A wine dinner based on Bordeaux1997

The last PWC wine dinner this year feature half a dozen bottles of Bordeaux 1997. I didn't have 1997 champagne, or white on hand and could not find Sauternes of that year, so an NV champagne and other whites and dessert wine have to stand duty in their stead. (If I had more people and I have all those wines of the same 1997 vintage, 7 clarets with one each of champagne, dry and sweet white Bordeaux would make a nice 2-century line-up, but that was not to be.)

Although 1997 was not regarded as a good year, and got awarded scores in the high 80s to low 90s range (those I could find scores for ranged between 87 and 90), the wines actually drank better on the night than their scores suggest. I had a port to finish, to go with Xmas pudding; so I also got some Stilton for the cheese course, but that's another story and another tidbit!

Wither Hills Pinot Noir Rose 2015

I got to know the Wither Hills winery through its Suavignon Blanc many moons ago, but I cannot remember tasting anything else from them. So it was a  surprise to see this Pinot Noir Rose on a supermarket shelf just a little while back (I don't even think I had tried their regular Pinot Noir either). Apparently Wither Hills now make two different Rose wines, this regular one and an early light version, with lower alcohol and a slightly higher residual sugar. This regular version is fermented dry and spent a little time on light yeast lees for better palate and structure (like the Muscadet sur lie, I suppose). This wine was a pale rose pink with an acid fruity nose. The palate was off-dry with prominent strawberry, well supported by an acid backbone. A delightful drink, especially for summer!

Another unexpected wine tasting

We went to a concert at the Cathedral over the weekend and were invited to the Reception beforehand. There is usually a red and a white wine at these events, but the surprise was the display of Italian wines at one end of the drinks section. It turned out that someone had bought some wine at auction and donated a sample of these for tasting that evening.

There was a good selection of wines from Piedmont and Veneto, but a cocktail reception before a concert is not the best time to taste a large array of wines. I managed to taste some half a dozen wines, including some pale but powerful Nebbiolos (in the old style). The wines themselves merit their own entries; it was certainly a pleasant surprise for the evening.

Expiry dates on wines

OK the best by date is not exactly an expiry date, but consumer legislation has pushed for a time limit for everything. I can understand that drugs deteriorate and the sterility of various consumables for invasive procedures cannot be guaranteed for a long time, but some of the new expiry or best by dates really logic. Canned food can sometimes last a surprisingly long time, well past the supposed 3 to 5 years time limit used for setting best by dates (an interesting article about testing decades old canned food can be found here).

Wines are another puzzle. I have personally tasted a Madeira over 2 centuries old and it was wonderful, as were all those old wines of over 50 years I have tasted during a two week period in early summer of 2014. Coming back to this German wine, I found that I have different bottles of this Rieslings from this vineyard, all from the same vintner. This 2016 Spatlese has the same best before date of end of 2045 as a 2012 Auslese. However the longest life was assigned to the 2010 Auslese, which was reckoned to be good until the end of 2059! Vintage variations?!?

Madeiras from the 1970s

I had to move my wines out of the place I had been storing them, as the building management company need access to carry out some repairs. In the process I rediscovered where the wines which have been "misplaced" had gone. I remembered that I should have a bottle each of Madeira from 1976 to 1978. Of course they were all over the places in different parts of my storage area.

Gathering them together, I found that I have two from Blandy's and two bottles of Terrantez. I knew about the 1977, but was surprised to find that the 1976 was also Terrantez. Now I must carefully note where I am keeping them. It would be nice to have the 1978 Malmsey in a wine dinner nect year.

Half bottles at the Club's Sports Shop

I recently found out that they were selling these half bottles at the Sports Shop in the Club. Although it is called the Sports Shop, they have always sold other things including wine there. I remember in the good old days, there was a good selection of half bottles of very respectable wines at the wine shop in the Police Officers' Club; now that Club has been demolished in the various construction works of the harbour front.

There are only two varieties on sale now, and I don't expect that they will have more varieties in the foreseeable future. At present the two varieties are a Bordeaux and a Barbera d'Alba. They seem pleasant enough for solo drinking, but of course if they can get better bottles it would be nice. Then again, maybe the other place selling wines in the Club, the Pavillion will take up the half bottle idea.

