Pinot Mania @ Yung Kee (in progress)

Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc Reserve 2001
The making of sauvignon blanc with heavy oak treatment, which is a clone of Pouilly Fume, has been one of the successes of Robert Mondavi’s Winery. The wine was in light gold color with very high acidity. Nose was full of smoke and coconut oil, while fruitiness like green apple and pear were still prominent. A forward wine which was definitely a nice starter of the night.

Benoit Chablis 1er cru 2001
Nose with nice buttery and creamy aroma while citrus fruits were clear. A bit out of my expectation was that she was rather simple on palate with little mineral and medium acidity.

Verget Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Chenevottes 2003
A very expressive wine with strong creamy vanilla nose, and also ripe yellow and stone fruits like pear, peach, apricot, etc. Bitterness of chardonnay was noticeable on palate, which was balanced by the medium-high acidity and strong fruitiness. Modern style Burgundy white.

Leroy Meursault 1er Cru, Blagny 2002
Leroy is always Leroy, which is equivalent to the term of elegancy and beauty. Nose was not too strong when first poured into glass, maybe affected by the low temperature of the wine. Yet, throughout the night, she just performed like a sophisticated lady who was able to show her attractiveness but not too overwhelmingly. Nice citrus nose and taste, with complexity of gun flint, blossom and white flower.

Chateau de Pommard 1997
Pommard is an area famous for strength of their wine as compare with other regions of Burgundy, and this bottle was a stereotype of Pommard for sure. Full of red fruit like cherry, strawberry, raspberry, etc. while vegetal note of cabbage were all consolidate in the wine. Pronounced nose and palate, a very nice food wine.

Faiveley Echezeaux Grand Cru 2002 (? Not sure the vintage)
If Pommard is the name for strength in terms of area, then Faiveley is the name for power in terms of domaine. Very well structure wine, with strong nose of black and red fruit (blackberry, dark cherry, raspberry, plum, etc.) and strong tannin on palate. The fine tannin and med-high acidity suggested that the wine should have a huge potential for ageing. If I have another bottle of this wine, I would definitely keep her until at least 10 years later.

Georges Roumier Chambolle Musigny 2002
Elegant and traditional style of Burgundy wine, a slim and charming lady indeed. With delicate nose of red fruit and vegetal note, she was a bit overshadowed by the previous two powerful wine. If chances arise, this should be drunk in the first place to let everyone understand her true image.

Bass Philips Premium 2004
New World Pinot Noir which was focus on the performance of fruitiness and balance. Lovely red cherry and strawberry nose, with nice vanilla and caramel note, she was very smooth and balanced on palate. Hint of sweet tone was noted also.

Chateau Pichon Baron 1986
I failed to give her a chance to show herself, as I wrongly believed that she should not be decanted. When first poured into the glass, she was still very close like a shy girl, just showed minor tone of branches, mushroom, green pepper, blackcurrant, herbs. Throughout the night, she evolved into different tastes, black fruit, tea leaves, truffle, etc. were shown more later, but there should be much more room for her to perform better. I suggest keeping her for another 5 years to see the difference.

Chateau Rieussec Sauternes 1989
Medium amber color with oily full body, she should the style of a good aged Sauternes. Very concentrated dried fruit like apricot, raisin, nuts, botrytis favor, and she was a bit out of my expectation that the sweetness is just med-high, which matched with the “goose liver sausage roll” of the night nicely. An interesting food and wine matching experience.

Mini-vertical Tasting of Carruades de Lafite @ Le Mieux (in progress)

早陣子朋友相約晚飯，說起大家有幾個不同年份的「拉菲仔」(Carruades de Lafite)，於是決定來一個平民版的「副牌拉菲」晚宴。

Kaesler Old Vine Riesling 2005
挺尖銳的一瓶酒，果味濃郁，十分清晰的是熱環境出上的薏思琳。入口味道微甜，有著桃子及青蘋果味道，作為餐前酒也蠻不錯。

Louis Jadot Meursault 2000
梅索就是梅索，是我最喜歡布根地的白酒之一。香氣極誘人，帶梨子、雲尼拿、牛油、礦物等。入口酸度很高卻不會令人牙關打震，柑橘類味道為主，配以點點辛辣，偏向簡單的但卻討人歡心。

Clos du Marquis 1999
跟主牌的「拉斯卡」(Las Cases)一樣，予人第一個印象盡是青澀：青草、青椒、杉木，輕輕的鉛筆屑。不過很快她便進入狀態，黑加侖子為骨幹，帶點點紅果，是配餐的理想葡萄酒。

Carruades de Lafite 1995
開始成熟的一瓶酒，酒邊已有點褐色。黑加侖子、梅子、黑松露的香氣，入口單寧挺順滑，更有礦物及香料的辛辣。晚一點多了些普洱茶的感覺。

Carruades de Lafite 1998
感覺上仍很年青的葡萄酒。開瓶後香氣以香草、薄荷等為主，果味反而欠奉。但漸漸她開始展示黑加侖子，配以礦物及香料味道，跟她的姊姊很相近，只是她仍屬幼嫩，單寧比較實在，而且菱角比較多，要時間將好打磨成圓滑的女孩。

Carruades de Lafite 2002
三瓶酒之中以她的顏色最新鮮，紫紅色的酒身，酒邊帶粉紅。開瓶後仍很緊閉，初落杯時香味不太討好，蘑菇、枝梗及有點點的霉味。使勁的搖杯後，出現了黑莓、紅葡萄等果實味，入口除李子味、辛辣及酒精都比較明顯外，其他的都不太清楚。她是很有潛質的，但大概仍需時間讓她成熟。

Penfolds RWT 1998
喝了一晚法國貨，忽然來一瓶果味香濃，充滿香甜誘人感覺的澳洲佳釀，結果當然是把一眾高傲的法國女孩擊敗。香濃的黑莓、李子、黑櫻桃等等，配上微微的朱古力、肉桂、拖肥、黑胡椒，非常可口，怪不得大家已喝得有點過多時，仍能吸引大夥兒以極速幹掉整瓶酒，一滴也沒有浪費！

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.