Vintage sweet champagne

Sweet vintage champagnes are not easy to find and a good example is the one from Veuve Clicquot. Having the confidence to put out a vintage wine also meant that their standard NV offering was quite a reliable choice. It was in a Veuve Clicquot wine dinner at the club many moons ago that I tasted the above wine. The representative from the champagne house got us to think about the differences between the Rich and the standard Brut vintage, which as he reminded us, was actually the same wine until disgorgement. Made from a base of 58% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 9% Meunier sourced from Premier and Grand Cru vineyards, the only difference between the two was in the dosage, leading to a sugar level of around 10g/L in the Brut and 28-30g/L in the Rich Reserve.

Apart from sweetness, there are other differences on tasting the two wines. The Rich Reserve had a more pronounced nose with grapy notes whereas the fruit on the Brut was more towards apple, which persisted through to the palate. Obviously acidity is more pronounced with a lower dosage. There were also differences in the bubbles too, but one wonders if that has more to do with disgorgement than dosage.

A special Japanese sparkler for Xiaolongbao

This is a special Japanese sparkling wine slelected by Japanese Sommeliers to go with the Chinese dim sum Xiaolongbao. The label says Ancestral Sparkling wine with second fermentation in bottle, but whether it is truly methode ancestral as opposed to methode classico (just like how champagne is made) is open to debate. Two versions of methode ancestrale exist, one where the onlty fermentation occurs in bottle and the other where the must is first partially fermented in tank and then bottled. The fermentation continues in bottle and uses up the rest of the grape sugars. So much for fermentation.

The wine has a very interesting cepage too. It is made from equal proportions of Ryugan (a Chinese rose skinned vinifera grape) and Campbell Early, an interspecific hybrid bred by GW Campbell in the USA in 1890. Campbell Early is used in a number of Japanese wines one can buy in Hong Kong. The wine was a limpid purple pink with few bubbles. The nose was reminiscent of Kyoho grapes with some spicy notes. The palate was sweet and grapey with a slight spritz. Foxy Kyoho notes were evident from the nose through the palate into the acidic fruity finish. Somehow, my wife and I doubted that this is the best wine to go with Xiaolongbao.

 

Brazilian Pinot Grigio

This is a bottle of Brazilian Pinot Grigio I tasted at the Vinopolis in London in the summer of 2010. Part of the Miolo Group which goes back to 1897, the Seival Estates was purchased in 2000 and planted with both Portuguese and International varieties. Their flag ship line is Quinta do Seival , whilst this is their basic line of wines.

Although Brazil has a large area under vines, much of that is for table grapes rather than wine. Besides, most of Brazil is too close to the equator for wine growing and hence wine production is concentrated in the mountainous Serra Gaucha in the south of the country.

As for this wine, it was very pale straw in colour with a crisp fruity nose, The crisp fruit continues through the palate punctuated by lemony notes, which continue into the finish as a lemony acidity.

 

Sweet Zinfandel

The Californian grape Zinfandel has now been identified as being the same as the Italian Primitivo. However sweet and powerful the wines are, they are nominally "dry" or at least made in the style of dry red wines. This however is a sweet wine made from Zinfandel. I must confess that this is the only sweet Zinfandel I have come across so far, and even this wine was not encountered in Hong Kong. It must have been the November 2003 visit to Tokyo during which I spotted it in a wine shop in Shinjuku. I had spotted the shop a couple of times previously and had already bought some items back, including some very special Tequilas. This was just too precious a wine to pass over.

What of the wine? A nice ruby red, it was sweet and raisiny on the nose with some nice acidity balancing it. Sweetness and raisin notes dominate the palate, giving a sense of lusciousness normally found with botrytised wines. Acidity appeared late in the palate, and persisted right to the finish, though the sweetness and the luscious raisin notes still managed to get the upper hand, making the wine a bit cloying.

