Dim Sum Club at Paradise Pavilion

Our first lunch oft he year started out with a bang, with a quartet of interesting wines over a yummy lunch at Paradise Pavilion

• 2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Te Koko 90 Points

  New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough

  A decently good wine, this was unmistakably a NZ Sauvignon Blanc, but with healthy lashings of oak on it. The nose started out with typical Marlborough notes, with fresh gooseberries, grapefruit and guava aromas, all very tropical and citrus, and then a little white musk component, a fleck of mineral and little drips of cat's pee. Altogether a freshly attractive bouquet. The palate was a bit of a shift in gear though, with the oak aging lending the wine a certain creaminess that belied the citrussy freshness on the nose. Still though, there were plenty of bright, tropical notes on the attack, with pineapples and grappefruit, limes and lemons, but these were met with deeper, fleshier notes, ranging from peach to nectarines, maybe grenadines, on the midpalate - all very ripeand juicy, almost like a fruit-juice in fact, running over with fresh acidity all the way into the finish, where a little lick of vanilla showed up. I knida liked this, and I think it will continue to improve over the next couple or more years in the bottle as well.

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• 2004 Schiavenza Barbera d'Alba 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba

  My goodness, this was tight. There was certainly a nice touch of quality to it, but even after some time in the decanter and longer in the glass, it came across almost a decade too young. The nose showed a drift of violets, plums, a good bit of meat and earth, some spice, and a hint of tar - nice enough, but a bit reticent. There was no shyness about the palate though. Big, ripe and masculine, this was very much a 2004, with a lot of structure in the form of fine tannins and super-bright acidity running through its bright flavours of black cherries and berries, all seasoned with a little waft of smoke and a nice spicey twang. In spite of its depth and ripeness, this was still super bright and rather chewy, especially at the finish, where orangey acidity lent the wine quite a bit of snap and bite. Good with the roasted duck we had, but this really could have taken on a far heavier meat. Leave this aside for 8-10 years though, and it should make a very good Barbera.

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• 2004 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru La Combe d'Orveau 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru

  This was a strange little wine, fluctuating between being a rather meaty interpretation of Chambolle to a positively green 2004 monster and back again. On first pour after 15 minutes in the decanter, there was no overt greenness at all actually. The nose, which was initially all about sweet, almost new-worldly raspberries and cherries, started opning up, taking on meatier, earthier Burgundy aromas and little wafts of flowers. With more time though, the fruit faded into the background, and greener asparagus and g herb notes started coming out. And it kept shifting in the decanter, showing less green, than greener and back. The palate too was a bit of a split-personality. At first, it showed plenty of spice and bramble mingling with sweet notes of ripe black cherries and blueberries, some flowers, and a good bit of meat. There was plenty of intensity and depth here, so that the wine came across altogether rather masculine. With its stuffing, its spice, and its firm structure of clean acidity and fine, grippy tannins, this came across almost more like a Morey than a Chambolle - but it was pretty good for all that. What irked me though was that the same shift that took place on the nose also haunted the palate, with the finish getting submerged more and more under a forest of green, herbal asparagus and ginseng notes with time. An intriguing, frustrating bottle. There was good raw material here, but maybe it needs a few more years in which it can, hopefully, shed all that nasty greenness.

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• 1999 Dominus Estate 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Third time I have had this, with the last bottle coming almost 3 years ago. This bottle was quite unrecognisable from the previous two I had though. If anything, this seemed a bit tighter, a bit leaner. Still pretty good though. It had a very Napa nose, with sweet tobacco and cigarette smoke drifting about a core of sunny aromas of ripe blackberries and cassis, even sweet strawberries, with a touch of flowers and a nice cut of cedar wood and mint pulling out at the rear of the bouquet. Pretty nice. The palate showed a nice, rich attack, with cassis and blackberries at the fore. It leaned out and tightened up quite noticeably past the midpalate though, to show a spine of clean acidity and fine tannins. I liked the feel on this wine, it was nicely spare and elegant, with very cool, clear feel in spite of a sweet ripeness to its fruit expression that spoke of the new world. A nicely transparent wine I would say, just finishing a little on the short side. All in all though, very pleasant. I would be interested to try one in a couple of years to see where these are going. My feel is that they may have shut down a little, and will probably come good in say 3-4 years time.

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