葡萄酒品嚐實驗 (Chinese only)

台灣的林裕森老師原來在三月時曾舉辦了一個十分有意思的品酒會，或許說成為品嚐葡萄酒的工作坊可能比較貼切，目的是令每位參加者了解葡萄酒中各種原素的特性。台灣的網友Jimmy為此次活動作了詳細的報導，大家可按下面的連結看看：

「葡萄酒品嚐以及香氣實驗」

我真的很羨慕台灣的朋友可以有機會出席如此有趣及實用的品酒會，不知類似活動在香港舉行的話，會不會有人願意參加？

Unintentional Collection of Old Wine Dinner

酒友忽然相約吃飯喝酒，當然立刻應允。看到酒單，有點意外，原來酒主「在閒來沒事幹，隨意亂買點東西」的性情影響下，以十分吸引的價錢買下了數瓶佳釀，促成了是次飯局。

1) 1990 Dom Perignon
鮮黃色酒身，汽泡幼小，但比較散亂，是杯子問題還是酒的問題？香氣比較收歛，烤吐司、酵母、桃子、柑橘等均有點點，但亦只有點點。是否未是時候？

2) 1961 Chateau Brane Cantenac
比我更年長的葡萄酒，瓶身的酒標可說是慘不忍睹，但酒本身卻很不錯。野莓子、紅果、肉類及野味的香氣甚討好，喝進口中順滑得不得了。雖然後勁不繼，只勉強支撐到大半小時，但仍是不錯的一瓶老酒。

3) 1990 Chateau Pavie
跟近年的Pavie比較，這位十七歲的少女優雅得多了。紅果、陳皮梅及甘草等味道構成了她的主體，酒身挺纖幼，比近年的出品吸引得多。

4) 1990 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
雖然不是喝過太多年份的Las Cases，但每一次她都是先展現青澀的一面於人前。青椒、蘑菇、枝梗及青草等，很不吸引。可是隨著時光流逝，她卻是越來越惹人喜愛。葡萄乾、熟莓、礦物及甘草等香氣慢慢的滲出來，是否如人一樣要時間了解才知她的吸引之處呢？

5) 1989 Chateau Doisy Vedrines
猶如液態黃金的一瓶好酒，酒身豐厚，有點像油。香氣中充滿焦糖、烤鳳梨、蜂蜜及貴族霉，入口甜度卻不算太早，帶點點貴族霉的甘，極度怡人。
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A wine-mate called for a dinner to share his “unintentional” collection of matured wine, so attractive and I join this gathering without a second of hesitation.

1) 1990 Dom Perignon
Fresh lemon color with fine but scattered bubbles, rather inward and not expressive. Minor tone of toast, yeast, peach and citrus, but just a bit. Does it mean that there is still a long way for her to go?

2) 1961 Chateau Brane Cantenac
A wine even older than me with an ugly label but nice performance. With pleasing wild berries, red fruit, meaty and game nose, she was extremely smooth on palate. Although she was just able to stand for about 45 minutes, I reckon that she was a good wine.

3) 1990 Chateau Pavie
This 17-years-old teenager was much more elegant and beautiful than the recent offspring of Pavie. Red fruit, preserved berries and licorice formed her main body, very fine and attractive girl indeed.

4) 1990 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
Every time I have chance to taste Las Cases, she shows her greenness to people in the first place. Green pepper, mushroom, branches and grass were first noted, not too pleasing indeed. But she became much more adorable later in the night with raisin, ripe berries, mineral and licorice. Is it that she always expresses her true side with someone who is willing to spend time with her?

5) 1989 Chateau Doisy Vedrines
Liquid gold, full body just as if she was oil. Caramel, grilled pineapple, honey and botrytis were noted on nose, she was not too sweet on palate in fact, with minor bitterness of botrytis favour, very nice.

Spoil Café

有看此博格的朋友都知道我基本上沒寫過甚麼食評，因自問不是一個饞嘴的傢伙，每次跟朋友吃飯我都是喝酒為主，吃東西為次。可是這次真的想寫寫這家小店。

朋友工作完畢後刻意跟我溜到此處吃飯，在不太餓的情況下點了個蘑菇意大利飯(mushroom risotto)和烤安格斯肉眼扒(Angus rib eye)，吃的時候真有點意外的感動。意大利飯做得很傳統，很有咬勁，蘑菇香氣四溢，起司也用得恰到好處，並沒有太膩的感覺。牛扒嘛，外層的焦香竟像帶點點的炭燒味，但店員說只是普通煎鑊做出來的，很有技巧；內裡更是厲害，肉汁豐富之餘滲著點點的血腥，極引起我的食慾。缺點是牛扒本身質素平平亦帶點筋，否則一定更出色。看到鄰桌點的虎蝦(tiger prawn)也十分不俗，有機會要再訪一試。

以小店來說，酒杯尚算齊全，開瓶費要一百大元，下次問問多帶幾瓶的話可否酌量減收。

Spoil Café
G/F Shop 1 & 1A
Sun Street
Wanchai, Hong Kong

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To be honest, I never consider myself as someone who knows dining very well. From my point of view, I would care about wine much more than food in a meal. But, I would like to talk about this small restaurant for my first time.

Entered the shop with my friend after work, and order mushroom risotto and grilled Angus rib eye only as we were not too hungry. I was really impressed by the quality of the food. The risotto was real al dente, with very nice fragrance of mushroom. Use of cheese was just right, almost perfect. For the steak, the crispy surface with tons of juice inside, just the quality of the steak was not optimal, otherwise that would be another perfect dish. The tiger prawn in the next table looked nice too, I probably would try that out next time.

