Dim Sum Club goes Japanese

We had a really nice lunch on Tuesday, with 8 of us gathering at a usual haunt for a wonderful Omakase meal whipped up by the chefs. Really interesting line-up of wines. A top Champagne from Chad, an unusual Italian white from Sharon, a lovely Puligny courtesy of Gary and, strangest of old, a pair of really old Dolcettos that Choon Yee popped. Alex, Joyce, Leonard and I were the happy recipients of their generosity. We were not sure if the pair of reds would be dead but while they were not exactly in tip-top shape, they actually held up pretty well and, with a bit of time, were really fun to drink.

• 1999 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Really nice stuff - a wonderful way to start our meal. This had a lovely Bolly nose, full of clear white fruit aromas, clean mineral scents, fresh, almost meadow herb accents. Very inviting. The palate was really nice as well, with a flavour spectrum that started out almost kumquat-like on the attack, and then moving into limes and lemons, maybe even sour plums, and then an apple and pear bass-note at the mid-palate, all lined with super fresh acid and a really fine mousse that gave a good sense of balance to the wine's rich fruited notes. There was nice depth and length at the finish which was underlined by high-toned minerality. Lovely stuff and perfect with sashimi. Still very young now, I would think this has a good 5-6 years ahead of it before really hitting its stride. Delicious even now though.

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• 2009 Umberto Cesari Pignoletto Malise Emilia IGT 90 Points

  Italy, Emilia-Romagna, Emilia IGT

  My first Pignoletto, and I must say this was a very decent wine indeed, with a fresh, fruity bouquet of grapefruit and apricots, gooseberries and grass, lots of floral aromatics - this could well have been an NZ pinot gris of SB with that nose. The palate was clearly neither though. This has some creamy weight on it, with a ring of gooseberrries, some stone fruit notes, think peach and nectarine, maybe a bit of apple. Really fruity, fun, balanced stuff. What was really amazing though was that the wine went well with food that most other whites would struggle with, from a bit of wasabi in our dipping sauce, to bitter arugula leaves and finally a mouthfull of ginger with braised fish. Very interesting stuff. Like so many Italian wines, it was merely okay when had on its own, but really came alive when employed as a foil for our food.

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• 1996 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet

  This was an extremely impressive vintage. Still going strong at age 15, it had a rich, layered bouquet with notes of cream, fleshy white fruit, some flowers and a whiff of smoky mineral. Nice stuff, somewhat straddling Puligny and Meursault. The palate had tons of depth for a village, with lovely fresh acidity reflecting the vintage running through rich flavours of white fruit, cream and some savoury nutty notes which wound their way into a long, minerally end. The wine was at a very nice place now. It may lack the breadth and complexity of a good 1er Cru, but this was about as good as village one could wish for. It certainly did the wine's cause no harm either that it went wonderfully well with a range of fatty-fish sushi.

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• 1982 Pio Cesare Dolcetto d'Alba 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba

  One of a pair of unusually old Dolcettos, both rather tottering on their last legs. Opinion was split on which wine was better, but even though the 1985 was more alive, I thought this had more charm and substance to it. What an unusual nose here, quite lovely actually, a whoosh of mocha and coffee grounds, some roast meat and a waft of rum and raisin, all sprinkled with some balsamic notes. A bit port-like, and yet not quite. Really nice, but so different from most other old Piedmonts that it gave me a start everytime I smelt it. Unfortunately, the palate had gone just a little flat on the attack. However, it did leave behind a charming touch of raisins, a bit smoke and a layer of dried figs. I thought that was it - not quite dead, but not quite alive either. However, the wine had a really surprising finish, which stained the palate with some depth to its slightly rancio notes. Quite amazingly, with a bit of time, it grew and grew in the glass so that while it never regained the prowess of youth, it actually ended up a fun, quirky, very charming old wine.

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• 1985 Pio Cesare Dolcetto d'Alba 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba

  One of a pair, I preferred the 1982 just that bit more. This had a really nice nose too - chocolate, cocoa powder, dried figs and rasins. Very pleasant, really inviting. However, like the 1982, this had thinned out a little as well, and while the palate was somewhat less flat, showing a briight acidity and a silky, textured glide of tannins, I thought the fruit was somewhat more emaciated than on the former wine, leaving just a patina of red cherries and berries moving into a long, smoky, tarry finish. With time though, the midpalate did fill up somewhat with fresh dark berries and cherries so that the wine was actually quite pleasant to drink, the only issue being that it could never quite shake of the hollowness of old-age that haunted the midpalate. Well time to drink up if you still have any.

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