Brunch at the Pan Pacific Orchard

10 Claymore Rd, Singapore
Visited 31st May 2009

If I was being controversial I'd say Singapore isn't particularly a great place to live, but one thing that is undeniable is that it's a fantastic place to eat. Our sly weekend away was all about zoos, flyers and hawker markets and ended with a very Singapore style Sunday brunch. Rumour has it the best brunch buffet in town is at the Fullerton but we thought we give the Orchard Rd branch of the Pan Pacific a go as it was located just around the corner from where we were staying.
Most Sunday buffets style themselves as a brunch affair, but at the Pan Pacific Orchard it's a lunch thing. The buffet selection wasn't massive though there was some nice seafood (prawns, oysters, salmon and mussels), OK salads, a few decent hot dishes and a good choice of desserts. I especially enjoyed the smoked salmon, sausages and the range of tasty bite sized desserts. Running from noon until four the selection also includes a main. The options included roast pork, barramundi, chicken and vegetarian pasta, but I couldn't resist a steak. The juicy sirloin was well cooked and tender. To drink it was all about free-flowering G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge; while not my favourite sparkling it certainly tasted pretty good in Singapore where alcohol is ridiculously overpriced. The Champagne was turned off at 3.30, but they happily bought us a bottle of red to finish things off.

Buffets are about variety and value. I would have liked to have seen a few more dishes on offer, but things aren't that bad when you consider you're getting a main; I suppose you could look at the buffet as a 'salad bar' accompanying the meal. What you can't knock is the value; free flow Champers, a big juicy steak and as much seafood as you can eat for $88 is certainly a great deal. Professional service and a nice setting in the ground floor lounge just add to the experience. While it's probably not the best buffet in Singapore, it could be the best value. Sunday lunch at the Pan Pacific Orchard is recommended, especially if you like Mumm (and don't have to fly back to Hong Kong with a hangover).
Visit restaurant website.

Brokenwood 'Indigo Vineyard' Chardonnay 2005

Beechworth, Victoria, A$22.25, screwtop
Brokenwood is a great Aussie producer and even a terrible experience at their cellar door several years ago hasn't even been able to lower my opinion of them. While the winery and many of their finest Shiraz and Semillons come from the Hunter Valley, the grapes used to make this wine are from beautiful Beechworth and the Indigo Vineyard to be more specific.

Brokenwood 'Indigo Vineyard' Chardonnay 2005 is a pretty straw gold colour. Well it smells like peaches, millions of peaches. OK apart from the peaches (millions of peaches, peaches for me...) there are also whiffs of citrus and crystallised pineapple; an alluring, sexy nose that is working overtime to seduce. The stone fruit flavours are also all over the palate, though there's also a nice grapefruit element, walnuts and a grainy flavour that reminds me a bit of Wheatbix. It's a clean, flinty package; a well cut wine with excellent length. The oak is in the background ensuring that it's powerful, but steely and focused. There is a hint of alcohol on the tail, but it's certainly not unpleasant. It's a lovely wine that certainly gets a big recommendation from me.

Visit winery website.

Union Bar and Grille

Level 1, IFC Mall, Central
Visited 21st May 2009
I quite like the IFC as a thoroughfare, but as a shopping centre it borders on the outright pretentious. Thursday night, while wandering its glitzy halls and waiting for a rather average film to start, we decide to head to the Union Bar and Grille for a drink and snack. The restaurant is divided into two with a bar at the front and more formal dining area at the rear. Union Bar and Grille is styled on New York watering holes and the interior ticks all the right boxes with lots of all leather, glossy timber and candles; it's pleasant and comfortable.

