My Fav 5 and WOTY 2010

I can’t remember the total number of wines I had last year. It’s a lot lower than in the early years of my wine journey. For my favourite wines of 2010, I chose wines that I still talked about long after I had drunk it as well as wines enjoyed by friends (including non-“wine connoisseurs”) over dinner. 

1) Frescobaldi Brunello Riserva 1999
 1999 is one of the best recent vintages for Brunello. This wine is still very much a baby at 11 years of age. It’s very aromatic with black and red fruits, vanilla, silky tannins and long finish.

2) La Spinetta Bianco (Riserva) 2006
This was given by a friend who found it a beautiful match with seafood. Lightly oaked, it has enough body to go with cheese-filled sausage. It has many layers of fruits and has a long finish. The best value SB imho.

3) Ceretto Zonchera Barolo 2000
This wine was simply amazing. A nose with floral notes, red and black cherries, vanilla…very balanced wine with a long finish. Easily the wine of the night during the wedding dinner of J & L.

4) Vilmart & Cie NV
Shared this wine with good friends over dinner. Everyone enjoyed this wine. It outclassed hands-down another NV by a well-known champagne house.

5) Domaine Huet Le Haut-lieu Sec 2007
This is a wine from the under-valued Loire region. Served this during a dinner and everyone loved it. Aromatic with the right balance of acidity and mouth-feel.

For the WOTY, it was a toss between wines (1) and (3). Both deserved the title because they are exceptional and have kept very well. In the end, my choice goes to (1) because it has a lot more years ahead of it as well as for sentimental reasons as it moved me to tears years ago when I first tasted it.

Remembering DD 2 Years On

Sep 17, 2010 marked the second death anniversary of Didier Dagueneau (DD), my favourite winemaker. I have never met him in person but was lucky enough to have tasted several of his wines, including the Renard Buisson and the Pur Sang. He died at the age of 52 in a plane crash while piloting his light aircraft from the Loire Valley to Jurancon.

DD’s dedication to his vines and wines was well-known. He advocated low yield which translates to quality, whilst his neighbours were more concerned with quantity. He was very vocal about this and it did not earn him many friends. Not that he cared, I believe. His wines are the testament – they showed the world that there is so much more to sauvignon-blancs than the perceived grassiness or “cat’s pee”.

His Pur Sang 2006, although not rated as highly as the 04’s and the 05’s, was a showcase of precision and elegance. I can only imagine how beautifully his Silex and Pur Sang would have tasted in these vintages. It is a pity that with his passing, many may never know how wonderful pouilly-fumes (or sauvignon blancs) can be.

I  hope that his family and other wine makers in the Loire region will continue his legacy and make the wines in the way that he would have wanted them to.

>> Other related posts on this blog include:
0 Remembering Didier Dagueneau
0 Condolences – Didier Dagueneau (wine maker)

M, the wine-lover

All the B’s

“B” for Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo, Barbaresco, and of course Brunello.

I thought it would be fun to set a theme for the recent gathering of our wine group and decided on the “All the B’s” theme.  We did not plan an elaborate food with wine this time although I know D will be preparing roast pork. I was hoping that someone will bring a Burgundy which will match the roast nicely.

I suspected most of the members would bring a Bordeaux, so K & I decided to share our Frescobaldi Brunello Riserva 99. The ’99 was an excellent vintage for Brunellos and the wine certainly lives up to its expectations. It is silky and aromatic, with sweet cherry fruits, flowers and spice on the nose.

I was surprised that G brought along a Burgundy, the Follin-Arbelet Corton 2004, as he is not known to be a Burgundy man. He also brought along the La Chapelle de Calon 2000. We love the Corton’s floral nose intermixed with orange peel and spices. It is rather light in body. I was expecting something more substantial, given that it is a Grand Cru. Perhaps it’s the vintage as 2004 was one of the weaker Burgundy vintages affected by hail and oidium.

