2009 Alain Hudelot Noellat Chambolle Musigny

This bottle of Chambolle Musigny was very well-rounded and delicious.  Its plummy rich taste made it a good pairing with some of the meat dishes done Chinese style.  Here you can see the claypot pork belly and the lamp chop.   Flavourful dishes but not too heavy as to overwhelm the delicateness of this burgundy.

 Bordeaux En Primeur 2013 Tasting

Attended a tasting of around 20 types of wine today.  Mostly mid and low level classified growths, with the big names unfortunately not making an appearance. Still, it was a welcome opportunity to taste the wines after reading so much doom and gloom about the 2013 vintage from the wine press (pun un-intended).

The wines generally turned out to be better than expected. More like 2008 than 2007.  The best wine of the evening was the Domaine de Chevalier blanc which was very concentrated and long, followed by the rouge version.  Its Pessac Leognan neighbour from Chateau Malartic Lagraviere came up a close third.  Both the reds were medium-bodied with tastes of ripe black fruits and were smooth and well balanced, despite the fact that these were just barrel samples which had just taken an intercontinental flight from France to Singapore.   One can only imagine that they will improve significantly with time.

2006 Chateau Lagrange

The wine selected to go with the anti-diet main course of tenderloin and foie gras was a bottle of 2006 Chateau Lagrange, a third growth from St Julien.  At eight years old, this bottle was ready for drinking although a few more years of aging will not hurt.  A balanced wine with smooth tannins and a taste of black currants, it provided a good counterbalance to the rich oiliness of the dish.   A good reliable bordeaux from a decent vintage can still be found at a reasonable price.

Champagne and Pasta

On this warm lazy day, there is nothing better than a nice cold bubbly to go with an alfresco lunch.   This Champagne Blanc de Blancs by Chateau de Bligny was dry, refreshing with a hint of apples.  Fine bubbles and smooth drinking, it is more than a match for many of the more commonly seen brands of champagne (non-vintage), but priced much more reasonably.

La Dolce Vita

Italian wines with Italian food for dinner, two red classics and one lesser known white.

The evening started with a white wine from the north-eastern region of  Fruili, the 2008 Bastianich Plus, a white wine made from the Friulano grape. This was a label and grape which I had not seen before and therefore did not know what to expect.  The smell and taste took me by surprise.  The bouquet was unexpectedly strong with the smell of very ripe grapes and orange emerging once the wine was poured.  In the mouth, it was slightly sweet - at about half the sweetness level of a German Spatlese - with a taste of pears and honey.   It displayed a surprising level of complexity. A very unusual but satisfying wine.  It went well with the the fritto misto (crisp fried seafood) and brodetto di pesce (fish broth).

The second bottle was a 2007 Tignanello, a 'super-tuscan' that needs no introduction.  The 2007 vintage was considered a good vintage and the cepage for this wine was Sangiovese(80%), Cabernet Sauvignon (15%) and Carbernet Franc (5%).  A medium-bodied red with a rich nose of cherries and flowers and a taste of lush fruitiness.  A very pleasant wine to pair with food of moderately strong flavours, in this case a hearty large plate of pasta. My only regret was that the bottle was not opened earlier. The wine got progressively better as the meal went on and was at its best right at the end. A two hour airing would have been ideal.

The final bottle was a 2007 Barolo from Pio Cesare.   It was a classic barolo that tastes of a good mix of dark fruits and grassy, earthy and smoky notes.   A big and concentrated wine which was a good match with the highlight of the meal - a large slab of char grilled aged Florentine steak.  A superb pairing.  The 2007 can be aged for another few years and will be better in, perhaps, 2016.

2009 Vosne Romanee, Domain Sylvain Cathiard

A ruby red coloured wine with a nose of plum, cherries and a hint of flowers. At about five years, it has matured well, losing some of its early fruitiness but gaining some weight and depth in taste.  Very smooth and appetising to go with the meal. It was versatile enough to go with most of the dishes of a five-course Chinese dinner,  starting with  the mixed  platter you see here (crispy prawn/char siew/duck).

Morey St Denis and Fried Sharks Fin

The highlight of today's dinner was the fried shark's fin with crab meat.  Unlike the usual shark's fin which is served in soup, this version allows the diner to savour the taste and texture with precision.   One of the wines served at dinner was a 2011 Morey St Denis Rue En de la Vergy by Domaine Bruno Clair.

A fine perfume of roses and red fruits emerged as soon as the bottle was opened.  Very fruity with strong notes of cherry and strawberrries.  At a very attractive quality to price ratio, this appealing wine is capable of converting any wine drinker into a burgundy fan.   A very delicious wine pairing with a luxurious dish.

2009 Leroy Bourgogne Rouge

To go with the fried rice at home today, I decided to pull out a bottle of Burgundy.     Today's wine is a bottle of 2009 Bourgogne Rouge from famous producer, Leroy. 

The wine has a soft pleasant nose of red fruits.  After an hour's aeration, the tannins of this young wine had softened perfectly.  It was light-bodied, although I should say that the concentration was stronger than I had expected of a bottle from such a basic appellation.   It is a good companion with lightly flavored food such as the fried rice I had today.