Wineshark weekly - 31 Dec 2011

Happy New Year! I wish all of you a healthy and prosperous 2012! At the beginning of the year, it is always a good time to reflect on what you have done and to plan for the future. Being such a wine fanatic, I have looked at my tasting notes posted in cellartracker.com and from the reports got some interesting and proud figures to share: 142 notes posted in 2011, about 82,000 views in 2011. Quite a good result I have to say, haha! Also started my weibo and now got quite a few fans, I hope in 2012 I can further develop this hobby to something a bit more serious, also to further my journey on wine...

This week continues my holiday. On Monday I went to my sister-in-law's home to have BBQ. All the food were very deliciously prepared and we all had a good day. We had a total of 6 bottles:

• Weingut Gunderloch Jean-Bapiste Riesling Kabinett 2010
• Guarda Rios Branco 2008
• Ceretto Moscato d'Asti 2010
• Lopez de Heredia Vino Gravonia 2001
• Lopez de Heredia Vino Tondonia Reserva 2000
• Weingut Max Ferd Richter Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuht Riesling Auslese 2007

This week we went to a Thai/Malay restaurant in Central called Co Co Nut Curry House.

Located in Wing Wah Lane, it is an outdoor place which you may regard as 'tourist' restaurant.

Tried their curry chicken with coconut milk, charcoal grilled chunk, roti, stir fried morning glory, malay fried rich noodle and pork rib soup. Most of the food was quite nice except the pork rib soup, which was tasteless. Not cheap though and it cost $460 for two (though I admit we ordered too much... :P)

Couple of gatherings also in this festive season. The highlight obviously was our monthly wine tasting. With the year-end, we decided to go more special and I took one of my top wines to share: Domaine du Pegau Cuvee da Capo 1998. More details of this wine and tasting note can be found in my blog. Quite nice but definitely I won't rate this as a 100pt now (which RP did), though certainly there is still a long way for the wine to further develop and maybe it will become better and better. Really struggle also whether to search for another one to cellar... but the price now will be much higher than when I first purchased it...

In the tasting there were other good wines, with another very interesting one being the Vignolo-Lutati Barolo 1970. The oldest wine I had ever tasted, the wine was still in good condition. Forgot to take a photo of the label and it got a profound developed, tertiary aromas. Particularly intrigued to me is the foxy notes. We also had other good wines as below:

• Dom Perignon 2002
• Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling 2005
• R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia White Gran Reserva 1981
• Vignolo-Lutati Barolo 1970
• Rolf Binder Hanisch 2005
• Domaine du Pegau Cuvee da Capo 1998
• Chateau Guiraud 1989

Yesterday had two wonderful meals with my friends, and I very much enjoyed th

e conversation and companionship. Life is short, there are things you may have missed, there are things you want to do. Everything you decided can bring good and bad consequences, but at the end, you never know which is which. So just keep that in mind, and don't hesitate to go for what you believe is right and what you want.

So let's see how we all will be in 2012, and do send me your thoughts if any. Take care!!

Domaine du Pegau

The Feraud family have been winemakers in Chateauneuf-du-Pape for over 150 years. The vineyards have changed hands several times, but the traditions were maintained so the wines always show the true terroir. Domaine du Pegau was incorporated as a partnership in 1987 between father and daughter Paul and Laurence Feraud.

The vineyards comprise eight parcels, totaling 18 ha, with the favored east-southeast exposure. It composed largely of a Miocene sandy marl, overlying a mass of limestone and large quartzite pebbles. The appellation is renowned for this glacial deposit, bringing the vines to early maturity by absorbing heat during the day and giving it out at night. The vines range from 20 to 92 years of age, and yields are around 30 hl/ha.

The vineyards are carefully cultivated by hand. Pruning begins in December at intervals until March, and green vine branches are snapped by hand, with pre-selection of buds that only the best developed and had the best exposure would be maintained to ensure quality of the crop. The soils are aerated throughout the year with organic matters added every two years. Weedkillers are not used.

When the grapes reached optimal maturity they are hand-picked and carefully separated. The vinification processes are natural and traditional, with a brief foulage and then whole bunches are put in vats to macerate for 15 days. Once the fermentation is completed the juice is decanted to large oak foudres to mature for a minimum of 18 months. No fining or filtration is carried out.

