Wineshark weekly - 25 March 2012

The hot topic in town this week definitely is the election of the next chief executive of HK, and without much surprise CY won the election. How HK will become is yet to be seen, though it is natural to be worried. Maybe it is not that bad to consider working in another country now, and should I think this over?

In this week I went to an Indian restaurant, and where should I try but the India Club? Located in King's Park, the restaurant is open to public and after walking up the stairs the first impression I got was: why there were so many BBQ stoves? The answer is in fact interesting, they have HK style BBQ dinner on Fri night and the weekend, and there were quite a number of people doing that when we arrived.

Of course, I did not come here for BBQ, so we ordered some Indian food. I had a sweet Lassi, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Korma and Palak Paneer, with some Nan (garlic and butter). The food was of standard quality, but maybe because of my higher expectation given that it is the Indian  restaurant of the India Club, I was quite disappointed.

The korma and palak paneer were both nice, though the tikka was not sizzling. Maybe I used to having tikka on hot plate and enjoying the food heated, the 'warm' chicken heated by some tea-candle was not particularly appetitizing to me.

In the end, I could not finish everything, and the atmosphere and decor of the restaurant also was a bit old. The final bill was $290 for two, not expensive but this restaurany may not be one that I look forward to going again in near future.

I celebrated my friend's birthday dinner on Sat, and seeing some MBA colleagues who had not been in touch with a while. Unlike those days when we were still studying and younger, now it is difficult to meet with them. And my coming trip to France was also discussed and there were quite a few planning to join. The initial itineray was already prepared and now hopefully would get some inputs from the gang and furhter modify. However, it will be quite an expensive tour...

The wines I bought this week include:

• Dom Perignon 2002
• Chateau Famaey 2007

For tasting, I have been studying Bordeaux so inevitably it is all Bordeaux wines I have tried:

Poor quality Bordeaux Cru Classe, this 3^rd growth has fairly deep ruby colour, with a reasonably intense though tired nose of blackberry, black cherry, cloves, liquorice, blackcurrant leaf and smoke. Fairly high in acidity, the tannin is sour though velvety. Medium in body, it has reasonably intense flavors of blackberry, plum, oak and leafiness. The vegetal herbaceous note is dominating, showing the grapes were not sufficiently ripe upon harvest. Despite the age there was also no maturity character detected on either nose or palate. Simple, the wine is of fairly short length with the acidity too high without the fruit and ripeness to balance. Overall the wine is beyond its best.

Acceptable quality St-Emilion with fairly deep garnet colour showing its age, the wine has a reasonably intense and developing nose of blackberry, black cherry, cloves, leather, meaty, oak and cream. Fairly high on acidity, the tannin is integrated, soft and fine-grained. Medium in body, with a reasonably intense palate of blackberry, plum, cloves, oak, prune and cereal, the wine finishes with a reasonable length. Overall of fair complexity, the wine has an elegant structure though a bit too thin and slightly too acidic. Ready to drink now, this wine is not intend for further ageing.

Really not doing much this week, I will be going to the Philippines again for business. So until next time, do drink and drop me a note as to what you think of the wine. I also look forward to the number of people joining us. Until next time, take care my friends and see you next week here!