Dim Sum Club at Park Palace

Back to Dim Sum this time round, and a lovely meal at Park Palace.

• 1997 Tenuta Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Vigna La Casa 92 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino

  I enjoyed this very much. An unusual 1997, it was fresh and alive and seemingly just about stepping into its drinking window. It showed a really perfumed nose, with dried flowers, violets and sweet herbs ringed around a core of ripe black cherry, meat and earth aromas. Really pretty. There was some richness to the palate and a ripe plushness to its fruit on the attack, but this was overall really well balanced and elegant for a 1997, with clean flavours dark cherries and berries laced with supple acidity and fine tannins. While not altogether developed, it was also starting to show a decent amount of complexity, with a backdrop of earth, undergrowth and meat seasoned with slightly peppery spice and herb at the finish. A nice wine. Will probably get better over the next 5 years or so as well. Lovely pairing with roast duck.

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• NV Cloudy Bay Pelorus Blanc de Blancs 88 Points

  New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough

  Pretty decent, and a good pairing for Dim Sum. The nose was very Chardonnay, with little bits of yeast floating around dominant aromas of sweet apples and lemons. I thought the palate was rather pleasant, if a bit on the simple side. It had pretty good depth to its flavours of sweet apples and lemons that echoed the nose, along with a refreshing mousse and lots of bright acidity - so bright, in fact, that it was a little sharp when served on its own in a flute. However, in a white wine glass and with some food on our plates, this melowed into a very drinkable Blanc de Blancs.

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• 2009 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Corton Blanc 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  This was a really strange wine. An unsual white Corton Grand Cru, there was some quality to it, but it was nowhere quite near drinking. The nose was absolutely dominated by sweet scents of grated coconut which drifted out of the glass like a halo around ripe stone fruit, aromas, with little bits of caramel, earth and mineral at the rear. I just could not get past that super-coconutty character. Someone remarked that only Pape Clement in d'Yquem in Bordeaux have oak treatments that bring their young wines close in tone. Same thing on the palate. There was a nice rich 2009 quality to it, yet with a good supple depth and nice balance to its ripe notes of honey and mangoes laced with a tangerine-like acidity. Quite yummy actually, and it had a nice spine too, with deeply buried mineral notes pulling away into a more honeyed back-palate. Unfortunately though, there coconut reared its head again, big-time, at the finish, where it came to dominate the wine entirely. This bore more resemblance to our coconut and mango dessert than the blanc de blancs sparkler we had on the table in fact! All in all, I think there is pretty good stuff in here, but it will take quite a few years before the oak lifts up.

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