Chinese pot luck

Nick A kindly organised a random Thursday evening dinner at a Cantonese restaurant in town. Some thought was given to what might accompany these types of dishes, and in the end it was mainly a combo of red Burgundy and German whites.

• 2016 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Au Closeau 92 Points

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

  Delightful nose, leaps out of the glass, and is very Burgundy. Red fruit, earthy hummus, lovely. On the palate this wine has a certain richness about it, it’s plush, round, very giving with beautiful acids. There is a savoury earthiness that underpins the red berries, I like it a lot at this stage in its life, it is all quite sedate with a feeling of completeness and self-satisfaction. Very good.

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• 2015 Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

  Slow to start on the nose but really picks up with air to become beautifully perfumed. A bit darker than the Gevrey 1er Cru served alongside it. Compelling sweetness, delicate raspberry and a leafy mid-palate bitter streak. Yum. Really rather classy, a pure expression of Pinot Noir, but not too pure if that makes any sense. I tried a 2021 recently and this has a lot more depth than that did, more stuffing and body, but it is still a sleek and linear wine. Perhaps drink them younger if you are after that soaring ethereal quality, knowing however that it comes at the expense of that extra filling. As another reviewer noted, I also prefer this without food than with.

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• 2013 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru

  Medium red with an obvious and rather surprising level of bricking. This bottle is austere, stern and possibly a bit mean. The vintage maybe, but I still recall my first bottle of this being rather better, sublime even. There is something herbal at play here, a bit of stem, it isn’t living up to the silken promise that Chevillon often grants the lucky drinker. It is nonetheless rather a nice wine with a lot going on, in particular a lean cranberry tang that grows and becomes more persistent with time in the glass . I have a dilemma - are the best years behind this, or in fact ahead of it and the best course of action is to hide these away for a while?

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• 2010 Domaine Denis Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin

  Medium dark red. Nice earthy nose, quite intense. Darker fruited, olive, blueberry, some fatty meat, a bit rustic. The tartness stands out big time. At some points I wonder if this puckering acidity is in fact overpowering the fruit. So where is this on its journey? It’s certainly not as good as the last one in 2024. Going up the hill, or down the other side? I read some good advice on red wine recently which is that if something is drinking wonderfully just continue opening bottles until that ceases to be the case. Why miss a really sweet spot in the hope of what may be only marginal gains? And when it stops being quite as good, then stop drinking it and hide it somewhere, rather than drink it in a less good state than you know it is capable of. This is no doubt full of contradiction. I write this as I am in the fortunate position of having a few bottles, and the one tonight was brought by someone else, so a free-pass in terms of assessing the moment. So I will leave this for a while yet in the hope that balance returns. This is Bachelet, there has to be upside, no?

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• 2017 Hans Wirsching Iphöfer Kronsberg Silvaner Alte Reben 88 Points

  Germany, Franken

  Pale for the age and with a definitely Germanic nose, but that is as far as guesswork could ever take me with this. Mild spritz, a lactic element to the youthful freshness. This is in a dumpy little bottle reminiscent of a cheap non-branded brandy, must be a total nightmare to store. Maybe this is why it has a screwcap. I would never buy it, a huge turn off, but whilst the bottle screams “this wine is going to be utterly crap”, the opposite is fact true and it’s very good in a straightforward kind of way. Pure, fruit-forward, crisp chilled fresh grapes, pale flesh melon, nicely balanced and really very tasty. One of the big surprises of the evening, this is why these no-theme events are so good.

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• 2019 Weingut Clemens Busch Marienburg Rothenpfad Riesling Großes Gewächs 90 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Medium gold. Honied nose is very prominent, drifting petroleum notes come and go, restrained. It has a rich cereal element, toasted grains, like granola, paired with vibrant acidity and golden warmth. Not my cup of tea but I can appreciate the wine-making.

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• 2007 Château-Grillet (Neyret-Gachet) Château-Grillet 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Château-Grillet

  The nose is almost absent, this wine is stark. How can this be viognier? I suppose that my experience of 18 year old viognier is precisely nil, and so this is what happens. Or it could be that Chateau Grillet is made in deliberately an age-worthy style which eschews opulence. This is lean, racy, absurdly pale for the age and really quite wonderfully different and interesting. I’ve never come across a white wine so obviously austere, the very fact that the grape is viognier seems to heighten its sense of clarity. Maybe Petit Chablis? But also a million miles from that, this has real depth, consequence, hidden wells of mild apricot and pineapple. Everything about this wine is subtle, deft, poised and considered. WOTN for our group by a wide margin.

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• 2022 Domaine Georges Vernay Condrieu Les Chaillées de l'Enfer 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu

  This is so refined and lovely, the most delicate yet obvious nose of tropical fruit and acacia honey. It’s like drinking a 1980s peach melba yoghurt. I really appreciate the restraint of this wine, I don’t buy or consume much of it due to a general lack of restraint, it can be larger than life, too overt. I drink it rather for a change of scenery. This on the other hand might be a viognier that I could get along with on a more regular basis as it has been dialled down. It has the florality that I am after, but none of the excess. Excellent and one to seek out.

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• 2021 Artemis Karamolegos Assyrtiko 34 Ancestral Vines 88 Points

  Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Santorini

  Note taking at this point down to a bare minimum but this wine pleased me, with a mineral intensity sitting alongside a savoury character.

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• 2016 Naudé Sémillon Old Vines 88 Points

  South Africa, Western Cape

  Quite marked vanilla oak on the nose, not very subtle. Tasty though, with good acidic structure, brine, waxiness, and nice intensity of lemon fruit.

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• 2021 Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Spiegel 88 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  Really fruity nose which carries over to the palate, this is pretty rich and sweet in my book, verging on a thin syrup, it has an extremely full and round mouthfeel feel as you swish it about. Pretty tasty, peach and peardrops, though I'd struggle with a whole bottle - ideal for sharing. Off dry in style, still overly sweet for my tastes of course, but you pays your money etc.

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• 2018 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett #13 88 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  My very brief note says "alive, zingy". So I suppose it was quite fresh and zippy to accompany the natural sweetness of the wine.

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The food at Phoenix Palace was great, it helps that Cantonese is not spicy in nature, and the pairings went really well, especially steamed sea bass with viognier, and duck with pinot noir. I didn't perhaps like the wines as much as some, but I got to try a load of things I would not normally drink and this is one of the best things about these evening. All of them were nice, with a couple exceptionally good I thought.

Let's do it all again very soon!