Dinner at Aunty Siew Mun's

We had a lovely dinner at ASM's on Saturday. Elsa and I joined her, Uncle George, Natalie and Rachel and their friends John and Leon. Main course was wagyu beef, but with plenty of interesting sides.

• NV Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut Cuvée Reservée Florens Louis 89 Points

  France, Champagne

  Pleasant way to start dinner. Nice little Champer, nothing to shout about, but pretty well made with everything in the right place. Pleasant little fizz. Nose showed dusty, dried earth paired with sweet ripe fruit in the shape of apples, pears, cherries. Lots of fresh fizziness in the mouth, although the palate showed some age, with little aged soy notes popping up, along with more youthful lemon and green apples. Plenty of acidity, almost a little too much acid at times, but it did give the wine a nice liveliness. Finish was unexpectedly pleasant, with plenty of stony minerality.

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• 2007 Künstler Hochheimer Kirchenstück Riesling Spätlese 92 Points

  Germany, Rheingau

  A lovely Rheingau - nose showed inviting inflections of spice, slatey mineral, drops of diesel and plenty of apricot and peach fruit. Rather expressive palate as well. A touch of rubbery petroleum, and then ripe pineapples, snappy cherries, sweet guava and bits of mineral moving towards the decent finish, which lingered with just that little expression of fresh cherries. Lovely balance great freshness. A really nice young Spat.

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• 2001 Castello Banfi Sant' Antimo Cum Laude 90 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Sant' Antimo

  I thought this was really pleasant. A little anonymous in terms of character, but a well-made, well-drinking wine. The nose opened with some woody oak influence, vanillin, and some glycerol hints. These came down rather quickly though, to show a depth of dark plummy fruit, some herbs and spices, plenty of meat, and some smoke. Very pleasant in a modern way, but still clearly Italian. Palate was fresh, with plenty of high 2001 acidity giving life to fleshy dark cherries, a slight woody, earthy touch, with herb and spice notes and woody tannins moving into a roundish finish with just some flecks of heat at the edges.

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• 2003 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Sémillon 92 Points

  Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina

  Yummy. This may never have the silky refinement or tremendous complexity of a top Sauternes, but it was a darn good sticky in its own right. Very exuberant, very Aussie I would say - with its golden hue matched by an expressive nose of caramel, toffee, honey, dried apricots and spice. Palate was sweet, but decently balanced enough, with unctuous flavours of caramel, maple syrup, dried apricots, peaches and just that lift of fresh acidity carrying the wine into a long finish reminiscent of coffee grounds, dried figs and just that little bit of preserved limes. Unpretentiously joyous wine. Especially nice with a bitter orange chocolate fondant and vanilla ice-cream.

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