C&S Wine

27/11/2023

PGO / PGI, in simple, is a general wine quality in EU standards. PDO = AOC in France, while PGI = IGP in France

23/11/2023

Enjoy of Lebanon wine today!

27/09/2023

#酒再苦也沒有上班苦
🤣
&swine🤪

18/09/2023

We had an Alsace Grand Cru tasting vs. Mosel, Germany GG tasting. The result is interesting. Maybe the vinyard sites I chose for the Mosel are too good lol, many participants preferred Mosel GG as the wines had more aromatic, flavor intensity; complexity; structure; and more "solid" acidity. It's like the SSR card that aroma, acidity, complexity, intensity, and finish all got 4-5 marks (5 is max in general). While Alsace, depending on soil type, can have 5+ in one or 2 parts but 2-3 only in other parts. As Alsace has 50+ grand cru and nearly 10 Clos, this round we tried the top 4 Grand Cru (Schlossberg, Hengst, Schoenenbourg & Rangen) & 2 Clos (Landelin & Urbain). For vintage, we covered both great vintage 2018 & 19 and poor vintage 2006. Although I need to spend a lot of time lining up the bottles, it's worth it. For me, Rangen's smoke aroma, Hengst's intensity & minerality all can be found out. Tasting textbook styles in different soil types is really amazing as not every time we can have such a good tasting experience.

While for Mosel, we tried Mosel GG Riesling and had some best vineyards like Juffer, Domprobst, Sonnenuhr from Prüm families, and Fritz Haag. As all are one soil type only, the Devonian slate, we can't find any differences in aromas for these 3 vineyards. Although these 3 btls are from different vintages, from poor 2012, average 2016 & excellent 2018, all in aroma can't have a huge difference. And palate, of coz 2018 is the best but just a bit deeper in finish & complexity, all 3 btls were definitely outstanding btls.

In conclusion, if you are looking for diversity, try Alsace pls. But you really need sufficient knowledge for wine selection. There are too many Grand Cru & too many wineries there. If you worry there are too many choices, please buy Schlossberg Grand Cru. The best Grand Cru maybe, and the 1st Grand Cru of Alsace. It is the only Riesling Grand Cru we had can against Mosel's best vineyards, and is the 1st btl we finished in the very beginning during the tasting.

04/09/2023

Alsace Rocks Masterclass on today. Impressive for the 2 different Grand Cru Riesling styles. Steingrubler from Domaine Barmès-Buecher & Schoenenbourg from Domaine Dopff Au Moulin, both from mainly Clay-limestone soil, crisp acidity and supported the finish. Both hav the fruit intensity, Dopff is more direct & strong while Bar-Bue is more liner and has obvious minerality. Both are outstanding quality with so long finish, see which style u like.

27/04/2023

Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay is a high CP🏆 wine, the 2021 one received 17/20 from Jancis Robinson, 94 marks from James Suckling, and recently 95 marks from Wine Enthusiast May 2023 issue.

Any tasting note 🧐📝? Well~ I find that Wine Enthusiast's tasting note is exactly what I have tasted so pls refer to the 3rd photo. Ready to drink after opening for half an hour. I enjoy this balance & fruit intense with subtle oak wine.

26/04/2023

In addition, Rioja’s white (grape) wines in recent years are absolutely surprising, the 100% Tempranillo Blanco and the modern "tradition"* Viura Reserva are of very high quality. Thanks to the sharing from Mr. Evan Ma, importer of Bodegas Franco-Españolas, and Mr. Stephane Desmarquest, Export Director of La Rioja Alta, I have a deeper understanding of the 2015 vintage. After sharing my views on wines, they added Bordón Viña Sole Reserva 2015 and Vina Arana Gran Reserva 2015 for my further tasting, to allow me to have better understanding of both Bodegas. It made the whole Spanish wine month perfect.

