Making new friends

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Tonight we made two new friends over dinner - Francois Mauss from the Grand Jury Europeen and Cecilia Roger from Morgassi Superiore. Both were in town for Vinexpo, and both have been away from Hong Kong for more than 20 years.

We had a casual dinner at the Fortune Room at the Jockey Club. Francois had requested a Chinese dinner, and we had a free hand in ordering since he and Cecilia both told us that they eat everything.

We started with a suckling platter, consisting of roast pork (叉燒), roast suckling pig (烤乳豬) and jelly fish (海蜇皮). This was well-received by our guests. Next we had consomme with beef shank, which was light and delicious with very tender slices of beef shank. Wonderful.

The first two dishes were paired with the 2001 Ramonet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. A very elegant wine with toasty oak, sweet grass, sweet butter on the nose. Medium acidty on the palate. This wine is fresh and showed lots of finesse.

Next we had scallops stuffed with shrimp paste and crab meat. Pretty yummy as well. This was followed by the black pork with beancurd sheets and eggplant. The eggplant was pretty flavorful.

These two dishes were accompanied by the 1983 Leroy Meursault Les Narvaux - another great wine. The nose was very sweet with honey, apricot and pear notes. The palate had a touch of sweetness and not much acidity compared to the Ramonet. The nose had clearly oxidized somewhat, like a pear that had been cut open and sat around. At the end of the dinner, the few drops left in our glasses showed what a truly amazing wine this was.

The first main dish was braised veal shank in claypot. A heavier dish, this nonetheless impressed with the Chinese five spice. We followed this with crispy fried chicken, where the meat was moist and tender.

The two reds that Francois brought along were both delicious and excellent value for money. The 2004 Rollan de By was pretty delicious for a wine that costs EUR 8 a bottle...nose of sweet fruit, a bit of smoke, lead pencil and that medicinal/antiseptic nose that comes from brett. Drinks pretty well but finish a tad short.

The second bottle was the 2002 Haut Condissas, with a much sweeter nose, also a bit of smoke, pain grille and (dare I say) oriental spices. A more complex wine with a longer finish, this is again excellent value at only EUR 15.

We finished the meal with stir-fried kale with wine, sugar and ginger. Cecilia really appreciated the something extra which is brought out by the ginger.

We had a great evening enjoying these fine wines, and exchanging ideas about the world of wine. I hope to see both Francois and Cecilia at Vinexpo in the coming days, and made a date for lunch with Francois later in the week.