19th Century Madeira

This is a bottle of 19th century wine, a Bual Madeira from 1863. It was bought in Hong Kong a few years ago and it cost around the same as what the current vintage of first growth was selling at the time, a few thousand dollars (HK). This seemed most eminently reasonable for such a rare antique. The lower label stated that it was matured in cask for over 50 years, before being transferred to large glass containers, being finally bottled in 1978, at a princely age of 115 years!

Will I drink it? I think so, but that should be a very worthy occasion. Would it be good? Why not? After all, madeiras are wines made to last, and with their warm aging process, virtually indestructible. After all, even if you cannot finish it in one go, how much more can you throw at a wine which has undergone at least 50 years oxidative aging?

Truttiker Essentia

This is a sweet wine from Switzerland made from the Muller-Thurgau grape. Although called Riesling-Sylvaner in Switzerland, it is now thought that Riesling was crossed with Madeleine Royale rather than Sylvaner to give this grape. Although productive, Muller-Thurgau needs careful site selection and yield restriction to give good results. That has led Jancis Robinson to describe it as "decidedly mediocre but gruesomely popular", the latter especially in the replanting of vineyards after WWII. A good example of a fine Muller-Thurgau is made by Pojer and Sandri from northern Italy.

I found that I had encountered this wine (2001) a number of times, because the KCC Wine Society had a case or two and we had it for several occasions in 2004 and 2005. A golden tea colour, dried apricot, peach, raisins and prunes variously figured in the descriptions of its nose. Sweet in varying degrees (due I suspect to what we were tasting before) from sweet to nearly cloyingly so, apricot and raisin notes were found on the palate, with dried apricot or prune notes accompanying the acidity to its finish.

Two Century Wine Dinner

This was the line-up for the Two Century Wine Dinner that took place in December 2006. The dinner was so named because the sum of the age of the wines added up to 200. The champagne missed the photo, it was a Dom Perignon 1996. Three other wines were from that vintage including Smith-Haut-Lafitte Blanc, La Conseillante and Troplong-Mondot. Two came from the 1986 vintage: Palmer and Latour. Bringing up the rear was a trio from 1966 - Margaux, Haut-Brion and a Krohn Colheita 1966 Port.

No one would imagine that a short blog could do justice to these wines, hence the notable individuals would be dealt with separately in other tidbits. To say that this was a very special evening would definitely be a euphemism. With 3 first growths, 3 good vintages and three 40 year old wines, what more can you ask, ...... except perhaps for someone else to pay for you!

A Japanese Pinot Blanc

We tried this Pinot Blanc from Kyoto at a wine dinner in December 2009. I had seen these bottles at a Japanese Department Store here in Hong Kong and I thought I'd give it a try. The Tamba winery was founded in 1979 and grows some 30+ varieties of grapes in order to make a wine specifically to complement Kyoto cuisine. The winery became the first to receive the Croisade Award, after which their flagship series of wine (from which the above bottle was derived) was named. What of this wine? A limpid lemon yellow, it had a slightly sweet fruity nose, which extends to the palate, ending in an acid sweet finish. The wine was presented in a PWC dinner and my fellow diners were quite taken with it.

A German red from the Neipperg family

This is a red wine from the Neipperg's family estate in Wurttemberg. If the Neipperg name and crest looks familiar, it is because of a member of the family, Comte Stefan, owning the prestigious Bordeaux chateaux of Canon-la-Gaffaliere, Clos de l'Oratoire and La Mondotte. There is a Bulgarian venture too. This dry red is made from 60% Lemberger (Blaufrankisch), 20% Pinot Noir, 10% Pinot Meunier and 10% Samtrot (a Pinot Meunier mutation) and aged in barriques. I tasted it at a Wine Now dinner to showcase some JJ Prum wines in 2005. Ruby red with a nose of berries, citric acidity and slight tannins, the palate was medium dry (although it is trocken) with red fruit and vanilla wood, with acid and tannins leading to a predominantly acidic finish.

The secrets of youth!!!

