How to drink nice wine at maybe the best price

We always say research is important.

I am not referring to over researching, there are few steps can make you enjoy wine at a reasonable price.

Approach 1: Loyalty

Vineyards / Wine shop loves return customers. You anyway won't have sufficient storage at home, no point to buy in bulls and extend your expense on storage. En primeur is another story. 

Once you get along well with the people at the shop, vineyard owners or even email online, you can start bargain for discount. You can also self volunteer as the promoter (influencer) of their wines. You might get a discount of 10%-15% per purchase.

Approach 2: Groupon

I am not referring to clicking online coupons on Groupon that sells $80 Bordeaux blend.

Common group interest will bring bulk purchase discount benefit. 

Be proactive, volunteer to be the organizer of wine tasting / wine dinners that when you made participants interested in the same wine, then you can bargain for discount. That's Asian culture, learn from them.

Approach 3: Direct Shipment

If somehow you like boutique vineyards of specific region, you can arrange group shipment by consolidating them under one logistics company. Make sure they have license to export alcholic items. Then arrange local logistics company to receive and deliver to your home. This requires some connections to logistics company and slight research on licensing if needed.

Approach 4: Attention to details

When wine shop / website highlights to you on a discount. That may not be true. That's marked up and discount. Go for low season such as July, August, where (except rosé) price sensitive wines in general are cheaper. If you have beloved

Brands, monitor whole year price fluctuation and you manage to fine the best time.

Another attention is the once in a blue moon opportunity: 

someone enters a wrong price.

When the price is unreasonably low, check if bad quality, otherwise quickly buy few cases. Remember screencap offers, transactions for proof. Don't care about them saying transactions invalid. When they earn by offering higher price accidentally they won't say that. 

Hope you all have the chance to get reasonable price for your wine. Most important of all is to know what are your favourite wines that you should be keeping track of the price. Cheers~

What makes 1970 a memorable year?

Year 1970:

- The Beatles broken up

- 1st floppy disk was invented

- World Trade Centre completed

- Peru Earthquake that killed 72k people

- Introduction of bar codes system

Each of them is equally remarkable.

Some of them embedded as people's turning point in life.

Some of them already vanished from today's society.

In wine industry, 1970 also marked as an advancement. 

Today, we are honored to taste two from our uncle:

Cos d'estournel 1970

Blossom after 2 hrs decanting

Colour: brick red, slight tears

Smell: Scented with acid, blackberries truffle, coffee bean, soggy wet wood.

Taste: gamey, flat, short aftertaste, med complexity, mushroom, truffle, black fruit, pepper

Conclusion: Not recommend. Even if so, drink quick as the peak passed in 30 mins after.

Grand vin deLeoville du marquis de las cases 1970

Colour: More garnet than the estournel.

Nose: Less acidic in nose. Violet, red berries, cacao, coffee bean.

Palate: well- balanced, soft tannin, good complexity.Red currant fruity longer length, Smoky taste

Conclusion: More structures and full body than d'estournel. However it also passed its peak, should drink 10 years earlier. Depreciate in 1.5 hours. 

We don't know whether these 2 wines have changed people's view on wine in the last decade, we know these 2 brands are still famous and their quality is still improving. Enjoy~

Spanish blind tasting night

After 8 months, I finally was able to join my Sommelier classmates and teacher's blind tasting gathering at a Central private club with Cantonese cuisine. Sorry for being ingenuous, not knowing the menu in advance made the scope too vast to have any food pairing. Nevertheless, I was so impressed with their raptness over each gathering.

Game rule in a nutshell. Each of us brought our wrapped bottle. The rest had to guess to our closest knowledge on grapes, terroir, vintage and location of the producing region.

