Dinner for Angela

Chez Patrick, Sun Street, Hong Kong
Tasted Friday, July 31, 2009 by Goldstone with 422 views

Introduction

A really great small dinner to celebrate Angela's birthday, which was also an opportunity for Greg to bring a couple a of really special Spanish wines that he was opening for the first time. Chef Patrick put together a special menu for us that was just exquisite.

Flight 1 - White Wine Opener (1 Note)

I have recently developed a Batard Montrachet "thing" and was keen to see if anyone else understood why.......

Flight 2 - Two Super-Spaniards (2 Notes)

A fantastic contribution to the evening from Greg.

  • 1998 Alvaro Palacios Priorat L'Ermita 95 Points

    Spain, Catalunya, Priorat

    Decanted for 6 hours. Still purply black, not even opaque. Wow.......a bucketful of damp earth on the nose and deep, deep black plummy fruit with not much trace of oak. Touch of heat still- it is still rather young. Hugely tannic on the palate but it has a lovely acidic balance with gorgeous deep blackcurrant undertones. Huge depth.....the depth is just enormous. Huge length and resonance with tons of black liquorice on the back end. Quite stunning but needs 5-10 more years to fully evolve.

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  • 2004 Bodega Numanthia Toro Termanthia 94 Points

    Spain, Castilla y León, Toro

    Decanted for 6 hours. Black/purple totally opaque colour. Gummy, sweet, attractive wallpaper paste nose. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous on the palate: unctuous, fruit filled, mouthcoating, vanilla pods all in incredible concentration. Huge length and some resonance but needs another 5-10 years for its full beauty to unfold. Almost as good as the L'Ermita 1998 and could surpass it with time.

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Flight 3 - Back Down To Earth....... (2 Notes)

  • 1995 Château Léoville Poyferré 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    Decanted for an hour or so. Lightening red/purple translucent colour. A hugely pleasant barnyard St. Julien nose with pronounced mineral notes. Light, elegant, slightly dilute palate that was the opposite of extraction. Gorgeous poise and classic cassis and redcurrant fruits balanced with just the right level of acidity. Some moderate length and improved with extended time in the decanter during the course of the dinner. This punched well above its weight on the night and was a great contrast to the two super-Spaniards. It is drinking really well at this stage.

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  • 2004 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano 89 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    Decanted for an hour before serving. Light , translucent, slightly bricking and quintessentially Italian colour. Shy, light nose of sweet thyme and violets. Typical Italian palate of attractive dry brick dust but slightly too much acidity. Feminine, light and fresh with some length. Was not in the same league as the previous wines tonight but would be brilliant on its own with a simple pasta.

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Flight 4 - ........Earthquake! (1 Note)

Served with the cheese course

  • 2004 Michael-David Vineyards Zinfandel Earthquake 79 Points

    USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi

    Black-hole impenetrable colour. Nose of rew American new-barrel resinous oak, big alcohol, hot, deep Boysenberry fruit and some plushness in a not good way.........like a velvet-covered sofa concealing really cheap foam stuffing. Very, very sweet, mouthcoating, Port-like, deep but extremely one-dimensional. Marginally less unpleasant than an actual earthquake......

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Flight 5 - Lastly..... (2 Notes)

Served with the Birthday Cake. Thank you Runny and Greg......

  • 1977 Warre Porto Vintage 92 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Decanted for 8 hours. Dark, still opaque red colour like thick blood. Nutty, lightly confected nose.....lovely.....very light...almost no fruit on the nose. Still lots of tough acidic, tannic black fruit on the palate with lovely very woody and nutty character. Good but not outstanding length.

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  • 1983 Château Coutet Barsac 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    Light, greenish golden yellow. Gosh......lovely nose of sweet, light, honeyed acacia flowers on a warm summer evening. Lots of honeysuckle on the back end of the nose. On the palate it is light, very sweet honey, very sweet indeed, with good white pepper on the back end. Lacks quite the acidity to give it perfect balance but very good indeed.

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Closing

A great evening and the super-Spaniards were really quite special.

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