Grape Wine Journey

There were two reasons that I pulled out the AMEX from my wallet and signed for a bottle of the First Growth this weekend.

Over the CNY holiday, I started to plan for my summer vacation in Bordeaux.  After locking down on the dates, I wrote to Ch Haut Brion, Ch Margaux and Ch Latour requesting a tour of the Chateau.  I was jumping with joy when I received a positive response from Ch Haut Brion.  The PR Manager replied that the Chateau is closed for renovation, but would offer a tour of Chateau La Mission Haut Brion and a tasting after the tour. 

The other reason was that last year at my birthday, a good friend opened his last bottle of 1994 Haut Brion in a cozy French restaurant in Sai Kung.  It was a sunny, warm, breezy Sunday afternoon.  We were sitting in the garden of the restaurant overlooking the water.  All sounded perfect, but the only problem on the day was that I was quite sick with a really bad flu.  My husband and my friends all said it was the best First Growth they had ever tasted.  For me, I took a sip and started to cough and couldn’t tell anything on the nose and palate.

Roast Beef in Red Wine Sauce

To celebrate that I will be visiting Bordeaux again this summer with a tour of this First Growth, we brought the bottle to my friend’s place for lunch over the weekend.  My husband prepared roast beef in red wine sauce to pair with the wine.

One really has to enjoy a bottle of complex Bordeaux wine over a course of 2 hours.  It will be a shame if one missed the development in the complexity of the wine.  It was like drinking a different wine every 30 minutes.

My tasting notes on the nose and palate started with blackcurrant, black fruit, liquorices; then moving to floral, vanilla, plum and ended with prunes, milk and pepper.  The tannin was smooth, and the finish was long with a hint of nutmeg.

One more bottle added to my collection of the 1855 Classifications!