2010 Simple Wine Dinner Series No.6 - "Dry" (Grosses Gewachs) Dinner (Part 2/4)

Flight 3 ::

Deep-fried Fillet of Sea Perch with Superior Soya Sauce

Another Must Try dish. The Sea Perch is sweet and deeply flavor, though the texture not as silky as cod, this is good by its own with the lovely crispy fish skin and delicious sauce which pairing well with the Dellchen but overpower by Weil.

05. 2008 Dönnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
Alcohol :: 12.5%
Tasted Blind. This too is highly perfume, with floral, ripe white fruits with hint of eucalyptus and mineral infused. Light palate, lack of the concentration of others GG, with mineral and crushed rock, slight fizzy mouth feel again with light but crisp and spicy finish. This also lack of the good ripeness of 2007 to balance with the soft mineral and high acidity. With some times, it did become slightly rounder but still very acidic long finish. Bony structure. A highly mineral driven style. In a dumb phase? Not sure if this will improve and add weight and complexity in the bottle and I certainly hope it will. Buy - No

06. 2008 Weingut Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Erstes Gewächs - Germany, Rheingau
Alcohol :: 13.5%
Tasted Blind. Similar aromatic perfume nose with floral, lemon, green apple, ripe passion fruits intermixed with focus slate and mineral tones. Bold, creamy and round mid palate sap showing spicy pink fruits, powerful but not showy thanks to the good balance with underlying crystalline texture that keep it in good precision and focus with lemony acidic long finish. Certainly need more time to comes around but already showing quite well. Buy - Yes


Flight 4 ::

Braised Homemade Beancurd with Stuffed Golden Mushroom, Local Spinach and Crab Meat

07. 2007 Weingut Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Erstes Gewächs - Germany, Rheingau

Alcohol :: 13.5%
Tasted Blind. Fine, focus almost airy ripe white and yellow fruits with crush rock, wet stone and perfume floral. Expressive and this is also super aromatic, with more depth compare to the 08 and the palate is dancing! Intensely rich and full of power but perfectly balance, almost creamy texture with good complexity that go seamlessly toward the powerful but crisp refreshing finish resonant with lemon lime flavors. A wine that emphasize with its power but also Juicy, elegant, fine and perfectly balance with great structure, like a posh lady. Buy - Yes

08. 2008 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
Alcohol :: 12.5%
Tasted Blind. Pure rocky, mineral, with tons of pink fruits – pink guava, pink grapefruits. Very clean palate, and precise at the entry again with tons of pink fruits, but showing some alcoholic notes at the very end which spoilt the balance of the entire mouth feel. This is kind of simple at the moment, straight forward with grape fruits and mineral undertones. Full of raw power rather than the usual hallmark of Donnhoff wines – finesse and elegant. Note that this is very tight and not really showing tonight. Would love to re-taste this in another 7-10yrs time.

2010 Simple Wine Dinner Series No.6 - "Dry" (Grosses Gewachs) Dinner (Part 1/4)

2010 SIMPLE WINE DINNER SERIES NO.6 - "DRY" DINNER - Peach Garden @ OCBC Building

Millions Thanks to Ed, to make this happened. We have had a great GG tasting with famous or world acclaimed best Riesling producer. Despite the 12 GGs that we supposed to have, Ed has brought along two mysterious red, plus Paul's dessert, sweet Riesling - Spatlese from TM and a fortified from me. What a night, 17wines for 12pax!

The dishes are as great as usual in Peach, with special highlight of their signature Wasabi Prawn, Double-boiled Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup with Fish Maw and the absolutely delicious and refreshing dessert.

Menu

Serving:
- 8flight, each flight 2wines, blind.
- At the end of the night, everyone vote for their best 3wines of the night.
- Reveal the best 3wines of the night and its identity ^^

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1st Flight :: Wasabi Mayonnaise Prawn

The Diel isn't match with the prawn dishes which show very alcoholic and heaty attack.

