Lunch at Kingyo

Chef Kng rustled up a lovely Omakase lunch for 8 of us - probably our last wine lunch of the year, and a good way to end too, with some lovely Japanese food paired with solid wines.

• 2009 Marchese Massimo De Gregorio Insolia Sicilia Sirignano 89 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Sicilia

  A well-made and perfectly food-friendly wine. The nose had nothing much on it - neutral white fruit with the tiniest inflection of mineral, so neutral in fact that it could be anything under the sun. On first pour, the palate showed just that little bit more, with little bits of Marsala spiciness, a little citrus note and nice grippy structure. Remarkably high acidity for a Sicilian wine I thought. It really came alive with the food though, with the acidity cleansing the palate and the simple white fruit and nice sense of structure making the wine a great foil both for fresh sashimi and a smattering of other dishes. It fact, it went so well that it was a bit hard to judge the wine apart from food! Overall, I would say that it was a straightforward but well-made on its own, but a great goof friendly wine if you are looking for something fresh and inexpensive to go with your meal.

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• 2006 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  I thought I had tried this before, but could not quite remember when. On checking my notes, I found that the wine gave me a similar impression of youth and quality as it did the last time. Perhaps just a tad more developed now, but still young. Overall, a really good Chassagne. Nose was tight, but very classy, with serious smoky, gunflinty mineral notes wed to subtle white fruit and lemon tones. Some woody oak tones wafted around at the edges. Clearly a 2006 on the palate, this had impressive size and ripeness, with lots of concentration, but all this was tied to tightly packaged acidity and dry extract that gave the wine an extra notch of balance and finesse along with a firmed, toned feel. The lemony fruit tones on the attack and the more white fruited mid-palate were still rather primary, but it was clear that there was lots of substance, and the wine finished long and spicy, with a serious mineral line that tailed away at the back-palate. This needs a couple of years more before it really shows I think, but it was very impressive on the day.

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• 2002 Domaine Roger Belland Meursault 1er Cru Santenots 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  Very nice indeed. This is as archetypal an expression of Meursault as you could hope to find. Nose was all creamy, buttery, muhsroomy, really rich, with some mature honeyed and beeswax tones drizzled amidst ripe white fruit scents. Just that bit of glycerol in there as well. Palate was every bit as rich and creamy, almost fat, but never flabby, with a lovely balance stuck through nicely integrated acidity lending the plush and creamy mouth-feel some lift. And nice flavours too - lemons, red apples, moving into a nice nutty finish with plenty of length on it. A lovely, lovely Meursault, at a very nice place now. Given all its fat and acid, it actually stood up to and even paired pretty well with a teppanyaki beef dish! This was a world away from the precise minerally world of the Chassange we had alongside; that wine had more intrincic quality perhaps, but I must say this was drinking better on the day.

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• 1998 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Mendocino 92 Points

  USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino

  Wow. This was really impressive. Drinking very well, and we were all struggling to figure out which commune in the Cote d'Or it was from and whether it was a 1er Cru or Grand Cru plot. Beautiful nose. Sweet cherries and raspberries galore, floaty spice notes, a little earthiness, some rubbery hints and a nice flowery note. Wonderful perfumy stuff. The rubber was the only hint that it might not be a Burg, but otherwise, really hard to tell. Palate had that clean, clear transparency that marks the best of Burgs, with the red fruit picked up on the nose mingling amidst darker blueberry tones. Finish was not the longest, but it was clean, cool and delicious, with just a touch of spearmint on it. Brilliant stuff - delicious.

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• 2002 Domaine Matrot Volnay 1er Cru Santenots 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Hmm... another wine that I had forgotten trying before. I must say I much preferred the previous bottle. This had the same attractive nose on it - sweet, pure cassis tones, some blueberries, a layer of toast and eucalypt notes. The palate was far skinnier though, almost a little anorexic, so that none of us picked it up as a 2002. Again, there were clear cassis notes, some dark cherries, but this was spread rather thinly across a framework of good acidity and some powdery tannins with some dusty earth notes and gravelly mineral at the end. It seemed almost as if you could feel the skeleton of the wine pushing out from under its flesh. Sure drinkable, and clearly with some quality, but not the most enjoyable wine on the day. Strangely, we had a white Burg from the same plot in an earlier flight, and for some reason, that seemed all fatty goodness. I wonder what happened with this wine

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