Presentor then had to depict the stories behind this wine, the vineyard, style and the reason they selected the wine. At the end of dinner, all of us voted their favorite bottle excl. their own. One with most votes would be rewarded with a free meal of the night. Fair enough, just don't put too much cost to the bottle *grin*

Here are the selections of the night

1. Tondonia 1998 Gran Reserva

Rioja macabeo
Look: Golden yellow, slight tears. Clean

Nose: Chrysanthemum, buttery,elderflower, high acidity

Palate: vanilla, honey, oaky, long finish, waxy, end with acidity

Reserva: 24 maturation + 6 cask maturation

Price: $278 from Watson's Wine

2. Amma Albariño rais baixas 2012

Look: Lemon, clear, tears

Nose: Guava, pomergranate, peach, pear,mineral, aromatic

Palate: acidity med+; med dry.
Grape : Albariño from Rais Baixas

New version: late harvest
Price: ??

3. Tondonia 1999 Gran Reserva

Look: golden yellow , golden than 1st

Nose: buttery, sulphur, acid, chemicals,eucalyptus, 

Palate: oaky, plum, tingling poppy on tongue
Price: $298 

4.Corullon Mancia

Look:Garnet red, sentiment

Nose: Leather, peppery, red berries, 

Palate: black peppery, spicy, Thai spice, 

Grape: Grenache, Temperanillo from a village close to Priorat

Price: $468

5. Carmelo Rodero 2011 Crianza

Look: purple red, tears, clear

Nose: Oak, eucalyptus, red current, big body, pungent, jammy, chocolate

Palate: Mocha, tannin, chocolate, new oak, lengthy, vanilla,
(12mths maturation +24 barrel)
Grape: 95% temperanillo 5% Cabernet Sauvignon from Ribera du duero
Price: $480 

6. La Cima

Look: ruby, clear

Nose: celery, cherry, spice

Palate: tannin, candy, spicy, french oak 18mths, new, leathery, licorice

Grape: Mancia from Ribera sarca
The dog on the label is named Merlot
Price: from Vineyard for free

7. Tossals 

Look: Ruby, clear

Nose: fruity, cherry, sweet, red fruit

Palate: new world, Pinot noir, sweet, strawberry, mid length
Grape: Samso from Montsant

Price: ??

8. Psi 2010

2009 better Peter sisseck, 

Temperanillo 100%

Look: ruby, clear

Nose: chestnut, black fruit, leather, violet

Palate: Complex, med length, full body, asian spice
Grape: Temperanilla from Ribera del Duero
Price: 289 from Regis Wine

9. Enate 2013

Look: Lemon, clear

Nose: Light citrus, fruit driven

Palate: Med+ acidity new version Albariño
Grape: Sumatano Chardonnay 14% alc.; Single vineyard High altitude

House wine of 3 star Michelin restaurant in France

Price: $260

Best wine of the night was #4, case the votes were divided amongst 2 Tondonia. All are value for money. I will attempt grabbing some bottles as a decent weekend chillout wine.

Looking forward to next gathering...

母親節的小禮物 Small gift for Mother's Day - Brown Brothers Muscat

Something little, something sweet.

My helper is always the most caring so she already sent flower bouquet for my mum's birthday. What should I do?

No doubt, a bottle of wine. This has to be  little and decent as my mum is not a wine buddy.

Few tips on how to make the gift looked customized and decent:

1. Sweet, not too sweet

2. Small, woman like cute gifts

3. Decorations, I did buy a little wrapping to wrap it up

4. Easy to consume

5. Affordable

So a screwcap semi sweet half bottle Brown Brother Muscat becomes the choice. I bought some fancy accessories to wrap it like a necklace and here we go.

Honey, citrus peel and floral sweetness dominant wine. Simple and welcoming bouquet impressed mum easily. She loves it so much. I propose her to sip it daily when she is enjoying little Chinese dessert such as floral squares or biscuits. 

Happy Mother's Day~

Price: $117 at Wine-searcher.com

Shafer 思福酒庄 - Favorite USA Chardonnay ever 最「美」的霞多麗

Again, some old stories. Want to mention it as I so wanna buy it for next Wine class,
however the shop is under renovation, sad that I don't know where to get it.

2 years ago summer, was taking a family getaway trip to Napa Valley , where we once dined
in Bouchon - the 2 Michelin Star restuarant, for... night snack.
What a full scale of bookings that they are extending us to the night snack session starting at 10pm.
Yes, 10 pm. I recalled clearly we finished around 1am that night.

