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2013-01-19
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Almaviva wines are hitting the global wine scene with such a big splash and mysterious allure lately, as it is a Chilean Winery from Maipo Valley from a partnering venture between the Titans, wine makers Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Chile’s own Concha Y Toro. Two Wine giants each with their own expertise and are steeped in history, carrying individual knowledge about the trade, and with substantial wine making techniques know-hows and thorough understanding of the terroir’s background
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Session Started with a Technical Tasting Master Class -Presented by Almaviva’s Commercial Director Mr. Juan Carlos Pagola.
This was done without any food at first, so it doesn’t temper with our lunch palates.
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Almaviva Verticals - 1998, 2001, 2008, 2010 and a 2009 off-screenThis Chilean Winery is still relatively new established, the Vinification is undergoing fine-tuning over different vintages in order to understand the terroir’s potential. This might involve unforeseeable annual climate changes and differential ramping rates, effects from the El Ninos, playing with different grapes blending which is slightly Bordeaux clarets referenced, different Oak barrels to be used, etc. I am sure I missed a few things too. With so many variables that can finally affect the outcome it will take them some experimentations and blind guesses to be extrapolated from past experiences. I heard wines need many years to develop and to show it’s final potential, spanning over decades of aging - and there were definitely variations between various vintages and as exhibited in the glasses over time. Many vintages tasted quite diversely different not just from difference of age and differences in production method, grape blending and natural phenomenon effects, they also developed differently over time within just the glass today, it was definitely confusing. If I studied probability algorithm enough during high school, I wish I knew about the multiplying rule and would have won my Lottery with my right combination of 6 numbers this week and can retire to buy some nice Burgs! This was very eye-opening, the latter 2008 and 2009 vintages showcased a lot of transitional progress resulting from undergoing finer retuning, with better balance and potential. The 2010 surprisingly side-stepped with a quite new world and much more violet fruity and new oak presence which I thought was going slightly backwards unless it was climate related to come to this direction. On the other hand older aged wines especially the 1998 was subtly elegant. The 2001 had the most distinct minty-herbaceous nose but one of the favourites on the day. The 2009 vintage was similar to the 1998 with elegance, elegant, but carrying more White Peppery note and chosen by renowned Food Critic Walter Kei to pair with most dishes today. Most wines had 1 hour decanting prior. I am not a qualified Wine Writer, it was mostly my self-learning observation from a big Alcoholic’s point of view. Especially when everything changed during the course of things and I was becoming a little lost. Got a bit lost within the tasting but it was fun.
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BBQ Charsiu Pork (叉燒) - Seemed a little dense today and wasn’t using the same exclusively trimmed Chuck Loin muscle at Island Tang. But I actually liked that this wasn’t overly Tenderized unlike the Island Tang’s pre-frozen and soaked tenderized version ~ 6/10 Sautéed String Beans with Minced Pork (乾煸四季豆) - A Sichuan dish here served without much hot chili, quite decent in a Cantonese interpreted way ~ 7/10 Jelly Fish (海蜇) - Crunchy and quite Cantonese in that they don’t use the crunchier Head part like on the Eastern Coast and not too white peppery ~ 7/10 Roasted Suckling Pig (燒乳豬) - This was actually really nice with a thin crispy skin. I simply wanted more at that stage as it worked so well with the wines ~ 9/10
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Fried Salted Egg Yolk Prawns (黃金蝦球) -Fried non-oily with a nice buttery and salted yolk coating. The prawns were really crunchy with great prawns taste. Quite balanced. On theory it doesn’t work well with bold red wines, but I personally thought it paired with the more violet and oaky 2010 Almaviva, may be it didn’t clashed with or covered the oily flavours and greasiness ~ 8/10
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Braised Hairy Marrow with Conpoy (瑤柱節瓜甫) -Dried scallops with a cooked cucumber-like veggie, a typical local Cantonese dish. It was simple and cooked well enough. Usually these are hollowed out with a circular mould then stuffed with conpoy. This one today was just topped with Conpoy as a variation… You can sometimes find it during Wedding Banquets or Chinese New Year dishes ~ 7/10
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Sauteed Diced Angus Beef with Broccoli -The beef were a little too tenderized and have lost their real beef flavours, but I am so used to this from living overseas, at least it was sliced thickly here. I often say that China Club is aimed at Westerners than Chinese customers because of this, it is just so compromisingly aiming to strike the balance for everyone, but texture presided over real beef taste. This was quite Cantonese with the slightly starchy sauce coating - which is meant to give it more smoothness. At least the cubes were thick enough for being bitey but just. A little too Chinatown like ~ 6/10
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Sauteed Diced Angus Beef with Broccoli -The beef were a little too tenderized and have lost their real beef flavours, but I am so used to this from living overseas, at least it was sliced thickly here. I often say that China Club is aimed at Westerners than Chinese customers because of this, it is just so compromisingly aiming to strike the balance for everyone, but texture presided over real beef taste. This was quite Cantonese with the slightly starchy sauce coating - which is meant to give it more smoothness. At least the cubes were thick enough for being bitey but just. A little too Chinatown like ~ 6/10
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A Fried Taro’s Nest with Assorted Vegetables dished for the next door Vegan Friend -I didn’t tried this but it was presented neatly. Couldn’t help to take a pic of this. Great presentation. ~ 7/10
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Chilled Sago Cream, with Mango and Pomelo with 椰果 Coconut Gelatin (楊枝甘露)- I don’t know how to translate the 椰果 bit into English as I never gave it much thought and it is not a usual add-on in this modern fruity dessert soup. It does give it more bitey texture contrast. Acetobacter isn’t too alien to those who drink Taiwanese bubble teas. But apparently it is some sort of Acetic Acid Bacteria gelatinized in Coconut Water. Judging from a normal 楊枝甘露 soup with Pomelo, Mango, Cream/Coconut Cream and Sago dessert point of view, this needed more Mango and Pomelo. The version eaten at sister restaurant Island Tang had almost the same problem with being too creamily milky. As more of a Summery dessert, some of the shops in HK serves this with a mango granita ice in the dessert soup for soothing effect. Such as the one at: 口甜舌滑 Mrs. Sweetie ~ 5/10
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