Kurahikari no Sara

Drinking at home.

Kurahikari No Sara Junmai Daiginjo (倉光の沙羅  純米大吟醸), 2021 - seimaibuai of 48%. Pretty fermented flavors on the palate, definitely a little savory, good depth on the palate.

Clos de Beze and Clos Ste Hune

Dinner at Aap Ba Din.

1988 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - the nose was sooo fragrant. Obviously very much oxidized so there's that marmalade both on the nose and the palate. The palate was ripe but the acidity was still there. Got some lemon, Chinese angelica, caramelized sugar, straw, a little flint and petrol, and also vanilla on the nose. Drinking really well.

1985 Faiveley Chambertin Clos de Beze - decanted and served around 45 minutes after opening. Very fragrant and floral nose, with leather and more meaty notes, still very much alive but vitality was not the same as our last bottle 3 years ago. Certainly more mellow now. Two hours after opening this was drinking beautifully and still going strong.

2011 Perrot-Minot Chambertin Clos de Beze - pretty exotic spices on the nose and maybe a little coconut. Nice black cherries, too. Good concentration here.

2017 Pierre Damoy Chambertin Clos de Beze - served more than 4 hours after opening. Nice and fragrant with black fruits and a little leather. Still a little grippy but also got the acidity.

Full post on dnner is here.

ColVento

Lunch at Estro.

ColVento Vermentino di Sardegna Brut - easy drinking.

Full post on lunch is here.

2020 Coco Toaru Rose

Drinking at home.

2020 Coco Toaru Series Pinot Rose Kimura Vineyard - a little sulfur, kinda toasty corn, almost a little honeysuckle on the nose. Certainly got the red fruits.

2020 Frédéric Cossard Rafling

Drinking at home.

2020 Frédéric Cossard Rafling - a little pungent on the nose with sulfates, but very heavy toast which stayed like this till the end. Pretty high acidity on the palate. Made from riesling so there is definitely some of that character on the palate, with a hint of floral notes, but the nose was Burgundian bongwater. I really dig this!

2006 Selbach Fish

Drinking at home.

2006 Selbach Riesling Kabinett "Fish" - big whiff of petrol, definitely white flowers, a bit of honey and pollen on the nose. On the palate there was some marmalade, lemon curd, and it was lightly sweet but still got the acidity for balance. Some bitterness mid-palate, too, along with a little mineral like pear.

2017 Pott Actaeon

Dinner at home in Taiwan.

2017 Pott Cabernet Sauvignon Actaeon Quixote Vineyard - smoky, minty, earthy, really ripe and extracted fruit. Definitely very alcoholic. Another typical Napa cab.

Full post on dinner is here.

Trimbach and Egon Müller dinner

Dinner at Caprice featuring 19 wines from Domaine Trimbach and Weingut Egon Müller. Both Jean Trimbach and Egon Müller IV are in attendance.

2017 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile, en magnum - nice nose of petrol, or as Jean Trimbach insisted, "white truffle". Wow! The high aciity was very unexpected and kinda gave me a shock. But this was really nice.

2015 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Kabinett - really nice nose of petrol. Good acidity on the palate but also got plenty of fruity sweetness.

2015 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben - this was a much bigger wine compared to its sibling, with more acidity which made it much more lively on the palate.

2012 Trimbach Riesling Grand Cru Geisberg - very fragrant nose with honey, apricot, and almost orange blossom water. There was also a hint of acetone.

2012 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - lighter in color compared to Geisberg, it was also leaner on the palate, not as fruity, with good acidity. Beautiful nose of white flowers put a smile on my face.

2022 Le Gallais Riesling Wiltinger Braune Kupp Kabinett - a little effervescent and tickled the tongue. Very obvious orange notes, as if I were drinking Apero or Martini Rosso without the bitterness. Very fruity.

2022 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Kabinett - nice nose of white flowers and petrol. Got some fruity flavors here but they were much more tame compared to Le Gallais.