The most interesting comparison was between the La Chapelle and the Reserve de la Comtesse 2000  brought by D. Both are from the excellent 2000 vintage yet very different in character. The Reserve has a much more open nose with notes of eglise, berry and tobacco, very typical Bordeaux but somewhat lacking the power of Pauillac. In contrast, the La Chapelle did not really show its St-Estephe roots. It was enjoyable with sweet berry notes, but missing the graphite notes.

To round off the Bordeaux experience, we also had a Chateau Gracia 99, courtesy of F.

Taking a break from the wines, we thoroughly enjoyed the roast pork prepared by D and the “hey chor” by WC. Thankfully, my ciabatta bread found some admirers although it resembled more of a focaccia. I had forgotten to add the critical ingredient yeast and only realized that after more than an hour of rising.

Later that night, our Burgundy man A brought along the Jean-Philippe Fichet “Le Tesson” 04. It is round in the mouth, with notes of barley, toast, and butter. There is also some underlying minerality.  It would have been a lovelier wine if the palate has slightly more weight; it is after all an ‘04.

Our favourite wine for that day? Without a doubt, the Brunello.

The only wine that did not fit the theme was the Vilmart et Cie champagne that F served us. Nobody complained as the afternoon was just too hot and the champagne was a welcome relief; especially so when it is one of our favourites.

For our next gathering, I am already thinking of “All the C’s” as a follow-up although it would probably be a lot easier to go with “A French Affair”. Suggestions are welcome.

Devastated

Last Saturday, K and I read that James Suckling (JS) has “retired” from Wine Spectator (WS). For me, this is the most devastating news since the sudden death of Didier Dagueneau. There has been no forewarning. No last good-bye post. It was all too sudden.

No other wine writer or critic has had as much impact on our lives as JS did. After all, he covered all of our favourite wine regions: Bordeaux, Italy and Port. It was his WS article on the Bordeaux 2000 vintage that started us on our love affair with wine. Armed with a print-out of his wine ratings, we went to Carrefour and bought 15 bottles of wine. Other shoppers stared at us curiously as they watch the bottles rolling in our otherwise empty shopping cart.

Over the last 7 years, we have relied on and trusted his tasting notes for our wine selection. We have, in a way, calibrated our palates against his. So much so that even as we compare and consider the reviews by other wine critics for our en primeur selection, it is always JS’ comments that we fall back on whenever there are inconsistencies.

His blogs, which he posts regularly and frequently on WS, are always a joy to read. He would somehow sneak in some slices of his personal life that elevate his articles from mere mundane reports of wine reviews or vineyard visits. Who else but JS would post a video on blind-tasting in which he, blind-folded, walked through the streets of Bordeaux, tasted the wines and wrote his tasting notes?

I wonder if any other wine critic leaving a publication would generate as much interest and feedback. Someone considered his leaving WS akin to Big Bird leaving Sesame Street. Others posted comments that he is synonymous with WS and even considered terminating their WS subscriptions. We will continue with our WS subscription because to do otherwise would be to obliterate the last 30 years of wonderful work by JS.

If there is any consolation, it is that JS is still alive (and not dead as in the case of Didier Daguenau) and he seems to be involved in a few new exciting projects. There may even a www.jamessuckling.com. We certainly look forward to that and will be amongst the first to sign up.

M – the “devastated” wine-lover

To drink a Petrus every night

Despite its title, this post was not inspired by wine. Rather, what prompted me to write this short post was a recent incident that happened in my corporate life.

One of the parties that I was working with mentioned that they needed to maximize their profits as much as possible because they are running a business, even though in my opinion, this could have jeopardized the deal. Perhaps I was just being paranoid here. But what perplexed me more was that the amount in question is rather small, again entirely my personal opinion.   

The Bordeaux first-growths, even in an average year, cost more than that. So do many other wines for that matter. My thoughts then wander to a particular local hotel property development and management magnate. Rumours have it that he drinks a Petrus every night. Some even go as far as to say it’s the legendary ’82.

Well, if and when I run my own business outfit someday, my aspiration would be to make enough profits to drink a Petrus every night And the 2009 would be just fine

- M, the wine-lover

Friends. Wines. Food

Las Cases is one of our favourite wines, so when a 95 magnum bottle was available at a very reasonable price, we bought it without hesitation. Then the planning started – when, who and where –  for enjoying the wine.