Leeuwin Estate Arts Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

I mentioned this wine in a post last month and how it did not show up well when tasted after the Sarget de Gruaud Larose 2000. Art Series is the flagship line for the Margaret River winery Leeuwin Estate, with two of its member finding their way into the Langton Classification. The Chardonnay is in the top class, whilst the Cabernet Sauvignon is in the third class. For the latter, it is often possible to find wines of good quality at very reasonable prices. For both these wines, the art label changes every year, and the picture on the label  is Forwards Backwards by Geoffrey Ricardo.

As for the wine, it was ruby red with a slightly cardboardy sweet acid nose with a hint of fruit. There was a sweet vanilla wood acid fruity palate, supported by an acid woody backbone.

Grand Cru disappointment

I had this wine the other day with Ham hocks and cabbage , my own attempt at a simplified choucroute garnie alsacienne. I had known of the Grand Cru Goldert for some time, but never tried any of its wines. The Grand Crus of Alsace are designated vineyards from the best locations, currently totaling 51 sites, with strict rules about yields, cepage, etc. The system is not without controversy and certain growers do not participate.

With such requirements comes expectation. Although the above wine was dry with good citrus fruit and acid, there was little more in terms of complexity. This was more like my impression of New World Riesling, rather than the offerings from Alsace that I had been used to. Hence my disappointment at this wine.

Chenet's Beaujolais Nouveau

The Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived some time ago. Yet when I saw this on the supermarket shelves the other day, it still somewhat took me by surprise. That supermarket chain has been stocking many different varieties of wines from JP Chenet, but most of them seem to come from Languedoc of that area, so it was unsettling to see that they had foraged into Burgundy. Besides, most of the Beaujolais one sees in Hong Kong are from George Duboeuf or Burgundy producers. In any case Duboeuf owns some 10% of Beaujolais vineyards. Looking up Chenet's website, I see that they have been selling Beaujolais Nouveau for some years now. As for me, I am not a big fan of Beaujolais Nouveau, but should I want to get a bottle, I'll stick to the traditional vendors, rather than a merchant that I associate with South West France.

Late night drinking with friends

We went for late supper the other day with friends and this was the wine line-up that night. I had already blogged about the Ma Maison Pinot Noir before, and its appearance in the line-up was purely for the novelty value of its Hong Kong connection. Then again, it is not a bad New Zealand Pinot Noir and is fine to go with Chinese food generally.

The Gruaud-Larose second wine was next for drinking and it was nice with a flowery fruity nose and a pruney acid palate spiced with a touch of wood. I suppose the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet would have shown better if it went before the claret. As it was, although there was fruit, acid and wood ere evident in both nose and palate in a fairly balanced structure, it failed to shine after the Sarget, which was a pity for a Langton classified wine.

Wines from exotic grapes at M&S

I am in London at present and went to one of the big M&S stores in London a few days ago and had a walk around the wine section. Just as I expected there were some very interesting wines on the shelves. I saw some Georgian wines which had not made it to their Hong Kong branches, and I also saw these. I had no recall if I had either of these before (at the wine fair which I will again miss this year as I will be out of town then). The two bottles on the left (of consecutive vintages) are from Crete and are made from the local grape called Dafni. The other one is a Croatian wine made from a grape called Grasevina. I bought a bottle of each. I suppose I will find the opportunity to drink them whilst here, otherwise, they can always be tasted back home.

Chasselas the table grape

I had blogged about wines made from the Chasselas grape before, both Swiss and German ones, yet even though I know that it is a table grape in some parts of Europe, I had never met it in this guise before. I saw this walking around the fruit section of a large department store in London and so I took a snap of it. The price being a tad expensive, we did not buy any to try, apart from the fact that we were just going round the store and nowhere near going home at the time. It looked delicious though, maybe another time.

Interesting wines on supermarket shelves

Whilst many people tend to think of supermarket wines as cheap and nasty, this is not particularly true. The biggest two supermarkets have high end operations and one of them has a chain of wine stores at which you can buy some of the most expensive wines here in Hong Kong. I have a special spot for Marks and Spencer, from which I had bought many interesting wines that have broaden my horizons. I just discovered another smaller chain, which sells products from the Tesco group in the UK. They too have some very interesting wines. Pignoletto is an obscure Italian grape which I remember meeting at the Wine Fair, but I cannot remember if I had tasted it in a sparkling wine there. Here it is on the shelves in Hong Kong. There is also this white wine which contains Carmenere in its cepage! Now that's a real novelty.