No, I have not found the way to immortality nor any anti-aging drug. It was merely how I worked out the story behind the above bottle, which was amazing youthful when I tasted it at this year's wine fair. The secret to the 21 year old wine tasting rather like a vintage younger than say 10 years old could actually be seen on the label. The A.P.Nr. gave it away. The series of number all mean something specific and the last double digit was the year of testing (to be assigned an APNr) and it was 2005. So how come a 1990 Riesling Spatlese was tested (which is usually done at bottling) in 2005, when it was 15 years old? The two most likely explanation was either that the owner wanted to keep some wine for aging, or that someone forgot about the wine. The latter was what happened here. So this wine was only bottled in 2005. It only had 6 years of bottle age, so that's why it had little signs of bottle age.

BTW, I had met a similar situation before, with a wine from JJ Prum at the wine dinner in 2001 that I had already blogged about. However I was not able to find out why a wine of the 1980s was tested much later that time.

Chateau de Fargues

Chateau de Fargues is a property belonging to Comte Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, the previous owner of Chateau d'Yquem prior to its takeover by Bernard Arnault of LVMH in 1998. The property was first built by de Fargues as a fortress beginning in 1309, passing to Pierre de Lur in the mid 15th century and establishing the Lur-Saluces family a century later. Later the Lur-Saluces married de Sauvage d'Yquem, acquiring that prestigious estate in 1785. Now that the latter is no longer in his control, many are looking to de Fargues as the wine to follow for fans of the Lur-Saluces reputation.

In a December 2001 tasting, the above wine showed well. Golden yellow with exotic and dried fruit aromas on the nose, the palate was sweet and luscious with dried apricot and vine fruit notes. Acidity appeared mid palate and merged with the fruit into a long acid predominant integrated dried fruit sweet acid finish. It was wonderful matching with foie gras, and accentuated the crispy meatiness of the magret the canard. The remaining wine was refrigerated and revisited the next day. The nose was more clearly defined with pineapple, dried prunes and dried apricot notes. The dried fruits dominated to palate before yielding to a clean sweet acid finish. Interesting!

A top Rheingau estate

This is an Auslese from the Kiedrich Grafenberg vineyard, made by Robert Weil. Founded in 1875, the estate has become one of the most prestigious in the Rheingau. with Its 1999 TBA Goldkapsul from the above vineyard set the world record for a white wine in 2000 by selling for DM5000 at auction. This is of course a lesser wine, but it nevertheless is a very fine Rhinegau Riesling indeed.

I tasted this wine in a dinner hosted by Ficofi in April 2002. It was a very pale yellow, with sweet luscious fruit and a hint of honey on the nose. The sweet fruity lusciousness continued into the palate, with a strong backbone of acidity to support it, finishing on honeyed acid notes. We tried it with foie gras and found the match excellent, being better with the cold preparation containing truffles (with which it also went). It was also good with Roquefort, but the combination was quite different to what we remembered with Sauternes. It was also fine with a gratinated passion fruit sabayon with raspberries, but not brilliant.

Mexican Merlot

For curiosity value, wines from Central America are rather hard to beat. It would be fun to have a mini series on wines from unexpected places. We already had a whole series on English wines. So to start this series off, there is this Merlot from Mexico. I encountered this wine at the Club some time ago, when I think they were doing a promotion. It is not very clear from this picture, but the label does say "Established 1597", and yes, Casa Madero is the oldest winery in the Americas.

Founded by Lorenzo Garcia in the town of Santa Maria de las Parras, the surrounding area soon become a major wine-growing with exports to other parts of the Americas. Mexican wine was so successful that it hurt the export of Spanish wine to the American colonies and so production was soon banned in a fit of protectionism, except for wine made for religious ceremonies by the missionaries. The ban stayed in place until Mexican Independence in 1810.

What of this wine? Garnet with a dark core, the nose was fruity with wood and slight acidity. It was slightly sweet and fruity on the palate with a tannic woody finish.