Starter - Roasted Pork Cube

Fried Prawn with Wasabi Sauce accompanied w Fried Prawn with Salted York

01. 2007 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe

Alcohol :: 13%
Tasted Blind. Highly expressive and aromatic nose of floral, pink guava, peach with mineral, wet stone which is clean and focus. Entry attacked by ripe fruits, minerality and salted sea shell, spicy liquid rock, almost tasted like rock with hint of heat and alcohol at the very end with soft persistent finished with spicy, lemony undertones. This is fine, precise, and mineral driven with lots of power, almost clean and vibrant if not with the hint of alcohol at the very end. A lovely wine. Buy - Maybe

02. 2007 Weingut Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Großes Gewächs trocken - Germany, Rheinhessen

Alcohol :: 13.5%
Tasted Blind. Also very aromatic of red floral, towards Tropicana fruits like pineapple, peaches, fresh with hint of pink guava notes. Fruitier, bold and not as sharp compare to 2007 Diel Goldoch GG, with acidity appears in the mid palate toward the citrus and peaches like finishing. Overall this is also very fine GG with creamy friendly texture with light citrus lemony finish. Not bad, just not as precise. Hopefully another 3-5yrs of bottle age will shed off some fleshes and getting more balance with its fruits driven characteristic. Buy - No.

2nd Flight:: Double-boiled Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup with Fish Maw

Double-boiled Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup with Fish Maw

This is a MUST try! The soup is incredibly thick, with heavenly flavors. It deserve to be served on its own, and if there is any wines that could match the crazy thickness of this soup, it would be cognac or port.

Felsenberg, a huge surprised that it performed so well, a wine full of finesse, grace and in a total harmony. Bravo! Group #1, mine #1

03. 2007 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Felsenberg GG (Grosses Gewächs) - Germany, Nahe

Alcohol :: 13.5%

Tasted Blind. The nose is large scale, fresh, elegantly aromatic nose of floral, white fruits and adding complexity and depth with hint of steel, petroleum and mineral. Not like the wines in 1st Flight, this is beautifully ripe, soft elegant white fruits, gorgeously balance with its mineral, crush rock and ripe acidity. Painfully intense and rich yet feather like weight. Slight smoky spicy finish which goes on and on effortlessly. This is perfectly balance with gorgeous texture, laser like precision and focus along with highly complexity, great depth and full of finesse. Excellent! My WOTN. (and overwhelmingly voted #1 by the crowd) Buy - Yes.

04. 2008 Weingut Keller Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Großes Gewächs trocken - Germany, Rheinhessen

Alcohol :: 13%
Tasted Blind. Very fruits driven nose of red & pink fruits, especially pink guava and pink grapefruits which remain pure and elegant with a dash of mineral. Intensely rich palate of crush rock, slate, balance out with ripe pink fruits and fresh citrus fruits. This is juicy, almost creamy texture with savory long finish. Despite of its power, this is drinking beautifully now for its creamy friendly balance texture and will certainly add more complexity with age. Same as wine No2, this is also lack of a bit in precision. Buy - Maybe

2010 Simple Dinner Series No 6 :: German 1st Growth Dinner

Venue :: Peach Garden, OCBC Building, Raffles Place

Date :: 16-JuL-2010

Theme:: The great German Riesling 1st Growth >> GG (Grosses Gewachs)

What is Grosses Gewachs (also name Erstes Gewachs in Rheingau)? To make GG, there are law which all the producer need to be follow with:

- Maximum fixed residual sugar level at 9gms/l

- Choice of grape variety is restricted and harvested by hand

- The grape ripeness has to be at least a Spatlese level

- Traditional Winemaking methods

- Specific best designated vineyard

My first GG was in Wine for Asia 2009. A relatively new style for me, and my curiosity of GG started after saw the fantastic tasting note for two re-known producers, Hermann Donnhoff from Nahe and Robert Weil from Rheingau from my wine buddy.

Was lucky enough to participate for the GG tasting at Wine for Asia 2009, having tasted 15 (er... if not wrong) GG with different varieties, such as Riesling (the best showing IMO), Silvaner, gewuztraminer etc..... To be honest, I was being impressed by the style but not by the quality of wines that they serving at the event, some good, some so so, just not great.

So I keep searching, looking around for better (or best?) GG producer, such as Hermann Donnhoff, Robert Weil, keller, Schaefer Frolich etc..... The only thing I could find locally was Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle & Dellchen GG, with a hefty price.

