Vinexpo pit stop

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Vinexpo is in Hong Kong this year, and I had so much fun 2 years ago that I decided to go back.  I have a few friends who were going to be working there, so I thought I'd drop by and visit them.
I wandered around a little and started at the E. Guigal booth.  Marcel Guigal was there, along with his wife Bernadette and son Philippe.  I was privileged to have Marcel pour the wines for me.  We started with the 2008 Guigal Condrieu, which drank very nicely, and the 2008 Guigal Hermitage Blanc.  We then moved to the 2006 Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde.  This was a complete surprise... it was soooo extracted, exploding with sweet strawberries... completely not the Guigal style that I'm used to.  As we chatted with Marcel, he realized that we do know a little something about his wines (OK, I told him that La Mouline is my absolute favorite wine...) and decided to pull out the 2006 Guigal Château d'Ampuis.  Now we're talking!  It was a little too cold at first, coming from a fridge, but I warmed it up with my hands.  What a beautiful wine... the floral notes came out and I was in heaven.

I went off to visit a friend who was pouring some Burgundies for the boys from Mandarin Oriental.  Tasted through various appellations - both whites and reds - and found a few surprises.    Afterwards we went back to Guigal, hoping that Marcel would treat us to a few drops of the La La's... Alas, the Guigal family was busy chatting with some people and were taking a break from pouring, so no dice.  I had a few drops of the 2007 Louis Jadot Meursault Genevrières, but found the heavy oak too overpowering to be enjoyable.  In fact I thought it smelled like old Comté...

I turned my head and found my friend Pierre at the Louis Roederer booth, and went to say hello.  The Mandarin boys had told him about my presence so it worked out perfectly.  We started with a glass of the Louis Roederer Brut Premier, which was light and always drank well.  Then we were treated to some 2004 Cristal...which hasn't been released yet.  This was very nice... surprisingly open for something this young. 

After a couple of hours, I decided that it was time to go back to the office and go through the end-of-day routine.  Pretty happy that I stopped by and hung out with friends...