Casa Magrez de Uruguay 2013

We had this Uruguayan wine from the Magrez stables at the doctors' annual wine dinner the other day. I had blogged about Bernard Magrez before, as well as some of his many and varied vinous forays outside Bordeaux such as Japan and even a joint venture with Gerard Depardieu in Morocco. This offering from Uruguay is Tannat based with 16% each of Cabernet France and Merlot making up the remainder of the blend. The wine is matured in a mix of new and one year old barrels.

This 2013 Casa Magrez was a dark ruby, with vanilla wood, fruit and a hint of spice on the nose. The palate was acid and tannic with a touch of fruit well supported by a tannic acid backbone.

South American wines from French grapes

We had the annual doctors association wine dinner yesterday and the theme I picked for this year is wines of South America. Now New World wines are often made with "International varieties" such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, the Pinot family, Cabernets etc, but sometimes certain lesser known grapes from the Old World fins a new lease of life in the new settings, often paradoxically leading to a renaissance of these wines from their place of origin.

This is the case with this set of South American reds presented on the day; the special grapes for which these countries are known turned out to be French in origin. We have a couple each of Argentinian Malbecs (originally from Cahors in France and a permitted red grape for Bordeaux), Chilean Carmenere (originally from Bordeaux and related to the Cabernets) and Uruguayan Tannat (from Madiran near the border with Spain).

Champagne Papis Loveday Brut

I had this champagne at a party last night. Although the name of Papis Loveday is most dominant on the label and there is a corresponding website, a little more insight could also be gained by Googling the name of Pehu-Simonet. This champagne comes from the Grand Cru village of Verzenay and is made from 90% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay. There is 30% reserve wine from the previous 2 years and 15% of the base wine is fermented in barrels. The base wine does not go through malolactic fermentation. The Pehu-Simonet estate, which this wine comes from, comprises mainly of Grand Cru vineyards with around 20% in Premier Cru sites, but since the winery only sells Grand Cru champagne, the fruit from these Premier Cru sites are sold off to the negoce.

The wine was a golden pale lemon with good streams of medium bubbles. The nose was a touch closed, with acid and slightly vegetal notes. There was an acid prickle going onto an acid palate, well supported by an acid backbone. There was initial disappointment with this wine but it turned out that the wine needed food to bring it out. It was much better with the abalone, which made it richer and more honeyed.

An interesting "banquet wine"

It was at the retirement party of a colleague at a restaurant that I came across the above wine being served for the Chinese banquet amongst a number of different red and white wines. First of all, Cotes de Marmandais is not a well known appellation and the choice by the restaurant could be because of value for money. This appellation just outside the area of Bordeaux gives rise to the second point of interest for me, namely the predominant grape used in the blend - Arbouriou. I had met this grape before at the Wine Fair some time ago, but could not be sure if I had come across it at the consumer level here in Hong Kong.

Arbouriou is a grape from South West France which is somewhat related to Malbec and Merlot. It is early ripening with low acidity and high tannins, producing deep coloured, tannic and spicy wines somewhat lacking in acidity. This together with a high vigour and copious cropping leads it to be used in lesser quality wines of that region. As for this wine, it was a deep ruby with a sweet metallic acid fruity nose. The palate was slightly sweet acid with a touch of fruit, leading to an acid tannic backbone.

KCCWS Chateau Beaucastel Dinner

We went to the KCCWS Chateau Beaucastel Wine Dinner over the weekend. Chateau Beaucastel is a well known estate in Chateauneuf du Papes, which uses all the 13 permitted grapes in its wines. (Since the change in AOC laws, which separate the gris and blanc varieties and increased the cepage count to 18, we will have to check if the wines now contain all eighteen varieties!!)

Six vintages were presented on the night spanning 20 years from 1988 to 2008, and these were 1988, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2006 and 2008.The dinner provided an opportunity to explore the evolution of a wine over the years, though (truth be said) even with the same estate, there are both vintage variations as well as the differences in the blend to try and bring out the best in any vintage.

Rothschild vs Rothschild in Chile

As can be seen from the picture, this was something I spotted in the supermarkets whilst scouting for some Chilean wines for a South America themed gathering for the doctors of my hospital, but as I had rearranged the bottles for this juxtaposition, please ignore the prices because the positions are wrong. Both the Rothschild families have extensive overseas holdings and Chile is one country in which they are both present. Apart from these premium level offerings, both also do more affordable entry level wines 

As I was trying to highlight the particularities of the different South American countries, I was more interested in their Carmenere then their Bordeaux lookalike blends, which do include very un-Bordeaux grapes such as Syrah in their blends. You may well ask - why not Mouton vs Lafite for the title? Showing my age, I refer to an Award Winning film (Kremer vs Kremer) which I saw whilst at university.

