Chateau de Beaucastel Dinner

Pierre Perrin was back in Singapore and this time he brought Chateau de Beaucastel's resident chef, Laurent Deconinck, with him. They took over the helm of the kitchen at Tippling Club and cooked up a superb meal. This was simply one of the best wines dinners I have had for some time. Small line-up, just five wines, but the quality across the board was brilliant and the wonderfully prepared food paired so perfectly that there were more "epiphany" moments in this one dinner than I have had over many a great meal. In fact, the small line-up with its generous multiple pours of each wine actually gave us more time to savour each glass of wine and the dish that it accompanied. This was a night I will remember for a long, long time to come.

• 2007 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  I enjoyed this very much. A nice wine matched perfectly with grilled lobster tail in Argan oil and julienned vegetables. It had a rather tight nose, but really quite nice even then, with bits of lemon zest sprinkled over some stone fruit scents with earth and spice nuances, and a nice touch of white flowers and almond nut aromas. Not all that expressive, but I like what it showed. The palate was quite rich, almost oily textured, but beautifully balanced, with a little drip of lemony acidity over a core of pear and stone fruit as the wine flowed into a longish finish infused with sweet spice and floral hints. Pretty good, and it worked wonderfully with our food.

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• 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  This was beautiful. Much deeper and broader than the straight Beaucastel blanc on the first flight, the nose flowed out of the glass with rich stone fruit aromas, think peach and nectarines, and then golden honey and white flowers, like acacia and osmanthus, and just a little touch of spice at the edges. Very nice. With time, a bit of chalky minerality floated up to add even more complexity to the bouquet. I really liked that, but it was really on the palate that the wine truly wow-ed me. It had layer upon layers of depth, with lovely honeyed flavours, custard apple and stone fruited nuances at the core and motes of tropical fruit, spice and white flowers floating around like a little halo of higher-toned notes - all this couched in a luxuriously creamy body. This wine was large-scaled, generous, and yet beautiful balanced in spite of its rich depth and powerful flavours, with a good touch of acidity that lent the wine a lovely sense of focus and helped to lift it slightly as it stretched away into a wonderfully long finish. Absolutely beautiful, and it was just perfect with a beautiful dish of sea-urchin risotto topped with a dollop of fresh cream and generous shavings of Provence black truffles.

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• 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  An amazing wine. Still many years away from being anywhere near peak, but this was nonetheless a wonderful drink after some 5.5 hours in a decanter. It had a beautiful nose, with deep, deep aromas of dark berries and stewed meat nuances seasoned with garrigue and hints of smoky spice. Still a bit reticent, but already really nice, with a great sense of depth and breadth to its dark fruited aromas. The palate was wonderful as well. It was just perfectly balanced and supremely integrated, coming across as a deeper, broader, more noble version of the already superb straight Beaucastel 2001, with an almost monolithic flow of black cherries, dark berries and savoury meat and earth, all packed into a powerful, yet fresh, juicy and beautifully focused package. The finish unfolded wonderfully as well, pulling away in a lovely fresh flow of black fruit seasoned with just a touch of juniper berries and garrigue. Still young, still tight, still needs many, many years yet, and it will continued growing and growing too, given its tremendous sense of structure and presence, with a muscular seam of supple tannins running through its black fruited depth. Boy this was fantastic. Amongst the very best CdPs I have ever had, and it was a perfect marriage with a beautiful cut of Kagoshima Beef grilled with a crust of black truffle and juniper berries - a dish which echoed the meat and garrigue notes on the wine quite hauntingly. This will be a monster in 5 or 6 years, and perhaps even better a decade down the road. Wonderful. It would have easily been wine of the night on this night, or on almost any other, save for the wonderful 1990 Beaucastel that followed it on the next flight.

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• 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Incredibly beautiful. This was as close to a perfect CdP as I have had for a long time. As good as the wonderful 2001 Hommage de Jacques Perrin that preceded it was, this bottle had the advantage of 11 more years of age, and it was far more ready to drink. After more than 5 hours in the decanter, it was at just about a perfect place, leading off with a beautiful nose that was pure Provence, with lifted scents of black cherries and dark berries dancing alongside a leathery, meaty base with a lovely touch of garrigue and stony minerality at the edges. Complex, compelling, but almost playful in its liveliness, this was a bouquet that just drew you in - it was about the perfect introduction to the wine's stunning palate. Here, above all, it was brilliantly fresh, focused and refined, lacking some of the warm voluptuousness of the 1989 Beaucastel maybe, but this was more than made up for by the wine's wonderful sense of poise and graceful balance as it almost soared through the mouth in pure, bright flavours of dark cherries and blackberries weighted down by a lovely touch of meat and spice. Make no mistake though, there was tons of power in the wine, yet it wore its depth and weight so well, given the wonderful balance and its robe of silky tannins, that you barely noticed this. A perfect pairing with roasted Canette (duckling) breast in a foie gras and clove reduction, every mouthful of wine wrapped the tasty morsels of meat in a super long, yet freshly detailed finish of sweet black and red cherries - always high-toned and lifted, it was delight all the way into a lingering tail, where the fruit was kissed by a hint of smoke and some lovely garrigue notes. Amazing. This is a wine I wish I could drink on a regular basis. It is hard to decide whether this or the 1989 is better, but both wines are a tremendous credit to Beaucastel. While this should go on in the bottle for many years yet, I see no reason why this should not be consumed now with a nice lengthy decant and some appropriate food.

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• 2004 Famille Perrin / Perrin & Fils Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

  A nice way to round up a dinner of very nice wines. I did not think that this was up to the quality of the quartet of Chateau de Beaucastel wines that preceded it, but it was a good, interesting little sweet wine in its own right. The nose had nice complexity to it, with a little earthy background upon which fresh scents of garrigue, jasmine flowers and orange blossoms danced around a core of honeyed, stone fruit aromas. The palate had a rich, creamy textured depth, but this was wed to fresh acidity running through its very flowery flavours, ranging from white flower petals to linden leaf, chamomile and almond nut cream touched with just a little note of spice at the finish. Interesting and very drinkable.

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