Kyoto Protocol III

Back to Japan, ready to kickoff an amazing sake experience, but first, another session with J. and S. in Kyoto. Travel was a bit rough, I'm a day late as my flight from San Francisco was cancelled. Instead of a day to rest, I made it just before dinner. Fortunately, a quick pre-dinner session at the neighbourhood sento helped - it wasn't the sauna / icy bath routine that got me, it was the electrocution pool...

2003 Toques et Clochers Cremant de Limoux: Pre-sento sparkler. Rich yellow/bronze color, medium/small bead. Nose of lemons and sea breeze. A bit tight up front, citric, apple skins, nuttiness, a mild touch of yeast, and a slightly short, subtly oxidised finish. Pleasant but not particularly memorable.

Daishichi Junmai Kimoto: Great sake, wish we could have taken this to the sento. Aromatic, full bodied and lightly sweet, as one would expect from kimoto, but moreso than would be expected for a junmai alone. Eminently balanced. Simply delicious.

1988 Chateau d'Arlay Vin Jaune: The main event. This was opened really for the purposes of Kyoto IV next week, but we couldn't resist. Super nose, definitely sherried. A golden yellow/orange colour. On the nose, lots of walnuts, creme brulee, maple syrup, caramel, butter, definite savour herbal elements, apples flambee... but no cumin. On the palate, as S. said decisively (in a night filled of zen-like one word pronouncements), amaikunai! Not sweet! Tart, rather acidic entry, yet rich and smooth. Lemons, caramel, nuttiness, and mineral. I love wines like this, shapeshifters, can be one thing and another, contradictory, yet there all the same. Compared to the 1997 Rolet I had a few months ago, which was much more intense, this wine has definitely transformed. Beautiful. The pairing with comte makes sense, and the sample we had was delicious. Interestingly, I didn't sense much harmony with walnuts.


Mr. Tako joined us for the evening.

1997 R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rosado: Amber in color. S. says ame no niyoi. Smells like rain. Oh yeah. Petrichor on this one. And smoke. And mint. And some cumin...that was strange. A very balanced palate, medium body, good supporting acidity. For me, very umami driven... beef broth and blood... yum. J. tells me I'm just going to love the 1993.

1999 Clos Mogador: The first of three "mystery" wines presented by J. Dark black/red in colour. Very savoury nose, roasted red and black fruit, actually rather Musar-esque. S. says Woosta. Worcestershire sauce. Oh yes. On the palate, very tight and tannic. Brooding really. This one didn't really open up for me. A bit of sweetness, some A1 steak sauce, but the tannins were pre-eminent...

1990 Schloss Schonborn Hochheimer Domdachaney Riesling Spatlese Halbtrocken: Something weird was going on with this wine, as in three different glasses, this presented very differently. For my glass, it was definitely musky, but with some strange eggy and oil notes, bordering on rancid. Whereas, in other glasses, I was getting a more exotic nose, pineapples and coconut creme pie. S. says "pineapple". On the palate, definitely, musky, tropical fruit, good but not great acidity. We had this with a tasty and hearty pork and eringi mushroom soup. Yum.


Domdacheny and Soup, plus yama-imo with ikura

2007 Prager Grüner Veltliner Stocckkultur Achleiten: Unanimous wine of the night. Pale yellow-green colour, innocuous, and no warning for the intensity of this wine. Lush, intoxicating nose, pineapples, green apple, pears, and pine needles. On the palate, rich yet light, superb acidity, delicately balanced. Layered, textured, structured. A delight.


Mr. Abalone makes an appearance. We had bits of him nama (alive), and then drowned in sake and lightly sauteed. I must have been distracted because I ended up having the guts. Bivalve guts. Ergh... Should note that Mr. Abalone's gall bladder was still no match for Mr. Scrubby...the Daishichi Kimoto Junmai... cleaned me right out.

1997 Vietti Castiglione: A nose of umami, soy, tar, smoke, anise, and roasted red fruit. I did like this nose. Again brooding on the palate, but in a better place than the Mogador.

1997 Clarendon Hills Piggott Range Shiraz: Red WOTN. Super wine. More of Woosta, bbq sauce, mesquite, smoke, herbal, savoury. Just a tremendous nose, which, unlike the Mogador and the Vietti, absolutely carried over to the palate, with the addition of tomatoes, making this, for me, a delicious barbecue in a glass.

2004 Huet Le Mont: Hmm... really wasn't doing much for me, but it was pretty late in the evening by this time and I was ready to crash.

No dessert wine, as we kept on hitting the Daischichi, along with some Indian milk sweets and some impromptu musical mixology... Apocalyptica... Keith Jarrett... Kadri Gopalnath... Cibo Matto... Crazy Ken Band... A tremendous evening, a great way to kick off the week!


- Addendum - J.'s Notes:

As usual, [V.] hit the ground running.....the energizer bunny was in great form, pulling not one but 2 rabbits out of the hat with the Prager and the Vin Jaune he brought along with him. Was a fun evening of gabbing, gorging and tasting and I think we got [V.]'s palate fairly warmed up for the week ahead of him in the sakagura. And remember, those who gab the most end up with abalone entrails....(a delicacy in some circles!)

