A little corner of Brittany

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It's been a while since Lunch Club reconvened, and after talking about it for a few days, we finally got around to visiting La Crêperie.  They've been in Hong Kong for a couple of months now, after first setting up shop in Shanghai.  One of us has been to the Shanghai outlet and wasn't impressed, but we were pretty hopeful.  After all, the restaurant is a stone's throw away from all the froggies working at SG and Newedge, who supposedly treat this as their cafeteria...

Now that we are sitting in our little corner of Brittany, what better way to kick off lunch than by having some apple cider?  We started off with a bottle of Kerné Brut, which went down very well on a day like this.  The color was a nice orange in the custom made cider bowls.

There were simply too many choices on the menu and I wanted to order half of them...  So I settled on the combination of 2 galettes followed by a sweet crêpe. 

La Complète - the classic, with ham and cheese and a sunny side up egg on top.  Pretty nicely done, and the buckwheat flavor was pretty intense...or was it just because it was nicely crispy and browned?  Anyway, I was pretty happy with this.

La Bosco - I've always loved seafood galettes... nicely done with white wine cream sauce, and I always love the extra little something that parsley brings.  Plenty of baby squid, squid tentacles, mussels, shrimps...etc.  Very yummy.

The first bottle of cider disappeared very quickly, so we ordered another bottle of the same, plus a bottle of the Val de Rance Doux.  The second bottle was clearly sweeter, although this isn't a problem for someone who loves drinking sweet and dessert wines.

The restaurant's menu is pretty extensive, but a number of items are still unavailable.  The Resident Froggie and I were very excited about being able to taste far breton here... I had just watched a Bourdain episode on Brittany.  But alas, we were informed that this item was not available.  So I had to make do with La Vague, which was made with salted butter caramel.  As soon as the plate was set down, the lovely smell of caramel brought on that conditioned drooling...  This was really nice.

I think there were a few happy campers today, including the Resident Froggie who promised to return.  I think I will, too... and soon.

A round of American Pinot

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Tonight I finally had a chance to attend a tasting organized by my friend at Altruistic Boutique Wines, after having missed every event she has organized in the past.  Tonight's theme was Oregon and Californian Pinot, and I was curious to see what the small producers were turning out.

2006 Bjørnstad Chardonnay Porter-Bass Vineyard - lots of toasty oak here... pretty ripe on the nose, kinda aromatic with some minerals.  Medium acidity.  Pretty good.

2007 Rex Hill Pinot Gris - nose of green apple, pear, sweet caramel and a little flint.  Very light and aromatic... great to drink on a hot summer day.

2006 Rex Hill Pinot Noir Reserve - pretty sweet and fruity nose, with a little mint and kinda alcoholic.  Definitely felt some of that 14.4%...

2007 de Lancellotti Pinot Noir - first whiff of the nose made me to a double-take... it was so Old World... with lots of farmy, smoky notes, plus mint and a bit of orange.  Eventually the sweetness of the nose came through.  Smooth on the palate but the finish was slightly hot and spicy.

2008 Westrey Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard - really sweet with lots of fruit.  Sooo typical for an American Pinot.  Some mint here.  Definitely a little hot on the palate.

2007 Lucia Pinot Noir - lots of very ripe fruit, spices, pretty extracted and sweet with some apricot.  A little sharp on the nose, and actually burns a little going down...

2007 Bjørnstad Pinot Noir Hellenthal - from a bottle that was opened late, so the nose was a little muted at first.  A little mint with some fruit, some farmy notes and game meats.  Opened up with time and got better.

It was a pretty good evening, although I did have to miss watching the World Cup match between Argentina and South Korea...

Throwing a birthday party in style

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My friend threw a birthday party at her apartment tonight, and invited the lot of us to spend an enjoyable evening together.  Long before I arrived, and indeed throughout the evening, our hostess threatened warned me - on pain of limb loss emasculation death - not to include certain words which she felt derogatory in whatever I would write the next morning.

So, what transpired tonight was a gathering of wine lovers/experts, all of whom were much more knowledgeable than yours truly, since they all met while taking classes in pursuit of a diploma on wine.

Our hostess brought in a caterer who provided us with a variety of Southeast Asian cuisine, starting with a selection of yummy Vietnamese appetizers like deep-fried spring rolls, pork sausage, shredded chicken salad and steamed rice flour rolls.  I was hungry and everything was yummy, so I had seconds of everything.  The hot food arrived, and besides the nice roast pork neck, I was surprised to find the very delicious otak-otak.  Certainly much better than what I'd had at Sh!ok.

