SMD at Kingyo

Fun SMD full of strange wines - a really educational experience. Chef Kng whipped up a really nice omakase for us as usual, and the wines went really nicely with the food.

• 1996 Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut Millésimé 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  A big, rich style of Champagne, and drinking very young for a 1996. I thought it was a good, solid Champagne. Nose showed caramelly oak notes alongside lots of big yeast, bread and earth scents, very savoury, with some saline mineral accents and hints of white meat coming out with time. The palate was a whole lot more youthful than the nose led on. There was still plenty of primary and rather sweet ripe lemon and green apple fruit on the attack. This was buffetted with a whole lot more of toasty oak notes on finish and a mouthfull of biscuit and nut flavours. Very rich, rather fruit forward style, but there was also a nice, crisp 1996 acidity that did welll by the wine and kept it balanced. Not the style of Champagne I normally enjoy, but this was certainly pretty good.

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• NV H. Billiot Fils Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Julie Brut 90 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  A strange Champagne. Overall, pretty good, but it needs time. This is as close to a white Burg with bubbles as one can get I thought. It sure smelt like a Burg, with smoky oak, toast, red apples and white meat. A little disturbing whiff of lacquer hovered around at first, but that slowly faded behind the fruit with time. More Chard-dominant notes again on the palate, with sweet lemons and red apples, all held in lovely balance, and a savoury, almost saline finish that brought Chablis to mind. A hint of smoked Gouda rounded the wine off. With time, it opened up somewhat, and pure appley tones became more and more distinct. Certainly some quality here, but it was unfortunately just a little disjointed at this point of time, somewhat clunky. The fact that it got better as it sat in the glass suggests that we should either have decanted this, or kept it for some time.

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• 1990 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Corton-Charlemagne 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  Good, but unusual - this drank like a wine a decade or so younger. There was certainly quality here, and I enjoyed it, but we all had a feeling that it was not quite ready yet. If anything, the use of oak was more than a little heavy-handed, making some of us suspect this might be a new world Chard when tasted blind. There were lots of toasty, smoky, butter and vanilla oak scents on the nose. A bit obvious, but these were quite well-integrated with more typical Burg notes of button mushrooms, white chocolate and toffee, along with little bits of earth and grass. There was a lot more oak on the palate as well, so that one got a buttery popcorn-seed note that started on the attack and wove its way through ripe yellow fruit and red apple flavours. Again, one would think new world except for the wine's great balance, with juicy acid lending a nice liveliness to the sweet fruited mid-palate, and a beautifully detailed finish that was very much top-end Burg. There was a lot of weight and concentration here, making this stand out from all the other white wines on show. I enjoyed this, but not everyone agreed with the slightly clumsy oak use. Still though, consensus was that the wine had quite a bit of quality on it.

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• 2004 Mischief and Mayhem Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne 89 Points

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

  Decent, but a bit of a fatty so far as Puligny goes. The entire table quite unanimously called this a white Rhone when blind. The nose showed sweet lemons, apricots, beeswax, chalk and yellow flowers. Very Viognier I thought, and the palate certainly kept up the impression, with a waxy texture couched in surprisingly lowish acidity for a 2004, more beeswax and honey notes and some rich yellow fruit. Finish has decent length, but when all that creamy weight was wed to the low acid, the wine came across as a little flabby and loosely knit - like a middle-aged bloke who has started to let himself go.

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• 2004 Mischief and Mayhem Corton-Charlemagne Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

  I liked this before - but this bottle was gone, premoxed to death. Strange, fishy, oxidative, savoury, earth, soy. Just not nice.

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• 2009 Grace Koshu 89 Points

  Japan, Chūbu, Yamanashi, Katsunuma

  This was a real charmer of a wine. Not fantastic, but it was really interesting and certainly an accomplished example of new-world wine-making that respects the grape's origin. The nose had gentle whiffs of stony minerality, a bit of yellow fruit, some found banana scents, but I thought it was a little subtler than that, and then boiled rice accents - a bit Sake-like at points, or was that just our imagination The palate was marked more by good balance then anything else, with very neutral white fruit (pear maybe ) laced with a touch of ceramic-like minerality and a crisp dryness that brought young Albarino to mind. Not great weight or expressiveness, in fact it seemed a bit thin across the mid-palate, but the wine always came across as nicely proportioned and well-focused. The finish had a bittersweet note that is supposedly characteristic of the varietal. I liked this little aspect, though it must be said that not everyone was as thrilled. All in all, a simple, but very balanced wine that went down beautifully with lighter styles of Shashimi. I am not sure it would do so well with more oily or fattier fish given the wines lack of body, but it certainly would be a good match for a whole range of Japanese food.

