Tasted at Booze 6'O clock club
N.V. Taittinger Champagne Brut Réserve
WADA rated 81pts
Yeasty nose. Citrus and baked bread too. Fast moving medium-sized beads.
N.V. Henriot Champagne Brut Souverain
WADA rated 82+pts
Oyster shells with lemon pith. Gently flowing tiny beads of bubbles. More refined with greater depth of flavours.
N.V. Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut
WADA rated 74pts
Closed on the nose. Simple sun dried lemon citrus.
2002 L'Aventure Optimus, Paso Robles, California
WADA rated 89 to 93pts
Opaque dark red. Brambly crayola nose typical of California terroir. Floral smells mostly of violets. Also smoky , some grape-steminess , some sweet vanilla oak …altogether extremely layered. Palate showed glycerin-laced prunes with hints of graphite. Some alcohol heat showing but still restrained …just on the cliff..not over…and finishing with chalky tannins. However, after decanting , it gradually revealed a different set of aromas of burnt rubber tyres and smoked duck. An extremely focused nose. Amazing strength on the palate with tobacco notes making its appearance. It also gradually gained a vegetal aspect with Chinese tree bark herb nearing the end. I enjoyed the journey. Started out a little rough but when we got past the bumpy roads, we saw the beautiful green meadowed mountains and flower-covered fields that finally leads to a coniferous forest. This needs time to impress and I think a few years of cellaring will bring out its best.
Tasted at Friends @ Gardens with DBF quite some time back but has become a reference point for me in terms of milk chocolaty-ness.
2003 Virginie de Valandraud, St Emilion Grand Cru
WADA rated 80+pts
Dark purple black. Inkish with glycerin and a heavy dose of violets. Milk chocolate and dark plums dominate with thick chewy tannins. Finishes with a herb/roots bitterness. Slightly too cloyingly rich for my taste.
Tasted at Vivo with Ming, Teck, Lyd and DBF
2001 Chateau Malleprat, Pessac Leognan
WADA rated 74+pts
This is damn thick and dark stuff. The cork was coated with black sediment that looked like what you get on old soy sauce bottles. Very inkish and dense on the nose…almost bordering on black soy sauce smells. Fruits are thick and very bashful but not bright. The thickness of fruits and whiffs milk chocolate reminds me of the virgin de valandraud that I had. This has weighty and teeth-sticking tannins. Some problems with alcohol heat that is making me get a headache. However, retasted this after 6 hours of bottle decanting and most of the alcohol had dissipated. The dense fruits had all but gone into a whimper of light cherryish fruits…very linear and not as impressionable when first tasted.
2006 Two Hands Angel’s Share, Mclarenvale
WADA rated 81+pts
Deep brooding dark purplish black. Dark raspberry and blackberries tart. Mini fruit bomb but after decanting revealed at least some balance. Hints of violets and lavender. Some coffee oak and a sprinkle of black pepper on the finish.
Tasted at Liang Kee with Godma and family.
2007 Kaesler Old Vine Semilon, Barossa
WADA rated 78pts
Tight on the nose but could get some white stone fruits and wet stones. Minerally lemon and green apples.
Home tastings!
2005 Yering Station Shiraz Viognier, Yarra Valley
WADA rated 80 to 84pts
Lifted focused nose of glycerin-powered brambles and perfumed lilacs, blueberries and some crayola action too. Light lively blackberries and raspberries with some mineral and spice notes. Just some alcohol heat at the finish but not burning . Leaves a bitter residue in the throat at the finish. Tasted this a day later and it is much rounder with more pronounced bitter spipice and licourice notes. However, on the second day when I tasted this, it amazingly still holds its fruits very well. In fact, this is so much more balanced with bright blueberries, losing much of its bitterness. I suspect this might prove a beauty after 10 years of aging.
Had this with a home cooked meal of butter-tossed couscous with sauteed garlicky prawns served with a side of japanese curry vegetables. It actually did go quite well! The wine was sweet enough to complement the curry but was a lil too ritzy for the couscous.
2007 Paolo Saracco Moscato d’Asti, Piedmont
WADA rated 91pts
Lifted aromas of sweet flowers, ripe lychees, pineapples, peaches and apricots. A white fruit bomb on the nose with a faint touch of petroleum, absolutely expressive. On the palate, it is sweet syrup-soaked canned fruit cocktail with all the fruits that show on the nose. In fact, it is also bubble-gummy sweet. Not only fun to drink, it is also serious in its own right like the Joker (in Batman). It seems sweet but not authentic and is just a sliver away from being cloying. It’s like in titration when we are that one-drop away from turning the blue solution pink. Absolutely the best moscato I have ever had.
This goes quite nicely with a slightly spicy malay food. But the sayur lodeh was a tad bit too much coconut for the moscato. This might be better with char kway teow or some chilli crab.
The Lost World - Can't remember when I drank these
2003 W. Gisselbrcht Riesling, Alsace
WADA rated 84pts
Chrysanthemum yellow. Fresh grapefruit with bitter sweet lemons and some aeroplane fuel. Good acid and balance with typical Alsatian characteristics. Good effort.
2005 Weingnut Johannishof Leser Johanisberg Kabinett Riesling, Rheinsal (WS 92)
WADA rated 85pts
Hints of flowers, pineapples and tropical fruits. Honey pineapples, a little apple and lychee and hints of lemon peel. Feels sweeter than a kabinett. A crowd pleaser with aging potential for 5-7 more years at least.
Tasted at Paul's place
2005 O&R Olivier Savigny Les Beaune, Les Peuillets 1er Cru, Burgundy
WADA rated 84+pts
Deep red. Infused with mushroom and soil on the nose. Thick vapourish nose that is on the move and radiant …very unlike a Savigny but this shows the strength of the vintage. This looks and smells like a nuits. Smell of small blue flowers too. Ripe blue fruits with slight bitter tannins. After a day of bottle decanting, the mushroomy soil has all but dwindled to a whimper. Still thick on the palate but with lighter sweet cherries / red berries.
2002 Sylvie Esmonin Bourgogne
WADA rated 82pts
Medium red. Semi-soil with some ass. Light sour cherries with mandarin oranges on the finish. Quite straightforward at the start but the second round of tasting showed a much rounder wine without the sharp edges. In fact the nose had sort of soupy characteristics with rounder haw berries with a “kum kum” preserved orange peel finish. Not a thinker wine but given the second chance, can prove rewarding.
2005 J. Cacheux Echezeaux Grand Cru, Burgundy
WADA rated 91-94pts
Dark opaque purplish red. The nose is just amazingly layered and complex with rubber tyres, crayola, brambles, some flowers and cherry drops. Dark plums and black cherries dominate. Given the firm structure and almost hot spice-like flavours, this could pass as a cabernet shiraz except for some tell tale bitter roots earth characteristics at the end. Thick and luscious velvety tannins. After an hour or so of decanting, the intense aromas of a forest floor strewn with wild mushrooms show with slight smells of glycerin but no alcohol heat on the palate. More dark chocolates too. This is definitely a cellar wine.
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