*Note: Viura used to be aged in old wooden barrels for more than 1 year, and thus it made the traditional Rioja Bianco unique palate of saltiness (very strong mineral taste) stands out. Regrettably, its fresh fruit aromas and flavors were hence sacrificed. This opposes the current trend of modern white wines, which emphasizes freshness. To entertain this need, in recent years, Viura has been aged in stainless steel tanks and are released to the market after a shorter aging period, which is, in line with the popular modern white wine trend. When I say the modern "tradition", I mean Rubén Provedo Santamartina, winemaker of Bodegas Franco-Españolas, can still keep the tradition under this modern method. The wine was aged in a mix French and American oak barrels for 18-24 months, and then lees have stirred in barrels every week to increase the texture of the wine. The long barrel aging ensures that Viura's salty palate is preserved without sacrificing the stewed fruit flavors and a full-bodied, creaminess wine texture as the effect of lees stirring. The wine made by this modern "tradition" is unforgettable once you have tried it.

另外，Rioja近幾年的白酒絕對驚喜，從Tempranillo Blanco，到以新式傳統方法釀做的Viura Reserva，Tempranillo Blanco的清新，Viura的鹹香與熟果感並存，確實令人對Rioja的白酒有更深的認識及體會。感謝Bodegas Franco-Españolas 的進口商Evan Ma及La Rioja Alta的Export Director Stephane Desmarquest的分享，在傾談後再加了一支Bordón Viña Sole Reserva 2015及Vina Arana Gran Reserva 2015令整個西班牙酒月更完美。

註：新式傳統方法是指Viura以往是用舊的大木桶陳年1年以上，令Viura獨有的鹹香(好強烈的礦物味道)突出，結果犧牲了新鮮果味，與現代的白酒強調新鮮、果感重的的風格相反，結果近年的Viura改為以不鏽鋼桶、陳年短時間就推出市場，配合市場流行的現代白酒風格，Bodegas Franco-Españolas的釀酒師Rubén Provedo Santamartina維持木桶陳年的傳統，以在法國和美國橡木桶中陳年18 -24個月，再以每週攪桶的方法，增加葡萄酒的質感。確保Viura的鹹香得以保留得來，又有熟果的味道，並配合厚身的酒體，這種改良後的傳統釀造方法令人一試就難以遺忘。

26/04/2023

Apr 2023 seems to be the Spanish Wine Month. Starting from the Ribera & Rueda Grand Tasting 2023 held by Cru Magazine in the mid of Apr, followed by the Rioja Wines Roadshow held by Corvino last week, and ,last but not least, La Rioja Alta S.A. Tasting held by RNG wines last night, I had tasted many samples from these 3 classic Spanish wine regions, especially the 3 great vintages of Tempranillo, i.e. 2011, 2015 & 2016.

In particular, The Tempranillo Tinto wines from Rioja of the two consecutive years 2015 & 2016 had shown a great contrast. In both 2015 and 2016, Wine Spectator gave both of them 91 points. Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) gave 94 & 95 points (Ribera 2016 reached 96 points). The official website of Rioja gave a vintage grade of "very good" for both years. Do you think that as the two scores by these leading critics are very close, the overall wine styles would be very similar, too? After the tastings, I would say that the difference between the two years is quite significant. 2015 was a hot and dry year. On the other hand, 2016 had a hot summer like 2015, but the whole growing season was relatively cooler so that the acidity of the fruit was maintained, and the longer growing time allowed more phenolic ripeness. Nevertheless, the alcohol after fermentation was around 13.5% (in contrast, for 2015, the alcohol level was more than 14%) and for me, I prefer the red fruit style of 2016 than the blue/black fruit flavor of 2015. Under the GRAN Reserva, 2016 is more pleasant to drink than 2015 because of its fruitiness and higher acidity. I admire La Rioja Alta's Reserva 904 Seleccion Especial 2015 because 10% of Graciano (the other 90% is all Tempranillo) was added to keep the acidity of the wine. Other Bodegas usually use 95% or even 100% Tempranillo, I personally think that the integration of the wine is even better.

