Wineshark weekly - 26 February 2012

Been again traveling in the last two weeks, and because need to leave on Sun so I skipped one week on my blog (many excuses...). It is not easy to catch up all the things I want to do nowadays really. But I will continue to work on that.

There are many issues on work that I have to handle recently, and in the immediate future it will only be more. Sometimes feeling a bit too much and started to wonder what am I doing that for. Of course it is a good development personally on my career now given my general management responsibilities, but still there are simply too many other things I cherish which I do not (and could not) give up in my life. Striking a balance is always easier said than done.

This week's restaurant series is Sevva, which I had heard of for quite a while but haven't actually visited. Located in Prince's Building in Central, it is quite a big restaurant with half of it on balcony and half dining and kitchen. I booked atable last Thu, on the more cozy dining area, as there's another section with some sofa for casual drink and snacks. Can imagine it would be romantic and nice enjoying drinks on the balcony but on the night it was all foggy and wet, so not particularly comfortable I would imagine...

The service was very good, with the staff in smart uniform and nice smiles. We tried the Indian Jetset Dosa, which is a paper thin bread wrapping with butter chicken. Really delicious and good as appetitizer. Then we had soup, with Ivy ordering an Oxtail and me a Chicken Soup. Mine was quite nice, traditional English style and with the right intensity.

For the main course Ivy ordered a Ox Tongue Pie, an interesting dish with a Puff Pastry and a bowl of ox tongue that had been stewed to very softness. I had a Sea Bass with cream sauce, prepared in a foil wrap to keep the juices, with some side vegetables. The fish was not spectacular in my opinion, and comparatively I much prefer the one I normally would have in the steak house in InterCon Manila. But still not a bad one. This fusion style restaurant got other dishes which obviously I would like to try but that had to be on the next time. Total at $1665 for two, a bit on the high end but still a restaurant I will go once in a while.

This week's cooking at home featuring some deep fry dishes. One is a snack - Fish Fillet on Toast and the other is Breaded Pork Chop. Reason making the two together was that those necessary things to make the two are similar and it would be good to use it in one go, like the bread crumbs and the oil for deep fry. Have to again compliment myself for being a good chef as the pork chop was juicy and tender inside even after frying. Find out the detailed recipe on my wineshark blog!

I made some changes on the plan for my wine study, and hope to be more efficient in the process. Besides continuing on the sparkling wine which I will have exam in mid March, I have begun to study the still wines, starting with South America, but not on Argentina or Chile, rather on the two less common countries of Uruguay and Brazil. Really go to a lot of places to search for Uruguay wine in HK but no luck so far. Fortunately did find some Brazil wines in Kowloon City. I will share the tastings and the key information later on in my blog.

My cellar continues to expand, with some recent purchases arriving home:

• Ceretto Bricco Rocche Barolo Prapo 1997
• Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tildin 1995
• Ornellaia 2005
• Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 1992
• Chateau de Beaucastel CDP 2009
• Casa Valduga Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Lastly on my wine tasting, this week I continue to focus on sparkling, with a rather uncommon Bourgogne Mousseux Rouge from Parigot & Richard and a New World premium traditional method sparkling from Forrest Wines.

Acceptable quality Bourgogne Moussuex Rouge made using the traditional method, quite a rare production nowadays. The wine has a pale ruby colour with a slight garnet rim, medium bubble size and short persistence. On the nose it is reasonably intense,  showing youthful aromas of raspberry, red cherry, cedar, smoke and fresh plum. Fairly high in acidity, the wine has low tannin but fine-grained and supple, a fairly light body and fairly light palate of cranberry, plum, raspberry and strawberry, finishing with a fairly short length. Overall quite simple, but it is in balance and easy-to-drink. Ready to drink now and not intend for ageing.

Good quality New World traditional method sparkling with a fairly light lemon color and medium bubble size. Fairly intense and complex on the nose, it shows developing aromas of apple, lime, lemon, lees, butter, cream and walnut. Lively and fairly high in acidity, the wine has a medium body with reasonably intense flavors of lemon, apple, yeast, bread and cream. Creamy mousse, it is of good balance and with a reasonable length. Ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 5-7 years.

Next week will have my March wine-tasting party, and will feature Central Italy wines, including from my collection the Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Annata 2001. I will share the highlights of the event and the tasting notes later. Also, going to organize two mini-tasting in Mar, one on 9 Mar and one on 23 Mar. Interested parties please contact me, limited seats available.

Hope you enjoy reading my blog. Take care and see you here next week!