An impromptu tasting at lunch

We went to lunch with a friend at which he was bringing some wines. When my wife arrived, someone else had been tasting wines which they were thinking of importing and brought along the unfinished bottles for everyone to chip in with their comments. Levorato is based in Riviera del Brenta between Padua and Venice and produces a large variety of wines from Sicily to Veneto.

Four wines were tasted, a Pinot Grigio della Venezia, a Merlot from Veneto, a Nerod'Avola from Sicily and a Primitivo from Salento. All were IGT wines. The Pinot Grigio was fair, but the Merlot was nothing to write home about. Both the Nero d'Avola and Primitivo were well wooded with enough fruit and acid to make the wines fairly well balanced. Just goes to confirm that indigenous grapes are a good bet for less known wines and appellations.

Bags for blind tasting

When we had the Garnacha vs Tempranillo dinner, we did a blind tasting of the red wines, and the Grill Room staff put the wines in these bags, which belong to the KCC Wine Society. Now I had been rather busy these last couple of years or so and had only attended their dinners very intermittently and I had not seen these before and so I cannot tell for how long they have been using these bags. Blind tasting the wines had been something they have been doing right from the very beginning; I recall what might have been the inaugural dinner in 1998, and we blind tasted 6 clarets. Before these nice bags, I recall we used to wrap everything in aluminium foil, but these bag bring extra class to the proceedings.

Staiway to Heaven

No this has nothing to do with the 1970s Led Zeppelin song (for those who are old enough to remember it), this is about a Spanish winery, Scala Dei, whom some have nicknamed stairway to heaven  (Scala Dei is literally God's ladder in Latin). The winery can trace its origins back to the 12th century when Carthusian monks started growing vines here. The name of the monastery owes itself to a legend about a shepherd dreaming of angels coming down a ladder from the sky to the top of a tall pine tree here. A working monastery till the mid 19th century when Church properties were confiscated, the buildings have been reduced to ruins but the vineyards have passed down different families, who bottled the first Priorat wine in 1878 and presented it at the Paris World Fair. Wine making was modernized in the 1970s and the Cordoniu group acquired a part share in the 2000s.

Garnacha vs Tempranillo Dinner

The recent PWC wine dinner was a comparison between Spanish wines made from Garnacha and Tempranillo. The inspiration came when I was looking up Grenache Noir, expecting to confirm it as a French grape, when to my surprise, I found that it was of Spanish origin. I then thought it would be fun to compare the wines made from two Spanish varieties. Of course, there are many other factors to take in account, but trying varietals made from two indigenous Spanish grapes from a variety of different areas would still be illuminating.

In the end, the line up consisted of 4 Garnacha wines from Aragon (the place of origin of the grape), Priorat, Montsant and Campo de Borja, whilst the Tempranillo wines came from Rioja, Toro, Navarra and Castilla y Leon. There was a Cava as welcome drink, and we had the Txacholi to go with fish. A medium sweet sherry concluded the meal, making the cepage an all Spanish affair.

Now, that's an idea!

I saw this new book at the Book Fair on Saturday. Although I wasn't aware of its publication, I gad come across a poster advertising an event in this series which combined wine tasting and spiritual formation recently being advertised at the Cathedral and it seems this book resulted from this series of meetings. Out of curiosity, I got a copy.

It also got me thinking. In this blog, I have discussed matters ecclesiastic and spiritual when it had somehow connected with the wines under discussion. These included how some properties or vineyards got their names (eg Chateau Angelus) or that such a vineyard was founded by some monks or nuns or other religious order (many vineyards with Clos in their name used to be walled properties  of monasteries). I had a short series on charity wines and many of these had church connections too. Of course, the Avignon Papacy gave us the appellation of Chateauneuf du Papes! That is enough inspiration for me to consider going through the blog and trying to make a book out of the ramblings on this blog!!

Clos Haut-Peyraguey 2010

We chanced upon this winery making our way to Sauternes to find the bed and breakfast we booked for our accidental side trip there. It was also a Magrez property, so ending the day as we started (as we visited Pape Clement that day).  Part of the original Chateau Peyraguey when it was classified Premier Grand Cru Classe in 1855, the estate was split in 1879 into two with the other half being Chateau Laufaurie-Peyraguey. It became a Magrez property in 2012.

