Opus and Les Forts

Dinner at On Lot 10.

2005 Petaluma Chardonnay Tiers - pretty big nose with lots of toast, corn, mineral and flint.  Ripe and acidic on the palate, with plenty of citrus.  Much better than the last bottle I had from the same case.

1991 Opus One - double-decanted for 1½ hours prior to drinking.  Smoky, fruity, mineral, minty with pencil lead.  First pour was much more lively, and mellowed out as the evening went on.  Tannins were rounded, soft and silky.  Such a great value.

1990 Les Forts de Latour - much softer and more elegant than I had expected, perhaps a result of sitting in a decanter for about 1½ hours.  A little smoky, with surprisingly prominent sweet grassy notes.  Always a treat to drink this wine.

Full post on dinner is here.

Yquem tasting

Château d'Yquem tasting at Hong Kong Wine Vault, with Pierre Lurton.

2011 Y - pipi de chat, oaky, flinty, green apple, kinda ripe.  Acidity high mid-palate, and the wine burns a little going down the back of my throat.  The Sauvignon Blanc clearly dominates here.

2000 Y - wow!  This was so much more complex!  Lots more acetone, plastic, marmalade, apricot, salty plum (話梅) and perhaps even a little marzipan?

Pierre said that Y is actually not a "dry white", as it is picked just before they start picking for Yquem.  The proportion of Sauvignon Blanc here is larger compared to Semillon.

2010 Yquem - a little funky and stinky... changed to a new glass and it got a little better.  Perhaps it's the bottle.  Ripe and pretty sweet.

2007 Yquem - a little more acetone, orange blossom, floral and fragrant.  Sweeter on the palate.  Picked over a period of 40 days.

1995 Yquem - acetone, apricot, really sweet and fragrant now with orange blossom notes.

1986 Yquem - really sweet on the palate, with honey, orange blossom, a little nutty, ripe marmalade notes.  Slightly bitter towards the finish.  A beautiful wine to drink now and the wine of the evening.

1970 Yquem - nutty, marmalade and apricot.  Lovely nose, very open.  But it is after all a weak vintage, so the finish was very short with a weak palate.

Later on we adjourned to a friend's house for some cheese and wines.

Paul-Etienne Saint German Charme - yeasty, pungent, a little sugary.  Feeling a little raw here... not much finesse.

2002 Bertagna Vougeot 1er Cru Clos de la Perrière - lovely after opening up a little, with dried herbs, floral, black fruits.

2000 Croix de Beaucaillou

Dinner at Cuisine Cuisine in IFC.

2000 La Croix de Beaucaillou - sweet and fruity on the nose, with cedar, mint, and smoke.  Also some coffee notes.  Really lovely after 2 hours.

Full post on dinner is here.

Champagnes and Burgs in Taipei

Dinner at Silks House in Taipei.

2005 Philipponnat Grand Blanc - not bad.  Better than the rosé.

Charles Heidsieck Rosé

2009 Albert Grivault Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières - oaky and flinty.  Sweeter on the palate.

2006 Roulot Meursault Les Meix Chavaux - wow!  As I said last weekend in Singapore, I will drink anything from Jean-Marc Roulot!  Big, toasty nose, mineral and flinty.  Acidity is higher here, but it's a little ripe and sweet at the same time.

2006 Hudelot-Noellat Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru Les Murgers - forest and black fruits.

1999 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes Chambertin - dried herbs and black fruits.  Softer, more elegant.

Full post on dinner is here.

3 from Mr. Ho

Drinks at Mr. Ho's, followed by dinner at André in Singapore.

2010 Roulot Bourgogne Blanc - beautiful toasty nose with lots of corn and ripe on the nose.  Nice acidity balance here, with an acidic finish.  Yum.

2000 Pol Roger - toasty, yeasty on the nose.  Smooth and round on the palate.

1995 Cos d'Estournel - smoky, minty, brett, a little floral, coffee.  Drank after at least opening for 5 hours…

Full post on dinner is here.

Auslese, Sandrone and Yquem

Dinner at Yin Yang.

1993 von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Auslese 83 - nose of citrus lemon, plastic and white pepper.  Perfect balance of acidity and sweetness.

