Dim Sum Club at Fat Cow

This was a great lunch. We had a series of yummy appetisers, but the Wagyu Beef Donburi was really, really yummy. Interesting blind wines as always, with the Scarpa Barolo being the pick of the bunch too.

• 2006 Anselmann Grauburgunder Classic 89 Points

  Germany, Pfalz

  Pretty enjoyable. This wine had a pretty nice nose of orange blossoms and gardenias hovering around stone-fruited scents of apricot and peach, with little bits of yeast and some petrol hints. I liked the palate more though. It had a touch of funk on it, with more earth and yeasty notes, some Chenin Blanc-like lanolin note, and then slightly sweet stone fruit flavours that dominated the midpalate. There was decent depth and flesh on this, very Pfalz in that way, yet what marked it out for me was good, fresh acidity that kept the wine pretty lithe all the way into a finish with just that lightest tickle of stony mineral. Pretty nice.

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• 1990 Scarpa Barolo Tettimorra 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Really good. This wine has come a long way since I last tried it a year and a half ago. Even then, however, it did need about an hour in the decanter before it really got going. Tight on the nose at first, with little bit of black fruit, it opened up beautifully with time to show little scents of earthy mushroom, drizzles of ash, and subtle notes of black cherries and plums mixed in with a hint of higher-toned strawberry aromas, all powdered with exotic spice and some perfumey florals. Really pretty. Like the nose, the palate was rather tight at first, with slightly powdery tannins coating rather indistinct black fruit. But this too opened up wonderfully to show lovely notes of black cherries and berries, some sour plums, all lined with lively, bright acidity that gave the wine a wonderfully balanced, very transparent feel. In ended with a little layer of earth and mushroom underneath the fruit, and a nice breath of warm spice right at the very end. I thought this was quite lovely. There was plenty of depth and strength to spare, but the overall impression was one of elegance and polish. It still needs some 10 years more age to really hit its peak, and it could go on for 20 or more, but this was really nice.

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• 2006 Artadi Viñas de Gain 89 Points

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja

  This was pretty enjoyable but, rather frustratingly, it hardly seems to have developed at all since the last bottle a year-and-a-half ago. It was a certainly a big, rather modern Rioja, with a full-scale nose showing sweet notes of red berries and cassis wreathed with plenty of cigarette smoke, a touch of woody oak and a little floral lilt that just started coming out with some time in the decanter. A bit too full and fruity for my liking, but it was far from an unpleasant bouquet. Like the nose, the palate was dominated on the attack by rich black fruit, with sweet plums and cassis cossetted by soft powdery tannins. It was still very big, very primary, but while not as bright as some other vintages, also intrinsically very nicely balanced. With time, some nice savoury notes started showing as the sweetness on the fruit mellowed some what, with earthy, meaty, smoky notes drifting out at the finish. I did like this, and I think it will be a nice wine in say 5-8 years' time. I am just not sure it has the structure to go beyind that though.

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