'Welcome back Neal' Dinner

It was great to welcome Neal back to Hong Kong after some years since he has lived here.

Cigars courtesy of Hans, who couldn't stay for dinner.

• 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 90 Points

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

  Splash decanted. Beautifully rounded yet still with a good tannic backbone. Great with a pre-dinner cigar. I preferred it quite a lot more when I last drank it 18 years ago, when it had more feral 'wow factor' on the nose, but still very enjoyable. Thanks, Daniel!

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• NV Henri Giraud Champagne Esprit Nature 90 Points

  France, Champagne

  Gifted by Emanuele. Recent disgorgement. Light hay gold colour. Lively mousse with strong beads of very small bubbles. Fresh nose of mown grass and hay. Palate is very petillante in the mouth with lots of Pinot. Low dosage but not at all austere.....because the 'Nature' on the label refers to biodynamic winemaking not absence of dosage. Elegant and with a lovely freshness. Nicely resonant inside the head. I think I prefer this as an accompanyment to seafood rather than as an aperitif. Very enjoyable and more-ish. 90 easy.

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Three wines drank alongside each other.

• 2003 Château Pontet-Canet 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  I bought two cases of this wine en-primeur, which I am one-third of the way through....but this one was brought by Neal. Decanted for 2 hours before serving ( I would recommend a lot longer but circumstances don't always permit).Totally opaque deep red colour. Nose is quite immediately perfumed, loads of cedar and deep almost-pastilled blackberry. Palate is really young, heavily tannic. Gorgeous depth and precision of fruit with a good rounded surround of oak. Massive resonance and reverberance inside the head on the finish. Gosh, what a finish despite a somewhat un-matured middle. I always love this.

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• 2003 Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Splash decanted. Deep totally opaque red/black colour slightly lightening at the meniscus. Understated but velvety nose of fermented raspberries. Palate is wonderfully velvety, mellow and followed with a super mounting resonance and reverberance. It rose up to a silence-creating element but soured somewhat with extended time in the glass and ended up disappointing. Drank in parallel with the Pontet Canet 2003, which is a league higher.

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• 2001 Château Gruaud Larose 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  My contribution as I wanted to check its evolution from a case I bought en primeur. Decanted for 2 hours before serving. Totally opaque black/red. Lovely deep growling black and red fruit on the nose. Palate is is immediately tannic attack… should have decanted for longer. But it quickly mellows in the glass and gets very rounded but still with a nice tannic edge. Growing but still coiled resonance on the finale. Needs more years to unfold. 90 for now but could grow to 93 easy in the next 3-5 years, I think. 2001 Bordeaux, is a much overlooked vintage because it lives in the shadow of 2000 except in relative QPR.

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Big thanks to Emanuele for hosting us so attentively....he and his colleagues have brought this place back to its best.