Boys' Long Lunch
Epure, 4/F, Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tasted November 16, 2018 by Goldstone with 237 views
Introduction
It was Daniel's birthday, so 6 of us took the afternoon off to kick back and enjoy a superlative 'Dejeuner D'Automne' composed by Chef Nicolas. I set the bidding by offering to bring a magnum of La Mission Haut Brion and everybody else responded accordingly.
Flight 1 - Gambero sicillia shrimp, lemon butter, 36 months Iberico ham, chorizo & octopus croquette, comte 2017, caviar (1 note)
What a beautiful dish to kick off....and with the weight to balance the slightly over-mature Condrieu.
White
2005 E. Guigal Condrieu La Doriane
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Very deep urine yellow colour. Nose of sweaty tennis shoes. Palate is slightly oxiadative, aged Comte cheese, older honeysuckle, lanolin, fresh almonds, very nicely rounded and improves with nearer aircom room temperature. Lightly resonant. Aged Condrieu is something of an acquired taste....this is well past its prime to most tastes.
Flight 2 - King crab, rockgish consomme jelly, rouille sauce (1 note)
An astonishingly good dish that highlighted the Japanese influence on Chef Nicolas' cooking.....the precision and lazer cut of the Pouilly Fume was a great counterpoint and both complemented each other.
White
2011 Didier Dagueneau Silex
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
Light silver gold colour. Nose is very sharp Japanese grass, oyster shell, gunflint. Palate is very crisp and precise with an easygoing weight... white peaches , amazingly refreshing cucumber and lime, mounting resonance. Very elegant and assured.... very polished. Harmonious. Really impressive ... this is Sauvignon Blanc taken to another level.
Flight 3 - Abalone, pickled kombu, duck foie gras, pear (0 notes)
Again, a very Japanese oriented dish....absolutely gorgeous....we carried on drinking the Silex with this.
Flight 4 - Gilt-head sea-bream 'a la broche, brown butter, cep mushroom (1 note)
Chef Nicolas had this large fish especially flown in from Marseille and with the large fresh ceps from nearby. Lightly and simply grilled to perfection.......nothing stood between us and the quality of the ingredients. Most people's dish of the lunch.
Flight 5 - Wild duckling, coco nibs, chervil root, forest pepper (1 note)
Again....a dish that hit well above Chef Nicolas' Michelin*.
Red
1986 Château La Mission Haut-Brion
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
From magnum double-decanted overnight. Gorgeous semi-opaque dark ruby-purple colour. Very slight watery meniscus. It looks 10 years younger. Nose is something you could lose yourself in, almost more Merlot than the graphite and pencil lead you would expect. But the pencil lead is there in the background but wrapped in soft velvet..... wow, I forgot to taste it! Palate is a beautiful combination of velvet softness followed mid palate by firm but softened tannins and ‘essence of blackcurrant and red currant'. Endless length and reverberance. Silence creating. This has years of life ahead of it, at least in this format.
Flight 6 - Love is in the Hare - hare ' effilochade', duck foie gras served with homemade pasta and white Alba truffle (2 notes)
This was my dish of the lunch....rich and homely and stunning with the wine. So different an interpretation from Chef Philippe, another Michelin* chef, who was one of our companions......oh, and the simple home-made tagliolini with rather a lot of white truffle was sublime.
Red
1992 Dominus Estate Napanook Vineyard
USA, California, Napa Valley
Near-transparent deep ruby colour. Nose is fabulous... very Dominus. Palate is sweet and fully resolved tannins. So rounded and welcoming but with a nice blackberry seed tartness on the finale. Reasonable length. Sensuous. Very big in the head on the finish and really long length. Only the middle stopped this being higher scored. This has developed only slowly since I last drank it 7 years ago and I would say it is good for another 5-7 years although I doubt it will improve.
Red
1988 Ridge Monte Bello
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Thinner and more transparent than the Dominus 1992 or the La Mission Haut Brion 1986 but still a bright jewelled ruby. Nose is light and perfumed , light, elegant and almost ethereal. Palate is very light and almost cranberry in its lifted character. Some might call it thin but it had reall punch on the reverberance inside the head on the finale... which was endless. Actually, more fruit came out in the blackberry end of the spectrum with extended time in the glass. Wow! By far the most resonant and ‘inside the head’ of the three reds in the flight. Stunning and a hair's breadth short of silence-creating.
Flight 7 - Artisan cheeses from the cellar (1 note)
We have recently converted Chef Nicolas to cheeses from 'Frere Marchand' and the selection was gorgeous....especially the melted Epoisses.
Red
1985 Château Trotanoy
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
From magnum. Almost translucent damask colour. Nose is perfumed red berries fruits. Palate is light and nicely delicate after the preceding three. Similar red berries character. High toned but not tart. Short on the finish. Disappointing for the vintage, which is my current drinking favourite in Bordeaux. I would not hold any longer if I had this in my cellar.
Flight 8 - Raspberry, beetroot, guanaja 70% chocolate cream (1 note)
This was almost my dish of the lunch....and I don't normally care for desserts. The raspberries were from Japan and heavenly in their depth of flavour whilst the combination with the earthiness of the beetroot and the richness of the chocolate was perfect and totally unexpected. As Chef Nicolas explained...the secret is not so much in the surprising complmentarity of the 3 ingredients but in getting the balance of the 3 correct. Bravo!
White
1976 Chateau Montelena Johannisberg Riesling
USA, California, North Coast, Potter Valley
Beautiful burnished copper colour. Nose of blowtorched peaches, creme brulee, light honeysuckle. Palate is stupendously fresh and high piano notes acidity. This still tastes absurdly young and was a real revelation.... absolutely beautifully made and 'Judgement of Paris' quality.
Flight 9 - Montecristo Linea '1935' Leylanda Double Corona (1 note)
Hans decided to play to his strength and had asked if he could donate a box of cigars rather than a bottle of wine.....wow, did he over-compensate! This is a very recently released new premium line from Montecristo and I was amazed how matured they seemed....wow, beautiful and perfect for a long chat about nothing whilst sipping 1963 Port.
Red - Fortified
1963 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Overly sweet and lacked finesse or depth compared to other ports of this vintage I have drank. It seemed very simple and monotone. Perhaps it is still sleeping and/or needs a much longer decant.....we certainly didn't decant it for very long so perhaps our bad.
Closing
A fantastic lunch that brought out the best of the wines and reaffirmed everyone's appreciation of older Bordeaux and similarly aged Napa 'Bordeaux'.
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