The Pegau estate produces one of Chateauneuf-du-Pape’s most majestic, old-style, robust, super-concentrated wines. Until 1987, they sold much of its production to negociants. In 1998, they added the signature wine, Cuvee da Capo, to Cuvee Reservee and Cuvee Laurence. It is coming from primarily old-vine Grenache, but all 13 authorized varietals are also in this 4000-5000 bottles cuvee that originates from the estate’s oldest parcels on La Crau. It has been produced only in 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007. The wine can easily age well for two decades. Cuvee Laurence (with about 650 cases produced in top vintages) is largely identical to Cuvee Reservee but kept two to three years longer in small oak casks (no new oak is ever used).

My recent tasting of the Cuvee da Capo 1998:

Vintage: 1998

Grape: 90% Grenache, 10% other 12 permitted varieties

ABV: 16%                    

Price: HK$4653

Tasting Date: 30 December 2011

Official website: www.pegau.com

Wineshark Score: 96

Outstanding premium Chateauneuf-du-Pape with deep ruby colour, intense and developing nose of earth, smoke, violet, black cherry, raspberry, savory, tea leaf and herbs. Lively, fairly high in acidity with ripe, fairly high level fine-grained tannin, the wine has a high alcohol level but not heady, of full body. An intense and complex palate showing earth, mineral, smoke, black cherry, cranberry, savory, herbs and tea leaf, it has vivid freshness plus well-structured harmony, accompanied by a fairly long length. Good balance and concentration, the nose is not yet fully open despite decanting for more than 3 hours, allowing only a glimpse of the full potential. Ready to drink now but has potential for ageing of another 10-15 years.

Somontano

The name means ‘at the foot of the mountain’ and it refers to Pyrenees. However, it is the Sierra de Guara and Sierra de Salinas which protect Somontano from the cold northern influence. In 1980 the local government encouraged Vinas del Vero to plant Tempranillo and other international varieties to add to the local Moristel and Parraleta. The total area is now doubled to nearly 4500 ha.

Located in Aragon, it has a proud history but not in terms of viticulture. The west is too extreme and unprotected for vines to flourish, to the south there is desert. However, it offers a mild climate and comparatively more rainfall than other central Spanish plateau area.

Its wines are very reliable and best value in Spain. Roughly three out of four bottles is filled by Vinas del Vero, or the model co-op Pirineos. Blecua is an ambitious estate, Laus is a stylish newcomer, and Idrias and Castillo de Monesma also impress.

Wine: Enate Rosado Cabernet Sauvignon

Region / Country: Somontano Spain

Vintage: 2007

Grape: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

ABV: 13%                    

Price: HK$180

Tasting Date: 27 December 2011

Wineshark Score: 86

Good quality Somontano Rosado with a pinkish red colour, a reasonably intense and youthful nose of strawberry, raspberry, cranberry and ripe bilberry. Medium in acidity, the wine has a fairly light body and reasonably intense palate of strawberry, cranberry, apple and grapefruit. Fairly short in length, the wine is fruit-driven with a fragrant nose. Relatively simple on both nose and palate, the wine is ready to drink though not intend for ageing.

Burgundy Grand Cru series - Clos St-Denis

It is the smallest of the four Grands Crus wholly situated in Morey. The heart of the appellation is the Clos St-Denis. It may seem surprising that the burghers of Morey chose Clos St-Denis as their preferred suffix when Morey became Morey St-Denis on 1927. But that maybe because they were without much choice, as Clos de Tart was excluded (in single ownership), Clos de la Roche would sound awkward and Clos des Lambrays was not a Grand Cru.

It covers 6.63 ha in total, with 20 owners. Average annual production is 2,255 cases. Principal owners include Georges Lignier, Dujac, Ponsot, Bertagna, Arlaud and Jadot. The original Clos belonged to the Canons of the Chapter of St-Denis de Vergy. Planted by monks in the 13^th century, it then passed into the hands of Marey-Monge family and subsequently sold and became fragmented.

The major macro-influence on Clos St-Denis is the Combe de Morey which spans east to west above Morey. This means that fruit on the south-facing exposure ripens faster and better than that of the north-facing side. The more favourable exposure promotes malic acid production over tartaric acid, thus reducing acidity of the finished wines.

The vineyard slopes relatively even from Calouere to Chaffots. The soil contains hard limestone, with a good larding of rock fragments, strewn with flat, angular limestones, overlain by thick gravelly scree. Soil tends to collect at the lower sections of the vineyard, with fine-grained gravels.

Clos St-Denis consistently produces the most elegant wines of all Morey Grands Crus, with finesse, subtlety and delicacy its hallmarks. Though not showing the aromatic intensity of Musigny, it is the most Chambolle-ish in Morey with fruit style redolent more of red than black fruit. It fuses depth and richness with its fragrance, but less structure than Clos de la Roche, and even more pronounced than Bonnes-Mares.

