2000 Guigal Château d'Ampuis

Dinner at Antoine Room, Taipei.

2000 Guigal Château d'Ampuis - the wine was served too warm at first, and gave off lots of hot alcohol, and ripe fruits like prunes.  Also notes of wood, forest, became a little perfumed  with a hint of floral notes after 1 hour in the decanter.  Grilled meats, spices and roasted coffee beans showed up later.  Lovely to drink, but where are the violet and floral notes that I love so much?

Full post on dinner is here.

1995 Lokoya Mount Veeder

Dinner at Ji Pin Restaurant (吉品海鮮餐廳).

1995 Lokoya Mount Veeder - the 14.5% alcohol really made its presence felt, as it was very alcoholic on the nose, with a hot palate and burned a little going down. In fact it was almost like paint thinner... were it not for the slightly sweet nose and a bit of the grilled meat notes. Kinda disappointing.

Full post on dinner is here.

1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia

Dinner at Kimberley Chinese Restaurant (君怡閣).

1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia from magnum - minty, smoky, sweet fruit, dried herbs, cedar and chocolate notes on the nose.  Very full-bodied, and tannins are still there.  Drinking nicely now, this would no doubt get even better.  I think I've got another magnum lying around somewhere, from the original batch I bought back in 2000.

Full post on dinner is here.

1971 Egon Muller Auslese

Dinner at 8½ Otto e Mezzo.

1971 Egon Muller Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese - a very special wine, and it drank beautifully tonight.  Lots of plastic, mushrooms and minerals on the nose.  Actually it was softer than I expected, with lemon and honey. White flower and other floral notes came out mid-way, and the classic petrol notes finally emerged after a while.  Acidity was surprisingly high, but that's probably the reason why wines from this stellar vintage can last so long.  As I expected, though, this wine needs to be drunk fairly cold, as acidity becomes really prominent once it warms up.

Full post on dinner is here.

Wines for BBQ

Lunch at a friend's house.

2007 Sine Qua Non Body & Soul - made from a blend of 79% Roussanne and 29% Viognier, this baby weighs in at 15.5% alcohol. Nose was toasty with lots of oak, very lovely, sweet.  Definitely felt the alcohol both on the nose and especially on the palate.

1996 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste Hune - the color looked a little darker than I would have expected, leading me to joke about this bottle being "Ackered"...  Classic nose of petrol, flint, a little ripeness, sweetness, and lots of lemon.  Plastic notes came out later, with caramelized apple, oxidation, caramelized sugar and straw.  Definitely pretty acidic on the palate.  My contribution.

2004 DRC Grands Echezeaux - very fragrant with leather and grilled meat.  Lovely fruit.  Drinking very well now.

1996 Rouget Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux - darker in color, more concentrated, more animal, smoky, sweet fruit and dried herbs.  Acidity was definitely noticeable.  Amazingly, this wine just wasn't ready.

1967 Coutet - a real treat.  Nose was very sweet with honey, plastic and acetone from the botrytis.

Cesare Barolo and Kongsgaard VioRus

Dinner at Hong Zhou Restaurant (杭州酒家).

2007 Kongsgaard VioRus - I dug this out from my cellar and figured it was due to be drunk.  Sure enough, it had started to oxidize a little... Very ripe, perhaps a little over.  Floral, mineral and lemon notes.  The stated alcohol level of 14.1% was very, very obvious.

2005 Pio Cesare Barolo - very lovely and quite a surprise.  Very sweet on the nose, with plenty of vanilla, mint, pine needle and definitely oak.

Full post on dinner is here.

Cheese dinner pairing

Cheese dinner at Caprice.

2009 Pithon-Paillé Anjou Coteau des Treilles - from the négociant business set up by famed winemaker Jo Pithon and his stepson Jo Paillé after the former's ouster from the domaine that bore his name.  This was a little tropical, with minerals and ripeness.  Acidity is definitely there.

2009 Andre Perret Condrieu Chery - lovely nose of white flowers, lots of white peach, very tropical with a hint of banana.  Really ripe on the palate.

2003 Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Champigny La Marginale - this Cab Franc definitely reminded me of some of the Saint Emilion... Very earthy nose, with forest, smoke and some fruit.  A little cloudy thanks to the surprisingly large amount of sediment.

2003 Albert Mann Pinot Gris Pfersigberg - notes of pineapple, ripe fruit, a little sweet on the palate with a slightly spicy finish.

2008 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Rouge - what a wine!  Sebastien had opened two bottles of another wine which he found flawed, before popping the cork on this one and leaving it in the decanter for perhaps close to an hour.  When I received the first pour, I was blown away.  The amazing floral notes - which I only find in Northern Rhône - was in my face.  Loads of violet and rose, and sweet fruit, too.  After more than 10 years of drinking Syrah from Northern Rhône and having Côte-Rôtie as my favorite wine, I finally learned that the floral notes aren't actually the result of adding Viognier into the blend, but come from Syrah that has gone through a long maturation process.  Just shows you how much I know...

Eric Bordelet Poiré Authentique - as a lover of French cidre, I'm lucky to have found a source for Bordelet's famed cidre, some of which are made with fruit from trees that are a couple hundred years' old.  Toasty, mineral and of course sweet on the palate.  A natural pairing with the Fourme d'Ambert and pear.  Coincidentally, I was carrying in my bag a magnum of Bordelet's Poiré Granit that I had been keeping in the office...

Full post on dinner is here.

Te Koko vertical

Dinner at Island Tang.

First flight:

2004 Cloudy Bay Te Koko - very strong muscat, white grape, a bit of minerals, a little ripeness, and a little more oxidized and rounded.  Metallic, like white asparagus from a jar.  Smoky and toasty oak.  This is certainly more complex than the younger vintages, and shows the evolution of the wine with time.  My favorite Te Koko of the evening.

2005 Cloudy Bay Te Koko - green apple, muscat, a bit more pungent with a little flint.

2006 Cloudy Bay Te Koko - more pungent nose with sulfur, pipi de chat, and green apple.

Second flight:

2007 Cloudy Bay Te Koko - flinty, a lot of oak, pipi de chat and sulfur.  Didn't detect any of the typical fruity notes...

2007 Ram's Hill - soft, butter and sweet.  A bit more metallic, a little bit of pear, muscat, a little floral, and almost jackfruit.  A very lovely wine.  Trounced the Te Koko tonight.

2008 Dog Point Section 94 - oaky, toasty, straw and popcorn.  In a blind tasting, I would have picked it as a white Burgundy and not a Sauvignon Blanc...  Very different in style to the others.

Full post on dinner is here.