We settled at a comfy bar table and took advantage of the separate bar menu to order up some snacks. Choosing from a pretty standard range of dishes we went with sweet and sour chicken wings, a flat bread pizza with roasted vegetables and feta and a bowl of fries. The best thing were the fries; while they weren't overly warm the skin on chips tasted fresh, crisp and well seasoned. The serve of four manky chicken drumettes was terrible; the sauce smothering them was sickly sweet and tasted off, while the accompanying bowl of blue cheese dipping sauce was average to say the least. Unbelievably the pizza was worse. The supposed 'flat bread' base was hard and burnt, tasting more like a stale water cracker than bread. The pathetically small pizza was lacking recognisable topping with just a couple of shrivelled vegetables and five tiny pieces of feta in sight. We arrived during happy hour and $35 for a pint of San Miguel and $55 for a glass of wine seemed a lot more appealing than the food.

The Union Bar and Grille has a good reputation; its comfortable setting, professional service and reasonably priced happy hours drinks mean that it is potentially an oasis amongst the overpriced sparkles of the IFC. However there's one problem; the food. Looking at the company's website I was amazed to see the words "WARNING! We Serve American Portions", what I encountered was the total opposite; tiny serves of terrible food. The flatbread cost $65, the wings $52 and the fries $35 which considering the size is really bad value for money. I'm sure I'll be back to the Union Bar and Grille for a drink, but I certainly wont be injuring my wallet by ever ordering their average food again.

Visit restaurant website.

Izutsu Wine 'Silver' Merlot 2002

Shiojiri, Nagano, cork seal
Stereotypes of Japanese drinks bring to mind Geisha serving tea or salary men knocking back sake, yet there're actually a surprising number of different home grown alcoholic beverages available. Alongside shochu and plum wine the Japanese make good beer, outstanding whiskey and a surprising amount of grape wine. On my recent visit I was pretty disappointed with the wines I tried, but I grabbed this bottle duty free at Tokyo's Narita Airport as a final attempt to match the decent attempts I'd previously had from Hokkaido (1 & 2). From what I can gather it's made by Izutsu Wine in Nagano using fruit from vineyards that are 400m above sea-level.

It's darker than I expected; a deep red in colour with faint orange around the rim. It smells rich and surprisingly complex. There's a big whiff of plum alongside coffee, chocolate, brambles, tomato and a touch of mushroom; pretty interesting stuff. To taste it's a lot simpler and is all about red fruit, especially dark cherries. It's big and textured and held together by nice chewy tannins. Though it improved with decanting it did have a sharp, bitter finish. Izutsu Wine 'Silver' Merlot 2002 is an interesting wine; it smells intriguing, but there's nothing subtle about the bitterness that dominates the finish. It's quite 'old world' in style and is certainly not a bad statement for Japanese wine.

Visit winery's Japanese website.

FIG J(l)AM(g)

Update from the Garden
I haven't done an 'update from the garden for a while' but judging my the state of things summer has well and truly began in Yuen Long. Lot's of sun means everything flourishing; the lemon grass I brought back from my Elcho Island is out of control, while basil and chillies are thriving and there's a tree bursting with baby guavas. But the current highlight are the first of the truly divine figs I started picking this weekend. While probably not enough to make jam these little delights are delicious straight from the tree, warm from the sun. Just look at my garden!

Tramin Lagrein 2006

Alto Adige, Italy, $178, cork seal
Well this is the first time I've had a wine made from the Lagrein grape and the first time I've had a wine from Alto Adige; which kind of makes sense as the grape is native to this northern Italian region. I purchased this bottle from il Bel Paese in Wan Chai.

This is dark in colour, really, really dark. On the nose there are aromas of blueberries, tobacco, pepper and chalk. This is one tasty little wine. It's medium bodied and opens with savoury earthiness - mushrooms and game - the mid-palate is lusher with cassis and milk chocolate flavours. However the most striking thing about this wine is the long, long finish - it got a real bitterness too, which alongside firm, chalky tannins gives it a striking intensity. Tramin Lagrein 2006 says classic Italian; it has me puckering for another mouthful and a big plate of osso bucco.