Wines I got from this Grand Cru:

Ÿ             Domaine Dujac, 2004

Ÿ             Georges Lignier, 2005

Domaine Dujac

Jacques Seysses is a cross between a youthful, knowledgeable and passionate for quality, and a traditional whose influence still suffuses the Cote. He has spent more than fourty years in Burgundy and built up a fine domaine and a reputation for winemaking. Arriving in Burgundy in 1966, he spent two years at Domaine de la Pousse d’Or in Volnay before buying the 4.5 ha Domaine Graillet in Morey-St-Denis. He continued to work with the family biscuit business in Paris until he felt that the wine sales can reasonably support him and his American wife Rosalind.

During that period, the original Domaine Graillet expanded by the addition of 0.69 ha in Echezeaux and 0.44 ha in Bonnes Mares. He further purchased land in Clos de la Roche in 1970, and then a joint purchase with Etienne de Montille, adding parcels in Chambertin, Romanee-St-Vivant and Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Malconsorts.

Now Jacques is in semi-retirement, handed much of the day-to-day running of the domaine to his eldest son Jeremy, who is helped by his wife Diana, a qualified oenologist, and his brother Alec. Important decisions are still made by the family as a whole and Jacques is very much involved.

There are now trials of biodynamics in selected parcels of the grand crus. Lilian Robin is in charge of the vineyards. No herbicides or insecticides have been used since 1986 and fungicides other than sulphur and copper sulphate have gradually phased out. Clones are being used less than the past. The vines are cordon de royat pruned to control the vigor, spacing out the vines to reduce yields. Throughout the year the vineyards are ploughed regularly at a shallow depth to preserve quality of soil structure.

To improve quality, there are now more pickers taking longer over each bunch to carefully weeding out green, pink and red berries, leaving only those black and fully ripe. His winemaking is coming from experience gleaned from observing what goes on, and talking to old winemakers in local tradition. But he certainly got a lot of influence from his days in Pousse d’Or, with the modern equipment and hygiene.

He also is unwilling to remove the stalks, believing that it adds complexity and enhances harmony by slowing down the fermentation process. In a poor year, a proportion of the bunches are destemmed but the aim is still to vinify as naturally as possible. Regular pigeage helps to increase extraction.

The minimal destemming is in contrast to the negociant cuvees that Jeremy has been making himself from bought-in grapes, to make softer and more approachable wines. His objective is different, with his negociant wines designed for early-drinking while Domaine Dujac are built to be at their best after ten to twenty years.

The Seysses family like to use a good percentage of new oak, with the premiers crus 60% and the grands crus 90-100%. They buy its own oak from forests in Allier and have it air-dried at Tonnellerie Remond for thirty months before use. The reason for new oak is not for the taste, but the long, slow oxygenation to young wine, reducing the need for sulphur and most importantly, to leach out tannins that bring stability to colour. Dujac casks also have the lightest toast possible. The attention to details makes vintages matter less than otherwise might. In some so-called lesser vintages Jacques still made notable successes.

Dujac wines tend to be lightish in colour, a limpid sort of crushed strawberry hue, with a fine, succulent nose of ripe Pinot. The flavours are equally seductive, sometimes lighter, sometimes richer, yet always complex, fine and silky.

The location of the vineyards also contributes to quality, with some of his premiers crus surrounded by grands crus and in good vintages could convincingly pass as one. Best of his premiers crus is the Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Malconsorts. For grands crus, Dujac has an impressive line-up. Its Echezeaux is planted north-south, giving a medium-bodied, elegant wine. The Clos de la Roche has more tannin but plenty of fruit, ages slowly but gracefully and always worthy of the wait. Similar but with more delicate and fine purity of fruit is the nearby Clos St-Denis. More opulent are the creamy, harmonious Charmes-Chambertin and impressive, full-bodied Bonnes Mares.

There are also three white wines. Two are very small production. Only three barrels of Bougogne Chardonnay and between ten to fifteen barrels of a Morey-St-Denis blanc. The third comes from 0.6 ha of white, chalky soil at the top of Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru Les Monts Luisants. Now new oak has a maximum of 20% and the practice of batonnage is sporadic if at all. The wines are fresher and more elegant.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage of the Clos St-Denis Grand Cru:

Vintage: 2004

Grape: 100% Pinot Noir

ABV: 13.5%                

Price: HK$1416

Tasting Date: 24 December 2011

Official website: www.dujac.com

Wineshark Score: 94

A very good quality Burgundy Grand Cru from Clos St-Denis, garnet colour, with fairly intense and developing aromas of raspberry, plum, earth, strawberry, prune, savory, mushroom, chocolate and oak. Medium in acidity with slightly lighter tannin but showing ripe and silky texture, the wine has a medium body with fairly intense flavors of cranberry, plum, strawberry, oak, cocoa, earth and mushroom. A long length accompanies. Highly complex on both nose and palate, the wine is smooth and well-balanced, with juiciness and acidity matching well to show finesse and elegant harmony. Ready to drink now but has potential for ageing for another 4-6 years.