This was the wine we tasted at the end of the flight that day. It was a nice yellow brass colour, with a sweet luscious acid and fruity nose.The palate was sweet acid and fruity with an acid sweet backbone extending into a long finish.

Ch La Tour Carnet 2010

This was one of the wine we tasted after the Chateau Pape Clement visit. A fourth growth estate from the Magrez stable, this is a wine with which I am less familiar. Tracing its history back to the Middle Ages (though details are sketchy), it was originally named Carnet at the time of the 1855 classification, being named after Jean Carnet, descended from Jean de Foix who is believed to have built the chateau on this estate. The estate is planted with both red and white grapes (of the latter, there are both the blanc and gris versions of Sauvignon but no Muscadelle).

As for this wine, it was a deep ruby, with a sweet berry nose spiced with a soupcon of acid and wood. The palate was sweet acid and fruity with some tannins, supported by a nice acid backbone.

Nectar des Bertrands 2010

We had this wine the other day. I had tried the white for the doctors association dinner last year and it was interesting, and I seemed to have skipped the red for this special cuvee. Owned by the same family for 3 centuries, the estate produces not only red and white wines, but also Bordeaux Clairette as well as Bordeaux Superieur Moelleux. The whites are Sauvignon domintaed (with varying amounts of Muscadelle) whilst reds are dominated by Merlot. From their Website, they also produce a wine without sulphites. This cuvee is 95% Merlot with the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, and spends 17 months in 100% new French oak barrels.

As for this wine, it was a deep ruby, with a sweet acid berry nose. The palate was soft savoury acid and slightly fruity  with  a hint of soy sauce, supported by a tannic acid backbone.

Ch Pape Clement 2004





We tasted this wine at lunch at the end of the Chateau Pape Clement visit.We had a platter of cheese and charcuterie at the wine bar of the souvenir shop where we were tasting the wines as we ended up in a hurry to get to Sauternes for a tasting in the afternoon. After finishing the wines we had for the tasting, we ordered two more glasses, one of which is this Chateau Pape Clement 2004

Th wine was a deep ruby with a dark core with a sweet savoury berry plummy fruity nose, spiced up by a touch of both wood and acid. The palate was sweet fruity woody and tannic with a touch of acid palate, well supported by an acid tannic backbone. We liked it, and with it on sale at a good price at the souvenir shop, we bought a bottle.

Sarget de Gruaud Larose 2006

This is the second wine of the St Julien second growth Chateau Gruaud Larose, with which I am less familiar than the Grand Vin. The estate had a convoluted history since it was founded in the 18th century, being divided into two in the mid 19th century and finally reunited under Cordier ownership in 1935. Its 82 hectares of vines include 2% Malbec.

This half bottle of the second wine was something I picked up at a local supermarket (at the same occasion I picked up a couple of half bottles of Sauternes). As for the wine, it was a deep ruby, with a sweet woody fruity acid nose accompanied by a hint of astringency. The palate was sweet acid and fruity, supported by an acid backbone with a touch of tannins.

An intersting sparkler

This is a sparkling wine made from grapes from the Domaine de Cinquau in Jurancon, but the rules of the appellation does not include sparkling wines.One reason they have this wine is that the Domaine also rents out a venue for weddings and other celebrations and making this wine means they have a sparkling wine to offer those who hire the venue. The label also says Methode Traditionelle, but they do not make the wine on site. Instead the base wine (made from Gros Manseng)  is bulked shipped to a Bordeaux wine maker who turns it into these sparklers.

As for the wine, it was yellow with gold hints and good streams of medium bubbles. There was a crisp acid nose, with an initial acid prickle followed by a crisp acid palate, with an acidic backbone for support.

Clos Beauregard 2013

I got this wine at Charles de Gaule airport, waiting to fly to Pau on the way for the Order of Malta Lourdes pilgrimage at the beginning of the month. I thought we were going to have it one night at dinner at the hotel. In the end, it followed us to Bordeaux and then back hon=me and we had it on Mother's Day. It was a wine we have not met in Hong Kong, and it was a reasonable price.

Originally a plot in the lower reaches of Chateau Beauregard, it was sold to Antoine Moeuix in 1939 and owned by the same family till recently. Now the 15 acre estate planted mainly with Merlot produces some 38000 bottles from vines over 40 years of age. The fruit is hand harvested and fermented in steel before maturing in a mix of new and 1 year old barrels for 12 months before bottling. The wine was a deep purple ruby with a  sweet acid woody berry nose. The palate was sweet woody and acid with plummy berry notes spiced up with tannins, well supported by an acid tannic backbone.