Lambrusco galore

This is the picture of a series of Lambrusco sparkling wines from Chiarli at their stall in the wine fair this year. As you can see, these represent the 3 major DOCs from Lambrusco and each of these is a varietal using the subvariety of Lambrusco after which the DOC is named.I had previously blogged about Concerto from Ermite Medici, which is a top example of a dry Lambrusco. Here two out of the three are amabile, ie sweet. The Grasparossa is widely available in Hong Kong and I had tried a Sorbara which I bought in Chiang Mai in 2003, so the Salamino is the only DOC of the three I have not tried. There are other Lambrusco sub-varieties too; a Regglanno Rosso I got from Marks and Spencer also lists Uve Marani, which is basically Lambrusco Marani. There's plenty of interesting exploration available for anyone wanting to find out more about Lambrusco.

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1982

We will end this mini-series on trophy wines with a bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1982, the first RP100 wine I bought and the third I tasted. At that time I had neither bought, owned nor tasted a first growth claret and it seemed a good occasion to start. I must confess that I cannot remember if I knew that it was awarded 100 points by Parker. This bottle had been sent back to the Chateau for re-corking as a label on the back recounts. This particular bottle was drunk at the most expensive PWC dinner I organized, back in 2007.

How was it? Did it live up to expectations? The colour was a good ruby with hints of brick red at the rim. The nose was sweet with layers of fruit interacting in a complex manner, but ending with a sour plum like acidity. It was the same sweet complex fruitiness on the palate, with notes or white pepper coming through, followed by that same sour plum mouthwatering acidity which extended into a long delicate finish. But that was not all. After the glass was emptied, there came meaty notes from the little wine remaining in the glass, notes suggestive of chargrilled chops or steaks. As for the tiny amount left in the decanter, there wafted some flowery notes, variously described as peony and narcissus by those present. Exquisite!

Grosses Gewachs

Have you noticed the GG designation after the Einzellage name on the label? (Also that the village names were not on the labels - Hofberg is in Dhron and Pechstein in Forst). GG stands for Grosses Gewachs (literally Great Growths) a designation for the members of VDP, the Association of German Pradikat Wine Estates, for their top dry wines from top sites. Although widely used, it is not a legal designation (VDP membership is optional and some top estates are not members). The Rheingau, on the other hand, has another designation - Erstes Gewachs, for their corresponding wines, but this one is defined by Law. There is also another symbol designating GG, that is the one behind Hofberg on the label on the left, the numeral 1 with an elongated baseline (hence looking like capital L) with a cluster of grapes. Apparently this will be the official symbol for GGs some time in the near future.

Schilfwein

Schilfwein (Schilf = reed) or Strohwein (Stroh = straw) is one of those Pradikats which exist in Austria but no in Germany (cf Ausbruch). The two terms are sort of interchangeable and refer to the Pradikat for wine made from grapes dried on straw, ie the Austrian version of "vin de paille". The grapes are dried for at least 3 months, to reach the sugar level for Beerenauslese, though the grapes can be pressed if the sugar level of Trockenbeerenauslese is reached after two months.

Austrian Schilfwein is not readily available in Hong Kong until recently. I had seen one advertised in a catalogue but had not got around to getting one when I saw them at this year's wine fair. This wine was available for tasting and I also ended up buying a bottle of Zweigelt Schilfwein. A golden yellow colour, this Muskat Ottonel Schilfwein had a sweet nose which surprising contained notes reminiscent of botrytis. The sweet fruity palate was nicely balanced by a long acid finish. The Zweigelt needs another tidbit when I have tried it.

Caro

To round off this series on joint venutres, we take a look at another Rothschild (Lafite) collaboration, this time with Catena in Argentina. With the name derived from an amalgamation of CAtena and ROthschild, the idea of the collaboration was first mooted in 1998, to produce a wine that would combine the two cultures as well as the two signature grapes of the two producers, Cabernet Sauvginon and Malbec (though if the truth be said, Malbec is actually also a Bordeaux grape (cf Gruaud-Larose)). The first vintage was produced in 2000, Another wine with a fruity style derived from a higher proportion of Malbec was launched in 2003 - Amancaya. Finally the collaboration produced a Malbec varietal, Aruma last year.