Visit winery website.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, IFC

Shop 2018, Level 2, IFC Mall, Central
Visited 8th May 2009
At last count there were ten outlets of this extremely popular chain in the Territory, though I'm not sure how many of the devotees who regularly queue for tables realise that the Crystal Jade started life as a Cantonese restaurant in Singapore. In Hong Kong they have morphed into Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Bao and specialise in Shanghai cuisine. Their branches are scattered amongst many of Hong Kong's larger shopping centres, but if you're planning on visiting the IFC outlet, evening is the best time as the lines at lunch time are often ridiculously long.

Four of us hit Crystal Jade's for some much needed Friday night sustenance. We ordered up a pile of plates that featured Shanghai dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, turnip pastries, deep-fried shredded 'pancake', chicken with dried chilli, beans with minced pork, tea smoked pigeon and of course the signature Sichuan style 'la mian'. The delicate Shanghai dumplings were delicious with a tasty soup filling as were the flaky turnip pastries and shredded 'pancake'. I enjoyed the rich gaminess of the pigeon, while the spicy chicken came with plenty of cashews and chillies. My favourite however was the Sichuan 'la mian' or pulled noodles; served in a fiery peanut and chilli sauce the tender noodles with beautifully cooked. To drink I went for a couple of cold cans of Tsing Tao, though if you are in the mood for wine a useful tip is to BYO as corkage is a very reasonable $50 a bottle. With its shopping centre location, long queues and crowded layout Crystal Jade has more than a passing resemblance to a fast-food chain; they're just lucky their food is so good so that the mistake never gets made. The service at Crystal Jade is decent; polite staff handle the craziness with good natured efficiency. I was pretty impressed when our bill came to less than $100 per person excluding booze. For such well prepared grub and a selection of eight different dishes that really is a bit of a bargain. To put it simply; everyone, everyone, everyone loves Crystal Jade.

Visit restaurant website.

Duca di Salaparuta 'Colomba Platino' 2005

Sicily, Italy, $65, cork seal
Duca di Salaparuta have been producing this IGT Sicilia wine for over fifty years. It's made from Inzolia grapes that are grown in coastal vineyards in the south-west of Sicily, near the towns of Ribera and Cattolica. I picked up this bottle at Castello del Vino.

This is a really deep golden colour and when first opened it reminded me a lot of Riesling; smelling of talc, lemon and orange blossom. With little time in the glass it rounded out and more nutty and tropical fruit aromas emerged. The palate's all about citrus and nuts, specifically grapefruit and almonds, though there also a touch of fleshy cantaloupe on the finish. A nice wine that offers flavour and refreshment, though it is probably getting a little past it's optimal drinking window.

Visit winery's excellent website.

Coto de Imaz Rioja Reserva 2001

Rioja, Spain, £8.99, cork seal

Every time I drink Spanish wine I think I should do so more often; I really must try and sneak a few more bottles in amongst all the stuff from Korea, China and Japan. This wine comes from the Rioja Alta and is 100% Tempranillo. It's had 16 months in new American oak.The book in the background is Simone and Inés Ortega's classic Spanish cookbook 1080 Recipes that I often find myself referencing these days.

Coto de Imaz Rioja Reserva 2001 is a deep dark red, tinged crimson. I can smell smooth vanilla oak and a touch of cinnamon alongside a big basket of berries - boysenberry, raspberries and plums* (*though plums aren't berries). It smells and tastes pretty damn good. Up front it's all sweet fruit; plums and berries but the long, lingering finish is dry. It's pretty oaked up; big, round and powerful, but is well made with fine tannins. I like this wine; it's intense and rich, but balanced and rather delicious.