Chambolle Musigny Les Pas de Chats 2005

We tasted this wine the other day. The producer is not one known to me, but looking it up on the Web, it seems that this is a family owned estate since 1910 with a number of excellent village and 1er Cru parcels in Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanee and Gevrey-Chambertin. Les Pas des Chats is a Chambolle-Musigny village level lieu-dit which only this producer seem to bottle.

This bottle from 2005 was a light ruby with a suggestion of orange. The nose was sweet acid and orangey with meaty notes. The palate continues with its orange and acid character accompanied by a hint of sweetness. There was a mouthwatering plummy acidity on swallowing which carried forward to a finished partnered with a touch of astringency.

Visit to Chateau d'Yquem

The most anticipated winery visit for my Bordeaux trip was the visit to Chateau d'Yquem. Having booked and paid for the visit was the reason we had the accidental side trip to Sauternes. After having visiting a few Sauternes estates already, the winery visit was still interesting enough because of all the things they do a bit differently to the others (which presumable enabled them to stay on top of the game). The recent change in the way Y was made was also good to know.

We tasted the Y 2015 and the Yquem 2013. Unfortunately, I managed to forget to take photos of the bottles. In some ways both fell short of expectation. Y was supposed to get more interesting with age, and we were tasting a very young wine. Yquem was good, but then youe expect it to be superlative every time, all the time, and this didn't seem quite to make that high note. The wines need another entry to do full justice (even when they somewhat disappoint).

Tasting a Sauternes from the barrel

Tasting barrel samples seemed to be something reserved for wine professional, but my wife and I were given a go when we visited Chateau Sigalas Rabaud. For the tasting at the end of the chateau visit, we started with the dry white, Les Demoiselle de Sigalas 2014, which was followed by the second wine, Lieutenant de Sigalas 2011. This was followed by a barrel sample from the 2016 vintage of the Grand Vin. the wine was a nice golden yellow, with an orangey grapefruit sweet acid nose. The palate was sweet luscious and acid with lots of tropical fruit notes, well supported by an acid sweet backbone. we also tried a special bottling of a wine they bottled without sulphits, but that merits another tidbit.

Bags of Bordeaux

Wine boxes are commonly seen everywhere, but here in Hong Kong, they mainly come from Australia. In France supermarkets sell all sorts of these wine bags (some comes in boxes enclosing the bags too). Having drunk different wine boxes from Australia, we decided to try a bag of Bordeaux from the French supermarkets. The brand of the bag is one which I have seen in supermarkets here in HK, but only in bottles, It's not visible from this picture, but there is a note (in French) that the quality of the wine is assured for 2 months after opening (better than Best Before or Expiry Dates, and more relevant as the wine only starts oxidising after opening). The tap was sealed with a foil tab. As for the wine, it was a deep ruby, with a sweet acid fruity nose. The palate was markedly soft with the same sweet acid and fruit elements, with an acid backbone spiced up with a smidgeon of tannins.

A perplexing wine from Piedmont

 

I tried this wine the other day. It is being sold somewhere here in Hong Kong but the strange thing is why this wine was made.  The label already says that it is a blanc de noir (white wine made from black grapes, as it says in Italian). The choice of the black grape is interesting, as it is not one usually associated with Piedmont region. The grape is Pinot Noir, more usually associated with regions like South Tyrol, Trentino and Veneto etc.

The wine was a pale peach colour with a touch of pink. There were notes of peach and  stone fruit on the nose with sweet and acid notes. The palate was sweet fruity and acid (though residual sugar was only 3g/L) supported by an acid backbone. Now what did the vigneron and wine maker want to achieve with this creation?

Tubes of Wine

I encountered these wine tubes during the recent visit to Bordeaux. The upper photo was seen in a wine shop doing double duty as a tasting station for Chateau Lamothe (Despujols). The lower of the two pictures was actually taken at Chateau Guiraud and contains their own 2002 vintage.  The volume of 100 mls is the maximum you can take for a liquid container on board an aircraft and it is equivalent to a good glass. Of course they are very much gimmicks, and is actually expensive compared to a normal bottle, but then I have encountered Tokay Essencia being sold in 100 ml bottles many years before - in their case (with residual sugars well above 500g/L) one 100 ml container is what a small dinner party might consume at the end of a nice meal.