As such a small restaurant, there are plenty of glasses. Corkage is $100/bottle, which I will try to negotiate next time if I have to bring more wine.

Britain's Got Talent

工作得悶悶，上網找最近給世界各地媒體炒作得比任何藝人也更要看看的Paul Potts，無話可說，他的故事加上現場環境氣氛，的確令人動容，老實說第一次看時我也有一點點的眼泛淚光(另一個給我同樣感覺的歌唱家是Andrea Bocelli)。但相對起Paul的使人感動，我更欣賞只得六歲的Connie Talbot，她那使人沉醉的金桑子，更使人愉快。我忽然想起葡萄酒的世界中，每一次有超級佳釀出現時，她身邊其他的出色產物總會被其光芒淹過，這是上天不公平，還是給其他人考驗的安排嗎……
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While the boring job annoyed me so much during the day, I search Paul Potts, who was the Champion of the “Britain’s Got Talent”. I was really touched by Paul’s story, his amazing performance as well as the atmosphere of the contest. But, indeed, I appreciate the lovely and adorable sound of little girl Connie Talbot even more. This makes me think of the case in the world of wine, whenever there is a superstar appears, the outstanding wine around her will have to live in her shadow. Is this unfair game by the God, or this is some kind of test for others?

Two-and-a-half Pair @ Crown Wine Cellar

有一段日子沒見過面的朋友忽然相約吃飯喝酒，那管近來工作多忙，下班後即時「飛的」到深水灣徑的「皇冠酒窖」。是夜主題為「布根地」，可是5瓶葡萄酒當中竟出現了兩對相同產區的，到底是我們對布根地的認識太少而只選「大路」產物，還是梅索(Meursault)和香貝丹(Chambertin)真是太吸引人呢？

雖然兩瓶梅索都是最基本的白酒，並沒有列級，可是喝起來也十分美味。簡簡單單的以豐富的果味，如青葡萄、杏脯、桃子等支撐整體表現，配以礦物和喉頭上的微甘作收結。而當中以J-F Coche Dury的果味比較濃郁，而Olivier Leflaive則比較纖幼。可是兩者的酸度也較想像的低，否則兩瓶都會是出色的產物。

看到J-F Coche Dury，不其然想起布根地酒莊與酒莊之間微妙且複雜的關係，又想起網友deetsang也曾提及金杯，大家可以看看大師級人馬的意見：
還是金杯的好！

Blagny則是我首次接觸的產區，可是這瓶酒真的不是太出色。酒身出乎意料的粗糙，香料類的辛辣及酒精都有點過多，不太平衡。雖說是一級田，但我想大概一級之中也有頭尾之分罷。

兩瓶香貝丹(雖然不是很準確的同一區)，有點像老大哥欺負小男孩。Chanson的最基本香貝丹，落杯時的香氣非常吸引，果味挺濃，配上點點像煮白菜的植物氣息，很是黑皮諾或布根地的模範教材，缺點是酸度實在太低，而且欠缺變化，始終小孩子一般都應該是簡簡單單的才像小孩子。那當飽經風霜的特級田老大哥出場又如何呢？香氣頗收儉，隱約地感覺到點點的紅莓乾及潮濕的森林，入口紅果類融為一體，幾乎分不開有甚麼在其中，十分高的酸度令餘韻極之悠長。隨後的時間，每十分鐘她便展現多點不同的感覺，首先不同的果實味道變得清晰明顯，配上特別的味道，例如嘉應子、黑松露、泥土、醬油及陳皮等，越是顯出她的複雜程度。老實說，Louis Remy釀的酒並不是特別出色，但先天條件優厚，加上經長時間熟成而得出此住釀，大概是注定的。

淺酌輕嘗，把酒談歡，跟朋友喝酒談天是一件十分美好的事情。但始終「alcohol is not conducive to good behaviour」，像當晚7個人喝5支葡萄酒後，微醺的感覺還是比酩酊大醉來得舒適。
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How would it be for a pair of Meursault, a pair of Chambertin and a Blagny appear together in a dinner? That was a recent experience I have in Crown Wine Cellar.

2 bottles of Meursault were just showing the powerful fruitiness and vivid style to us. The J-F Coche Dury emphasized on fruit while Olivier Leflaive was more on elegance. Although these two bottles were just simple Bourgogne, they were still lovely to taste except their problem of low acidity.

Blagny was completely new to me, but this rather rough, over spicy and alcoholic wine was definitely not my favourite. She showed the fact that there are always good and bad stuff among 1er Cru.

Finally, two Chambertin, though actually they were from 2 separate areas, just showed how young kid being bullied by strong adult. The Chanson is a very to-style simple Bourgogne - strong red fruit with some vegetal note, simple kid which should be welcomed by lots of people. How about the 22-years old lady? Well, she was a shy girl at first. Most of the fruit characters were not shown clearly and only presented high acidity which made the aftertaste so long. Later, she was just trying to show off her every aspect: different kinds of red fruit together with some “old wine” characters like soy sauce, black truffle, soil, preserved fruits, etc. I personally reckon that Louis Remy was not an extremely outstanding wine-maker, but her assets (Grand Cru) is so strong and the long time of cellaring just made this lady a charming woman.

“Alcohol is not conducive to good behaviour” (I like this sentence very much), and the level of alcohol in my blood was just right on the night.