Whitewashed on the 30th March 2005

The weather is getting warm and sticky here in Singapore. Whenever that happens, food we're accustomed to somewhat tastes richer and fatter. And so a perfect time to indulge in cold beverages with cut and verve. Marry that with the desire to do a terroir-comparative and we have this. The excuse: my birthday. (Lame, but what the heck!)

The dinner would be Chinese - Teochew-Cantonese to be precise. Flavours should be delicate, plainer, and simpler but with certain pointed extremeties - savoury it may be, but spicy it shouldn't be. Well-made chardonnays should do just fine. When the dish is lean-ish, the fat and nutty tinge should complement it. And when the dish is more robust, the acid should cut through just fine. And what chardonnays? Burgundies, of course!

And so the birthday boy requests a 4/5-flight game format (depending on turn-out and what everyone could bring). I'm making it focussed but still should give everyone a chance to participate -- this is not a cellar-extortion.

The flight composition I'd suggest would be such:

• Chassagne-Montrachet flight (3 wines)
• Meursault flight (3 wines)
• Puligny-Montrachet flight (3 wines)
• Free-play white burgundy flight (3-5 wines, which may comprise of the above three appellations, plus Corton, Chablis, Maconnais, Cote-Chalonnaise, even Cotes de Nuits whites...)
• Red-wine flight (Burgundy or Bordeaux)
  

The rules:

1. The burgundies should at least be a 1er Cru and up. So naturally Grand Crus automatically qualifies.
2. There's no vintage limitation, but generally I would be expecting vintage 1995 and younger. Of course, if anyone is generous enough to contribute matured, older wines, I am more than game for it! (Thanks in advance.)
3. All contributions are to be reported to Andy Tan (email or SMS). Contributors need only to mention which flight he/she is contributing to. (Example: "I'm bringing a Chassagne...", or "I'm bringing a 'red'...", or "I have a freeplayer...") This ensures that there's still excitement for guessing what wines, etc.
4. Packaging. All capsules must be removed. Aluminium foil (less-glossy side out) to be used to wrap bottles all the way to the mouth.
5. Order of the flight may be determined on the evening itself.
   

Vosne Super 1ers Tasting: Final Take...?

Weeks of one-off discussions and this must come to a close. Here's what I've been thinking and asking Andy, Arif and Chee Wee...

Date:
April Fools' 2005 (Friday evening)

Venue:
To-be-determined

Wines (so far, subject to further modifications):
Les Brulees 1995, Meo-Camuzet (Ming San), or
Les Suchots 1995, Robert Arnoux (Ming San), or
Les Chaumes 1995, Meo-Camuzet (Ming San)
Les Beaux Monts 1992, Leroy (Chee Wee)
Les Brulees 2001, Rene Engel (Henry)
Cros Parantoux 1998, Emmanuel Rouget (Arif)
Les Brulees 1998, Meo-Camuzet (Andy - to be confirmed)

Okay, I know it's beginning to sound like some Les Brulees tasting instead of a Vosne 1er. So perhaps we have to opt out some stuff here. Some sites are missing too, e.g., Reignots, Gaudichots (that would be nice...), Malconsorts...

I have Grivot's Chaumes but it's 1999, a vintage I strongly discourage from trying out at this point, and Cacheux's Suchots but it's a 1996, and several months back it's just a piece of rock. Would be most pleased to offer these up but I think they're nowhere near approachable right now.

Hope to make this happen real soon...

A damned good read

http://www.princeofpinot.com/pinotfile/04_26.pdf

This particular issue is a fantastic, fun and rapid educational material for anyone who wishes to appreciate their Bourgognes better. I don't normally have high praises for people who try to explain any burgundy wines or tradition, but Rusty did it here!