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• 2008 Mas de Mathilde Picpoul de Pinet Terres Rouges 88 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Picpoul de Pinet

  A very unsual wine. Nose showed sweet yellow fruited scents of banana, white flowers, some gooseberries and grass - apart from the yellow fruit, this might well have been a Pouilly-Fume on the nose. The palate was very puzzling though. A bit of nuttiness on the attack, and then stone fruit with a hint of the tropical on the side, more grassy notes and then a little mineral towards the dry finish. Simple flavours, half-decent depth, but all nicely balanced. A decently quaffable wine.

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• 2000 Tyrrell's Sémillon Vat 1 91 Points

  Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

  A very solid wine, but this was part way between its young, primary state and mature adulthood. Another 6-7 years would have been just right. On the day, it showed a touch of petroleum on the nose, alongside fresh cream, white fruit scents, some lime and orange peel and a little hint of chalk. Just showing a little bit of age here, and it smelt somewhat like a dried Riesling. The palate was a whole lot more youthful though. Slightly creamy texture aside, it had a clean, crisp backbone, with lemons, flowers and a light touch of honey on the midpalate. Towards the dry finish, some Sauv Blanc grassiness with bits of white pepper showed up. This was deceptively easy to drink, yet when one paid attention, it was clearly a structured and weighty wine, with a supremely balanced crispness that bodes well for long aging. A very nice example of Hunter Semillon, and one which should be a real treat when mature.

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• 1989 Château Liversan 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

  A pretty decent wine, but I would have expected a bit more complexity from a 1989 cru bourgeoise. The nose was a bit intimidating at first, with tons of barnyard, animale and meat, and even some iodine and saletd fish - very funky. Only with a bit of time and plenty of swirling did some dark fruited plummy scents emerged. The palate carried on with those dark fruit notes, with flavours of black berries and dark cherries held up by nice fresh acidity and fine grippy tannins. Towards the finish a little cherry cola note appeared alongside a touch of savoury meat and a little ashy smokiness. A bit simple, a little awkward here and there, but overall a pleasant drink.

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• 1998 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru 91 Points

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

  I liked this. It was reallt stemmy at first, in a very 2004 way, with hints of barnyard on the nose alongside Chinese herbs like ginseng and angelica root scents. Unlike the 2004s though, the overt herbiness blew off a little with time to show some lovely red cherry scents alongside a little layer of meat. In very de Montille style, the palate was rich yet very balanced by clean acidity, which formed a nice frame for more nice red cherry flavours and a little touch of mineral. Nice depth, but also all very fresh and yummy here. A little murky stemmy note marked the finish - this may yet resolve in time. A but a bit too young maybe, but already drinking nicely. This would be interesting to try in another 5 years' time.

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• 2008 TerraNoble Cabernet Sauvignon 87 Points

  Chile, Maule Valley

  I bought this cheap un-oaked Cab as a blind-tasting joke. Not unexpectedly, no one got this right but what was a surprise was that this was actually pretty drinkable. The nose was a decent enough mix of soy and wet earth scents with a bit of dark fruit. The palate showed what I suppose were pure Cab notes of sweet dark berries, cherries and cassis notes along with some slightly green vine stems moving into a wet earth finish. There were some velvety tannins and a nice amount of acidity. Overall, very simple, but actually quite quaffable.

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• 1999 Balgownie Estate Shiraz 90 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Bendigo

  Still pretty good, but not quite as impressive as the last bottle I had recently - we should have decanted this I think. It was just not as clean or expressive as the last bottle. Here, the nose showed some sweaty funk on first pour alongside thickish scents of black cherries, plums, licorice, meat and some eucalypt and pepper. Rather more classically Aussie Shiraz than the cleaner, fresher scents of the last bottle. This was symptomatic of the palate as well. While the last bottle was all fresh litheness, this showed quite a bit of power and rather thicker flavours of black berries, plums, prunes and a meaty underlayer that carried the wine into its decent finish where some licorice notes emerged. Still very nicely balanced and a real pleasure to drink. I am looking forward to trying the half-bottle that was left over to see how it develops after one day or so.

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