Wineshark weekly - 25 December 2011

Merry X'mas! Wish all the readers of this blog a happy holiday, and also a healthy and prosperous 2012!

Been too busy and not written for a while. There were so many going on that diverted my attention, hopefully things will be more organized and in control starting 2012. With the maid now back to Indonesia I have been given the task of staying at home to look after the dog, and also using the chance to burn my annual leave and do some study. But life is not so easy, work has been piling up and as a result still need to check my emails and even go back to office once, and this is just my first week off...

Before I start my vacation I attended three company Christmas party, two in Philippines and one in HK. The first one in Philippines is rather grand, a formal black and white party. Our partner there invited me and it is nice to dress up once in a while to attend such event. The other is our own company party, kind of interesting, with Masquerade as the theme. I wore a mask and took part in the competition. Had also done some singing and dancing in the party. Everyone had a good time but I had to return to hotel early as I got a 630am flight the other day to return to HK for meeting, sigh...

Our annual outing this year was going to the Geopark. The day was sunny and warm, very nice weather for outdoor activities. We went to couple of places and do a bit of hiking. Unlike many of my colleagues who just go on gambling on the boat, I went to the deck to enjoy the views and do some sunbathing. The scenery was just amazing. One really need to go out more often to our beautiful nature.

After that I went to Singapore, to attend my cousin's wedding and also having a short vacation with my family. There are couple of restaurants which I recommend (unfortunately forgot to take the photos of the food we had): Soup Restaurant for the Fined Ginger Chicken, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice in Maxwell, The Banana Leaf for the Fish Head, Ya Kun Kaya Toast, No Signboard for Pepper Crab... No wonder I gained weight in this trip, basically we had food non-stop in the four days... We went to Universal Studio and spent a morning there. Rather small, but still a place to go.

My cousin is very beautiful on her wedding and I feel so proud of her. After her family emigrated to Singapore in 1996, we had not seen each other much and so in my memory she is still the little girl but seeing her now with so much changes, I have to admit I also become a bit sentimental on getting older... Look forward to Jul 2012, in which my other cousin will also get married, and we will go to Singapore again!

Returning to HK and starting my vacation, this week we went to Toh Lee Restaurant in Hotel Nikko for dinner. The food is quite nice and price is also reasonable. With the Hang Seng credit card I also got a 15% off so overall it costs only $965 (with tips) for two, including free parking. We had a soup each, a BBQ pork (delicious!), a wild mushroom pan fried garoupa, fish soup with young bamboo and snow pea shoots, and a pot rice with chinese sausages and cured duck plus cured pork. Definitely a restaurant I will go back again.

This week I have been drinking non-stop, to clear my cellar and also to enjoy the festive season. Last night opened a Clos St-Denis Grand Cru, from Domaine Dujac, which was simply exceptional. Highly complex and intense, the very long length and the juiciness plus the other different characters make it so enjoyable I finished the whole bottle in the night. The price is quite reasonable ($1400+). Believe me, if you like Burgundy, buy the wines from famous producer. Even if it costs more, the quality is much better assured than spending maybe less but at the end feeling frustrated because you cannot get what you hope for.

Next week will be the start of the new year, I wish all of you success in whatever you do. Live life to the fullest!!

Navarra

In the wake of phylloxera in Bordeaux, many negociants came to Spain to find the wines to substitute. Rioja and Navarra were the principal areas for such and in the end, because of the proximity to the railway at Haro, Rioja won out. Navarra was then mainly focusing on Garnacha to produce the rosados and strong, bulk reds. However, with the international varieties like Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay, there came a revolution.

Tempranillo has now overtaken Garnacha in total area and Cabernet Sauvignon the third most planted. But Garnacha old vines still found their value in wines like Chivite’s Gran Feudo Vinas Viejas Reserva and Lautus. The most exported wines from Navarra is a bridge between Rioja and Somontano, obviously oaked but a blend of Spanish and international varieties. French oak is also commonly used.