Food are not that decent, they can't be called a meal as it's just random dishes available.

So we ended up appreciate the oysters and Chardonnay pairing the most. Or this is just the effect of compare and contrast? Already too tired to tell.

Deep gold colour, some tears after a swirl. Nose is full of pineapple and mineral, huge bouquet right below the nose. You can tell how full body this is. Typical American style. 

Balanced acidity and med+ alcohol, creamy and stickiness on minerality, exotic fruits, vanilla and apricot note and oak surfaced. With such a long length that perfectly matches the mineral and creamy based oysters, it glimmered our night snack. Sparkles! Believe that's a good quality wine that can last for 8-10years.

Desperately looking for it when back in Hong Kong. Found one at a wine shop in Kowloon Bay $531 vintage 2008, however currently under shop renovation.

Anyone find this elsewhere? Please let me know thanks.

Chateau Clinet 克里奈酒庒 2000 - Vintage is not everything 年份不是一切

Sharing wine of the day via facebook, twitter, instalgram, whats app is almost a weekend must-do in my circle of friends.

Not only once I received pictures of Clinet. Clean and flat font of word printed onto the label. Simple and easy to recall.

Finally I had a chance to taste it, from an introduction to a new wine buddy.

I said "Long to drink this. It has been on my to-try list for a while." He then sighed with a wicked smile. "I did not bring the good year along, hope this won't devastate your image to it." This is a 2000 bottle, not a good year? 

Velvet colour, with med tears.

Pungent on the nose red berries, merlot based, typical pomerol, hint of leathery and tar at the end. 

Less strong in volume and thickness in palate than what is expected from the nose. Medium acidity and medium aftertaste. Softer and rounder body after opened an hour and some bitter chocolate with more plummy taste, yet the optimal didn't last. Harsher acid right after.

What is not favorable of Bordeaux is though they are very consistent in flavors, unless there is a change in winemaker, their output depends so much of the weather / terroir. In a good year, they have excellent potential for storage and marvelous quality, in a bad year, you get similar palette yet a lot weaker and drastic drop in quality after hours, sometimes even just in minutes. However what makes the 95T vintage 2000 pomerol a worse year for Clinet?

Let's reference the score. RP87, one of the worse year in the 2000s. Reading the history, that's because the chateau has switched its owners for several rounds while vintage 2000 was from Jean-Louis Laborde who owned from 1998 and died in a car accident in 2001. Until then the successor the industrious Ronan Laborde took over and expand Clinet further in 2012. No doubt that the 2000 vintage would be a struggled year to produce good wine. Guess things have been well now in Ronan's hand.

No offense, normally within same budget, I'd rather have something less famous, and something cheaper to surprise or impress myself. Or perhaps for this new friend who in fond of Italian wine tries to drive me away from big French to cuddle the big Italian~ yea, you actually made it, and I now understand why you wear the wicked smile. 

Just that I never have been sticking to any country, I am an utopian on wine. Next time, just impress me with an Italian wine will do *wink*

How determined do you want to be a SOMM ?

The Most Stressful Exam - Master of Sommelier exam - SOMM

Out of my expectation - almost full house in cinema. I could only secure 2 seats at the corner.
Without knowing what to expect , I brought my boyfriend to watch. I thought he would fall asleep as the topic has so unrelated to him, with many tech words. I am surprised he is awake the whole movie. The entire audience is so enthusiastic into the movie such that they even give applause when result is released. Their grasp of breath is on same pace...why?

It is documentary, it is personal experience sharing, it is breath-taking.

In 3 months time, 3-6 sommeliers were to prepare for the Master of Sommelier exam. It looks like life-and-death matter. Q-cards everywhere, buddies skype from 11am-2am to go through all exam questions on daily basis, finding the mentor to give them tortures, studying day till night till another day. This is not acting, this is for real. They were totally stressed out. Panda eyes, endless nights. They haven't talked to their wives and girlfriends for long.

