Cotat – Sancerre – Les Caillottes – 2010

Cotat is one of the most prestigious names in Sancerre, producing very ageworthy wines in an appellation more generally known for making wines to be drunk fresh in the flushes of youth. 

Lemon (and to some extent lime) on the nose, touched by caraway; the powerful palate offers a fair whack of acid and alcohol, and quite an impressive length. It is not as saline or idiosyncratic as the other Cotat cuvées, but rather (on opening) is a forceful expression of the classic Sancerre profile. Development brings out a more luscious melon and mint character. Some aging would be welcome.

Château Canon-la-Gaffalière – 1989

Right-bank Bordeaux from the excellent, very hot vintage of 1989.

The bottle itself announces Grand cru status, although more recently this Château was elevated to Premier grand cru classé B status in the 2012 reclassification of the wines of Saint-Émilion, putting it just a notch below Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ausone (who themselves got two new companions in lofty Premier grand cru classé A, Château Angélus and Château Pavie).

There is some bricking at the rim, but otherwise it remains dark and inscrutable. The bouquet mixes strong sweet and savoury presences, with currants, vanilla cream and chocolate jostling for place with earth, coffee and geranium. There is also the gentle suggestion of cassis and pencil lead, flavours one would expect to be more pronounced in left-bank Bordeaux. We disagree about whether it is resolved or not; personally I still find it mouth-coating and tannic, although one would certainly expect the tannins to be essentially resolved at this age. However, DL’s take is that it is already resolved, but the fruit is drying out, lending it a very dry finish that may feel tannic. It’s quite sweet, no doubt a result of the Merlot dominating the blend; N1 finds it suggestive of some American wines. It may not have a very long finish, but there is lots of interest and plenty of solidity; no hurry to drink up. Personally I would even wait to see the secondaries come out more.  

Domaine Maume – En Pallud – 2000

We tasted this (also blind) just after the Charmes Maume (last post); this time there was no doubt for either of us we were drinking Burgundy. The rim was bricky (even almost orange) and the wine was relatively pale; the bouquet was somewhat farmyardy, with light, faded fruit. The surprise (apart from it being Maume again) was that it was from a more recent vintage, when in fact it seems markedly older. The En Pallud is from a named vineyard (not Grand Cru) in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Slightly, this wine suffered by comparison with its grander predecessor; the nose was attractive, but the body seemed thin. Certainly pleasant, but much simpler than the Charmes. Just when we thought it was entirely settled, definitively resolved and defined, it surprised us by moving on from a lightly manured farmyard to being more a case of tea and faded raspberry fruit. (All quite classic expressions of Burgundy).

Domaine Maume – Charmes-Chambertin – 1996

Tasting this blind, N1 and myself fired guesses all over France and North Italy but didn’t land in Burgundy. This tending-towards-heavy-bodied wine had suggestions of black fruit (even cassis) and white pepper, tasting notes designed to send us haring off in the wrong directions.

So, Burgundy, from the Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru vineyard/appellation (one of 24 Grand Cru sites for red wine in the Côte de Nuits, in the south part of the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin).

There is some bricking, but it doesn’t look too old.

There is certainly a presence of dark, dry fruit (even going a bit plummy; none of the classically Burgundian raspberries and strawberries), but the wine is dominated by somewhat leathery, savoury secondaries. It is not very much one thing but passingly touches a lot of bases: pepper, marmite, and Chinese food. I find a strong hint of things like ginger and turmeric in N1’s spice cupboard. After an hour, black tea has made a strong appearance. A grand, powerful wine made for the long haul.

Dragon Castle, London

By N1

I won a fellowship to visit Hong Kong and it seemed appropriate to
celebrate with dim sum. A few years back, I had gone to the Dragon
Castle with a friend on the advice of her Hong Kong Chinese mother.
Googling for dim sum places now, I found several rave reviews from
about that time - but also the suggestion that the chef might have
changed since then, with a consequent decrease in quality. We were in
the area, so we decided to give it a try.

The a la carte menu, whilst mainly Cantonese, also has what now seems
to be the obligatory few Szechuan dishes. Whilst I like Szechuan food
as much as the next person, China is a huge country (to get from
Guangdong, the capital of Cantonese cooking, to Chengdu, the capital
of Szechuan, takes one and a half days by train), and it’s hard to
believe a chef would be superlative at making more than one regional
cuisine. The dim sum menu at Dragon Castle also has xiao bai long
(Shanghainese dumplings) and even a couple of Thai and Vietnamese
dishes. Actually, Hanoi is nearer to Guangdong than Chengu is, so
arguably that’s no worse than the inclusion of Szechuan dishes.

We stuck to the Cantonese offerings, ordering: prawn dumplings (ha
gow), turnip and peanut dumplings, pork puffs, deep fried taro
dumplings, beef balls, and chicken feet. The waiter tried to dissuade
us from the chicken feet, and then to persuade us to get the warm ones
in black bean sauce rather than the cold ones marinated in rice wine.
But, despite being Gweilo, we like cold marinated chicken feet, so get
them we did. And very pleased with them we were too. The large “meaty”
feet had picked up a lovely flavour from the marinade and were served
with tasty pickles on the side. Those and the pork puffs were our
favourite dishes. Our least favourite were the beef balls, which were
not as aromatic and gingery as ones we have had elsewhere, and the two
sets of steamed dumplings, whose skin was just too thick. All the
other dishes were exactly as they should be, no better and no worse.
Some of the Chinese diners were having the congee (not on the English
menu, but on the Chinese order form, with translation) and that looked
very nice, with a generous amount of preserved egg and other bits
floating in it. I was eyeing it up for seconds, but we were just too
full to order anything more.

Our meal was fine but not special. N2 disagrees, insisting that the
chicken feet were very special and beat out the chicken feet from
elsewhere, but as a prawn-o-phobe* he doesn’t understand how important
decent ha gow are. Dragon Catle was certainly no better than standards
such as Royal China or Imperial China. I wouldn’t go out of my way to
eat at Dragon Castle, but I would eat there again if I was in the
area, although I would avoid ordering any dumplings.

* N2 would prefer that I call it an allergy, but since I have seen
him eat small bits of prawn by mistake, without it seeming to do him
any harm, I won’t deign to glorify his aversion and occasional bouts
of vomiting, which I hope one day to to cure him of.

Dragon Castle, 100 Walworth Road, London 

www.dragoncastle.eu