Dinner with Tom Eakin & Peter Kay, Peter Michael Winery

Hosted by Tom Eakin, EVP & Managing Director, and Peter Kay, Sales & Marketing Director, from Peter Michael Winery and who generously provided all the wines. It was Tom's first visit to Hong Kong and we had a good discussion about the Hong Kong market and how a winery like Peter Michael should go about establishing its brand recognition.

Curiously for a winery that talks about aiming for a 100-year reputation, they don't have a library of older vintages which seems something of a contradiction.....and it was hard to really rate the winery on the basis of a group of wines that were all really too young to drink.

• 2008 Peter Michael Chardonnay La Carrière 88 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Silver green colour with lots of brightness. Nose of oak and very distinct brioche, very distinct brioche. Elements of lemond rind and green melon.....and very distinct brioche. Palate is warm, round, rich, deep ripe pineapple with rich but rounded and integrated oak. Good resonant length with nice reverberance on the finish. Got rather too warm ripe pineapple for me with extended time in the glass.

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• 2008 Peter Michael Chardonnay Belle Côte 87 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  More yellowy, light straw colour compared to the La Carriere. Nose is.....gosh....lovely fresh and lemony citrus with crispness and fresh minerality.....touches of white shoe cream too. Palate is green melon and a bit single-toned compared to the nose....rather flat. Less oak than the La Carriere. Persistent but understated length. Some buttery oakiness comes out with an hour in the glass but it maintains the disappointing thinness/flatness. There is also some heat. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it's too young.....

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• 2009 Peter Michael Sauvignon Blanc L'Apres-Midi 84 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Silvery-green, light straw colour. Reticent nose of uncooked rhubard and some high note hints of fresh celery and cucumber.....all very bright. Palate is quite rich, rounded and sunny, honeyed mouthfeel reflecting the Semillion component. A bit dull and unvibrant but with a touch of frizzante on the back of the tongue. Heady. Ripe peach emerge with more time in the glass but rather cloying. Not my stuff.

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• 2007 Peter Michael L'Esprit des Pavots 86 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Dark, opaque, red-purple colour. Nose is warm, welcoming and oaky but not too much so. Palate is heavy, concentrated under-diluted cassis. Very chewy. A bit hot. Rich. Too much dry wood on the finish...and hot too. Much too young to be pleasurable at the moment.

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• 2007 Peter Michael Les Pavots 89 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Black, fully opaque but purple-tinged at the meniscus.....looks very young. Nose is very nice, powerful with still lots of fresh-sawn plank wood, touches of milky chocolate and good, well-defined blackberry fruit. Palate is rich, rounded,oaky, liquorice root, heady with still stiff and slightly green tannins. Very tannic and unyeilding on the back end. Inky, although some caramel notes emerge with extended time in the glass. Muted length because of its youth. Much too young to be pleasurable.

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• 2001 Peter Michael Les Pavots 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Drank from magnum, decanted well in advance and drank in parallel with an undecanted magnum for contrast. Dark, brooding totally opaque purple-red colour with lots of refractive brilliance. Nose is lifted, nail varnish remover, all high-noted, quite mesmerising and very sniffable. Palate is rich, ripe, extremely fruit-driven...red fruits predominantly...very dry and tannic finish. Lovely mouthfeel, rounded and with rolling, resonant length. Wow....enormous resonance on the finish. This will be lovely in 5-10 years time.

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• 2001 Peter Michael Les Pavots 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley

  Drank from an undecanted magnum and in parallell with a long-decanted magnum for contrast. Dense, almost totally opaque black-purple colour just lightening very slightly at the edges. Nose is light, diaphanous, shoe polish, black fruits, sharpness....very alluring. Palate is lovely acidic attack, lean, the right side of angular, very defined. Heady.....very, very resonant. Wow.....I'm getting reveries. Lovely. Very poised.....super tension. Great length and reverberence on the finish. Got a bit flabbier with extended time in the glass.

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Drank over a cigar and long, fun conversation with several of the members.

• 1998 Chateau Musar 86 Points

  Lebanon, Bekaa Valley

  Popped and poured without decanting at the end of a lengthy evening. It had thrown a huge amount of sediment and was a lovely light, open, bright, transparent blood-red colour. Nose is a touch of VA and then very high notes of naill varnish remover and some distinct woodland strawberries....accessible and more like a Per et Fils than a Ch. Musar (probably as we gave it no breathing time). Palate is light... fresh strawberries, Burgundy-style...very light.....feminine ....sharp clean acidity....very light for a Musar. Muted length and uncharacteristicly little resonance on the finish, probably all because we gave it no time to breathe. Musar generally puts on a lot of weight with decanting....but I think this is definitely a lighter vintage nonetheless.

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This was a really enjoyable evening with a great small group of members and the food was a noticeable improvement on the usual standard at Crown Wine Cellars.