Visit winery website.

abacá

Punta Engano Rd, Mactan Island, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu
Visited 3rd May 2009
The Hong Kong tradition of having holidays on the actual day means that despite a decent number of public holidays we only get the occasional long weekend. May Day was the first three day weekend since last September and to make the most of it I headed to Cebu with a mate. Next to our hotel on Mactan Island was a mysterious, imposing concrete fence and set of gates with a sign saying "honk horn for entry". We assumed it was a nightclub, however a little research (looking for a late night drink) revealed abaca; a boutique hotel and restaurant. Abaca really is a pretty lush proposition. The rooms are extraordinarily indulgent; with each having its own private swimming pool. The beautiful open air restaurant is set in a tropical garden with views of both Cebu Straight and the kitchen's big wood fired oven.

The modern menu is packed with plenty of delicious western style dishes that highlight fresh, local ingredients. I started with a serve of fried calamari followed by a fillet of tuna atop gnocchi, while my mate went with lamb kebabs and grilled salmon. The massive pile of meltingly fresh squid was extremely tasty and big enough to be a meal in itself, while the perfectly cooked tuna was delicious served atop tender home-made gnocchi. The meal was completed by chewy homemade bread, rosemary infused oil for dipping and a side serve of mash. We drank local beers to start and then tried an interesting and aromatic blend of Romanian Gewürztraminer followed by a crisp Woodstock Semillon Sauvignon Blanc from Margret River.
Abaca really is outstanding. The attentive and professional staff are the backbone of an ultra slick operation that centres on excellent food and a beautiful garden location. The Philippines normally offers excellent value, yet our bill at abaca came to P7350 (HK$1240), though nearly half of this was for the drinks. This may seem a tad hefty compared to local chicken and rice joints, but abaca is a restaurant of international quality and judged on this scale still offers good value; my tuna main was P865 which is less than HK$140. Divine tropical ambiance, professional service, top notch grub and good wine list makes abaca a top dinning destination. How can I not recommend a restaurant where every part of our experience was superb? Visit restaurant website.

Majuang Red Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Gyeongsan, Korea, cork seal

Korean wine? Well I suppose in a country with such ridiculously high import duties even the Soju scullers need the odd cheap bottle of vino or two. A bit of research on the web indicates that the Majuang's range account for 15% of wine sales in Korea though at one stage of their 32 year history they accounted for 90% of wine sales in Korea. I grabbed this last year at Chinese New Year when I visited Korea; I can't remember exactly how much I paid, but I think it was about HK$100 from a convenience store.

This is dark in colour and definitely on the blood red side of things. The nose is pretty faint, but the predominant smell is cassis with a little whiff of bacon and green vegetables. It was initially tight and bitter, but opened up a little in the decanter. It tastes of black berries with faint traces of spice, plum and dried currents, but it's really pretty half hearted. There's a silkiness to this that suggests a few splinters in the mix, but rather than adding flavour the oak just makes it a little easier to chuck down. OK so this is big, full bodied and long, but it's also bitter, devoid of flavour and not particularly tasty.

Visit the strange, strange website listed on the bottle.

Tasting at Vartex Wine

2/F, 32 Cochrane St, Central

I'm sure everyone's seen the sign while cruising up the Central Escalators to Soho: "free wine tasting every Friday". Well this Friday instead of continuing upwards on the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system we jumped ship and stuck out heads into Vartex Wines to see what the story was.

In many ways Vartex Wines is a typical Hong Kong wine retailer; their selection includes wines from the usual French regions, a smattering of Italian reds and German whites and plenty of New World offerings. The most interesting thing about their range is the number of South African wines on offer. The New Zealand and Australia bottles displayed were of sound quality and I was particularly impressed to see wine from outstanding Beechworth producer Battely. Vartex Wine is the retail arm of Victory Wines, an importer specialising in South African wine.

The tasting was extremely casual, a few bottles are opened and passed around, people came and went, and the staff casually chatted with customers. I enjoyed the four South African wines we tried with the Chamonix Syrah being especially good. The show is run by Adrian Lee, a friendly bloke with an obvious passion for wine. I loved the easy going casualness of the tasting; it seemed almost as much a chance for the staff to wind down the week as a way to sell wine. The free tastings are casual and relaxed making Vartex Wine a worthwhile Friday night stop on the way to dinner or the pub.