Ex Ex 8 - Marselan from Emporda

This is Ex Ex 8, a varietal Marselan from Emporda. Marselan is a Cabernet Suavignon x Grenache cross bred in France in 1961. It is allowed in small amounts into Rhone and Languedoc/Roussillon blends. This however is a varietal from DO Emporda. It is still only an experimental wine as far as DO Emporda is concerned, but if the results from Castillo Perelada and other wineries are promising, then it can be allowed into the normal wines of the DO.

This experimental wine is from the Ex Ex series made by Castillo Perelada (Ex Ex stands for Exceptional Experiences). For some years they have been making small quantities of unique experimental wines, which they will not repeat. As you can see from the edge of the label, they only made 1347 bottles of this wine, so I was most surprised to be able to taste it at this year's wine fair. Deep purple at the rim with a dark core typical of young wines, it had a sweet fruity nose with wood much in evidence. The palate was sweet woody and fruity, but with some alcoholic heat and the finish was mildly acid but tannic.

Sassicaia

This is the famous Sassicaia, one of the first Supertuscans wines. The wine was first produced by Maio Incisa della Roche in 1948 using Cabernet Sauvignon (reputedly sourced from Lafite) for family consumption. Small quantities were released commercially in the 1970s after international consultants had been engaged to improve production. Initially only a Vino di Tavola because it did not conform to the wine laws of the time, it was then promoted to IGT before becoming the first estate to receive its own DOC (Bolgheri). Although it has now been somewhat overshadowed by Ornellaia and Solaia, incidentally produced by his cousins, Sassicaia remains an important Supertuscan, especially as it was one of the first to win international recognition, with the 1972 vintage coming first in a 1978 Decanter blind tasting of 33 "great clarets' from 11 countries.

What of this bottle? Acid and fruity on the nose, it was soft with less pronounced fruit (compared with the nose) on the palate. Acidity was abundant and of the type that makes the mouth water, appearing late in the palate but continuing to a nice long finish. Nice!

Louis Michel Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

The Michel family have been growing grapes in Chablis since 1850, in vineyards which have been cultivated since the 11th Century. Emphasizing the terroir of these ancient vineyards and with a philosophy of bringing out the best Nature has to offer, they have switched to fermenting in stainless steel around 40 years ago to help ensure purity of fruit. Their Grand Cru holdings include the climats of Vaudesir, Les Clos and Grenouilles, whose wines are matured over fine lees for 18 months. Their Website suggests aging these wine for 10 years to show the wines at their best. A Taiwanese book suggest minimum of 10-20 years, with the capacity to age for up to 40 years!

The label above came from one of a half dozen 1991s, which I bought at the Club some 10-12 years ago. I opened a bottle not long after I bought them and the wine was not that impressive. I gave a bottle to my sister and forgot about them. The second of the bottles I opened was when the wine was 10+ years old and I then found it quite nice. A later bottle was even better. Now I've only got one bottle left. Should I open it now that it has reached twenty, or shall I keep it a little longer? The 10 years suggested on the website should perhaps be an indication of minimum length of aging for particularly impatient souls.

A Georgian white wine made in clay amphorae

Georgia is one of, if not, the oldest wine region in the world, having been growing wine for around 8000 vintages. In the old days, wines were fermented in amphorae (cf Greece, but also China - see blog on Lou Lan) and this has continued to this day in Georgia, for the wine in the picture is made in this way. I met this wine at the Georgian Pavilion at this year's wine fair. Made from the Mtsvane grape, it was not only fermented in clay but spent some time aging in clay amphorae. That winery used to be a Monastery, hence the name Monastery wine. Golden yellow in colour, clay pot notes were evident on the nose together with the wine's orangey fruity bouquet. These clay pot notes were also there on the palate complementing the off-dry orangey fruity wine, which has an acidic finish. Interesting!