Right and Rhône

Time for another MNSC Dinner, and the gang congregated on a Sunday night in the Grill Room of the Hong Kong Country Club.  I'm usually pretty skeptical of club food, so I didn't get my hopes up about the quality of the food.  I was, however, looking forward to whatever wines Juliano was about to serve us…

Baked oyster in two style:

Champagne emulsion - with diced mushrooms.

Kilpatrick - this was OK… a little crunchy in texture.

Traditional Country Club caesar salad

Half lobster thermidor - wow!  This was pretty rich… and we haven't even gotten to the main course!  Not surprisingly a little on the salty side...

Roasted Australian grain fed prime rib served with daily vegetable and baked potato - a huge hunk of beef that was pretty tender.

Grand Marnier Soufflé - they brought us the soufflé while I was away from the table, so naturally the darned thing had collapsed by the time I got back.

But I never really cared about the food…  Thankfully the wines served tonight were very, very awesome.  Some of my favorite wines showed up tonight!

1996 Salon - flinty, yeasty, ripe with caramel notes.

1982 Ausone - Very sweet, ripe, grassy, minty, a bit of green pepper and smoke.  94 points.

1983 Ausone - a little dusty, chalky, ripe fruit and a little smoke.  93 points.

1989 Guigal La Landonne - drank almost 3 hours after opening.  Sharp, very ripe nose, a bit farm and animal, minty, and a little violet.  Soooo good… 97 points.

1989 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins - drank almost 3 hours after opening.  Pretty sharp nose, ripe, really sweet, black olives and savory nose.  A big wine.  96 points.

1990 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins - decanted 4 hours prior to serving. A bit meaty, minty, forest.  96 points.

1990 Chave Cuvée Cathelin - really ripe and sweet, jammy, really open nose, bacon, forest, animal and tangerine.  Wow!  99 points, almost perfection!