This phenomenon is mainly due to German Riesling, the sweet version (Kabinett, Spalese, Auslese, Eiswein, Beerenauslese "BA" and Trockenbeerenauslese "TBA") are fashion and popular in Singapore and the dry version, especially the GG, is hardly seen in local due to the demand and interest of local wine connoisseur and I hope this will be improve and change in the near future.

Millions Thanks to Ed, to make this happened. Tonight we going to have a great GG tasting with all famous or world acclaimed best Riesling producer, the extraordinary line up:

01. 2007 Donnhoff Felsenberg GG, Nahe

02. 2007 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle GG, Nahe

03. 2008 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle GG, Nahe

04. 2007 Donnhoff Dellchen GG, Nahe

05. 2008 Donnhoff Dellchen GG, Nahe

06. 2007 Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel GG, Rheinhessen

07. 2008 Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel GG, Rheinhessen

08. 2007 Keller Dalsheimer Hubacker GG, Rheinhessen

09. 2008 Keller Dalsheimer Hubacker GG, Rheinhessen

10. 2007 Robert Weil Kiedricher Grafenberg (KG) EG (Erstes Gewachs), Rheingau

11. 2008 Robert Weil Kiedricher Grafenberg (KG) EG (Erstes Gewachs), Rheingau

12. 2007 Schlossgut Diel Goldloch GG, Nahe

Serving:

- 6flight, each flight 2wines, single blind.

- At the end of the night, everyone vote for their best 3wines of the night.

- Reveal the best 3wines of the night and its identidt ^^

Food Menu:

01. Wasabi Mayonnaise Prawn

02. Double-boiled Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup with Fish Maw

03. Deep-fried Fillet of Sea Perch with Superior Soya Sauce

04. Braised Homemade Beancurd with Stuffed Golden Mushroom, Local Spinach and Crab Meat

05. Pan-fried Beef Tenderloin with Marmite Sauce

06. Fried Rice with Assorted Seafood and XO Sauce

07. Royal Jelly in Young Coconut / Chilled Black Glutinous Rice with Ice-Cream in Young Coconut

08. Chinese Pancake

Let's Rock!

Salon - Blanc de Blanc specialist in Champagne?

Blanc de Blanc - A champagne style that make from 100% chardonnay.

Salon, a highly regard and one of the most expensive Champagne house that only produced Blanc de Blanc champagne, only in best vintage (approximated 3vintages in a decade with no more than 80,000 btls per vintage). Grapes that being used in Salon are all from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a grand-cru rated vineyard.

Same as other famous champagne houses which normally age their top cuvee in bottle for several years before release, Salon only releases their wines after at least 10years aging or more in bottle after fermentation in stainless steel tank. Salon's small production and long aging period before released explain why it demands such high price tag.

However, good news to those, including me, who wanted to try the style of Salon but were frightened away by the price tag, those vintages not released under label of Salon, will be release as Delamotte instead, with a fraction of price of the great Salon.

Have received a Newsletter offer for 1996 Salon Blanc de Blanc Le Mesnil from Artisan Cellar, a well-known fine wine boutique which famous for their wide selection of grower champagnes. 1996, one of the best vintage in Champagne (also in Bordeaux and Burgundy). For sure, always come with a very BIG price tag

