Must-Have Wines of the Lunar Year 2010 (A retrospective of standouts in the year of the tiger)
Best Discovery of the Year – Markowitsch Reserve Pinot Noir 2004
If there is any sort of ascendency to my passion for wine, I would say discovery is the pinnacle. This goes hand in hand with the question constantly asked of me, “What is your favourite wine?” To which my standard reply is, “The wine I have not tried yet”.
Walter Bourke Homage – Pinot Noir Producer of the Year
Must-Have Wines Best of the Lunar Year – 2010 – Year of the Tiger – Best Wine of the Year from the Cellar
Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2002 and 2003 – Central Otago, New Zealand
New Zealand’s Quiet Achiever: Rudi Bauer, Quartz Reef
Having long realised the most modest vignerons invariably make the best wines, I have always greatly admired Rudi Bauer, both as a person and his Quartz Reef wines. You will not find a more humble winemaker than Bauer, although he does remind me a lot of Ian Marks at Gembrook Hill, in the Yarra Valley, Australia, both hypercritical of their wines, continually censuring themselves.
I pulled a magnum of Calera Reed Vineyard Pinot Noir 1994 out of the cellar on August 21st that had recently come direct from the vineyard re-release program, via Artisan Cellars www.artisan-cellars.com to share a glass and opinion with Nigel Greening from Felton Road, over a Sunday lunch.
Nigel Greenings Wild Hare Pappardelle (shot by the chef himself up Mount Difficulty)
It would be fair to say the extremes in temperature and environment don’t get any more diverse than holidaying on the beach the Datai Resort, Langkawi, Malaysia (6 º longitude N – just above the equator) to Wanaka (Lake), in the deep south of the South Island, New Zealand (44 º longitude S).
Expounding on a recurring question, “When dining in a restaurant, do you choose the wine then the food, or the food first then the wine”? Logically, the food would normally come first, assuming one is heading to a restaurant with a particular cuisine or flavour in mind.
If you happen to have some 1997 Domaine Guy Duflouleur Santenay ‘Clos Genets’, I would suggest leaving it for another 5 years yet.
At 13 years in bottle, this wine is still very youthful and when first opened quite primary and nervy in acidity, breathing out nicely over half an hour or so to reveal more generosity in fruit and texture, although accented on red currant and red cherry with a lingering sweetness and spicy, aniseed farewell.
USA – Red Wine of the Year
Amongst the plethora of wineries on this planet and ever-increasing choice, or perhaps bewilderment for the consumer, there is a select group of iconic brands and individual winemakers that stand head and shoulders above the rest. They are the benchmark for all other producers and greatly respected by fellow winemakers and equally revered by wine enthusiasts.
In the old world and spiritual home of pinot noir, such names as Domaine de le Romanee Conti and Armand Rousseau in Burgundy are holy. In the new world sanctification goes to Calera Wine Co in California, USA and its legendary proprietor, Josh Jensen, a true pioneer of the Californian wine industry and master of the most precarious of all grapes.
Part of the ‘Unrivalled Passion for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay’ program, on Friday, April 8th, 108 wine connoisseurs and enthusiasts congregated at the St Regis Hotel, Singapore, for a two hour tasting of Domaine de la Romanee Conti served alongside wines from four other wineries encompassing America, Australia, Austria and New Zealand.
There was much conjecture and to a degree, misinterpretation, of the objectives of this tasting but in reality, it was always going to be controversial. However, to our knowledge this is the first ever structured comparative consumer-driven tasting of this genre to be held in Asia, and perhaps the world. We would like emphasise this is a consumer preference outcome, ultimately the most strategic arbiter on wine.
Wife’s Legendary Duck Curry – and toast to Kai Schubert, both his capacity to eat duck and their great pinot noir’s – Schubert Marion’s and Block B
Duck curry and pinot noir – about as good as it gets when it comes to a harmonious food and wine pairings. We have served up this dish to numerous visiting wine and food writers, indeed just recently to legendary wine author and columnist for Wine Spectator, Matt Kramer, who complimented, “Really, the best we’ve ever had–by far.”
Well, as the numbness of our body and brain subsides, it is now feasible to reflect on the Burghound in Asia events.
There were many highlights, although perhaps the star event of the whole program was the Antipodean Grands Crus, and that is saying something when you take in to account the incredible experiences we had,including the Datai resort, Langkawi Island (which you can read about on Sam Neill’s blog, 5 April 2011 Travelling Paddocks Proprietor into the Heart of Darkness).