2022 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben - nose was much more pungent with plenty of sulfur. But also strangely fragrant at the same time. Ripe and funky on the palate, with a little bit of fruity acidity.

2016 Trimbach Riesling Clos Sainte Hune, en double-magnum, bouteille N° 122/300 - floral notes showed after the wine wrmed up a little. Good balance here between the ripeness and the acidity. As I was told at the domaine in November, double-magnums are only bottled in years where a new member of the Trimbach family is born. So privileged to have tasted this out of double-magnum.

2009 Trimbach Riesling Clos Sainte Hune, en magnum - this wine was showing very nicely, and much bigger on the palate than its younger sibling. It's got good acidity but there's almost a little bitterness, too.

2009 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Spätlese - this was such a fragrant and alluring wine, so ripe and fruity.

2007 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Spätlese - really fragrant and floral, almost like jasmine. So, so beautiful.

2016 Trimbach Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle, en magnum - the nose was fairly muted, and slightly bitter mid-palate. Tasted a little better with the duck.

2015 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre - very beautiful notes of lychee. So ripe and sweet, so floral and sexy. This reminded me why, before I started learning about wine, my first love was gewurztraminer.

1989 Trimbach Riesling Clos Sainte Hune Vendages Tardives Hors Choix - pretty ripe and sweet, with honey, marmalade, apricot, pollen notes. Not too sweet but just sweet enough thanks to the late harvest. Still got a bit of acidity, along with some bitterness on the finish.

1989 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile Sélection des Grains Nobles - this was much richer, with lots of honey and floral notes, almost like very ripe honeydew melon, with a bit of plastic on the nose.

1999 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese - nose was a little funky, with the classic petrol notes. Not too ripe but there was some ripeness here.

1997 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese - very nice nose of petrol. A little riper than I expected, with a beautiful nose of white flowers. Still got the acidity.

2018 Egon Müller Riesling Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese - what a treat! You can smell the viscosity of the wine. Ripe honeydew melon and acetone on full blast. So, so beautiful. So viscous on the palate that it's fun to swirl the wine around in the mouth. Tons of sugar here but it's still got the acidity. What a fucking beautiful wine!

Full post on dinner is here.

Jikon and Prüm

Dinner at The Chairman.

Jikon Daiginjo (而今 大吟醸), 2020 - seimaibuai of 40%. Very fragrant nose with lots of banana and peach. Sweet on the attack but turns dry mid-palate. Smoother and rounder after 2 years of aging. Very easy to drink.

2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, from magnum - lots of petrol and polyurethane on the nose, along with some white flowers. Lightly sweet on the palate.

Full post on dinner is here.

2005 Pax Terraces

Drinking at home.

2005 Pax Syrah Alder Springs Vineyard The Terraces - drank 1 hour after decanting. Nice and fragrant, woodsy fragrance, almost sandalwood. Very fruity, blackcurrant, nice leather, a little floral and soapy on the finish. So beautiful another half hour later with grilled meats, definitely like Côte-Rôtie now, sweet, caramel. Still pretty good after 2½ hours in the decanter.

Caymus and Branaire-Ducru

Dinner at Shunde Cuisine.

2013 Branaire-Ducru - good amount of fruit, with some smoke on the nose.

1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection - drank after around 1 hour in the decanter. Very minty, a little smoky, much more fragrant and complex. Amazingly, the tannins are still here and still coating the tongue. Nice and woodsy nose. Sweet and ripe on the palate.

Full post on dinner is here.

Krug and Wynns Reframe

Drinking at home after midnight.

Krug Grand Cuvée, ID 319028 (169ème Édition), en demi-bouteille - acidity was much higher than I had expected. Good marmalade notes on the nose with good ripeness, and certainly yeasty. Definitely more lean on the palate.

Dinner at Jeon Po Meat Shop.

2021 Wynns Coonawara Estate Reframed Shiraz x Riesling - very young so this was a bit on the tannic side for me. Notes of blackcurrants and blackberries, minerals, and not quite metallic, which could be coming from riesling.