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1996 Salon Brut Blanc de Blancs “Le Mesnil” CHAMPAGNE SALON is one of the great names in Champagne for many very good reasons. It is singular and unique in every way. It is mono-cuvée, mono-terroir (Le Mesnil), mono-cépage (Chardonnay)...and has been since its first vintage 1905. Conceived and guarded by perfectionists, it is only made in the finest years — merely 37 vintages of Salon has been bottled to-date. This is why it is called the original connoisseur's Champagne, an exquisite treat privy only to the most discerning and resourceful Champagne collectors. The grand cru village of LE MESNIL is home to the most sought after Chardonnays in Champagne, and it is widely held that CHAMPAGNE SALON produces possibly the truest expression of the village's magnificent terroir. This venerable house is credited to have brought the genius of Le Mesnil into the consciousness of many. Put it another way, it is impossible to know and understand the character and greatness of Le Mesnil without ever having appreciated a Salon. Salon does not use malolactic fermentation for maximum freshness and longevity and as such the wine possesses a razor-sharp acidity in their youth. However the wine always blossoms to unparalleled heights throughout its long life. A Salon is usually released around ten years after its vintage and will need another decade or more to show what it is truly capable of. A mature Salon possesses a dramatically broad aromatic spectrum, and displays Burgundy-like vinosity. Its stringency is maintained throughout the wine's life. This is a wine unmatched in terms of class and purity. At no more than 80,000 bottles produced per year (if they even produce it), CHAMPAGNE SALON is a wine that is always hard to come by. ARTISAN CELLARS is pleased to offer a small parcel of this rare and special Champagne from vintage1996, dubbed the best Champagne has ever seen since 1928, and which to many is indeed the vintage of the century. Salon. Le Mesnil. Vintage 1996. Is there a more auspicious combination? 1996 SALON Brut Blanc de Blancs “Le Mesnil” S$498 “Green-tinged gold. Incredibly complex, intense bouquet of smoky, leesy orange, pear, licorice, minerals and bitter quinine. The superconcentrated citrus, quince and pear liqueur flavors convey an almost painful impression of extract and positively explode across the palate. Elegant, poised and precise in a manner rare for a wine with such flavor intensity. The vibrant, minerally, extremely long finish simply doesn't let up..” ST 95 points “It is always just as exciting and different to taste the first glass of a newly released vintage Salon. There is nothing that is as perky and acid, as almost painfully fresh and full of go. In the midst of this 96 which is as clear as a bell and razorsharp, there is a buttery layer of the highest class, as in a Clos du Mesnil. The journey has begun!” RJ 92-97 points “This bottle of the 1996 Salon is like every other bottle I have had recently, which is to say tight, tight, tight. Still, this painfully unevolved, mineral-driven wine shows tons of potential in its floral, white fruits. In a recent tasting of the 1979 Champagnes, the Salon was one of the finest wines, but it needed several hours of air to open up. Although the 1996 is pure magic in a glass, it remains a wine for the exceedingly patient.” WA 97 points

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Tasting Event :: A Taste Of... Dom Perignon Blanc, Rose & Œnothèque

Received an email newsletter from Crystal Wines for Dom Perignon Tasting which is reasonably priced.

Dom Perignon, a world-famous champagne made by Moet et Chandon Champagne house, often known as the King of Champagne. Based on record, there are around 5 million bottles produced in each vintage. With this huge production, you might have the question - is the quality consistent and worth the price?

My answers are Yes & might be. Yes, the quality is amazingly consistent and always one of the top champagne despite the massive production. I might buy Dom Perignon only when it has good discount. I'm not a champagne fanatic but I definitely wouldn't reject any tasting with good ticket price such as this event.

For $25, the tasting features all 3 Cuvees of Dom Perignon, being 2000 Dom Perignon Blanc, 1998 Dom Perignon Rose and the special Cuvee of Dom Perignon Blanc - Œnothèque 1995. I have tasted Dom Perignon Blanc 1999 twice with good impression while Œnothèque, vintage 1995, has struck me as A Great Champagne! I am really looking forward to the tasting event to revisit 1995 Œnothèque, and compare the latest vintage of 2000 Dom Perignon Blanc with 1999 and their highly praised Dom Perignon Rose

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A Taste Of... Dom Perignon Blanc, Rose & Œnothèque

Date:
15 July 2010, Thursday

Time:
6.00pm-7.30pm|
(one slot only, very limited seats)

Venue:
Crystal Wines
491 River Valley Road,
Valley Point #01-02

Ticket:
$25 nett
(refundable with any Dom Perignon purchase)

Tasting Wines
► Dom Perignon Blanc 2000
► Dom Perignon Rose 1998
► Dom Perignon Œnothèque 1995

Wines Information
Owned by luxury conglomerate Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and produced by France's largest Champagne house, Moët et Chandon, Dom Perignon is undoubtedly one of the world's finest champagnes. A bottle of Perignon indeed signifies class and excellence.

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