Visit website.

Quinta da Lagoalva 'Talhao 1' 2004

Ribatejo, Portugal, MOP 90, cork seal
This is another purchase from the great wine store that is Macau. This is produced by Quinta da Lagoalva in Ribatejo and I've previously reviewed some of its red and white siblings. It's made from Fernão Pires, Arinto and Alvarinho grapes, but apart from that I can't tell you much else as the company's website is amazingly hopeless for such a large corporation.

It opens with a big, intense bouquet. The nose on this actually reminds me a bit of a good Chardonnay and it's all rather delicious with aromas of lemon curd, almonds, peaches and a touch of coconutty oak. The palate is a fruit fiesta with guava, pineapple and coconut standing out amongst a swagger of lush tropical flavours. This is a big wine with a concentration of aroma and flavour and a finish that is impressively long and lingering. At only MOP90 it's certainly good value, offering plenty of bang for your mop. Quinta da Lagoalva 'Talhao 1' 2004 is a distinctive kind of wine; it's rich and opulent, but if you dig the style you'll certainly be into this.

Visit winery's hopeless website.

Farmers Union Iced Coffee

South Australia, A$2-3

Living in Hong Kong the one thing do occasionally miss from back home in Australia is Farmers Union Iced Coffee. Fair enough I hear you say, but it's just coffee flavoured milk right? Yeah OK, but Farmers Union is bloody good, Australian, coffee flavoured milk that has memories of pies and road trips and staggering home through Richmond under a rising sun and fishing. Australia does the best commercially flavoured milk in the world and Farmer's Union has always been my pick of the commercial offerings. In its home state of South Australia Farmer's Union Iced Coffee out sells Coke, one of the very few places in the world where this happens. Sometimes it is good to be home.

Visit website.

Really Fresh Fish

Dinner on Elcho Island 17th April 2009 Who knows where Galiwinku is? This town on Elcho Island community is found on the bottom of the Wessel Islands off the north-west coast of Arnhem Land in the Australia's remote Northern Territory. Though I only had a couple of days here to visit friends it truly was a fascinating experience in an unique and amazing place.

Apart from spectacular wildlife, beautiful bush and a rich local culture Elcho Island also offers some awesome fishing. Heading out for an evening session with mates produced some serious excitement when we hooked into a school of aggressive Queen Fish. Though I don't indulge enough in Hong Kong, fishing is one of my great passions and connecting with big fish after big fish while the sun set over the Arafura Sea was a truly awesome experience.

Queen Fish are a hard fighting, powerful pelagic fish that also do alright on the dinner table. An Asian inspired meal served on banana leaves was a great way to experience the culinary delights of these fish. Malay style chicken, green vegetables, rice and a moist, tender, surprisingly meaty Queen Fish stuffed with limes, ginger and lemongrass made for a memorable meal.

Cornucopia Museum Cafe

Bullocky Point, Conacher St, Fannie Bay, Darwin
Visited 14th April 2009
It struck me that perhaps I was getting old when I realised it had been seven years since I'd lived in Darwin. I spent a year in this tropical northern Australian city studying to be a teacher and loved every minute of it (well every minute I wasn't studying to be a teacher anyway). Me return was a brief couple of days on route to Arheim Land. I spent the time visiting friends, insisting to locals that the place really hadn't changed that much and buying a new pair of thongs. Back in my day the best coffee in town was at the Cornucopia Cafe, a casual restaurant attached to the city's museum. Darwin's spread along a coast with sharp teeth and the cafe makes the best of its beach side location with a large outdoor terrace offering views straight onto the beach.

