The Asian Winehunter

Our motly crew gathered at a house for some wines during Chinese New Year. Unable to wait up, the tasting group had already downed 3 bottles by the time I got there ( 2 champagnes and a Comte Lafon Mersault Charmes). Up next - a white : '02 Ramonet - Chassagne Monrachet 1er Cru- Les Chaumees Nuts & minerals, hints of fruits, well balanced and good acidity. Extremely aromatic with that slightly raw and slight bitter finish of a Chassagne. 92pts. After that the gloves were off and out came the reds : '82 Chateau Margaux - Bordeaux Green peppers, faint leather, a bit thin to my palate. Cork was soaked which tells me this was not showing its best though perfectly drinkable. Great finesse, delicacy, smooth tannins. 94 pts but suspect a good bottle should rate much higher. '86 Talbot - Bordeaux/Saint Julien Very nice. Leather hide & cassis, good body, nice tannins ( though seemed a tad harsher than the Margaux) showing very well although the cork was again soaked, exc...

No more !@)*# Merlot I hear you say? Alright lets try Pinot Noir then but can one fine really good new world Pinot Noir? The answer is yes but a rarity. Most people are going to be disappointed or frustrated if they think a new world Pinot is going to have a nose like a "Burgundian" Pinot - It usually is not the case. '01 Kooyang - Pinot Noir / Haven Vineyard - Australia Red fruits, "Australian" pinot noir nose ( don't ask me you can recognize it after a while), tart and showing less fruit than 18months ago. This is telling me the wines are not going to keep for too long drink up within 2-3years of release is my guess. 87pts. '01 Walter Hansel - Pinot Noir - Alyce - Russian River Deep, dark, brooding, good acidity & depth. An "almost Burgundian" nose but then not exactly ( but still very nice). Briefly after airing, there were hints of animal aromas which didn't stay around as the nose shifted again to fruits.... I'm smiling at this...

Thursday night we banged out quite a few wines. Most of them German. '03 Rothenberg Nackenheim AP#1104 Flowers & nuts ( hazelnuts?), hint of lychee may fool you into thinking its sweet but couldn't be (13.5% alcohol). I am wondering if this thing is pure Reisling as it seems to have a hint of Gerwurtztraminer. 87pts '04 Rheinhesen Kabinet AP#1205. High acidity, closed and tight, little bit of petrol smell - more like a Reisling. 87pts '03 Provenance Pinot Noir Pinot noir from Australia, unmistakable Australian Pinot Noir nose. Bubblegum, vanilla, tannic! Someone else brought a Riedel Extreme and revealed the more pleasant pinot noir aromas but still unmistakbly new world. 85pts '04 Tarra Warra Pinot Noir Not your typical nose. Can't quite classify this one. To me a better mid palate and tannins than the provenance . 86pts. '98 Chateneuf Du Pape - Pierre Usseglio /Cuvee De Mon Aeiul Cndp in spades and then some. For those who like game aromas in their w...

As this is the first entry in 2006. A happy new year to everyone reading this blog. Some tasting notes from last year. 1993 Tenuta Ornellaia - Masseto Getting along in age here. Leather, iron, figs. A bit light and not much on the finish. This being only 12-13 years old I'm getting a bit concerned about the ageing length of this cult wine - not a good showing at least for the '93 vintage. Storage conditions were very good as evidenced by a low level of seepage in the cork itself. 89-90 pts. 1993 Grant Burg - Messach Black fruits, figs. Initially dense & oily, hint of sweetnees in the fine tannins. 30minutes later becoming a bit more "gritty" with aeration - nice mid palate. The finish is somewhat short or clipped. 91+ pts. 2000 JM Boillot Pommard - Burgundy I forgot to note down which Pommard it was ??!! Very nice - what else can be said "pinot noir" nose of fruits, animal and cheese aromas all rolled up together. Nice acidity and not too tart. Integra...