“Where” was simple enough. It would be at F’s place where we usually gather for wine. “When” presented itself when C came back for his CNY holiday break. “Who” was more of an issue as there are not many genuine wine lovers who are both knowledgeable and passionate about wine amongst the group now. My initial thoughts were that we need at least 10 persons, given that it is a magnum. Finally, we managed to gather 8 persons for the tasting and miraculously, all could make it on the same Sat evening.

Now the fun part. What food to go with the wine? Beef was the unanimous choice. D suggested NZ airflown rib-eye and we even do a search on you-tube for the best way to prepare it. L said she’ll prepare tiramisu and some bread. Since both L and W like kaya cake, K and I decided to do our specialty kaya cake.

Finally, the day itself. The beef was fabulous – tenderly pan-fried and grilled to perfection. D brought along some caramelized onion that has everyone clamoring for it. The baked potato and broccoli that W prepared complemented the beef and onions wonderfully.

The star of the night was undoubtedly the Las Cases. The cork was not in a perfect condition but thankfully, the wine was. It was still a baby despite its 15 years of age. On the nose, there were aromas of flowers, blackberries and vanilla. The tannins are fine and silky. And, of course, the beef was a perfect foil for the wine.

All too soon the wine was finished but the night was still young. We had originally thought of tasting another 95 magnum alongside the Las Cases, but with only 8 persons, there might be just too much wine (not to mention a tad heavy on the pocket). We could not think of any other red wine to open as none would come close to the Las Cases and we wanted to end the night on a high note.

Anyways, it was dessert time. We decided to open a JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnehur Kabinett 05 to round up the night. The freshness and layers of the Sonnehur reminded me once again why I love German Rieslings so much. It was complex with layers of fruits, a slight sweetness and enough acidity to balance it all. As for the cake, it was delicious and enjoyed by all albeit the presentation could do with some improvement.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful and memorable night. C summed it up best when he said there was just enough wine (and food) for the taste to linger on and not  an “excess of it, that surfeiting, the appetite will sicken and so die” (as Shakespeare wrote in “The Twelfth Night”).

Beyond the wine and food, it is really the friendship and the shared passion for wine that shined through that night.

Rediscovering AU Wines

I thought my love affair with Australian red wines had ended some years ago. I have not bought one for the past 2 to 3 years. It was not a “snobbish” move to the French or Italian reds, but merely that my taste buds have changed. I find most of the Australian reds to be too “rich”, “sweet” and “heavy” on the palate. Technically, they are very good wines, but just not my style any more. I prefer something lighter, something that I can enjoy glass after glass throughout the whole night. And I can’t do that with an Australian red — my palate tires after a few sips.

I was thus very surprise but happy on my recent discovery of some good and enjoyable Australian wines. The first was the Cape Mentelle Cab Merlot 2006 that I had with my colleagues. It was a pretty wine, with a wonderful nose and the palate was just right for me. Well, technically, it is a Western Australian Margaret River wine, the cooler climate probably explains the lighter style of the wine. Price-wise, it is retailing at S$50 at Crystal Wines which is  reasonable, though somewhere closer to S$40 would make it more attractive.

Then I had half a glass of the Wolf Blass Black Label 2004 at a wine event. It was simply fabulous. I wished I did not have to drive that night. I would have spent the whole night just drinking and enjoying it. I had not tasted a Black Label for a long time. The first was at the Wolf Blass winery in 2004, then a 1991 with the now defunct Austrich Wine Club in 2005. I was happy to find that it is as excellent as I remembered it to be. It truly  lives up to its status as one of the premium AU wines.

Just last Saturday, I had the Peter Lehmann’s Mentor 2004. It was also one of those wines that I have not had for a long long time. I was expecting a much richer style, given that it is a Barossa red and has 14% alcohol. It turned out to be quite a subtle wine with a caressing palate that is very enjoyable.

Perhaps I have been too harsh in my judgement of AU wines. These 3 wines proved that not all AU wines are made in the same hedonistic style.  It is time to start on my rediscovery journey of Australian wines.