The food is classic cafe fair with a mix of sandwiches, salads, pasta and simple mains. As I was back in Australia I decided to order a couple of the things I'm often disappointed with in Hong Kong; caesar salad and iced coffee. Caesar salad in Hong Kong often lacks real flavour as well as the mandatory quality croutons and the anchovies. I hadn't had a good one in a long time so was really impressed with the massive serve I was presented with. Topped with a poached egg, plenty of bacon and parmesan and a rich dressing, the salad used butter lettuce rather than cos, but I think this actually made it better as the softer, creamier lettuce contributed to the melt in the mouth feel of the cheese, egg and dressing. Hong Kong normally has two terrible choices of iced coffee styles - the sweet and sickly 'frappachino' or burnt filter coffee with a splash of sugar syrup. At the Cornucopia Cafe I was presented with a silky, milky coffee dusted with coco and containing a couple of floating scoops of ice-cream; it was a dream.
Hong Kong offers so much fantastic dinning yet I feel we struggle to master the casual cafe; Cornucopia is a good example of how to offer simple and satisfying, yet quality food. Darwin's an isolated, regional capital with a tiny population yet Hong Kong could learn a lot from a place that automatically puts down a bottle of cold tap water when you are seated. I know I harp on about this a lot by I find the environmental destruction caused by bottled water tragically pointless. Anyway it seems the standards at Cornucopia Cafe have been maintained perfectly in my absence. Oh and as there wasn't that ridiculous service charge snuck into the bill I tipped!

Visit restaurant website.

Hawker Centres Singapore

Visit to Singapore
8th to 11th April 2009

A few days in Singapore is always fun and this trip seemed to be packed with action. Visits to the Zoo (think white tigers), Sentosa Island (beach, aquarium, monkeys) and Clarke Quay (beer) were all highlights, as of course was the tasty food offered at Singapore's many hawker centres...
Maxwell Food Centre, China Town
I couldn't find the Maxwell Food Centre publicised in any guidebooks, but I quite like the simple honesty of this hawker market that's found opposite the Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple on South Bridge Road. With its close proximity to China Town regional Chinese cuisine is of course the mainstay with plenty of tasting looking dim sum on offer. I've recently been converted to the joys of Fuzhou fishballs so I couldn't resist ordering a serve of these tasty treats that came floating in noodle soup. My mate grabbed some decent steamed dumplings and we both enjoyed cool glasses of refreshing (and hangover curing) sugarcane and lime juice. While it may not be the most glamorous, cleanest or stylish joint in town, I like the rough and ready style of the Maxwell Food Centre.

Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, Raffles Place
This central hawker market is located within a beautiful Victoria cast iron structure which was apparently built in Glasgow in 1894 and shipped to Singapore in pieces. The market is a popular stop with office workers mid-week and I'm pretty sure that a mate of mine eats here nearly every evening. The selection of food stalls covers an array of different cuisines and styles from hotdogs to curries, and ice-cream to fried-rice. We munched on my friend's favourite popiah rolls. These thin pancakes filled with radish, salad, chilli and egg were an extremely tasty snack. For me Lau Pa Sat is Singapore's quintessential hawker centre; imagine exotic flavours and charming colonial building.

Newton Food Centre, Newton Circus
Newton Food Centre, an established favourite with tourists, just happened to be a short wander from where I was staying near Orchard Rd. While this hawker centre technically opens for lunch it doesn't really seem to fire up until the evenings and when I visited mid-afternoon was just stirring. There's a decent range of food with plenty of Malay style seafood on display, however I was just after a snack and ended up ordering fried rice and a strange grilled sandwich filled with a carrot omelette and smothered in a sweet red sauce. Topped with crisp whitebait the rice was tasty, while the sandwich was just downright weird. The prices at Newton Food Centre seem a tad higher than other markets around town and with its isolated setting its popularity seems somewhat unjustified. Unless you're staying up the road I can't see how a visit to the Newton Hawker Centre is worth it.