There's also a great section on the recent quality releases of Cali Pinots where Wes Mar, Radio-Coteau, Littorai, and Dehlinger were all mentioned. It seems quite clear that the 2003 vintage for the Sonoma county will be a good one. Specifically for Coteau and Littorai, I am looking forward to taste them when Andy returns from his San Francisco trip. The man will have a major pinotfest with the Prince himself. Lots of good Aussies and he's going to be tasting Littorai and whatever else Rusty is bringing. I'm most jealous...

Bordeaux at David's...

Another vino session with my wino group at David's house tonight. Theme? Bordeaux, or anything that is drinking.

The wino group has been -- inadvertently or wilfully -- gravitated towards burgundy lately. These past year, for every meeting that we have, there has been no less than several burgundy bottles. Some years back, the table tends to be dominated by bordeaux. I was always the odd one out because I always brought a burgundy or pinot noir. Okay, occasionally I did Rhone and Italians too...

So tonight marks an intentional departure from the recent norm. David declares "Bordeaux!" This should be interesting. I never tire of burgundies, but this would be a refreshing change. Of course it's also fun simply because this is our wino gathering during the Chinese New Year period at David's house. Truly looking forward to it.

Still I own no bordeaux. No prize for guessing what I'd be bringing... Clue: it should be "drinking" ;-)

Radio Coteau 2003 are coming!

If I have to rate the winery with the highest excitement factor to me for 2o04, Radio Coteau must be it.

I just saw that the new vintage are releasing in the next month. And despite the fact that 2003 carried a killer heatwave in Europe, the weather pattern for western coastal US seemed different. The yield in Radio Coteau's vineyards were lower, and the fruits were hanging longer.

Every wine featured is mouthwatering. Even the Zin, which has a 70-yr old vine age... Really waiting for Andy to bring in the goods. And I really hope to be able to taste the entire collection this time.

Vosne Super 1er Tasting: Take 2

It appears inevitable therefore that we would hold this tasting without fixing the vintage. The vintages to be considered to be included really ought to be the drinking vintages of the past decade - e.g., 1998, 2000, 1997, some 1995 even... or 2001s too if they're well rested?

Shall we poll the wines then? So far I hear:
1998 Meo-Camuzet VR Aux Brulees
1998 Rouget VR Cros Parantoux
1995 Arnoux VR Les Suchots
1995 Meo-Camuzet VR Aux Chaumes
Any others?

The next question then is: when? The ideal time would be March or April. Let's pick a date!

Sideways

Finally a movie that is built on wines as a stage. Quite inspiring vinously and a great soundtrack. The focus, as I've rightly read, really was on pinot noir and failures. (Coincidental? Perhaps, but poetic no less.)

While I'm not a big Californian pinot noir fan, this movie had me pick up the recent notes I jotted down from the Californian cult pinot noir dinner held some two weeks back at Summer Pavilion Ritz-Carlton. Dehlinger's Octagon and Au Bon Climat's Mt. Carmel came to mind. Delicious wines, sappy, sweet and quite delicate.

It is a guy's movie. Pretty much typifies man's weakness and susceptibility to certain stupidities. Nice take on the wines too. Well written, well acted, understated and funny.

A simple dinner with family

We were at the Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant last night to celebrate my mum's birthday. I wanted my mum to try the Dan Dan Mian there -- hoping that it would evoke some memory of her days in Beijing where such noodles were one of the basic food she had. I can't comment if this objective was met, but I know she enjoyed it and that was the more important thing. (She only said that the nostalgic version was less oily and less refined.)

We had only one wine, Robert Groffier's Chambolle-Musigny Les Sentiers 2001. I had wanted to try what this domaine recently produced since some of the 1998 and most of the 1999 wines were bordering on the new-world style to my liking. I had been reading and was told that they cut back somewhat on doing sur-maturite oaked style recently and so with some anticipation I tasted this wine. What's more this is a 2001 -- a vintage that had captivated me since its release for its purity, elegance, and, at least more recently, beginning to display a high-class sweetness.