Clip of Sommelier Exam

Imagine: able to taste and give all the comments within 1 minute of time, including all the clues that the wine give them and go through the thinking tree loud to conclude which wine that can be. That whole process are in front of 6 judges.
Only 1 exam per year. Every year, less than 10 our of the 200 applicants can pass this exam. Triumph for winners, tears for losers, they all have to attend the final celebration.

When you cry, you better cry when you pass this. As of today, there are less than 200 Master of Sommeliers. Dare to enter this devil of exam? How horrible? Watch it and you will know more.

http://www.mastersommeliers.org/Default.aspx

Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival 2013

Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival has just come to an end. 

I have come across the chance to participate last Thursday. Here in a new venue - Central Promenade !
Not as spacious as West Kowloon Promenade, it's more convenient to many customers: businessmen from Central, tourist who can enjoy the ferry ride then the wine fair, tourists straight from airport to the festival. Easy! The concert chill area design is a lot nicer than previous years.

An increasing trend of 'dine' elements in this festival. Famous hotels and restaurants such as Chui Wah, Royal Hotel, Lucullus are present to showcase live cooking on their signature dishes which they think match the most with wines. Other boutique stores also take their chance to sell German Brats sausages, mussels and also parma hams. We are all impressed by the $40 pocket size ham. This wasn't a 5 pieces ham pocket, it's a 20+ pieces pocket! (I can't see the bottom...is it refillable by itself?)

Icon of 'Wine' - On Friday, I received a couple of what's app asking which wine booth worth going. Which 1st growth 2nd growth Bordeaux wine from Tasting Pavillon worth buying. Generally speaking they only offer 10% discount, sometimes their own wine tasting / discount of the month is even worth buying than this. In Wine and Dine Festival, I am looking for refreshing daily drinking wine.

4 booths I would recommend:

1. Adelaide Cellar Door - They offer half of the booth for Peterson Vineyard. A bling bling rose and sparkling at $120 / $140. A lot of bling bling accessories such as wine stopper, champagne stopper, cooler pads. This is a paradise for girls.

2. Veritas - I've been there before. Good Tokaji place. Offering 5 to 6 puttoyons at $800. The 1999 6 puttoyons are more expensive than 1993. Vintage does matter.

3. AWSEC - They have the best wine offered. Mas la Pas, Rioja wine...2 tokens for $500 wine, 3 tokens for $1300 wine...worth it. When we were deciding which one to buy...they said they are not wine seller...so people, let's mark it done.

4. Granda's italian sauvignon blanc - the flowery taste swells for more than 10 minutes, seem it is planning to stay there forever. Only $160.

Side dish: The ham pocket - $40 with ham and services. How can I ask for more?

Looking forward to next year's Wine and Dine Festival~ (I hope there is no more stupid fences that I have to take a zigzag route...very dizzy.

Wine with our masterpiece - 1st pot luck

Recently inspired by my friend who held a around-the-world pot luck - essentially means the meals include freshly bought truffle from UK, Parma ham from Spain, caviar from norway, tea from hang-zhou... Gorgeous pot luck.

Since attending one after another weddings of my friends, I wonder how their hubbies are surviving. Literally surviving as majority of my friends never cook in the past decades!

In order to prepare our wives-to-be, let's have a pot luck event. Simple rules: One dish each. No fried rice, noodles. Cooking skill is required. I am amazed that they really made delicious dishes! 

Of course to enjoy our own cooking, I opened 3 bottles for this:

1. Champagne Delamotte Brut Blanc de Blancs 2002

Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2002 vintage is produced with 100% Chardonnay grapes from 3 grand cru villages within the Côte des Blancs: Le Mesnil, Oger, Avize and Cramant. It was then matured on its lees for 7-8 years, before disgorged. have a further 6-10 years aging.

Bright straw yellow with green hint. Fine bubbles and texture, with powerful mineral, the 2002 vintage is structured with elegance. Its honeyed depth expresses both power and finesse. Green apple nose come hints of white blossom, hawthorn, followed by toasted notes. The initial taste is rich – a suave, creamy but refreshing wine, with peach, stone fruit compote, apple tart – with a fine persistence and a superb finish. The 2002, is an elegant, well-balanced vintage, perfectly representative of the vintage.