1997 Sandrone Cannubi Boschis - pine forest, fruity and sweet, smooth on the mid-palate but with a tannic finish.

2003 Yquem en demi-bouteille - really sweet on the palate.  Viscous like honey.  Nose of orange and acetone.

Full post on dinner is here.

8 + 2 for birthday

Dinner at Wagyu Kaiseki Den.

1980 Dom Pérignon Rosé - nose of raspberries, minerals, a little plummy, savory, fruity.  A lovely wine.

1998 Haut-Brion Blanc - decanted, of course.  Surprisingly sweet, like marzipan.  Oxidized nose but still wonderful, like cooked sugar cane drink (竹蔗茅根水), dessicated coconut, Chinese licorice (甘草) and toast.  A beautiful wine!  Interesting that the accelerated oxidization has produced such an orange color in a 15-year-old wine.

1955 Massandra Collection Sherry - dry on the palate, straw, plums, caramel, savory and mineral.  Very much like Chinese yellow wine.

1979 Rousseau Chambertin - really lovely wine.  Animal, farmy, bacon notes.  Sweet fruit, plummy, fragrant and beautiful.  There's an elegance that belies that masculinity here.

1970 La Mission Haut-Brion - old and over the hill.  Nose a little cooked, dusty and chalky, brett, wet cardboard, and savory soy sauce.

1983 Jaboulet La Chapelle - surprisingly sweet creamy corn, straw, and a little toasty.  Drinking nicely.

1982 Latour - WOW!  What a beautiful bottle of wine!  Classic pencil lead, smoke, black tea, cassis and minty.  Slightly savory on the palate.  When was the last time I saw such perfect balance between power and elegance?  Amazing condition.

1971 Günther Mehrlein Mittelheimer St. Nicolaus Riesling Spätlese - marmalade, salty plum (話梅),  savory, desiccated coconut.  Flat and dead on the palate, acidic.

Kokuryu Hachijyu-hachi Go (黒龍 八十八号) - classic banana, tropical fruits.  Soft and elegant.

1983 Margaux - another lovely wine but would have benefited from additional aeration.  Sweet fruit, grassy, toasty.

Full post on dinner is here.

80s Bordeaux

Dinner at Mandarin Grill + Bar.

1982 Dom Pérignon - what a beautiful nose!  Very toasty, definitely savory, mineral, salty plum (話梅) for sure, with a hint of Chinese licorice (甘草).  Later on there was toffee, caramel and maple syrup!  Wonderful!  Fat, thick and round texture, but the finish was a little on the short side.

1990 Krug - mineral, savory, toasty.  Later on the toasty notes got heavier, along with citrus.  Always a beautiful wine.

1986 Cos d'Estournel - mint, a little sweet, smoke, surprisingly floral, black pepper.  Lost a little of the structure on the edges, resulting in a lighter palate, but there was still reasonable length in the finish.  We agreed that the '86 looks like it's going downhill and best to drink them up.

1989 Pichon-Lalande - smoky and earthy, with some cassis and black fruits at the core.  Classic Pauillac from a great vintage.

1989 Conseillante - a little ripe and stewed, slight hint of rubber perhaps...  Sweet on the palate.

2009 Italo Pietrantonj Passito Rosso - a red dessert wine that is sweet but not heavy on the palate.  Nose of forest pine, herbs.

Full post on dinner is here.

MNSC does casual

Dinner at a friend's house.

1996 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs - a little savory, plummy and yeasty.

1999 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St.-Jacques - a little sharp and alcoholic, slightly ripe on the nose, a little potpourri and a little floral, with some animal notes.  Still pretty young.

1988 Armand Rousseau Chambertin - a bit more animal, exotic spices and red fruits.

1996 Mugnier Musigny - much cloudier and seems older.  Ripe red fruits, also slightly sharp, with a little coconut butter.  Later after chilling down a little, rose and floral notes emerged.

1966 Lafite-Rothschild - really smoky, soy sauce, earthy and black tea.

1990 Angelus - green pepper, a little tight at first, kinda ripe but needed time to open up.  A little soy sauce towards the end.  A little more smoke and earthiness.  Nice but not as good as I had hoped.

1989 Margaux - mint, earthy, concentrated and slightly sweet on the palate.

1976 Lafite-Rothschild - a little grassy, sweet.  Pretty enjoyable.

1986 Margaux - alcoholic, ripe, minty.  Still tight as it's just been opened.