Tasting Notes

Size does matter! 

I wanted to compare Grassl versus Zalto again on today’s bottle of white burgundy Bouchard Meursault Perrieres 2007.

Just after a few sips, I started to realize some problem with the wines; I consistently find the Grassl tasted much better than Zalto, I was stunned as it was not immediately obvious to me that Grassl can perform so significantly better than Zalto, so I sat down and think hard. After a few more sips, I realized the tension and acidity was much more intact with the Grassl glass, something just striked me immediately: it was the size of the glass and our Singapore weather!

As I was drink this white burgundy poured from a chilled ice bucket in my dry kitchen, I normally don’t switch on the air conditioning when I was having a casual meal, thus the content in Zalto glass warmed up very quickly, while the Grassl glass remained cool, thus the difference in derived pleasure. If you look at the glasses physically, the body of the Zalto glass is much more bigger than Grassl, thus the content warmed up very quickly in our tropical weather. As such, I really don’t recommend using Zalto glasses in our warm weather. Grassl is much more suitable!

Against All Odds

1996 wasn’t a right bank Pomerol vintage, as the merlot grapes would not be able to survive the searing heat for this vintage.

However, I was really surprised Lafleur performed way beyond my expectations. Most impressive was the bouquet; beautiful floral with a bit of dark chocolate encapsulated the wine glass, no wonder they call this “Chateau Flower 花堡”. The content was quite typical of a Bordeaux, with very smooth and ripe content, coupled with some coffee and dark chocolate flavour. I must admit that it tasted a lot better than the poorer vintages of Lafleur like 87 or 93.

Preference

I had these two bottles side by side prior to the Chevalier versus Montrachet event showdown. Both bubbles were served blind, and we were made guessing whether it’s a grower or a house champagne. Everyone believed it was house champagne, and everyone deserved a pat on the shoulder, good start. I will briefly describe both bubble’s characters here.
Krug 2004 was initially quite muted on the nose, with slight yeast and toasty character showing up eventually. The content was very sharp in terms of flavor, very strong acidity and a tremendous length of finishing, the fruits surfaced late into the tasting, so it was telling me this vintage can really age for multiple decades before reaching it’s peak.

Cristal 2004 was much easier to spot, as the main character of Cristal is the fruity profile, although I must mention that initially both bubbles fruits was not easily detectable, it was only when the bubbles start to warm up, then the fruits become obvious. Cristal 2004 possessed an elegant fruit profile, and actually very precisely made champagne.
The verdict for my preference of both comparison was Krug 2004, as I liked it’s ageing potential, and not so upfront with it’s character, with a lot more shades of hidden characters not revealing right on the face.

Hidden Gem Vintage

Many drinkers think lowly about Bordeaux 2001 vintages, however, they have ignored a hidden gem that has a micro-climate that was stunning in 2001 – Pomerol. Thus, having such a perception of average 2001 vintages, most wines including Pomerol wines were under-valued. If you want value picking, go for 2001 Pomerol wines like this Hosanna.

Bouquet of ripe and soft almost overloaded amount of blueberries, plus a hint of tar and smoke, a very typical character of great Pomerol vintages. Content was ripe and smooth, very rich but no harshness, tannins were masked behind the fruits, with 18 years of bottle ageing, it’s quite ready to drink now, although it can still benefit from a couple of decades of cellaring. If you want a glimpse of Petrus, Hosanna will give you a shadow of Petrus, incidentally Hosanna is owned by the JP Moueix family who also owns Petrus.

Muscle and Flesh!

Perhaps a strange title for this wine, but let me decipher why. When the wine is chilled, the acidity tension is great, almost metallic or mineral body coupled with a bouquet of metallic substance as well as soft, ripe and warm lemon juice, I really enjoyed the tension of the acidity.

When the wine warmed up slowly, another side of the character was revealed: softness, elegance and feminine, this is stunning fleshy content.

Perhaps the contrast of the tight muscle and the softness of the flesh were fully revealed in this superb wine. Easily one of the best Puligny Montrachet monopole premier cru label you can find out there, coming from a great vintage!

Philippe Colin focus on producing Chassagne Montrachet, he is a big fan of the terroir and Les Chaumees is the most outstanding one out of 6 of his production. They are typically aged 11-18 months in 35% new oak, and are often characterized as being elegant and accessible when young.

It is golden color with strong floral nose, mingle with citrus and honey fragrance. The wine is medium light body with toasty taste and but not sapped the fruit notes. it keeps evolving on the glass and medium long finishing with mineral flourish.
Although it’s not my favourite oaky fruity wine, but it’s my 2nd favour of the day,

Rare & Elegant

Pale color with light green tints. At first, nose appears shy, slowly revealing citrus-lemon, lime, floral and barrel toast. On the palate, the crisp acidity is refreshing; good tension with fruit. The length of flavours carry on, round and creamy, showing oak maturation. The citrus fruit lingers, with minerality on lingering long finish. Philippe Collin signature for wine freshness is extraordinary. Can keep further 5 years.

A winemaker to watch out for. A rare find with limited production.

Consistently Great!

Clos de la Mouchere, a Monopole plot from Les Perrieres in Puligny Montrachet, is such a fantastic wine that no white burgundy lover should pass up tasting this great plot. If you’re not a fan of Clos de la Mouchere, then something is wrong, as it consistently ranked as the top 3 premier cru for all the blind tastings I’ve ever attended. 2017 was no different, quality improved vastly compared to 2015. The nose was a stunner, with smoky bouquet that you can see the smoke oozing out from the glass, along with very focused and jackfruit driven aromas. It’s a big wine by any 1er cru standard, slightly bitter, thick juice (almost like good phlegm). Slowly it evolved into soft buttery notes, chewy and elegant fruits dominated the long finishing.

Very impressive!