Monday afternoon was spent at Jojo's shop with Bernie Sim and David Celdran trying out some of the new wines being imported by Premium. Bernie, of course, insisted that we also open some of his bottles and Jojo pitched in as well with a Rayas. I offered a Coudoulet de Beaucastel and Cava if anyone wanted a bubbly but we decided we had more than enough for a good tasting.
Marc Colin St. Aubin 1er Cru La Chateniere 2008 - Decanted about 15 minutes before being served. Really sharp, cutting acidity. Steely, lemony. Talcum powder. Not too pleasant metal tang on the finish. Opened up a bit after 3 hours in the decanter but still, not a style I like.
Faiveley Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes 2008 - Also decanted about 30 minutes before service. Very nice fragrance, floral. Rich texture but very tight. Even after 3 hours I wasn't getting much from this wine. Tough to guess when this will come around. Maybe 10 years?
At this point, 2 people walked into the store. I knew one of them was the manager of ultra high-end wine store Wine Story and she was accompanied by a tall gentleman who happened to be Etienne Hugel who is on the Manila leg of his Asian trip. Wine Story is the importer of Hugel wines in the Philippines and he was taking a tour of the wine scene in Manila. Jojo invited them to join us and we had a good time chatting with him for about an hour.
After they left, we moved on to the reds:
Chateau Rayas 2002 - I've had this wine maybe 4 times, all from Jojo's considerable stash. I've experienced some bottle variation on this wine. First time I had it, it definitely had the garrigue character of the Rhone. It wasn't too interesting when I had it last year, but this bottle was great. The nose had a rubbery character to it - like a South African red. Sweet and ripe but a little bitter on the finish. Impressively rich for this rained-out vintage. To me, it tasted like an Amarone. Very impressive.
Hospices de Beaune Cuvee Nicolas Rolin Beaune 1er Cru 1996 - This was bottled for the Manila Branch of the International Wine and Food Society. Still quite dark. Sweet nose with leather and tobacco notes. Rich but very dry. Beefy. Still firm on the somewhat sour finish. Good but probably better with food.
Huet Clos Du Bourg Moelleux 1er Trie 2003 - Candied ginger, burnt sugar. Perfect balance makes this incredibly easy to drink. Outstanding.