TN: Mostly tasty wines with Christine's shabu shabu.

WINE TALK
1

The last time I had shabu shabu, it was with my host family in Japan during a college trip in ’91 and it was delicious, so when Christine Huang sent out the invite for Taiwanese style shabu shabu at her place last week, I wasn’t going to miss it. Truth be told, I try not to miss any dinner invite from Christine because girlfriend can cook!

Paul and Sandy Jaouen, Jay Miller and Michel Abood also won the golden ticket to dinner and a fun evening ensued. Needless to say, the shabu shabu was fantastic. Christine laid out an incredible array of tasty bits for us to cook up and by the end of the evening, that broth was one of the tastiest soups/broths I’ve ever had!

We had plenty of nice wines to go along with the dinner, though I do think a beer would’ve been a better match. I didn’t try the Champagne that was opened, though, and it seems like it was declared the best match with the shabu shabu.

Cheers,

Brad

1998 Müller-Catoir- Riesling Spätlese, Haardter Bürgergarten
Jay knows I’ve always liked this wine and it’s always nice to check in on his apparently endless supply. I’m a little surprised by the deep gold color. This bottle certainly shows some more advanced characteristics on the nose. There’s a lot more petrol showing than a bottle I had just two years ago, there’s more of a desiccated apricot character and some intriguing brown spice aromas. Ahhh, but on the palate, the wine is just groovy. It’s intense, yet harmonious with lip smacking acidity nicely balancing the sweet dried apricot and pineapple fruit. There’s some nice secondary development and a certain creaminess to the wine that’s just delightful. Drinking well now, though no hurry here. In fact, I know a bunch of folks that would still consider this too young. A/A-.

1985 Trimbach- Gewürztraminer, Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre
Plenty of petrol on the nose, though still showing classic lichee and spice aromas. On the palate, it’s too old for me. I tend to like Gewürztraminers with some sweetness to them and at this age and in Trimbach’s drier style, there’s no sweetness left. Mineral and petrol dominate the palate. There’s some grapefruit pith that veers a little too bitter and I also find the alcohol to be sticking out too much, which is my real problem with drier Gewürtz’s. To my tastes, when you ferment most of the sugar out, I find this wine can be too unbalanced. Jay, on the other hand, loves this wine and the others also seemed to like it more than I did. B.

2001 Trimbach- Riesling, Cuvée Frédéric Emile
Wow! This is the best showing of this wine to date. It’s showing younger and fresher than a number of other bottles I’ve had, with brilliant pear and citrus fruit that’s abundant and rather exuberant. The mineral is there in spades, but what makes this showing so brilliant is the tsunami like persistence across the palate. The wine just seems to grow and grow and then lasts endlessly. Still young, but the integration and balance of this bottle is wonderful. Low A.

1985 Domaine Laennec- Moulin-á-Vent
Paul threw this in double blind. Well past peak, earthy, no real fruit remaining or tannin structure, but some acidity. Reminded me of an over the hill Rioja minus the American oak. C-.

2009 Tissot- Arbois, Poulsard Vieilles Vignes
What a fun and compelling wine this is. I can’t recall ever having a Poulsard as ripe as this, which may explain why I like it so much. Lots of primary and juicy red plum and blackberry fruit with some interesting earthiness and bark. Tannic and a little chunky, it’s a wine with plenty of personality and just really hard not to like. Low A-.

2009 Breton- Morgon Vieilles Vignes
Whoah! This has to be the cleanest Breton I’ve ever smelled. Where’s the Brett? On the palate there’s sweet fruit with primary fruit with some ripe fruit thrown in. Seriously, at this stage this is a honest to goodness fruit bomb. Thickly textured, but not extracted, these just arrived this month and they definitely need some time to show some more. It’s a real pleasure to drink for the sheer fruit, but there are things underneath that I’d like to see and that’s a bit difficult right now. A-.

