Lunch at Asia Grand

Exactly one month before Christmas and this was supposed to be the first meal of our Christmas season. We had planned for a roast goose and a shared bottle of RSV at the German Restaurant, Magma, to mark the occasion. Unfortunately, neither part of the plan worked out. The proprietors pulled the rug from under our feet by deciding not to waive corkage for us this year. We de-camped to Asia Grand instead and still had a wonderful lunch with a Peking Duck and Suckling Pig fit for the occasion. Unfortunately, the RSV turned out to be corked. The best laid plans of mice and men... Thankfully, the other wines were great. Mostly blind as usual, they more than made up for the gap in our line-up caused by TCA.

• 2008 Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet

  I am really glad to see that this beautiful village has lived up to the promise is showed in barrel two years ago. It was naturally a bit tight, but even then it was a big hit aruond the table. There was a lovely subtle Puligny nose on this - lots of mineral, flint and gunpowder, ripe apple fruit aromas, some fresh cut flower scents, a bit of earth. There was quite a bit of fruit on the bouquet, but the riper, peachier scents I remembered from the wine's infancy had come down a bit. It was really nice though. The palate was really nice as well. Lots of chalky minerality on the attack, bits of cream, and then a lively midpalate of white fruit and green apples, a touch of ripe lemons, all showing lots of extract and depth wed to just beautiful precision. Very impressive for a village indeed. I loved the balance here as well, with its fresh mouthwatering acidity guiding the wine into a long, authoritative finish where bits of spice gathered around the appley fruit. There was just a bit of heat at the very extremes of the wine, but otherwise, this was absolutely delicious and just about a perfect pairing with fried fish skin coated with salted egg-yoks. A beautiful Puligny that clearly punched above its weight. While drinking well now with a bit of air, this really does deserve a couple more years in the bottle at least.

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• NV Seppelt Fleur De Lys 88 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western

  This was a fun little wine. We all thought it was a Chardonnay-Pinot blend, but somehow no one thought it was a new world sparkler. Interesting nose here - quince pears,a bit of caramel, some earthiness, but more than anything else, very clear, rather sweet aromas of boiled water chestnuts. The palate was marked by a fine frothy mousse that was perhaps closer to Cava than Champagne. This should have alerted us to the wine's origins, as should the sweet quince-fruited attack. However, it went really crisp and dry on the midpalate, with some earthiness and a hint of minerality that threw all of us off. I enjoyed the lively precision here, with the wine almost dancing across the back-palate on light tiptoes. Overall, it was a bit simple and the finish was a bit short, but otherwise this was nice, fun stuff that was very easily drinkable. A nice pairing with an assortment of dim sum dishes too.

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• 1993 Sylvie Esmonin (Michel et Fille) Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

  This was excellent - a lovely Burg drinking at peak. It had a beautiful nose from first pour, with lovely rich aromas of earth and mossy undergrowth notes touched by brush and herb, savoury meaty notes and then rich red fruit in the shape of plums, dates and matured cherries movinh into shades of longan tea. Mature, complex and very Gevrey indeed. With time, a very metally minerality showed up on the bouquet which made me pick it out as a Clos St Jacques from amongst the Gevrey vineyards. Just lovely. The palate took a bit more time to get going than the nose. Approachable but a bit lacking in depth at first, it was marked most by slightly dry, powdery tannins that had resolved into a velvety robe spreading across the entire length of the wine. With time in the glass though, it showed a very nice complexity with a core of dried red fruit flavours, some preserved plum and a midpalate sprinkled with earth, spice and herbs. There was a nice ripeness, yet the wine was quite without the soupy lack of definition that sometimes accompanies the warm fruit of the vintage. There was definitely a nice sense of structure here along with a good ring of freshness that kept the wine clear and light on its feet. I really liked the finish too, with its fresh cut flowers hovering around a deeper note of savoury meat lined with streaks of metally minerality and wood spice. A very nice pairing with Peking Duck, this was at peak and very delicious.