It definitely was a night for whites - to me, the reds weren't showing as much depth or character, which was interesting to note. Most everything was previously re-bottled into half bottles, so there'll be another crack at some. Maybe the reds were just a little more pedestrian in nature compared to the whites? Maybe my palate was just more in tune with the whites. Tasting a variety of wines in one sitting is a rare indulgence for me, and there's something to be said for spending an evening with a single wine and focusing, but we covered a good range of grapes, ages and styles...and that made for a lively evening.

2003 Sieur d'Arques, Toques et Clochers, Cremant de Limoux - Not bad and my take is pretty much the same as yours, [V.] They also make a couple of Blanquette de Limoux's, which I find more interesting...probably due to the high percentage of mauzac grape required for the designation. In this case, chardonnay and chenin b. play a much larger role and the result seemed decent, if more generic.

Daishichi Junmai Kimoto - Indeed superbly balanced and gorgeous mouthfeel, which somehow manages to be full-bodied and feathery light at the same time. Full, nutty nose with soft fruit tones. Papaya and melon-esque on the palate with a clean, long finish and just enough of a citric lift. Subtle umami. Really exquisite sake.

1988 Chateau d'Arlay Vin Jaune - A lovely and unique wine which definitely comes darn close to sherry. Add a bit of fresh lemon on the palate and a handful of freshly crushed dried herbs on the nose. To my palate, this wine shares similarities with the Heredia wines, with oxidative, briney, savory notes in the mid-palate. Long, nutty and buttery finish buttressed by lemon and a perfect match with the comte cheese. Will see what a week does for the wine that remains in the bottle, when [V.] comes back for another session. Walnuts worked ok, but not great. I agree, not much sign of the sotolin curry notes these wines are supposed to have.

1997 R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rosado - Delightful wine showing a clean youthfulness and a versatility with all the food. Lemon pledge, smoke and rainy day smells indeed. Good balance between savory, fruit, rosehip tea and lemon notes. Much brighter, cleaner and more fruit driven than the '93. This wine is a wonderful qpr.

1990 Schloss Schonborn Hochheimer Domdachaney Riesling Spatlese Halbtrocken - A decent wine, but not the best showing of it. Plenty of fruit left, (pineapple was a good call on the nose from [S.]) but a bit thin in the mid-palate and some apple skin astringency on the finish which didn't show as much on another recent bottle. Definitely musky, although I didn't get any major off notes on this. Love the creme brulee notes on the nose and a touch of buttered popcorn on the finish.

2007 Prager Grüner Veltliner Stocckkultur Achleiten - Lovely wine. Exotic nose expressing clear fruit as well as attractive gruvey funk and savory tones. Superb balance, great mouthfeel, layers of flavors of ripe fruits without being sweet. A fully integrated wine and just delish.

2004 Huet Le Mont - The surprise of the night was how weak this wine showed. Lot's of buildup. Sort of a mean green streak running through the wine both in nose and palate. Wine-like flavors but nobody home. Astringent notes. We gave it some air and checked in on it from time to time, but the wine wasn't asking us to drink it. Maybe shut down or a not-so-good bottle. Not sure if this is non-sulphur, but in any event, it was surprisingly dull.

1997 Vietti Castiglione - Nothing wrong with it, really (and I agree it was in a more integrated state than the Clos Mogador) but it seemed fairly pedestrian to me. Is this what happens when one's palate starts going for more and more off the wall wines? Decent nose showing nebbiolo traits and nicely balanced....just not giving a whole lot. Maybe needed more air....or just less divided attention perhaps.

1999 Clos Mogador - Hmmmm....high cost, high expectations and a changing palate perhaps. Agree with [V.] about the nose....very expressive, but just not very together on the palate. Tannins maybe need more time and I could stand to see a little more acidity and harmony. I've had much, much better bottles from other vintages.

1997 Clarendon Hills Piggott Range Shiraz - bottle number 5 of a 6 bottle purchase 7 or 8 yrs ago. This wine does not resemble Australia at all......and thank the Lord for that. Opened several hrs in advance, but not decanted. Past experience showed that the wine improves with a couple hours of decanting, but I wanted to test it this way, this time. It showed reasonably well, but I'll give more air to the remaining half btl. The quality of winemaking really shows in this wine....deeply intriguing nose of fruit, savory, animal and meaty notes, which line up very well on the palate as well. The mouthfeel is not heavy at all (despite the 14.5%) and the wine looks brighter and more grenache like with ruby reds. Complex and well delineated and (happy to say) there are no mocha or chocolatey notes which I've come to dislike in many Oz reds. Wonderful acidity in harmony with everything else. No signs of fading.....probably in a wonderful mid-life zone. More Europe here than anywhere else. Glad I could surprise you positively with this wine, [V.]!

Looking forward to the next session...and personally, I think I'll skip the electrocution bath next time........