Raintree Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20th December 2003
We had a wine dinner last with some folks from our local Vino Special Interest Group to celebrate Christmas and the end of the year. The theme was “Night of the Stars” – to drink wines with at least 85 point rating from the different wine critics and to see if we agree with the ratings. The group of about 30 persons chomped through an 8 course Chinese dinner with 25 of them drinkers guzzling down altogether 13 bottles of wines. The dress code for the night is for anything with a star motif on or else you pay double for the dinner. I came dressed in the Australian Rugby jersey in line with the Australian stars that we are imbibing for the night.
We stated off with our aperitif wines while we wait for all the guests to turn up.
<b>Lawson Dy Hill Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2002</b>
Beautiful nose of a jumble of grassiness and citrus fruits but the palate is a bit hollow and short length adding up the impression that this is the trend for the 2002 SB from Marlborough. Drink it up while you can.
<b>D'Arenberg The Stump Jump Riesling Sauvingnon Blanc Marsanne 2002</b>
Reasonable drinking wine but the blend does not seem to jive harmoniously and synergistically with each other.
The wine dinner was officially kicked off with the whites a little late as some folks were caught in the bad traffic jam and rain on a Saturday evening.
<b>Orlando Jacob's Creek Chardonnay Pinot Sparkling NV</b>
One of the better Aussie sparkling at that price range. Good small bubbles with straw light green colour. Good mid-palate with the bubbles tickling the tongue but lacks the toastiness that I have grown to love in champagne. Still a decent sparkler.
James Halliday gave this sparkler 88 point while our average was about 70+ points.
<b>Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2002</b>
Good nose of honeysuckle and some tropical fruits. Low acidity, fruity and dry on the palate. Miles away from a great Condrieu but it’s good enough to be a hit with the majority.
The Wine Advocate gave the Viognier 88 points while our group agreed that it is around the 80 pointer range. Time to drink it up as I don’t think it will improve anymore with age.
<b>Angus The Bull Cabernet Sauvingon 2002</b>
Heard a lot about this value for RPJ 90 points Cab from the internet as well as the wine merchant so I decided to feature it for the night. What a beautiful buttery grape nose that swirls out of my Spieglau Bordeaux glass that keeps getting my nose drifting there. The palate is of warm luxurious smooth velvety tannin with beautiful fruits in the mouth and with the subtle oakiness that complements rather than get in the way. A good length to follow it up to wrap it up nicely into a great package. One of the top 5 red wines that I have had this year!
Robert Parker gave this wine a 90 pointer and I find that I have to heartily agree with him on this one. I am heading out to get more before the shop runs out of it. Should be able to shine even more beautifully with another 1-2 year ahead although it is drinking beautifully now. A great match with grilled Angus beef!
<b>D’Arenberg McLaren Vale The Laughing Magpie Shiraz (93%) Viognier (7%) 2002</b>
This Cote-Rotie styled red which gives it a nice touch of fragrance to the shiraz. Good flowery nose with the traditional hints of shiraz on the nose. It takes on added fruit ripeness and flowery fragrance to the peppery shiraz to give it a nice tinge of good marriage which makes the wine very approachable even in its youth. The blend takes on a slightly lighter bodied style red with some complementary jammy-ness from the viognier. It gets better as the wine evolves in the glass and my last sip was better than the first. Very good wine. Top 5 red wine of the year for me!
Mr Parker gave this wine a 93 point and again I have to agree with him. This is seriously good wine. The drinking window should be open in 2-3 years time but I have a strong feeling that it will improve for more years to come.
From experience, the dessert wines will be the ones to excite more folks locally so we featured 3 different types of dessert wine style from a botrytis to a tokay and a vin santo.
<b>Heggies Eden Valley Botrytis Riesling 1999 375ml</b>
The Heggies Botrytis Riesling has been my persistent favourite ever since I tried their ’97 some years ago. I had to source this bottle directly from the distributor as it’s very hard to find it on the wine shelf here locally. This sticky takes on a dark aged golden appearance with matured honey reeking out of the wine glass. Beautiful on the palate with dimensions of citrus fruits, more honey, and a tiny tinge of good sourness that the tail end which adds more character to the wine. Great wine but the sugar is overpowering the acid at this juncture so I would wait for another year or two before cracking open another bottle of the ’99. Bought another bottle of the 2001 and it would be interesting to see how it performs in 5 years’ time.
James Halliday gave this sweety a 93 pointer while I would give it a high 80s at this point of time.
<b>All Saints Classic Rutherglen Tokay NV 500ml</b>
Mr Halliday gave this one a 91 pointer but I did not manage to try it at all so all I am willing to say is that the crowd finished it before I could even lay my hands on it! Sigh!
<b>Ruffino Serelle Vin Santo del Chianti 1997 750ml</b>
Bought the vin santo from the distributor during their Christmas warehouse sale. I have never tried a vin santo before so I thought it would be fun to share it with the others. Mid-dark translucent amberish golden brown colour with an interesting nose of caramalised carrot and honey bee wax. Lighter on the palate with honey and floral hints with a reasonably good balance of sugar and acidity that wraps it up to be a decent sticky. Would not mind buying it again. Pretty reasonable QPR.
We wrapped up the dinner still sober so someone cracked opened the extra bottle of the Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay Pinot Sparkling NV. Suggested for some of them to try a cocktail of a big dash of the vin santo into the sparkling which was well received. Good food, great wines and exceptional company. What a night of stars!
A Blessed Merry Christmas to all and a great year ahead for 2004!
Cheerio,
Henn
