Chú Xī (除夕) Dinner at Home for Chinese New Year

Our House, Hong Kong
Tasted Saturday, February 28, 2015 by Goldstone with 281 views

Introduction

We invited Herald and Teni over for a traditional end of Chinese New Year dinner cooked by Angela with all the classic dishes, which pair brilliantly with Champagne, white Burgundy and elegant Bordeaux-style Californian red wine.

Flight 1 - Aperitif (1 Note)

  • 2002 Pol Roger Champagne Blanc de Blancs 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    Drop-dead gorgeous as always....and it really benefits from serving in a smallish White Burgundy glass. Vibrant mousse and very persistent tiny pinprick bubbles. Gorgeous nose of fresh straw, Granny Smith apples and just a hint of brioche. Succulent, fresh and mouthwatering on the palate. Some resonance is beginning to develop with age but this can only continue to get better over the next 3-5 years at a minimum.

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Flight 2 - Sharks' Fin & Abalone Soup with Gae Xi Dates - Stir-Fried Celery & Carrot with Fresh Prawns and Cashew Nuts (1 Note)

  • 2002 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet 94 Points

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

    Opened but not decanted 4 hours before serving. Light yellow gold colour with no sign of premox (yippee!). Nose is lightly buttered popcorn with a fugue in bass notes of lemons....lots of freshness...powerful and resonant. Palate is deep, deep, unctuous, incredibly rounded, lovely semi-sweet lemons, lots of perfectly rounded stones at the bottom of a trout stream. Then lemon rind confit and lemon-tinged caramel or lemon-tinged creme brûlée emerges as it opens up in the glass. Wow......from down in your diaphragm you get this deep mounting thunderous resonance and reverberance. Fantastic stuff....sadly it was a single bottle I bought 5 years ago. Must find more.

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Flight 3 - Chicken 'Fat Choy' with Fungus, Dried Scallop, Dried Oyster and Monkey Brain Mushroom - White Turnip and Slow-Cooked Beef Shank with Star Anise (1 Note)

  • 1996 Ridge Monte Bello 95 Points

    USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains

    Decanted for 4 hour before serving - the cork looked like it had just been bottled yesterday. Nose is WOW!.....pencil lead, graphite, deep blackberry fruit, smoke, sandalwood, cedar....wonderful Bordeaux-like depth and multidimensionality. Palate has a beautiful fresh and vibrant acidity almost like pink grapefruit followed by quite tart black fruits that haven't quite matured yet. Good tannic grip. Medium weight except that it punches at top weight in terms of resonance and heady reverberance on the finish. Fabulous....... it has matured slowly but beautifully since the previous bottle I drank six years ago but its best years are still way ahead of it. 95+

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Closing

A super evening and three lovely wines.

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