2004 Bellivière- Coteaux du Loir “Hommage á Louis Derre”
I really like Eric & Christine Nicolas, but this wine is dreadful. It doesn’t help that I’m not a fan at all of Pinot D’Aunis, but a poor vintage makes this stuff even worse. It literally smells like freshly watered potting soil with menthol and green herbs. “It does smell good,” Jay retorts. There’s no fruit here. It’s all greenness, wet earth and really pissed off acidity. Jay, it’s all yours. D.

1996 Müller-Catoir- Riesling Eiswein, Mussbacher Eselshaut
Light amber in color with gorgeous aromas of guava, apricot, tropical fruit and mineral. It’s certainly sweet, but the sugar is more than buttressed by that stimulatingly vicious ’96 razor wire acidity. There is indeed a fine line between pleasure and pain and thankfully, this stays well in the pleasure zone. Lots of tropical flavors here led by passion fruit with a nice warm spice character in the background. The wine continued to reveal different nuances and build with air. Just gorgeous. A.

2

For the most part, I agree with your notes. I think the Laennec had a very darkly meaty, earthy note to it which made me think Grenache, but an over-the-hill Grenache. The Muller-Catoir and the Freddy Emile were fantastic, and the Breton was good, not great, as its exuberance clashed with the many aspects of the dishes present.
The Belliviere Pinot d’Aunis was fantastic, with earthy dark fruit that did have some surprisingly nice green elements. The Tissot Poulsard VV was both delicious on its own and a perfect accompaniement to the variety of flavors involved with Shabu Shabu. Its light, delicate profile went very well with the foods.
Lastly, the best match to me was the NV Henri Goutorbe Rose Champagne, showing tons of light Pinot-ey aspects with super tiny bubbles that just married perfectly with the meal.
Let me just say a great big MERCI [thankyou.gif] to Christine Huang for letting us join her for an evening of incredible food and tons of laughs.
Cheers! [berserker.gif]

3

Not surprisingly I agree more closely with Michel’s notes. The Belliviere was young but earthy and delicious. The 2004 Rouge Gorge is readier to drink at the moment. The Tissot was lovely.

The Champagne, while not my favorite wine, was definitely the best match with the food. This was the best showing of 2001 Frederic Emile so far, though it’s still very, very young.

The shabu shabu was otherwordly.

4

You have a short memory. You guessed it was a 2001. neener

5

I very much agree!

6

Well, you store your Grenache near the oven, so what do you expect? neener [snort.gif]

7

The spread of ingredients that Christine served up deserves mentioning as it was a veritable feast. There was Napa cabbage, pak choi, bok choi, enoki & trumpet mushrooms, fish balls (fried and not fried,) pork and mushroom balls, beef tendon balls, heritage pork bacon, korubuta pork, lamb, chicken, shortrib, brisket, shrimp, cuttlefish, squid, wontons and clear yam noodles.

A few non-blurry pictures from the night.

The group.

The lineup.

Christine’s homemade duck pastrami.

Enoki and king trumpet mushrooms.

Heritage breed pork bacon.

Brisket.

Eggs for the dipping sauce.

Hostess with the mostest.

So damn good!

Breathe deep…

Jay finds a new way to eat cheese.

Yes, that’s Paul and Sandy doing the dishes.

8

Nice pics - looks like a really fun evening, and some nice wines. I like the 2 wines per person ratio!

9

Let’s see. Six people and nine bottles. Good thing you’re not an accountant, cello boy. rolleyes

10

Brad doesn’t like wine so we cut back on the number of bottles.

11

Luckily the rest of us drank the really good stuff.

12

Oh, and I loved the delicate flowery/bitter flavors of the '85 Gewurtz.

13

It’s fun looking at the pictures. It was a very fun night that we have to do again. I love Shabu Shabu during the winter months. It’s the perfect antidote to the cold! Yes, I agree that the rose champagne was the best match with the food. We’ll have to explore that a bit more next time.

I had a treat the next day when I found out that there was half a glass of the Müller-Catoir Riesling Spätlese and the Trimbach CFE left!

14

Brad doesn’t like Pinot D’Aunis by Belliviere, his palate is beyond repair. You guys should have mixed it with Dr Pepper and six tablespoons of sugar, that would be in his wheelhouse of flavors he loves.