An accidental side trip to Sauternes

I made the mistake of not studying the map carefully when I started booking winery visits for a few days stay in Bordeaux after the Lourdes pilgrimage. Although it was blatantly obvious that the Medoc appellations can stretch a long way towards the Atlantic and away from the city, it was not so obvious that Sauternes, which was just next to Graves is also not very near, We found out after a very expenisve taxi ride from Chateau Pape Clement. In the end, we found a place to stay for the night in Sauternes itself, for we had paid for a visit in the afternoon of the next day to Chateau d'Yquem.The consequence of this little side trip was I gave up trying for the vineyards of the Medoc and the Right Bank as I cannot assure myself of reasonable transport arrangements. WE explored the city instead for the remaining day.

Lamproie a la bordelais

 

This classic delicacy from Bordeaux pairs their lampreys with leeks, garlic and lardons in a rich red wine sauce enriched with its blood. I tried it at a good restaurant in a recent visit to Bordeaux. The eel-like fish was quite meaty after being stewed in the rich and robust sauce and it went well with the St Emilion Grand Cru that I chose for the meal.

Red wine with fish is an unusual combination in that the tannins often overpower the delicacy of the fish, but for fish like salmon and tuna, people are already drinking light reds with them. In any case, cooking something in a suitable red wine is a sure way to ensure that one drinks that wine with that dish. Choosing a claret for this Bordelais specialty is sure to be a winner.

An unexpected meeting with a vigneron

We were at the Order of Malta International Mass at Lourdes and waiting for the underground Basilica to fill up when a conversation was struck up with a Knight sitting behind us. This French Knight turned out to the Comte de Dampierre, who owns the Chateau de Plassac in the Cognac region. One of only a handful of chateaux in the Cognac region, the estate (which had been in his family for 8 generations) produces Cognac, Pineau de Charentes as well as Vin de Pays Charentes. The latter is from Cabernet and Merlot, which gives a clue to the grapes used for the red Pineau.

Drinking the wines of the locality

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, so goes the saying. Why not drink the local wines whilst on pilgrimage in Lourdes? (That said, Bordeaux is part of Gascony, which includes Pau and Lourdes.) Not only did we try Jurancon (both the sweet and the dry versions) as well as Madiran, we also got to try Bearn wine, which comes from an area slightly more towards the Atlantic coast (and an appellation that I had hitherto not met). That's of course in addition to the vineyard visit whilst at Pau. The whites are mostly made from Gros and Petit Manseng, whilst the local red grape is Tannat. Of course, they are no strangers to me, but to others from Hong Kong, they can be a novelty.

A 40 year old Portuguese wine

Various different National Associations of the Order of Malta set up stands in the lobby of the Solitude Hotel in Lourdes and sell items ranging from nice accessories for uniforms to souvenirs. I saw this bottle of wine at the Portuguese stand and they told me it was a 40 year old port and at a very reasonable price. Of course I bought it. However, it was not easy to find out about it though. Googling the Quinta leads me to a hotel, but Canelas and Regua are both in Port country in upper Duoro. So it is likely that it is a port wine of some sort from an unknown maker, or even something that they kept aside for the family (as Garraferia Familiar would suggest). We'll find out when we get round to tasting it.

Wine Tasting in Pau

We passed through Pau on the way to Lourdes (for pilgrimage) and visited a vineyard to try out Jurancon wines. I had booked this visit whilst waiting for departure from Hong Kong via the Internet. We took a taxi to the vineyard and tried the full range of its wines. Now Jurancon was a wine I first tried in the 1980s, well before I knew anything about this region. I tried Jurancon sec 7 years ago when I visited Lourdes then.

The winery presented 2 dry and 2 sweet wines as well as a vendange tardive wine, all of which were quite interesting. I then spotted a methode traditionelle sparkler. As the winery rent out a space for events, this was a product they had made for this purpose. Of course I tried that, but this is for a later tidbit!

Domaine de Chevalier 2009

I picked this wine for a family birthday celebration. Though better known for its whites, the red wines of Domaine de Chevalier are nevertheless still very good and the shelf display showed a good score with a reasonable price. It proved to be a good choice. We had roast beef that day and this went down with it like a treat.