Red Dot Brewhouse

25A, Dempsey Rd, Singapore
Visited 11th April 2009

My last afternoon in Singapore and instead of a ride on the Singapore Flyer or a trip to Jurong Bird Park we decided a more constructive use of time was to visit the Red Dot Brewhouse. This small micro-brewery and restaurant is located in a lush garden set back from Dempsey Rd; not far past the end of the Orchard Rd shops and the Botanical gardens. The restaurant is airy and well set out with a pond, plenty of lush greenery and views of the brewery's inner workings.

I arrived at the Red Dot Brewhouse we high expectations set by my mate who had talked up the burgers - I'd basically heard about nothing but these huge, homemade hamburgers for the last couple of days. Tragically we arrived between lunch and dinner and had to make do with a couple of snake plates. The homemade chips we ordered were crisp and a perfect accompaniment to the beer, as was the fritto misto, which in this case consisted of lots of fresh seafood; calamari, mussels and prawns. We started with pints of Monster Green Ale, a fresh, herbal beer with a distinctive green colour and then enjoyed a richer, yeastier summer ale. Both beers were excellent.
I’m all over the Red Dot Brewhouse; this place is cool. One big plus is the beautiful garden setting that is perfect for a relaxed afternoon of sampling boutique beers and nibbling on tasty snacks. Another is the excellent staff; friendly and informed they came over to ask if we wanted another drink before happy hour finished and our change even appeared quickly – something that never happens in Singapore. The beers I tried were great as was the food, though now all I want to do is try the rest of the brews and get my jaws into one of those burgers. For a country were alcohol is pathetically expensive prices at the Red Dot Brewery are extremely fair. During happy hour a pint was only $7 and bargain when you consider at Clarke Quay you’d pay double that for rubbish beer. There's a lot to like about the Red Dot Brewery; I know next time I'm in town I'll be coming back for one of those burgers and a couple of pints.
Visit brewery website.

Chateau la Croix Saint-Michel 2001

Montagne St Emilion, Bordeaux, £9.99, cork seal
A Sunday roast with friends, a leg of lamb and a bottle of Claret. This is from the Saint Emilion satellite appellation of Montagne Saint Emilion and is primarily Merlot with a splash of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. One of my mates insisted on writing a tasting note even though he strangely drunk only sparkling Perrier all night. I promised I'd include his comments;

A slight woody aroma rendezvousing with the smoky atmospheric,
crappy emotional taste emanating from the soul destroying
structural belief system this magnificent wine brings on.

The nose is appealing with aromas of dark cherry, pepper, tobacco and dusty, dried herbs. The palate is intense and complex. There's a swirl of oak, but also spice and dark chocolate, with hints of smoke, plum, red capsicum and tobacco. There're plenty of powdery tannins. Chateau la Croix Saint-Michel 2001 is full bodied, inky and intense; it's definitely Bordeaux, but leans towards bigger side of things; a good drop.

Chateau de Montgueret Rose d'Anjou 2007

Loire Valley, France, $49, synthetic cork
Hong Kong's weather is starting to warm up and as the humidity rises I tend to find myself drinking more and more rose. I couldn't find much about this wine and strangely the website listed on the label doesn't exist. The pink wines of Rose d'Anjou appellation can be made from Grolleau, Cabernet Franc and/or Gamay, but from what I can gather I'm pretty sure this offering from Chateau de Montgueret is entirely Grolleau.

A glass of rose is a pretty thing and this is a lovely coral pink colour with an orange tinge. The nose is all about succulent red fruits and it smells delicious. There are strawberries and, well, lots more strawberries; this smells and tastes like strawberries. The length is good, it's fresh and lively and the rounded off with an acceptable hint of sugar. You could argue that this wine is simple and one dimensional, but it's also well made, packed with bright fruit and pretty damn delicious. For some strange reason I ddrunk this alongside steak and potatoes and it held up with the meal surprisingly well. $49 is a very fair price for this; it's the sort of wine that's perfect to chuck back mid-week or dish up at a summer barbecue.