Shalom Chin Salomon Blog – Day 10 in Austria

Day Ten: The Coming of Autumn 05/10/2011

Autumn has already arrived. You can tell be the falling of the leaves from the trees and the browning of them on the vines. It is starting to get cold too and harder to stay out of bed.

As part of the routine, I made my way to the winery and tasted each tank to check for any off-odours from the wines. I also took the usual alcohol and temperature readings. A few bins of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling came in today.

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Singapore’s Best Restaurant – Coriander Leaf
Coriander Leaf Chef-Proprietor Samia Ahad and Sam Neill

People are forever asking me, which is the best restaurant in Singapore. I prefer to answer it by saying I have many favourite restaurants and it really depends on my mood and what we feel like eating.

I think it is also pertinent to categorise whether one is entertaining overseas visitors or clients, or maybe just going out with friends or on your own.

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Shalom Chin Salomon Vintage Blog – Day 9 – recorking 1969 Grüner Veltliner

Shalom has his first experience of re-corking old wines from the deepest part of the Salomon cellars, and 1969 Grüner Veltliner. This brings back memories of when Bert Salomon showed up at my place in Melbourne for my 40th birthday with a case of 1962 Grüner Veltliner!

Yes, a whole dozen, as he was not sure how many people were coming!! I will never forget Bert’s generosity and true friendship in this wonderful gesture. Oh, the wines was brilliant, very sound, complex, provocative, showing a lot of development although not falling over – like the birthday boy.

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Shalom Chin, Salomon Vintage Blog – Day 8 – The Coming of Botrytis

Day 8 – 03/10/2011

Another beautiful day in wine country. Sometimes, I wonder if it will ever get dark and cloudy. The temperature is expected to fall to 10 to 12 degree celcius this week. I can already feel a slight chill compared to the previous week.

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Shalom Chin – Salomon Vintage Blog Day 7 in Krems

A day off from the vintage gives Shalom a chance to expore Krems area and the village of Dürnstein… although his palate still gets a good workout with visiting sommeliers from Hong Kong.

Day 7 – 02/10/2011

A quiet Sunday for us. The crew decided to go for a walk to the town of Dürnstein. It was a lovely view from the terraced vineyards. It was fascinating to see the vines planted so close to the stone walls. My colleague told me that vines planted next to the walls tend to produce riper grapes due to the heat coming off from the wall at night. It was all sunny and not a cloud in sight.

View from the top of the hill above Durnstein

We climbed to the top of the hill full of vines. Many others did the same. My Swiss colleague remarked that in if we were to walk into like that in the vineyards of Switzerland, we would probably be chased out with a gun-totting man. As we walked down the hill over the other side, a sign in German mentioned that in the past, if a person was caught eating the grapes here and could not pay for what he has eaten, his ear would be cut off. Thank God we don’t have that today.

Hills surrounding Durnstein

At Dürnstein, we took a train to the town of Spitz to catch a ferry ride back to Stein. On the train, we were greeted by a lady who gave us free schnapps to drink. A train ticket for a shot of schnapps sounded like a great deal to us.

Back at the winery, we had a visit from HK Association of Sommeliers. Some amazing vintages were tasted.

Salomon Undhof Steiner Kögl2009, Erste Lager Kremstal DAC, 13.5%abv

A pale yellow tinge. Light fusel aromas and lifted menthol, a flintiness to it with white peach and lemon peel. On the palate is littered with hints of fusel flavours, flint and lemon peel too.

Von Stein 2005 Grüner Veltliner, 14%abv

Pale yellow. A toasty, honeyed botrytis nose in there with hints of confectionary. Quite concentrated. On the palate, the acid is still present and flavours of dried apricots and toast. My most complex Gruner yet. This can lay down another 5-7 years.

Kögl Reserve 1999 Riesling, 13%abv

Pale yellow. Concentrated nose of apricots, petrol, honey and lightly minted. On the palate, acid is still present, beautiful sweet confectionary notes with cold tea. A very long length.

Kögl Reserve 1981 Riesling, ?%abv

Gold colour. Lifted notes of limestone, flint, and petrol. A mintiness to it like 99. Beautifully balanced between acid and flavor. Off dry sweetness that comes from age. Amazingly complex with flavours of honey, cold tea and dried apricots. Beautifully aged with hints of menthol. A treat!

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Blake’s Feast – A Life in Food

One of Australia’s most talented and charismatic chefs, Andrew Blake, has released his second cookbook, Blake’s Feast – A Life in Food.

Even with the surfeit of cookbooks out there, this one is a must-have not only as an invaluable resource and inspirational culinary compendium, but an insightful and intriguing story of a chefs endeavours to make a name for himself and run successful (and a few not so successful) restaurants.

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Salomon Vintage Blog with Shalom Chin Continues… Day 6 from Krems, Austria

Shalom is in good form, surprisingly not showing signs of fatigue, yet, although it does look like they had a relatively slack day. No doubt some readers will be bewildered at the colour of white wine in tank, before it becomes what we know as wine… Also some good notes on the Salomon current range, both their Austrian and Australian wines… and that leads to an amzing story in itself http://salomonwines.com/estate/index.php?lang=en

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Salomon Undhof – Follow the Blog on Dr Bert

Dr Bertold Salomon, otherwise known as Bert, one of the coolest Austrian winemakers you will come across. Follow our Singapore Sommelier, Shalom Chin, vintage blog, as he does vintage with Bert in Krems.

http://www.thewanderingpalate.com/profiled-wineries/vintage-blog-from-singapore-sommelier-shalom-chin-at-undhof-salomon-krems-austria/

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Sommelier, Shalom Chin – vintage blog from Salomon winery, Krems, Austria – Day 5

Day 5 30/10/2011

The Zweigelt juice tasted so juicy and the flavours were rimeniscent of raspberry. In Austria and Switzerland, I was told that Strüm or fermenting grape juice is very popular here in. The Zweigelt we had in the tank was probably the best grape juice I have tasted in my entire life.

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Transport Etiquette in Koh Samui Thailand

I was rather amused by this signage on the side of my transport to Koh Samui Airport. In case of any language issues, these clearly illustrated rules on boarding the transport ensure there is nothing lost in translation! There is a lot that one can do on this van come mini bus, but there’s also a lot of do not’s, the last one being rather explicit, if not an interesting take on a universally recognised sex position!!

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