Like other 2001, the colour was brilliant. Dazzlingly rich and bright ruby red. On the nose this was quite muted. But perhaps it was just because of either the glass (we had a large burgundy-spherical type of glass, not the usual Riedels I am accustomed to) or the wine was overcome by stronger aromas of the accompanying food -- which was very good, by the way. I did not take notes -- it was such a casual outing -- but the ripe cherries flavour were prominent. It was very ripe, but not overripe, and there's a nice restrained transparency of flavours around it. A more minerally styled Chambolle in my opinion. While it's not outstanding, it was enough to reassert the fact that Groffier has come back down to earth for the better. An outstanding Pinot Noir, but only a very good Chambolle 1er. Texturally this was great, but taste-wise it could do with more intensity, cut and hopefully a burgundy-dirt funk -- something which this wine did not show.

Next: Ubiquitous Grand Crus comparatives

How do Clos Vougeot and Echezeaux sound to you? How many of us know how to spot one when we taste one? Or are these fairly vast and 'common' grand crus not deserving of their elevated status...?

And so it's probably apt that we try to do a comparative for these some time down the road. I'd suggest that we don't have to stick to a single vintage and let's do either or both sittings of Clos Vougeot and/or Echezeaux. By that I don't mean to mix the two, but if we want we can do a session for each. There might be some advantages to do this free-and-easy tasting. One is that we can see how the vintage and producer variation affect the wines. Secondly we can, in a fuzzy way, capture the wines at the different stage of their evolution.

What say you all?

Vosne Super 1ers Tasting: Take 1

This is part of the series of serious terroir studies of burgundy. The whole idea is really to appreciate the promises each famed Vosne 1er cru communes brings. This is also to take a break from the more easily conceivable concept of grand cru comparison. Of course, it would be very special to muse over Richebourg, La Romanee, St. Vivant, La Tache, etc, but I believe Vosne-Romanee as a villages contain many gems even at the next level. There should also be some distinctiveness between each of them. Famed vineyards such as Cros Parantoux, Brulees, Reignots, Malconsorts, Gaudichots, Suchots... are all respected names. In the hands of good producers, they should be special and show individuality and class.

Of course we cannot provide each example from one single producer, but we should certainly try taste them within a single vintage -- if possible. Again, while this is supposed to be academic, my personal wish is that none of us breaks our backs and/or banks just to compile the lineup. The key is, I suggest, to stick to 1998. As we all know this vintage is more or less drinking now (exceptions of course apply), is logistically possible to obtain and feature, and particularly for Vosne, is a tricky vintage -- according to Tanzer, many Vosne wines (including those from Flagey-Echezeaux) of this year suffer from dry tannins. So my theory is that in the hands of the better producers, the wines should not display these flaws. A true test, if you may...

To rehash what I've already stated above, let's try to amass these:
VR Les Suchots (e.g., Arnoux's, Cacheux's, Grivot's, Girardin's...)
VR Les Gaudichots (e.g., Forey's, Potel's...)
VR Les Petit Monts (e.g., Drouhin's, Forey's...)
VR Cros Parantoux (e.g., Rouget's, Meo-Camuzet's, Jayer's...)
VR Les Brulees (e.g., Meo-Camuzet's, Leroy's, Grivot's, Engel's...)
VR Aux Reignots (e.g., Bouchard's, Arnoux's...)
VR Malconsorts (e.g., Cathiard's, Girardin's, Noellat's...)
VR Les Chaumes (e.g., Grivot's, Arnoux's, Rion's...)

The tasting doesn't have to be big -- a few good bottles shd be good enough -- and they don't have to squarely fall into those I had suggested. I am sure there are many other worthy Vosne 1ers I have missed out. Also, I expect the attending group would be smallish -- much like the recent time -- but it should be good enough. The key is interest and passion and observance. In the absence of 1998 version of the wines, I'd suggest vintage 1995 or 2000 counterparts.

ps: much as I suggest these, I'm quite ashamed I don't have any of these -- at least not in the vintage(s) suggested...