There is a wide difference in Navarra, with Ribera Baja and Ribera Alta subzones in the south having to irrigate because of its hot and dry climate, with Ribera Alta even warmer and more exposed to Mediterranean, as Ribera Baja is protected by the Sierra del Moncayo. Ribera Baja produces good Garnacha but also excellent botrytised Moscatel de Grano Menudo (Muscat Blanc).

In the north it is much cooler because of the Atlantic. As in Rioja, the grapes are picked considerably later, with the Bordeaux varieties even later than Bordeaux itself. Baja Montana on the east is mainly producing rosados and Tierra Estella and Valdizarbe have so much variation that growers have to select sites with extreme care.

Wine: Bodegas Julian Chivite Coleccion 125 Reserva

Region / Country: Navarra Spain

Vintage: 2005

Grape: 65% Tempranillo, 30% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon

ABV: 14%                    

Price: HK$315

Tasting Date: 23 December 2011

Wineshark Score: 90

A good quality Navarra red with deep purple colour and a reasonably intense and developing nose of rubber, black cherry, plum, oak, strawberry, cedar and liquorice. Fairly complex and showing good ageing with the unique rubber aroma. Slightly lower in acidity, the wine has medium tannin of ripe and fine-grained texture. A slightly warming alcohol making it enjoyable in the current cool weather. Medium-bodied, the palate is of reasonable intensity, exhibiting blackberry, plum, black cherry, liquorice and vanilla. A reasonable length ensues. Overall it is well balanced and smooth. Ready to drink now but has potential for further ageing of another 4-6 years.

Rioja

courtesy of Cellar Tours
http://www.cellartours.com/spain/spanish-wine-maps

Rioja used to be having the whole Spanish fine wine market, but those days are now gone. It has faced uncertainty in its style and climate problems. In the northwest the vines could not have ripened because of the Atlantic winds, but fortunately the Sierra de Cantabria protected most vineyards except those in high altitude from that. But in the east because of the Mediterranean the harvest can be four to six weeks earlier.

It is divided into three zones: Rioja Alta is the western, higher part south of River Ebro. Rioja Alavesa, with its Basque background, is literally another country but with a lot of new bodegas. Rioja Baja is on the eastern side, always being treated as inferior but not always the truth.

The soils in Rioja Baja are even more varied than Rioja Alta and the vines more sparsely cultivated, of soft clay and limestone plus alluvial deposits. In Rioja Alta there is more clay and Rioja Alavesa more limestone.

Tempranillo is by far the most important grape in Rioja. It blends well with Garnacha. Graciano is a fine but finicky Rioja specialty. Mazuelo (Carignan) is allowed and also experimentation with Cabernet Sauvignon is tolerated to a small degree.

The region has been producing great wines since the late 19^th century, with Marques de Riscal and Murrieta established already. With the influx of Bordeaux negociants to find substitutes left by the phylloxera void, many bodegas were established around Haro, because of the railway link to the Atlantic coast.

Until the 1970s most Rioja were juicy wines made by small farmers, and the wines were fermented and aged in old American oak, resulting in pale wines sweet in vanilla that was a waste of the great grapes of high quality. This is further worsened by the increase in yields by many growers. Recently there is a revision in winemaking techniques which makes the maceration a longer process, but the bottling was done earlier, after spending the time in French oak rather than American. The wines thus now are deeper and fruitier, more modern in style. There is also a rise in single estate wine, with the growing and bottling increasingly combined.

About a seventh of the grapes is white, almost all Viura supplemented by a few Malvasia and Garnacha Blanca. Easy to drink, neutral with a fresh cut is what the majority is aimed for, but it is a pity because the traditional Rioja white, the oak-aged enriched and refined for a decade or two in barrel and bottle, can challenge the greatest whites in Bordeaux. Lopez de Heredia is the best in that category, with its Tondonia one of the wine world’s originals.

A good Rioja Gran Reserva that I had recently:

Wine: Marques de Riscal Gran Reserva

Region / Country: Rioja, Spain

Vintage: 2001

Grape: Tempranillo blend with Graciano and Mazuelo

ABV: 14%                    

Price: HK$600

Tasting Date: 19 November 2011

Wineshark Score: 93

Deep ruby in colour, this Rioja Gran Reserva has a fairly intense developing nose of oak, vanilla, blackberry, liquorice, cigarette, savory, cinnamon and chocolate. Medium in acidity and tannin, the wine is of medium body and has fairly intense flavors of oak, blackberry, cinnamon, liquorice, cigarette and savory. Fairly long in length, the wine is of very good quality with the intense nose and palate showing complex characters. Overall very well balanced and with a smooth and rounded texture. Ready to drink now and has potential of ageing for another 8-10 years.