Although a young wine, it turned out to have reached the drinking stage, even though it had a deep purple ruby hue. The nose was sweet with plenty of fruit and a touch of wood, whilst the palate gave a nice balance of sweet fruit acidity and tannins, leading onto a backbone of acid and tannins giving sterling support.

Chateau Rol Valentin 2007

This was one of the wines we had at our last wine dinner, which last minute illness and cancellations was basically decimated attendance. Despite wrecking the theme, we managed to cut some wines and enjoyed a pleasant evening. We were going to drink a number of wines with the vintages ending in 7 and that would still have ended up mainly with the 1997 and 2007 vintages. After the cuts we still managed to sample both vintages. Chateau Rol Valentin is one of those garagiste wines, but not one of those hideously expensive wines, and not excessively "Parkerised". This wine (rated 88 points by Wine Spectator) was a deep ruby with a sweet tannic fruity acid nose. The palate was dry fruity and acid, with a soft acid backbone.

Chateau Ferrande 2012

I had this wine over Easter with roast rack of lamb. This is an estate with which I am not familiar, and one from Graves, rather then the more familiar and more prestigious Pessac-Leognan. An ancient estate with roots back to Roman times, the estate was probably planted with grapes for the past three or so centuries and was managed by the Castel group since the 1960s, and they purchased the estate in 1992. The estate produces both a red and a white grand vin as well as a red second wine (Ch Guillon).

The wine was a deep ruby, with a slightly sweet acid leafy nose giving way to black currant notes with a touch of alcohol and tannins. The palate was sweet with berry fruit, accompanied by acid and tannins. There was some alcohol heat before yielding to an acid and tannic backbone. The alcohol heat dissipated with breathing and it went well with the lamb.

Yarra Yering Dry Red No 1 Vntage 2010

We tasted this the other night, having it with Korean beef, of different cuts and done a couple of different ways. Now Yarra Yering is an Australian winery that we like, particularly for its Dry Red No 1. A well established winery in the Yarra Valley, the estate is famed for the two Dry Reds it produces, No 1 being a Bordeaux Blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, whilst No 2 is Shiraz based. As for this bottle, the wine was a depp ruby, with a sweet woody fruity nose accompanied by acid. The palate was acid then sweet and fruity, with the wood much more in the background, leading to an acid backbone holding everything nicely together.

Txakoli

This wine with an unpronounceable name is from the Basque region of Spain. For me, the mention of Basque brings the association with the troubles cause by ETA, but actually that area is also where San Sebastian is, with its profusion of Michel starred restaurants, including El Bulli, once voted the top restaurant of the world.

I first saw this wine (made from a local grape called Hondurrabi Zuri) in a wine shop in the shopping complex underneath a nearby private housing estate. That it is a wine generating a lot of interest was testified by its appearance in Marks and Spencer (of which this is a sample). I got a bottle but could not get round to tasting it yet, so watch this space for my inpression when I have time to crack the bottle.

Chateau Lagrange 2010

I had this bottle the other night. A bottle from a reliable third growth in a good year raises expectations and in this case, such anticipation was well rewarded (even though more patience is likely to bring even more enjoyment). Lagrange is a well-known estate, even though there are other estates with the same name. Japanese ownership gives reassurance as to consistency of quality of output.

The wine was a deep purple ruby at the rim bordering a dark impenetrable core, with a sweet woody berry nose. The nose continued with the same sweet wood and fruit notes onto the palate where it was joined by a smattering of acid and tannins, forming good support for the wine. Very nice.

Chateau Flaunys 2014

I got this wine from the supermarket to go with lamb chops the other day. A lesser known claret from Montagne St Emilion which nearly made last year's Doctors' Association Dinner, this wine turned out a good accompaniment for the meal. The estate turns out to be very interesting in that the vineyard (created only in 1960) straddles the three appellations of Lussac- and Montagne- St Emilion as well as Bordeaux Superieur and they make three wines from this unbroken stretch of vineyards for the different appellations. The estate is called La Claymore and yes there is a Scottish connection from its history (not from the estate or the owners, but from this whole area, which used to be a Scottish garrison). Flaunys itself is a Calt-Gaelic word meaning paradise, and for this wine, the fruit is pure Merlot.

AS for this wine, it was a clear limpid deep ruby with just a hint of purple. The nose was sweet acid with lots of berry fruit, somewhat marred by a tiny whiff of alcohol. The palate was sweet acid and fruity with a touch of savouriness, still dogged by that same alcoholic heat, leading to an acid backbone accompanied with slight tannins.