The depth and complexity of the Champagne Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2002 complements poached foie gras, fish in cream sauce or casseroled veal with mushrooms. It is absolutely delicious with a goat's cheese. As for the Chinese dishes, i.e. our potluck dishes tonight. This goes the best with the stew potato with chicken wings where the concrete sauce does give a volume yet stewed meat is giving a milder taste. It also pairs well with another Taiwanese dishes of “Lou rou” (stewed pork) and egg, the bubbles bring more Taiwanese style to the dish.

2. Carver Sutro 2009 Petite Sirah (left below)

"Petite Sirah is California's most underrated and long lived varietal." - Wine Advocate. Petite Syrah has been strangers to many consumers. People often tie their image of Syrah to petit Syrah, in fact their palate are far apart. This vineyard is located at Palisades Vineyard in Calistoga of Napa Valley.

Having only 2 weeks of fermentation, Carver Sutro feels like a Zin that pairs fine with smoky and grilled food. Last time enjoying it was at a Chinese wedding banquet in Vancouver, pairs fine with suckling pig. The current and blackberry creaminess translate perfectly to the palate with a hint of licorice finish. Thus I ask friends to grab a bottle in Napa. This time majority of our dishes are mild, I could enjoy it alone... Or at most with pan-fried prawns with shallot and soy sauce, just marginally matched.

Fritz Windisch Huxelrebe TBA (right)

How can you not have a sweet wine to pair with mooncakes and cantaloupe? TBA - Short form for TrockenBeerenAuslese , the highest rank in sweetness of grapes in Germany. It literally means dried berries selection. I.e. Botrytized grapes. The sugar level is also the highest, as compatible as Tokaji / Tokaj , Ice wine etc. It's the most expensive range of wine in Germany.
Huxelrebe, a crossing of Gutedel and Courtillier Musqué, was bred by Georg Scheu in Rheinhessen in 1927. This white variety can achive record-breaking yields (and correspondingly lower-quality wine); however, if yields are controlled, the Huxelrebe can produce Auslese and dessert wines.

This fully ripened Huxelrebe has a rich bouquet and ample flavor , implies a refined Muscat tone. It is grown primarily in Rheinhessen and the Pfalz and Nahe.This TBA is concentrated with honeycomb and slight lemon zest. The sugar level is high yet not as jammy therefore to decide between traditional mooncake with lotus paste seed and yolk or snowy moon cake with light green bean paste, the latter has a better marriage. 

To celebrate Mid Autumn, my parents show-case their newly bought Austrian shot glasses engraved with Austrian landmarks to drink the TBA. shot glass still made some of my friends drunk. Marking an amazing night with a powerful node of dessert wine.

Bonheur - the long missing wine buddies are back!

Remhoogte Estate Wine 2004

Africa Stellenbosch
Produced by Michel Rolland and Auguste Natter
Blend: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage

Looking at winery like this (the view above),  african wineries are worth paying a visit, espeically when
famous Bordeaux oenologist - the influential Rolland effect is the producer!

Dry body, with strong hint of "corn" and cranberries. Fruity and easy drinking style. Stronger black current in palate. The acidic and tannin tangle on my tongue for a while and gone. Mimic bordeaux style however the aftertaste needs to catch up.
Not sure if 2004 is a matured vintage to drink for Stellenbosch.

Food Pairing: Goes so well with 36 months parma ham and melted Parmesan cheese. My choice of typical Foie Gras will be better for even stronger cab dominant wine. And the pan-fried scallop is quite a highlight as the inside is still very fresh and meaty. Even pan-fried seafood pairs quite well with this wine.

Eight Heritage 2007

The only 'winery' in Hong Kong - The 8th Estate Winery. Located in Aberdeen, blending grapes from all over the world trying to see if this works out in a non-grape growing city. This was bought during last visit organized by company event.
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington USA

Spicy nose. Classic cab flavour, peppery. Fuller body 1 hour later. Stronger dark chocolate with certain bitterness as back bone. This pairs better with Foie Gras. Since we did not do the food pairing this time, majority of us picks the tomato fish soup, which is an innovative dish. The blended fish brings context and chewiness to the tomato soup that you can't imagine they are perfect match. 

