These wines are the standouts of the 2009 lunar drinking year.
Notwithstanding I reside in Asia, the nucleus of my ideologies revolve around a back to nature approach with wine, food and the environment – sustainable, organic and biodynamic principles that have evolved through Pagan farming to Chinese gardeners over the eons yet pivotal today. So not only do I care about the planet, I have gone lunar!
Curtis Marsh examines the prejudices and misconceptions that distort wine opinion around the world, and how these attitudes are influencing consumers in Asia.
There are many inconsistencies on the world wine stage when it comes to perceived wine quality, popularity (or unpopularity) of particular grape varieties, wine styles, regions or even entire countries. Sometimes, these anomalies have a rational explanation, yet in many instances there are perplexing and illogical evaluations or warped idealisms that render even the unquestionable quality of a highly regarded wine irrelevant and banished to consumer oblivion.
These tastings notes and further comment are an appendix to my Brunello di Montalcino article in the Hong Kong Standard Weekend Magazine, and based on recent visits to Montalcino, specifically the outstanding producer Conti Costanti.
There is also a separate account in ‘restaurants’ of my favourite family-run eatery in Montalcino, Osteria Al Giardino, indeed one our most enjoyable meals in Tuscany, in every respect; value, quality, ambience and service.
The essence of contemporary Bali mojo, Sarong Restaurant – Bar – Lounge, where the mood invigorates the food.
There’s no question you can eat well in Bali, with a multitude of resorts, hotels, restaurants and eateries constantly adapting to the pulse of capricious tourists. For many holidaymakers it’s simply an issue of sustenance, preferably from a horizontal position.
One barrel of wine, it has been said, can work more miracles than a church full of saints. But not if it’s been left out in the sun.
At a recent dinner party at an exclusive Singapore restaurant, the proprietor enthusiastically encouraged a choice from a selection of air-freighted and expensive wines.
Darren Gall, The Wandering Palate Cambodia correspondent lunches with Julie Thai, proprietor of Phnom Penh restaurant, Le Wok – an incarnation of her Khmer-Chinese and French parentage.
Having lunch with Julie Thai, you come to understand that her restaurant’s ability to seamlessly combine the cultures and cuisines of France and Asia with a simple and understated elegance is an extension of the woman herself and her desire to share the things she loves.
Georges Duboeuf sends over 10 different cuvees of Beaujolais Nouveau to Asia brand ambassador Nicolas Olivry at Red and White, who treats us to a sneak preview over lunch on the Eve of the release.
Georges Duboeuf describes the 2009 vintage in the Beaujolais region as “Very good, perhaps too good!” He opines, “It is more of a generous wine in which the grapes have been picked at outstanding level of ripeness producing some hearty, superbly well-balanced wines full of rich, smooth flavours. They have charm and class, smooth and succulent in dark berry flavours; blackcurrants, bilberries and black cherries.”
Slow Roasted Medium-Rare Rump of Wagyu Beef. Totally impressive at the table yet absolutely simple to cook!
There is nothing more enticing to a carnivore than a gargantuan piece of beef appearing at the table, juices oozing as it is carved in generous slices, the meat running from shades of cherry red in the centre to a caramelized roasted–brown outside.
Many colleagues today bemoan that we are losing our true winemaking artisans to a kind of oenological ‘industrial revolution’, where wines are made in labs, by recipe, to satisfy ‘target consumers’, ‘market profiles’ and ‘Wine Critics’ (gate-keepers as they are referred to by trade insiders). The result being that all we may end up with is a universal mouth-wash so bland and boring as to inspire epitaphs instead of poetry.
Cold beer is always good but there are several more sophisticated ways to partner this most popular of Asian cuisines, writes Curtis Marsh.
There is a great deal more complexity and flavor in Thai cooking than many other Asian cuisines and, contrary to perception, it can be paired successfully with wine.
I can fully relate to an ice-cold beer if you are eating at a stall in the sweltering heat of Bangkok. However, beer does not appease the chilli factor and, as the locals suggest, warm green tea is a better solution to extinguish the fire.