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• 1998 Regnard Romanée St. Vivant Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  Given the limited sources of grapes for RSV, it would be interesting to see what a primarily Chablis=producing house could achieve with whatever they got in 1998. Unfortunately, this bottle was sadly corked. What should have been a perfect pairing with Peking Duck and a nice counterpart for a 1993 Clos St Jacques on the same flight ended up smelling of wet cardboard layered over tinny scents of flowers and dark cherries. The dark fruit came up more with time and air, as did some scents of leather and menthol, but these never did more than ride beneath a clear layer of TCA. The palate obviously had some richness and depth and a nice velvety feel alognside a good, clear sense of balance. Unfortunately, its flavours of dark cherries and flowers where almost completely scalped by the TCA, showing very narrow and simple all the way into an anonymous finish. Some orange peel notes emerged with a bit of time but, apart from that, the wine never rose beyond a disappointing fizzle. Bleagh.

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• 1982 Bodegas Yllera Ribera del Duero Los Curros Reserva 93 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  This was very good indeed, just shaded by a superb Zind-Humbrecht Gewurz VT as my favourite wine of the day. This was a hit though. There was a beautiful nose here, with accents of roasting chestnuts, dried flowers, scents of dried cherries and berries, a bit of earth, very pretty. The palate was drinking wonderfully well too, with ringingly clear flavours of red cherries and dried raspberries on the attack kissed by dusty earth and dried herb notes on the midpalate. Silky tannins and a fresh, lively balance gave the wine a youthful, energetic feel that really belied its age. It was so well balanced in fact that while it was richly fruited with the warmth of the vintage and the Leon terroir, it always remained clean, clear and pure. The finish was met with a touch of sour plums and a little bit of menthol - all very complex and full of character, yet this went down so deliciously that it was easy to miss just how much was going on. Wonderful stuff and, as would be expected, a pitch perfect pairing with roast suckling pig.

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• 1998 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa First Growth 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  I have had the privilege of having this wine several times in the past few years and almost every bottle has been excellent. This was no exception. It had a beautiful nose that was pure Coonawara, with lovely ripe cassis aromas accompanied by notes of earth and tobacco, black tea and eucalyptus, and little bits of leather and meat. This bottles had actually developed rather more secondary characteristics than I remembered from past experiences and was realy quite noce. The palate was delicious as well, filling the mouth with lovely ripe cassis flavours laced by fresh acidity and melting, velvety tannins. This was at a wonderful place at the moment with everything nicely integrated and in perfect balance. The finish rounded the wine off with a touch more complexity, showing a touch of sweet spice and some tobacco smoke curling around a core of dark chocolate and black cherries. Long, juicy and delicious, this was gorgeous stuff. I thought this was clearly new world, and clearly Coonawarra when blind, but that could have been a function of having had it quite a few times before - it was to the wine's credit that part of the table thought that it may have been a ripe Bordeaux, and a good one at that.

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• 2001 Jacques Cacheux & Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Au Bas de Combe 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges

  This was a real surprise - I found it a very nice little village. On the easy drinking side, nothing overly complex, but drinking very nicely now. The nose should have hinted at the wine's origins, showing as it did slightly funky notes of leather, meat and earth, along with some sweet dark cherry scents spiked with a bit of menthol and spice. I thought it was a 2001 Pommard on first guess, but switched to NSG when told it was from the Cotes de Nuits. While that nose was decent enough, it was the palate that I really liked. Fresh and bright with the nice clarity of the 2001 vintage, it showed rather pure flavours of dark cherries wed to a savoury, almost salty base of earthy notes with lots of meat and leather nuances. There was still a grip of firm but fine tannins that spoke once more if the terroir towarsd the finish. Otherwise, it was long, fresh and delicious, with bits of earth, blood, metal and wet stones that were so very NSG. I liked this quite a bit, it was a lovely pairing with sauteed duck too.

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• 1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive 94 Points

  France, Alsace

  This was absolutely lovely - my wine of the day amidst pretty stiff competition. The cooler, fresher character of the 1994 vintage worked really well with the rich, low-acid Gewurztraminer fruit to make a wonderful delicious sweet wine. This had an amazing nose that drifted out of the glass to meet me with seductively honeyed aromas of ripe melons and dried lychees, a touch of earth, some sweet spice and a lovely floral ring of orange blossoms. The palate was equally beautiful. Thick, rich, creamily textured, but wonderfully balanced and perfectly integrated, so that its delicious flavours of dried lychees and longans on the attack and rather higher-toned notes of pineapples and dried mangoes on the midpalate seemed to glide across the mouth into a lovely long finish touched by wafting bits of spice and earth. Richly complex, yet wonderfully poised and elegant, this was a maturing beauty of a wine. A perfect way to end a great meal.

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