There was, of course, a lot of wine.  I actually arrived at the party a little buzzed, having sipped on some 2004 Kongsgaard VioRus in the office.  The wine was not bad but not what I had hoped for.  Nose of honey, straw, apricot and a bit of oak.  It's a funny age for this wine, when the Viognier has lost its freshness and the Roussanne is starting to mature and take over.

1999 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill - yeasty and toasty nose, a little sweet and later a little funky.  Pretty nice.

NV Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru (disgorged August 2009) - I looove this wine from Egly-Ouriet, and in fact anything from this house.  This is a delicious Champagne... a poor man's Vieilles Vignes Français.  Lovely oxidized nose of cotton candy, caramel and lemon...  The acidity is a little higher here.

1999 Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes - the nose was clearly oxidized, but I like them like that.  Pretty sweet nose with a light touch of oak and lots of caramel.

1999 Chave Hermitage Blanc - pretty oxidized nose of cotton candy and a hint of minerals.  There was slight ripeness on the palate.  A beautiful wine.

1999 Leroy Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot - this just blew the Meursault away... A very powerful and huge nose of toasty oak, popcorn, with lots of sweetness.  This is what a 10-year old Chardonnay should be!

1994 Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De l'Orée en magnum - I brought this big baby to the party, but it had just come out of the office fridge and was too cold to drink.  After letting it warm up a little, I took a sip and was surprised at what I found.  The nose was dominated by plastic and petrol.  Was I drinking a German Riesling?  There was also some lemon, and the nose was a little alcoholic.  A second pour much later continued to show lots of plastic, with enough ripeness and honey.  The palate was pretty well-balanced, but it was still a weird wine.  Not what I expected at all.

1996 Les Forts de Latour - classic claret nose of smoke, mint, sweet fruit and cedar... Very fragrant with a little rose and floral notes.

2001 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard - I'd be happy drinking any Marcassin wine on any given day, and this one was a winner.  Very sweet nose as expected, with a little pine needle, very fragrant - almost floral.  Pretty sweet on the palate but there was some acidity to balance it out.  A little alcoholic.

1996 René Engel Clos Vougeot en magnum - very open and beautiful nose, with farmy, toasty oak notes along with sweet, black fruits.

2003 Bouchard Corton-Charlemagne - kinda sweet, toasty with minerals and some popcorn.  Good balance between the acidity and ripeness.

2006 Catena Zapata Malbec Adriana Vineyard - really sweet fruit, a little ripe, with some forest, mint, coffee and vanilla.  Acidity was a bit high with reasonably soft tannins for a wine this young.

2006 Numanthia - funky nose, really alcoholic...so much that it burned my nostrils.  Pretty ripe and sweet, with coffee, smoke and coconut butter.  Surprisingly soft on the palate.

2004 Leroy Bourgogne - what a treat... the gang rushed for the bottle as soon as the cork was popped, and I managed to get the very last few drops.  Beautiful and explosive nose.  Smoky, farmy, a little sweet and floral, and slight acidity on the palate.  The wine was so ready it didn't need any time to aerate.  Our hostess was kind enough to bring out a second bottle since not everyone had enough of this.

Passopisciaro Bianco Dolce - a little ripe, grapey, honey, orange and botrytis.

1985 Noval - a little forest, ripe fruit, a little medicinal, medjool dates, a little nutty, preserved longan (桂圓), and alcoholic.  Naturally the port was sweet on the palate.  Very nice.

1996 Lignier Clos de la Roche - sweet, ripe, a little farmy and minty.  Very elegant and nice.

We kept racking up the bottle count, and there was one more bottle of 1999 Vogüe Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru that was opened.  Unfortunately, I was a little too far gone to partake in it.  Kinda dozed off on the couch there...  I called it a night and left most of the crowd to party on.

Not your mainstream French

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I was hanging out with a few friends tonight, and we decided to give On Lot 10 a try.  I had missed an opportunity to come here a few weeks ago, and looked forward to checking out the cuisine.

The restaurant's menu was small but full of surprises.  I ended up choosing 3 starters, which were all more interesting than your run-of-the-mill French fare.  I was getting really impressed with the the menu put together by the chef.

I started with some rabbit rillettes.  It's not often that one finds rillettes made with rabbit in Asia, as it's usually pork.  I love rillettes, and this one was pretty nice.  Very fine strands of meat fiber, very smooth on the tongue, and not too fatty.

I had a bite of my friend's boudin Basque, which was nicely pan-fried to dissolve some of the fat in the blood sausage.  I didn't have any of the caramelized apple because I wanted the full flavors of the sausage.

