TNs: Doing the China King thing

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Michael Malinoski
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TNs: Doing the China King thing

Post by Michael Malinoski »

I was excited to join 7 other wine guys a while back at China King in Boston’s Chinatown for a dinner consisting of 3 Peking ducks and all sorts of delicious sides and starters. We busted out the usual eclectic variety of wines to go with the fare, and a good time was had by all.

Sparkling wines:

NV Arlaux Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée. Disgorged in June 2013. This is delightfully light-footed, airy and pretty on the nose, with fine, ticklish aromas of white flowers, apples, chalk and spices that I find very enticing. In the mouth, it shows a similar personality, with light-bodied but persistent flavors of apple, grapefruit and spice doing a gentle dance across the palate. I was enchanted by this frilly, delicate but delicious wine, and it put me in a festive mood right from the start of the night.

NV Jérôme Prévost Champagne La Closerie Extra Brut Les Beguines. This is listed as a non-vintage Champagne, but the code on the label indicates that the wine is from the 2009 vintage. It’s decidedly dark-toasted on the nose, with aromas of yeast, toasted citrus rind, baked apple, ginger and dark berries. It takes on a very controlled sensibility in the mouth, foaming nicely on the entry but then toning up considerably on the tautly-structured and rather dry mid-palate. It’s a little bitter-edged and austere at the tail end, but overall it is a rather serious wine made for the serious-minded drinker.

White wines:

2009 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Clisson. This is loaded with chalk, crushed shell, lemon and pear aromas that are a bit rich but still nice and minerally. It’s surprisingly round and almost fat in the mouth, but with delicious tastes of lemon, lime, tree fruit, herb and mineral that deliver a big mouthful of flavor. It turns more saline on the finish, leaving a lasting impression. Some find it a bit lacking in cut, but I enjoy it.

2009 Jermann Vinnaioli Vintage Tunina Venezia Giulia IGT. This is a deep shiny yellow color, and delivers a very engaging bouquet of crushed gravel stones, sea shells, steeped lemon, fresh green herbs and mountain flowers. On the palate, it’s moderately rich and oily-textured, with an expansive and broad-brushed mouthfeel, good viscosity and excellent tension to flavors of lemon, grapefruit, pear and cantaloupe. It finishes nice and dry, with a crisper edge to it, and fine balance and character all around. This is quite nice indeed.

2012 Cowan Cellars Ribolla Gialla Russian River Valley. The nose of this wine is really enjoyable, showing off fun aromas of honeysuckle, orange blossom, star fruit, mango and cantaloupe. In the mouth, it starts off well enough on the attack, but cinches up in the mid-palate before cutting the taster off on the finish. It’s got nice acidic cut and fine structure, but it’s too young and tightly-coiled right now, not letting the fruit stuffing shine through just yet. Give this some time to come around.

2012 Willi Schaefer Riesling Graacher Domprobst Kabinett Mosel. This is still a little fizzy in the glass, with fresh, prickly scents of peach fuzz, apple peel and faint kerosene. It’s a bit fizzy in the mouth, with forward peach, kiwi and apple juice flavors showing very contained sweetness in a nice way. It certainly needs time, but several tasters at the table were really singing its praises for future development.

2002 Willi Schaefer Riesling Graacher Domprobst Spätlese Mosel Saar Ruwer. Ooh, this is just lovely on the nose, delivering gorgeous, expressive aromas of peach, star fruit, yellow citrus, blue slate and musky funk. In the mouth, it offers a nice combination of sweet yellow fruit flavors on top and cool blue slate underneath. It’s ripe and giving, deliciously-flavored, and supported by an enjoyably subtle cut of acidity. It’s excellent to drink now, but I think it may have an even higher gear to shift into down the road.

Red wines:

1982 Marengo Marenda Barolo Cerequio. There’s a good deal of sediment in this bottle, which unfortunately smells over the hill to me--leading out with scents of macerated cherries, toasted walnuts, suede leather, decayed earth and sherry. In the mouth, it’s sort of light and dry cherry-fruited—a little tired but with interesting aged earth undertones and decent balance despite some astringent tannins still hanging around on the back end. It’s fun to try, but has seen better days.

2001 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco. This is bricking at the rim, and presents a rather leafy sort of bouquet featuring aromas of dried cherries, baked strawberries, earth, chalk, leaf pile and caramel. It feels old-fashioned but also a bit advanced beyond what one might expect. This latter impression carries through to the palate, where it features flavors of caramel and roasted nut to go along with sweet dried cherry and dried raspberry fruit. It comes together better on day 2, but in general it feels like this needs to be drunk up soon.

2004 Antonelli San Marco Sagrantino di Montefalco Chiusa di Pannone. This wine is a very dark and opaque color, showing off a bouquet of white pepper, tomato vine, limestone, granite, mixed peppercorns and scorched earth to go along with dense black cherry fruit. In the mouth, it’s plush and sticky and totally mouth-coating. It sticks to the teeth and gums, but also releases very intriguing flavors of dark cherry, cranberry and various expressions of earth. There are abundant but rather classy tannins and plenty of structure to this. It needs another half-dozen years or more in my opinion, but it’s an interesting wine, for sure.

2008 Marcel Lapierre Morgon. Cool and crunchy on the nose, this wine sports stony scents of granite, cranberry, crabapple, toasted herbs, tomato peel and smoke. It’s similar on the palate, showing controlled balance and tightly-coiled flavors of cranberry, smoked cherry and herbs. There’s good tension to it, but the overall expression is a bit muted at the moment. I’d give it another few years, personally.

