Brown Brothers - 2006 Shiraz (Limited Reserve)

Shelter@ Henry House

Still survive after last round of South African wine tasting...

5 ppl sharing whole bottle of shiraz in 2 hours, still long length after airing of wine, quite nice.

Colour: Really can't tell whether it's purplish red or not, coz we are drinking under super dim light...

Tears: have legs, comparatively less and doesn't stay too long on the glass.

Smell: Spice note. Little hint of red berries / currant perhaps.

First taste: Steel / metal flavour. Strong spice, emphasis on the length of wine. Little fine tannin. Masculine character.

Second taste (after an hour): less steel flavour from the first, more harmonious. Still strong and lengthy, yet less red current taste than before.

Price: $468 +10% , reasonable. Gd wine for small chats ^^

Seafood Maniac

Everything begins with the huge crab shopping at mini boat wet market in Sai Kung.

The fainted crabs took a long route: across the harbour, into the underground... and ended their lives in Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant in Sheung Wan.

Forgot to bring my camera along...could only have the photos with such a low resolution, well...

Hospitable uncle & aunt brought along 2 bottles: 1 champagne, 1 Riesling (oh...my favourite!!!)

Here comes the list...

Appetizer

Champagne: Moet & Channdon

Babylon Shell dipped with wasabi

Bubbles with Babylon Shell, a fresh matching. though the champagne doesn't seem to match with the babylon shell, the champagne ignite the freshness of the babylon shell, yum~

Little pig leg soaked in chinese wine

Little pig leg is finely made, with hint of chinese wine and the fat swirl in the mouth. I'd love to have this every day, given that I will be gaining 10lbs more...keke...

Main Dish

Steamed crab in egg-white with chinese home-town wine (shao xing jiu)

I love the companying sauce, which is red vinegar with sesame oil, springled with chopped onion, perfect match with the juicy crab meat, turning a sole dish to a rice matching dish~

By then, I already concentrating on defeating my favourite crab...ignoring all other dishes and wine...until...something even more tempting to come...

Steamed Rat Face Garoupa

Indescribable. Self-explainatory from the picture itself, right?

Soft fish meat, detached itself from the fish bone even without tearing it apart, it doesn't seem that I have chewed before it slided to my throat. It has its own sweetness. Until now I can tell the difference between Wedding steamed fish and Excellent steamed fish...

Fried chicken

We call a nice chicken to be a juicy, fat, white, smooth white meat, in fact all can be found in this dish tonight.

Together having a harmonious match with the Riesling.

This Riesling has a very green smell, like green pepper. Comparing to typical Riesling, it is rather light and less sweet.

It ends with a crispy taste, which would not dominate the strong-flavoured food like chinese dishes but delight the dish with a fresh ending note. Good buy from New Zealand, Otago.

Dessert is impressive:

Birthday Bun: Baking smell and chewy bun (I've brought 1 home as breakfast tomorrow)

Red bean soup: Biggest and softest red bean with terrific sweetness

Wonderful dinner~

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant
Address: 1-3/F, Mandarin Building, 35 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan

Tel No: 2854 9388

Miniature House Wine Dinner

A while ago I have invited a couple to my home, enjoying wine n snacks with my parents as a petit wine housewarming gathering. We ended up staying so late, enjoying the night a lot~

Though I forgot to take a picture of the lined up wine, here's the tasting list:

1. Chateau de Seguin 2005

Food companion: Oyster, Smoked salmon, Guacamole + Chips
Tasting: Chocolate, berries, charcoal, fair wine. for everyday drinking. normal length. easy to drink.

2. Montrose

Mushroom Spaghetti + Sesame Romaine Salad
Well, the issue is...I didn't touch it :(

3. Inniskillin 2005 Vidal Icewine

Cakes from c'est mieux: Opear, blueberry cheesecake, hazelnut cake, tiramisu (?)

Sweet enough to impress us. Clear crystal syrup flavour, honey comb, mingled well with the cakes, and the cheese !!!~

4. Saint Clair

Though I've bought Saint Clair, we didn't drink it until the week after my dad opens it...without telling me ... >.<

Realizing there are two versions of Saint Clair, both are available in Park'n Shop while one is $110 & one is $168. where the $168 is the original one I prefer. This time, such a hurry that I bought the $110 one...still nice for everyday drinking.






Sometimes it's not whether you've by chance met the most favourite wine, when matching with food, chatting with friends, you just prefer a favourable wine.

Chateau Beaumont Haut-Medoc 2003

Instant Tasting Note:

Appelation: Haut-medoc controlee

Cru Bourgeois Superieur

Gold medal of 2006 concours mondial

Colour: Purple-ish Red, look v. young

Legs: no legs

Nose: strong alcohol, pepper, petroleum,

1st taste: meaty, crunchy, long aftertaste, dry, harmonious, soft tannin

2nd taste: acidic, minerals, savory, alcohol remaining

Price: $179 --> reasonable, nice drinking.

Food Companion: light cheese, brie...

Haut Brion & Amaroni - Celebrate big wine with big family

Uncle & Aunt are inviting our family for a super family dinner, where my dad contributes his one of the valuable wine - Haut Brion as a compliment to their hard culinery work.

First: The Oyster with Japanese 大吟釀, taste so like vodka mixed with 浙江紹興酒, one of my hometown chinese wine, apart from it has less medicine taste in it. You really can't tell how much alcohol in it, especially when the taste is dominated by the lemon & wasabi filled creamy oysters.

Followed by Aunt's oven baked salmon with mexican mango salsa. Fat salmon, oil burst out from the oven...the mango salsa surprisingly is a perfect match of it, in which till today my mom still urge my dad to make one for her~

Third: Beef stew with fettucine & french bread, cope with Haut Brion 1994.

This Haut Brion has already been aired for over 2 hours, still in the decanter. Nevertheless, when put in mouth, still have a feeling of potential of further oxidation, so leave it for another half an hour, where the prune and apricot flavour hinges are out of our palate. Wonderful and harmonious , well balanced wine, yet the body is not too heavy that I am a bit confused whether it can be that impressive to be under the top 5 grand cru wine. Perhaps it's the vintage that matters.

Fourth: Chocolate Fondue with fresh strawberries, grapes with brie, blue and smoked cheese, companied by Amaroni.

Amaroni is a super fruity wine. Once you smell it, a huge punch of fruit platter is bombing towards your nostril. The complexity of the fruit would be plum, then tropical fruit, ending with green apple note, it tastes with clarity of 3 steps in fruits before the aftertaste bounce back, so complex. All I can say is...Fruit bomb. Merry well with cheese, a good compliment with fruits, or I shall say, fruit doesn't make a difference afterall as you have already enjoyed it in the wine :P, but the sweetness is competible with the chocolate fondue, which is a bonus.

Wonderful meal, wonderful wine. Nice chat, best combination of wine, ppl & food.