Todd was in town and Jay organized a nice group for dinner at Bite of Hong Kong in Chinatown. The lines that run to Grand St were a mess, so I took subway to Canal and walked over to find several people waiting, and the rest dribbled in. Dried squid with chives, crab, egg tofu, lamb chops with black bean sauce, steak kew, and more
My notes were split between a piece of paper and phone. Made it home with both, but somehow lost former over weekend. So even spottier than usual
Bubbles
NV Calsac Brut Rose
Full, tart, needs food. B
NV Le Mesnil(Rare Wine Co) Blanc de Blancs
Bright pear fruit, chalk, citrus, delicious. Good value. B++
White
2008 Hirtzberger Singerriedel Smaragd
Probably my wine of the night. Racy, wet rocks, yowsa. A-
2017 Silver Thread Riesling
lemon, just a bit of RS, not very exciting
2013 Weiser-Künstler Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Spatlese
Electric acids, zingy, great with food, a bit sharp without
1994 Muller- Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Spatlese
This was good, but not “pay Egon Muller price” good
1990 Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese
‘90 ripeness but acidic support, apple pie with lemon, nice underlying minerality, great finish.
1997 Domaine du Closel “Cuvee Speciale” Savennieres
I had a bunch of premoxed Closel (mostly 2002), but this was nice- a bit oxidative, but more in a planned style than a problem. Long and rich
Reds
1972 Alexis Lichine Clos Vougeot (375 ml)
Very pale, looks brown when poured, tastes brown too! Better with food, some fruit shows through, fun to try but not that tasty. B-/C+
1993 Prince de Merode Corton Clos du Roi
Best showing of this, still pretty structured,. Full and long, just hitting stride. B+
1995 Bertrand Ambroise Corton-Rognet
Red fruited, maybe a little tired.
1979 Giscours
An old friend, a rather gentle bottle,but I enjoyed it.
1989 Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste
Opened there, this was pretty tight to me, I should have revisited, but lots of wine on the table.
2017 Edmunds St John Gamay Noir
Lovely young Gamay
2017 Lamoureaux Landing T23 Cabernet Franc
Fresh but not too interesting
1960 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo
3 of us have big birthdays this year, so I thought a good time to try. Double-decanted before traveling, very light color, but sweet fruit nose. This is light on the palate as well, some sweet cherry fruit and tar, not a lot of depth, but pretty good for a year that’s pretty horrid across most of the planet,.B-/B
1997 Olga Raffault “les Picasses” Chinon
Mature and ready, good showing, one of my faves
Sweet wines
1997 Pithon Coteaux du Layon
More demi-sec than moelleux, caramel and orange zest, I think others liked more than I did.
1993 Hilltop Neszmely Tokaji 5 Puttonyos (500 ml)
No notes but I wasn’t really impressed with this,
1990 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Beerenauslese (375 ml)
No notes but this was stunning
Very fun night
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.