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Bramble Dinner
Oak Avenue, Singapore
Tasted December 30, 2008 by Paul S with 826 views
Introduction
The private dining event at Sean and Jon's house has become one of Elsa and my most anticipated culinary events every 6 months or so. Sean and John are amongst the best, and certainly, the youngest chefs to grace the Singapore dining scene, and they have become friends over the few years that we have eaten with them. Wonderful thing is that they seem to be improving with each dinner as well. This time, we pulled together some of our foodie friends - Alex and Kate, Elaine and John, Edmund and Shuming and Ray who brought another Elaine over - and did a wine pairing. Edmund brought some, I chipped in and Ray provided a 2004 Cos. This made for a fantastic night all round.
Flight 1 - Octopus salad with parsley oil, lemon and olive gelee, followed by Iberian ham (1 note)
White
2006 Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards (TMV) White Coastal Region
91 points
This was my fourth bottle of this wine in the past year, and probably the most developed of the lot. The bright, almost tropical fruit scents on the nose had faded somewhat, leaving lots of chalk and beeswax, along with nectarine fruit, honeysuckle and a touch of butterscotch. The palate had the familiar creamy, waxy texture, but was nice and fresh with sweet nectar flavours, more honeyed beeswax and ripe yellow fruit - almost banana like. This was certainly more toned down than the previous bottles and waxier, especially at the finish. Fruit was certainly still there as well, but lower-toned. Acid was there as well, but while it was still very fresh, I found it better integrated and less in your face. An excellent white.
Flight 2 - Foie gras terrine with compressed apples and pain d'epices (1 note)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2001 Château Suduiraut Castelnau de Suduiraut
92 points
Wow, this really surprised me - incredibly good for a second wine. Absolutely fantastic pairing with foie gras terrine as well. Nose was real beauty, with manuka honey, apricots, butterscotch and musk - full on botrytis here. Tons and tons of apricots on the attack when we got to the palate, fresh fruits at first blush and then a dried, honeyed toned. Lots of nice fresh acid and a round finish topped the wine off. Excellent.
Flight 3 - Seared magret de canard with strawberry cumin foam, followed by asti spumante with cinnamon roasted peaches (1 note)
Red
2004 Jean-Jacques Confuron Chambolle-Musigny
91 points
Beautiful nose. Fresh cut flowers, wet earth and dried mushrooms - so very Chambolle. Simple, but oh so fresh and succulent on the palate, which showed nicely integrated and very clean tones of strawberries, cherries and sweet plum jam, with a hint of anise floating along somewhere and a touch of earth on the finish. Litter rivulets of acid ran through the wine, giving it a really nice lift throughout, so that it went beautifully with the duck magret with strawberry cumin foam. I wish this was not my last bottle.
Flight 4 - Crisp stewed pork belly with spiced milk orzo, followed by cold cream corn with ham tuile and brown sage butter (1 note)
Red
1998 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa First Growth
93 points
Bordeaux blend or not, this was clearly new world, and spoke quite nicely of Coonawarra as well. Savoury meat seasoned with rosemary on the nose, and then more typical thyme, eucalyptus and some roasted green bell pepper notes wafted around. Full of character and very inviting. The palate was just so nicely integrated - sweetish Aussie cassis and cherries mingled with more eucalyptus notes, all wrapped up in fine-grained tannins and bright but very round and juicy acidity. Really clean and clear flavours though, surprisingly, even more so than with the plummier 2004 Cos d'Estournel that we had immediately after. Lovely finish just lingers very nicely. There was some oak in there, but it was so well integrated that we hardly noticed it. Excellent with the crisp stewed pork dish that we had.
Flight 5 - Lamb confit with pommes frites and watermelon pickles (1 note)
Red
2004 Château Cos d'Estournel
92 points
It cannot be easy being sandwich between two phenomenal vintages, but I must say that this was a good wine in is own right and probably more a classic Cos than the 2003 or 2005. Still very young - too young to drink actually, even with a splashy decanting. Nose showed oak from the outset, surprisingly even more so than the Aussie Bordeaux Blend (the Parker Terra Rossa First Growth 1998) that we had just before. A few swirls and savoury stewed meat emerged, along with cassis, plums and green peppers. The palate attacked with wine leaf, ripe wine stems, more cassis and a meaty tone, along with the finest grained tannins, almost powdery, but still firm. Nice balance, and long, lingering, woody finish. This needs a lot more time yet. Even so, lovely with the lamb confit, as would be expected.
Flight 6 - Grapefruit bay millefeuille with grapefruit sorbet (0 notes)
The Castelnau de Suduiraut made a second appearance here
Flight 7 - Porcini chocolate pudding with candied thyme leaves (1 note)
Red - Fortified
N.V. Graham Porto 20 Year Old Tawny
92 points
A bit difficult to judge this fairly, because it paired absolutely beautifully with a porcini chocolate pudding, so much so that it was hard to tell where the dessert ended and the wine began! Perfumy nose, with smokey incense, spicy-date cake and fresh figs all im the mix. A touch of prunes on the palate, which came across earthy and mushroomy and then another sprinkle of spice on the finish.
Flight 8 - Cherry gingerbread tarte tatin with kirsch panna cotta, followed by petit fours (0 notes)
Coffee and tea