1989 Domaine Chante-Perdrix Châteauneuf-du-Pape Selection Reflets. This is lifted and high-toned in aromatic profile, showing off scents of red flowers, kirsch, tobacco leaf, terra cotta, pine branch and fireplace ash. It’s warm-toned the palate, with baked red fruit, earth and caramel flavors in effortless balance. Some sneaky tannins and a tackier texture come out a little bit on the finish, but otherwise this is giving and easy.

1990 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire. There’s just amazing complexity to sit and ponder with the bouquet of this outstanding wine—with grounded aromas of baked clay, bacon fat, fecund earth, mushroom, seaweed wrapper, coffee grounds, fudge, meat, olive brine, mineral, blackberry and black cherry all seemingly taking turns at the fore. In the mouth, it’s dark and smoldering, with a smoky, peaty, traditionally-minded personality and intense savory flavors of smoked meat, olive, mineral and earth supported by sour cherry fruit. This is simply tremendous, and was WOTN for several tasters.

1995 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier. This is the third time I’ve had this wine in the past 2 years, and the bouquet every single time has been nothing short of beautiful. This time around, it’s giving up exceptionally pretty aromas of violets, lilac, mountain berry fruit, suede leather, horsehide, hickory wood and dried tobacco leaf that are a delight to sit and sniff. It’s always been less fully-realized on the palate than on the nose, but this bottle is unfortunately the most tired I’ve had, with the acidity a bit astringent around the edges of the pretty, lighter-bodied dried red fruit core. I enjoy the old-fashioned profile and just love the bouquet, but I think it’s time to drink up.

1999 Éric Texier Côte-Rôtie Vieilles Vignes. CORKED.

2000 Michel & Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie. Man, this is one outstanding wine. It is amazingly good on the nose, showing off explosive but cool and traditional aromas of blackberry, animal fur, barnyard, pen ink, car repair garage, charcoal and mossy earth. I just love it. In the mouth, it offers up delicious flavors of olive loaf, blackberry, plum and charred earth that are juicy, long and lifted, with excellent balance and outstanding body all around. It’s drinking great, and is my WOTN.

2006 Stéphane Othéguy Côte-Rôtie Les Massales. This is a lot to take in on the nose, with all kinds of big-boned aromas of blackberries, charred herbs, olives, meat and smoke swirling around in an overt and expressive package. It’s juicy and bold in the mouth, rich and powerful, with sticky black fruit, cracked pepper, olive brine, charred earth and black licorice flavors galore that are just a bit outsized at present. Sneaky tannins trickle in late, suggesting this ought to be even better later on.

2011 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph. An impenetrably opaque color, this wine delivers uber-black aromas of cracked black pepper, blackberry, game meat, charred herbs and a bit of rubber. In the mouth, it’s very young, very primary, classically-made and built to last, yet beautifully-textured with luxuriant edgings all the way through. It’s all black fruit, dark earth and ripe but youthful tannin at present, but ought to be tremendous with further bottle age.

Sweet wines:

2001 Château Rieussec Sauternes. This gorgeous wine just pulls you right in with the absolutely lovely aromas of bulls eye caramel candies, clotted cream, botrytis spices, warm nuts and confectionery sugar. My notes say “hell, yes!” In the mouth, it’s rich and unctuous, but with perfectly lifted acidity to effortlessly balance the insanely luscious sweet candied peach, nectarine, caramel and dried pineapple square flavors. It flows beautifully and ends with delightful tropical notes. It’s just a pleasure to drink in every way.

2005 Müller-Catoir Scheurebe Haardter Mandelring Auslese Pfalz. Whoa, this is fun and exotic, bold and tropical—absolutely singing with rich but lilting aromas of pineapple, lemon oil, kiwi, grapefruit, peach juice, spice and honey. The wild ride continues onto the palate, where this is rich, sweet, luscious and fun, showing beautifully-textured flavors of tropical fruit and caramel. It’s luxuriant and captivating, with soft acids but easy balance to it. For me, this is an easy win all around.

1989 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Le Mont. This is golden-colored, with a bright sheen to it. The nose also feels gold-tinted, with aromas of wool, copper and musky fruit showing excellent tension and verve. In the mouth, it is strident, almost gripping compared to the previous two wines, with a more serious personality all around. It features strong flavors of pit fruits, rock sugar, caramel and notes of fermenting fruit, with a more generous underbelly of sweet citrus tones. This was a favorite of several folks at the table, but I admit I preferred the more direct pleasures of the previous two wines. Still, what a finishing trio!


-Michael
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JCNorthway
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Re: TNs: Doing the China King thing

Post by JCNorthway »

That is quite an array of wines, Michael! I assume a good time was had by all.
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Comte Flaneur
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Re: TNs: Doing the China King thing

Post by Comte Flaneur »

That is a stupendous effort in the name of science for fellow enthusiasts Michael. Seven punters 20 wines, that shows impressive class, commitment and stamina.

Shame about the Bonneau. I had this a couple of years ago and it went head to head, toe to toe and neck & neck with Ch Rayas 1995 the whole night. Different wines but a high scoring draw.

Bit I really liked your Ogier note. At a northern Rhone lunch here in May the 1997 and 1999 were outstanding, especially the latter. We are drinking the 2001 - among other Northern Rhones - for an event next week, so looking forward to it.
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