HAIRY CRAB NIGHT - Capital Restaurant, New Bridge Road (21/10/2013)
It is hairy crab season again, and the gang gathered for some delectable Dazhe crabs direct from Shanghai at Capital Restaurant. Yummy stuff! We had a pretty neat selection of blind wines as well.
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1990 J. C. Pichot Vouvray Moelleux Domaine Le Peu de la Moriette - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
A charming little wine. Missing a little in terms of depth and refinement, but this still had enough going for it to make it a very good drink. The nose was typical Loire, with honeyed aromas, apples, spice and a telltale hint of lanolin - nice. It was very mature on the medium-bodied palate, with a soft, creamy texture and a mellow roundness to its honeyed overtones, with sweet apple and white peach flavours and accents of chrysanthemum, loquat and winter melon tea on the midpalate. I may have preferred just a touch more acidity, but you really could not fault the overall balance and feel of the wine. Decent finish too, with little bits of toasty spice and earth mingling amidst the dulcet honeyed tones. This is at a good place for drinking, and it went nicely with in-season (Dazhe) Hairy Crab roe - something that has been notoriously difficult to pair in years. (92 pts.) -
2002 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC
A couple of notches down from the brilliant 2001, but this was still a very good dry Riesling with its best years still a long way away. On the night, it took almost an hour to start opening up; even so, the nose was still rather stight, showing lovely but subtle nuances of white peach and apples, flowers and nectar, and just a little honeyed scent. The palate was even more youthful. showing primary, rather citrus flavours of lemons amd green apples at the fore and little honeyed tones just starting to show-up on the mid and back-palate. There was a nice creamy depth to the wine, but this was relived by a beautiful cut and precision and a lovely mineral undertone that drew the wine into a long finish. This felt very complete, with a subtle power wed to a really nice sense of backbone and structure. While it is one of the fleshier vintages of CFE in recent times, it has still quite a long way to go before being ready - I would lay it aside for some 5-6 years at least. Very good though. (92 pts.) -
2008 Domaine Roger Belland Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Second time round, in slightly less ideal circumstances (no decanting, no special stemware, not quite at the right temperature), this still came across very strongly. It had a really attractive nose - very buttery and creamy on first sniff, but opening up with a bright white-fruited scents and deep wafts of spice and mineral. Lots of character there, especially for a wine this young. The palate had a creamily textured depth to it, with powdery apple flesh and chalky mineral tones being the first two things that strike you. Past the midpalate though, and there was lots of lemony, citrus energy and then a long pull of chalky and minerally notes as the wine moved into a long, rather powerful finish. Delicious stuff. There was still a lot of puppy fat on the wine, and it was somehow rather less elegant this time round than with the previous bottle. However, with its fine acidity and lovely mineral structure, this still came across as a very complete, well put-together wine. Good stuff that deserves laying down for some 4-5 years at least. (93 pts.) -
2004 Philippe Pacalet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru La Perrière - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Last bottle of a six-pack, and after a couple of duds, this was thankfully back on form. Unlike some 2004s that have really shed their “green meanies”, this still had a marked “green” character, but far from being “mean”, the green notes were of a slightly gentler aspect, coming across more as a character rather than a flaw. The nose was a case in point, with a distinctly earthy, boiled herb note that actually went along nicely sweeter aromas of dried flowers cooked red fruits - stewed cherries and raspberries I thought - and then a more savoury, broiled meat aspect. Really quite nice, if rather advanced for a wine not yet past its first decade. The palate was similar forward, with a very soft, resolved, almost velvety feel to it. I really liked the flavours though, they were very pure and red fruited, with rich flavours of cherries and berries and red dates laced with bright citrussy acidity and a twist of orange peel. The vintage character really showed up only towards the finish, with a boiled winter melon and herb notes - not quite the nasty raw greenness of the past, but more a gentle Chinese herbal soup character. While certainly particular, this was a really quite delicious and was a hit with everyone on the table. With the depth and balance it had, some even guessed it was a Grand Cru. I liked it myself, but I think one needs to embrace the herbalicious character of the wine to really do so. On the evidence of this bottle, about time to drink up. (92 pts.)
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