本月可謂西班牙酒月，從月中Cru Magazine搞的Ribera & Rueda Grand Tasting 2023起，接著上星期Corvino搞的Rioja Wines Roadshow，再到昨晚RNG搞的La Rioja Alta S.A. Tasting，反複試飲3產區的3個靚年份，2011, 2015及2016的Tempranillo。尤其2015與2016兩個相連年份的Tempranillo特別有驚喜，2015與2016，Wine Spectator的評分都是91分，Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)的評分是94 & 95分 (Ribera 2016俾到96分)，Rioja官網的評價，兩年都是Very Good，你以為兩個分數接近或評價一樣，飲落口都接近？飲落去就知兩年的差別不少，2015係熱年，又熱又乾，2016同2015一樣都有一個炎熱的夏天，但整個生長期相對來講，清涼得多，令到果的酸度可以保住得來，發酵後的酒精依然保持到13.5%左右 (2015年是14%以上)。然後2016的紅果比2015的藍/黑果味更令人討喜，Gran Reserva下，2016因為果感豐富，酸度較高，比2015更易入口。不得不佩服La Rioja Alta的Reserva 904 Seleccion Especial 2015，因為加了10% Graciano (另外90%全為Tempranillo)，令酸度得到平衡，與其他酒莊使用95%甚或100% Tempranillo，酒的完整性更高。

25/04/2023

We revisited the Journey's End's Syrah (Shiraz) series last Saturday🍷, with Syrah (Shiraz) btls samples from Northern Rhone (Saint Joseph & Croze Hermitage) & Mclaren Vale. Overall, it was a series of good comparisons of old & new world styles. My comment is that South African winemakers understand how to show the terroir of their vineyards. The bottles showed some nose & tongue-catching style when pairing with Syrah (Shiraz) in Northern Rhone / South Australia.
The Journey’s End ‘The Griffin’ Syrah 2016 did show the most complex style, with very subtle red fruit and black fruit profiles & quite a long finish. When comparing with Domaine Jean Louis Chave St. Joseph 2013, the structure & tannin showed a very similar style. I think that's the reason why the label showed Syrah instead of Shiraz🍇. For the nose, it showed a more carbonate fermentation style than Journey’s End V3 Shiraz 2018, but the fruit intensity was deeper and more complex. And the most distinctive aroma was the black pepper🧂 from ‘The Griffin’. It is the 1st time I had a wine with such a noticeable black pepper aroma. It was definitely unforgettable.

The high CP🏆 one should go to The Huntsman Shiraz-Mourvedre-Viognier 2018. The small percentage of Viognier gave floral notes to the wine and the overall palate was complex and structured.

South African winemaker also made funny white wine. Last Saturday night we also had a structural, medium+ body & very long finish Grenache blanc. I doubt they made it by a day cold soak as I tasted some tannin, but after checking the tech sheet, it was only 2 hrs! When pairing with the traditional style from Spain, the South African is more attractive and distinguishable.

The South African Wine Tasting & pop-up store is now opening till 10 May 2023 at 1/F Central Market, 93 Queen’s Road Central. Don’t miss the chance to explore more South African Wine!

19/04/2023

Thank you for B Wine's invitation. I suppose to have some causal drinking, but have 8 btls of RM Champagne from Romery & Verzy of Montagne de Reim. A good comparison of 2015 & 2019 Champagne & 100% Pinot Meumier vs 100% Chardonnay. And high quality Franciacorta from Le Quattro Terre.

04/04/2023

If u focus on WSET exam, pls use Eurocentric descriptors 🙃 & don't need to define four kinds of mangoes 🤪.

If u take a look the WSET Lv4 SAT, you will find that it is quite similar to the [UC Davis] aroma wheel.

Comparatively, Ann Noble's aroma wheel has one more cluster. Taking oak (woody) as example, Ann's one has 3 more clusters, like phenolic, resinous & burned. The descriptors are under these 3 clusters.

To become more inclusive and accessible, a growing industry movement is questioning traditional, often Eurocentric wine descriptors both in the classroom and on the floor…