Dim Sum Club goes Japanese Again

Chef Lawrence, our old friend from Kome, had opened a new restaurant that some of us tried while other had not. We gathered on a busy Wednesday afternoon for a nice lunch with a trio of whites.

• 2007 J.M. Boillot Chassagne-Montrachet 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet

  Pretty good. There was lots of oak on first whiff, but otherwise this had quite a nice nose, with toast, cream of mushroom and butter accents layered over ripe lemons, nectarines and a touch of honey. Very ripe aromas actually, but this was nicely punctuated by lots of mineral scents that could only have come from Burgundy. Like the nose, the palate was also rich, ripe and yellow fruited - unusual so for a 2007. This was so big in fact that I would never have guessed the vintage correctly. It had a nice depth for a village though, with flavours ranging from the yelllow fruit on the attack to peach and then apple on the mid-palate. There was plenty of smoky mineral and toasty oak at the long finish mingling amongst motes of cream and a serious layer of oak. For all the flesh and oak though, this still had a good juicy freshness and nice focus. I was not too found of the rather obvious stylings of the wine, but otherwise, this was a pretty well-built village. I should note that this bottle seemed a bit forward and developed for its age.

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• 1998 Regnard Chablis 1er Cru Montmains 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru

  Pretty nice, if rather untypical. It was clearly a Burgundy white, but blinded, all of us guessed a Cote d'Or instead of Chablis. The nose reminded me of an old Chassagne, with scents of button mushrooms, cream and a funky cheesy note, brie maybe, riding alongside some white fruit, honey and beeswax, and, finally, a touch of chalk and saline aromas. Complex, intriguing, but just a bit too funky to be truly attractive. The palate was very interesting too. Creamily textured, it opened with endamame and mung bean flavours that were just leaning a bit to the beanier side of say the lentil notes one would expect from a mature Gruner Veltliner. Past that, this was clearly a Chardonnay, showing lemons squeezed over some chalk and cream seasoned with some spice on the midpalate. Pretty good depth here, and the wine was clearly very developed too, with salty, umami chicken essence flavours and a bit of stony mineral showing up at the finish. While I felt that this lacked some of the cut and freshness of a top-Chablis, it was certainly interesting and a very decent drink.

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• 2004 Clonakilla Riesling 91 Points

  Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Canberra District

  Last bottle - thankfully this was back on form and showing very well. The nose was telltale dry Aussie Riesling, opening with a whiff of kerosene hanging like a halo around tons of lime and lots of flinty mineral aromas. With time, a waft of white flower scents emerged. Nice. The palate showed some of the round mellowness of age on its lemon curd and lime notes, maybe a bit of apple, but was still ever so clean, clear and zippy. It was really nicely integrated by this point though, with the impressively lengthy finish sliding away with a nice creaminess, with a bits of honey and spice licked by more of that fresh acidity. Very nice stuff, at a good place and lovely with Sashimi too. Classy stuff.

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