine was a nice old gold in colour tinted with a touch of orange. The nose was rich with a large dose of dried apricot though marred with a touch of alcohol. The palate was sweet acid and fruity with a good smattering of dried apricot acidity providing sterling support. Jolly good for a 45 year old specimen.

Ambonnay

Ambonnay (from which this Champagne comes) is a grand Cru village on the south side of the  Montagne de Reims hill, a favourable location shared with its neighbour Bouzy (also Grand Cru). It is planted with 81% Pinot Noir and 19% Chardonnay, and the village is famous for good Pinot Noir from vineyards of high elevation. With south facing vineyards, Ambonnay can produce red still Coteaux Champenois wines called Ambonnay Rouge.

There are many famous vineyards in this village, the most noted of which must the Clos d'Ambonnay, owned by Krug. Planted with Pinot Noir only, the rare single vineyard champagne is only made in the best years and its first vintage was 1995.

Chinon

I had tried Chinon wines many moons before, in the PWC "Off the Beaten Track in France" tasting during Lent 2007. We returned to this in the latest Loire tasting at the end of last month. This wine also fared well when we finished the remains from the wine dinner the next day. Chinon is a mainly red appellation (which is unusual in the Loire). The reds and the small amount of rose wines are made mainly from Cabernet Franc (up to 10% Cabernet Sauvignon is allowed), whilst a small amount of white is made from Chenin Blanc. A versatile food wine, it had been famous in the past garnering praise from Rabelais, Joan of Arc and Richard the Lionheart amongst others.