Crispy tête de cochon came next.  I love that they have this on the menu, although it wasn't as good as the one I had last month.  Pig skin, pig's ear, pig cheeks and tongue wrapped together.  There were big pieces of crunchy ear which kinda ruined an otherwise soft and smooth texture.  The garnish on the side consisted of capers, chopped gherkins and cheese, using the acidity to balance the fat of the head cheese.

Finally I had some andouillette, which was off the menu but was offered to me by the waiter instead of something else I wanted.  I think what I got was half of a sausage, pan-fried along with a chunk of caramelized pear.  I looooove andouillette, but this one was a little extra chewy.  At least the flavors were all there, although I'm not sure some of my companions appreciated the smell.

My friend brought along two bottles of wine, which we did not finish as the ladies weren't drinking much.  The 2001 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet drank very well, with nose of lemon, toast, minerals...very ripe nose and a little buttery.

The 2007 Torbreck the Struie was drunk way too young, but it was pretty much what I expected from David Powell.  Huge sweet nose, with lots of minerals, oak, orange, a hint of smoke, vanilla and caramel.  Really a lot like American Syrah...

I didn't have a huge amount of food, but they were all pretty rich, which left no room for dessert.  I was happy just to stop here, and it was a pretty good meal.  Maybe next time I'll come back for the roast suckling pig...

The other Marchese Antinori

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OK, so it's probably unfair to call him "the other Marchese", as he is the patriarch of the family and the elder of the two famous brothers.  However I did get to know Lodovico first, so Piero will always be "the other brother" in my book...

This afternoon I was fortunate to have been invited to a vertical tasting of Solaia, the flagship wine of the Antinori empire.  The tasting was presided over by Marchese Piero Antinori, who is the driving force behind the wine.  Piero filled us in on the history of Solaia, as well as some background on its sibling Tignanello, widely recognized as the first IGT or "Super Tuscan".

1978 Solaia - this was the very first vintage of Solaia, made with vines which were 3 years old.  I have a bottle of this and almost opened it a few weeks ago, but I'm glad I kept it.  This was an amazing wine - most certainly my favorite of the tasting.  The nose was classically claret, with smoke, grilled meats, sweet black fruits, mint, maybe a hint of orange and apricot.  After a little while the nose evolved into something different and just blew me away... lots of bacon fat, sweet and a little floral.  Even later, nose of green peppers, heavy cigar smoke, farmy, dare I say braised beef (紅燒牛肉)?  Absolutely beautiful!  On the palate it was still a little tannic and grippy, despite the high acidity.  The finish was very long, and a little hot and alcoholic.

1988 Solaia - the nose was much more ripe, open and hot, with strewed prunes, sweet, cigar smoke, a little medicinal and brett.  After a while the sweetness really came through, which then developed into an overripe, cooked nose.  Finally the nose was dominated by burnt rubber and Chinese medicinal herbs.  The acidity of the wine was evident, but again the finish was a little grippy.

1994 Solaia - sweet fruit, a little plastic, burnt rubber, caramel and pine needle.  A hint of ripeness and a little floral.  Light smoke and obvious coffee.  A very nice and elegant wine. Medium-high acidity, with reasonably soft tannins and a very long finish.

1997 Solaia - kinda disappointed in this wine from the blockbuster vintage. The nose was still closed, with some brett, smoke, limited amount of sweet fruit and a little apricot.  There were still some chewy tannins.  My last encounter with this wine was 8 years ago, and even back then it was relatively shut against a lineup of other 1997 Super Tuscans and required more than 3 hours to open up.

2004 Solaia - more concentration here, with forest and smoke.  The wine opened up more with a little time.  Smooth and silky on the palate.

2006 Solaia - nose was very sweet and pretty extracted, a little "hot", with mint, tropical fruit, toffee, and a little alcoholic.  This was a young wine and you can see that the new oak hasn't quite integrated with the wine.  Stylistically one would even suspect this was more "New World"...  But nose was beautiful and toffee and caramel dominated later.  The tannins of this wine were surprisingly soft for something so young.

2007 Solaia - this was another blockbuster vintage, and the wine has yet to be released.  Nose was more concentrated, with blackcurrant, oak, vanilla, some spices like cardamom, sweet and alcoholic.  Let's see how this wine turns out in another 10 years.

I got a chance to introduce myself to Piero and mentioned about my dinner with Lodovico.  It's a shame that the two brothers could not travel together as originally planned, but hopefully we will get a chance to see them together soon.  There's always next year...