Salad's vinegar actually spoils the acidity of the wine. Suggest not to have salad with vinegar as an option.

Mount Mary Quintet 2006
Yarra Valley Australia
Producer: Dr. John Middleton
Grape: Blend - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, others...

Almost majority of the Australian wine producer are either retired lawyer or doctor, probably because during their work / life they have a lot more chance to get in touch with wine than anybody else.

This was bought 4 years ago at slightly below $400. As the highest grade "excellence" of Langton's ranking, my last impression was a very powerful shiraz that I would definitely revisit with no doubt.

This time, it feels like stranger to me. It tasted different from before, a much weaker wine. Due to the Cabernet Franc element, the cassis and cloves aroma is quite welcoming, with a garnet color. Once drink it through, the structure is fair, yet the body is medium and fruitiness makes it looks like a medium level wine instead of excellent one for investment. It suppose to last till 2024+ from Robert Parker. I have strong doubt to this, fingercross that is only a storage issue. Mild aftertaste and goes best with the black juicy pork tonight. The juicy thick and gigantic pork.

Pavie Macquin 2007
St. Emilion Bordeaux
Grape: Bordeaux blend - Merlot, little Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon
Producer: Nicolas Thienpont and Stéphane Derenoncourt.

Not only Pavie Macquin, Nicholas is also the producer of Larcis Ducasse, Les Chares Godard, Puygueraud and La Prade - all are representative and famous on its own.

From latest Decanter note, it says this wine is light and early drinking. Well, hang in there... as we had it breathed for 2 hours that it starts evolving. I love evolving wine, it's like drinking several wines. 1 price, 3 tastes, great!

Hint of malt and wheat. Clear red berries, plummy and licorice with silky end. Medium body. Flavor gets richer and intense only in mid way of palate. It comes to the peak when we came to the cheese platter part, that's... 4 hours. Long lengthy aftertaste 

Lovely marriage with pork as the mild juicy pork melt with macquin. This Grand Cru Classe B has earned its best rank among 5 wines of the night, also it's the most expensive wine of the night. ($720)

Lascomes 2008
Chateau Lascomes, Margaux, Bordeaux (Grand Cru Classe 2nd Growth, First wine of the chateau)
Grape: Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with slightly others.
Owner: Marcel Kahn

This is the 1st wine I stole from Dad's wine cellar that brought me to the world of grand cru classe. (without knowing the price by then) I was hardly scolded and told not to touch any wine. That refrains me from wine for quite a while until... I buy the permit to drink (with a wine cert -- a real ticket).
Silky texture, full body, not much leather, and again this is peppery and black fruit with chocolate flavour at the end.

After years of drinking a wide range of wine, I would say this is a regular choice. It won't fail you, especially if you go for wine with steak and mash potato. Sometimes I would prefer you go for Chevalier de Lascome (2nd wine of Chateau Lascombe) at around $250 which makes a reasonable price and daily joy too.

Mango Napoleon itself is the signature dish of Bonheur. It stands well by itself, or with coffee. Hard to enjoy in good manner, with friends... we just love it!

Dornfelder 2009
Grape: Dornfelder Germany Red grapes for red wine

Easy drinking and surprisigly good match with anything mad eof vanilla, in the case with apple tart and soft center chocolate cake. The unique boysenberry sweetness makes the apple tart and chocolate cake like topped with berries , fill out the missing part of it.

We all use the remaining wine from previous mentioned to match the cheese and grapes~ That brings the lone dominant flavour and character of the wines. No doubt why cheese platter always served parallel with 'desserts' -- to revitalize , revisit and wrap up our impression to all our wines.

Welcome back my drinking buddies. Looking forward to more themes in our wine gatherings. Enjoy~

Restaurant: Bonheur

Address: 22-26 Bonham Strand, 6F, The Pemberton, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Phone: +852 2544 6333

Map:

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