An evening of wine and cheese

This evening started early for me, as I brought along a couple of friends to a wine tasting at Hong Kong Wine Vault's newest storage facility.  The Managing Director of Château Montrose, Hervé Berland, was in town on a very short stay and gave us a brief introduction to the property.

2010 Tronquoy-Lalande - oaky, lots of fruit, with plum and cedar.

2010 La Dame de Montrose - minty, fruity, still a little pungent, a little dusty.  Tannic on the palate.

2008 La Dame de Montrose - young and tannic on the palate.  Sweet fruit, smoky, a little forest, and a little pungent.

2005 La Dame de Montrose - more open and opulent, a little smoky, with leather and bacon notes.

2011 Montrose - very sweet, rich, cedar, woody and fragrant.

2010 Montrose - really sweet and ripe, dried herbs, potpourri and toffee.

2008 Montrose - very open and really fragrant, with leather notes.  A little alcoholic, and still a little tannic.

2005 Montrose - still tannic but a lovely wine.  A little alcoholic.

1998 Montrose - very open nose, farmy, smoky, cedar and savory soy sauce.

I nibbled on the usual canapés, but it's not exactly a whole dinner.  So we headed back to Central and ended up at Caprice Bar.  As luck would have it, we ran into another friend and asked her to join us.

2010 (?) Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Sainte Catherine - flinty, ripe, floral, peachy and sweet.  A fairly big wine but lovely at the same time.

Cheese platter - we asked for A Bit of Everything, but preferred to go light on the blues.

Guérandais - this little goat cheese from Auvergne was acidic and... goaty!

Mothais - this was a creamy and slightly nutty goat cheese.

Abbaye de Tamie - a little bitter and salty.

Petit Mosellan

Perail de Brebis - very creamy and runny, and very salty.

Brin d'Amour - lots of herbs on the outside, a bit salty but nice and creamy.

Munster - pretty salty.

Smoked salmon heart, sour cream and mixed green salad

2007 Marcel Deiss Langenberg - really ripe and sweet, perfumed and floral, flinty and mineral.

Charcuteries / Cold Cuts - with saucisson, jamón ibérico and chorizo.

One of my friends suddenly felt like drinking beer, and remembered that there was a special artisanal beer here.  Apparently it was only available on a trial basis, as the brewer is the same person who supplies Caprice with their Anneau du Vic-Bilh...

Brasserie Lebbe L'Amalthée - light and floral, reminds me of a white beer like Hoegaarden, with a hint of citrus flavor.  Texture seemed slightly thicker, though.

Anneau de Vic-Bilh - of course we had to have the cheese with the beer!  They naturally go hand in hand.

Madagascar Chocolate Fondant, Tahiti Vanilla Ice Cream

Gotta say this turned out to be a pretty good evening...