Kyoto Protocol IV

An Ides of March tasting with J. and S. to wrap up an incredible week in Japan, plus special guest Daimon-san making an appearance.


J. and S. made the trip out to Katano-shi to join me for lunch at Mukune-tei.


Back to J.’s neighbourhood in Kyoto, jumping on the bikes and on the way to see the sausage maker.


Yes, J. has a neighbourhood, artisanal sausage maker, and a minor celebrity in his own right.


Some bacon for tonight? A gift from the master. By the way, the guy’s a painter too… that’s his work in the background.


Wagyu short rib… what goodness. Another gift from the master. This is too much already. All kinds of culinary martial arts going on this week. I will be coming back to learn sausage-making from this gentleman!


After a quick visit to the bathhouse, tonight’s line-up.

We kicked off with some more Daishichi sake. Daimon-san made the trek from Katano-shi to join us for dinner, tremendous! Daimon-san doesn’t make any kimoto style sake himself, though he is thinking about it for the future. He remarked on how light and fresh the Daishichi kimoto presented itself.


So, Joel had it in for me, thinking this trip was too easy on my palate, so he came up with a neba-neba menu, just to antagonize me. What is it? Well, it’s a slimy consistency which, quite frankly, I think only the Japanese and Chinese are into. The scallop sashimi with yuzu seasoning was tasty, as was the squid sashimi with roe, but the seaweed… Daimon-san thought very highly of this dish.

2002 Mlecnik Chardonnay, Vipavska Dolina, Slovenia. 12.8% abv. Floral, honeyed nose. On the palate, saline, lightly oxidative, but a unique expression thereof. Waxy, interesting tannins and good acidity, with supporting minerality. Excellent wine. All enjoyed.


2000 Movia Puro Rose. What a unique wine! Peachy-orange-grey colour, initially lots of fizz and foam, but giving way to a lighter frizzante. Nose was full of grapefruit (S.’s one-word description, spot on), ruby red kind, but also lots of strawberries and only a hint of yeast. On the palate, all kinds of gymnastics – full of textures – pillowy, creamy, thick, and rich, yet, still racy and not at all heavy. Great strawberry fruit and cream. Delicious, delicious, delicious. I will try to disgorge this next time and see what the difference is… perhaps two bottles for a side-by-side.


Shrimp, bacon and mango. Interesting combination, great interplay. The Mlecnik did very well this combo.

2003 Weingut Brundlmayer St. Laurent Ried Lamm. A simple wine, soft tannins, juicy, with moderate acidity. Simpler than pretty much any other St. Laurent I’ve ever had, missing the forest floor and juniper elements I’m used to, but very drinkable. I wonder if what's missing here has to do with geography, as most of these reds are grown in Burgenland and Styria, not in the Wachau as this one is.


The wagyu. I do love raw beef.

1988 Chateau Musar Rouge, 11.5% abv. Rocking wine. Opened for about 3 hours or so before we got into it. Funky barnyard nose initially, softened considerably with time, VA seemingly absent. J. and I were drinking out of Riedel Burgundy and Bordeaux glass respectively, and the difference was pronounced, as was our different preferences. A dark, young looking wine, crystal clear maroon. Intensely flavoured, and clearly opened up as the night went along. The familiar profile was there – macerated strawberries, brown sugars, tomatoes, a good dose of funk and barnyard, and surprisingly tannic, one of the more tannic Musar I’ve tried. Following on from the Brundlmayer, Daimon-san remarked that “this is wine.”

1988 Chateau d’Arlay Vin Jaune, surprisingly, in a rank ordering of the night’s wines, this came last for me. Still quite good, but no fireworks, perhaps this ended up being a bit out of place given the exuberance of the other wines. The nose was intensely walnut driven, actually, a rather complex nose, layered, bright even. The palate, however, was much more mellow, mineral and caramel, with much less fruit. Very interesting. We’ve got the last third or so corked, so we’ll experiment further and see how this holds up.


Daimon-san explaining his philosphies on life and sake.

2002 Weinlaubenhof Alois Kracher Zweigelt Trockenbeerenauslese #1. A jewel-toned orange and amber colour, brightly peach nose. On the palate, huge peach & apricot, and the recognizable Burgenland botrytis. I would have liked to have seen a touch more acidity, but the intense fruit and perfume were a winning combo. A lovely wine, an unusual wine as well, as this is made from the zweigelt grape, a red varietal – would never have guessed from the appearance or presentation.


Hata-hata. A local fish, simply pan fried, with more roe and an aioli? By this point, I was seriously flagging, and Daimon-san had had to hit the road. But J. just kept on cooking.


The neba-neba continues. An omelette with blue cheese and natto. Actually, this preparation seriously minimized the sliminess of the natto, and I’m now wondering how it might have paired with the Kracher. The sausages were very good, though, I felt last week’s sausages were better. Perhaps it was just that last week we went with spicier sausages.


And finally… J. couldn’t resist… mangosteens…

Overall, a fantastic night. Just about every wine hit, no duds, and it was great to have Daimon-san join us – fascinating conversations with him about his travels and experiences (which lent a lot of insight into his sake-making too). I loved that he came right out and said “I know very little about wine”, but his impressions were spot on. Three of my favorite wine-makers for one meal on top of that, and a chance, in a small way, to reciprocate Daimon-san’s hospitality. Now, I’ve just got to get J. and S. out my way.


- Addendum - J.'s Notes:

One last gathering with [V.] before shipping him back to the US after his week long immersion (literally?) into the mysterious world of sake. Kyoto Proto 4 was a fun get together, and we had a couple of new faces, including the Sake brewmaster Toji, Daimon san himself, who had a chance to peek into our world of wine geekdom. We didn't geek too hard, but it was interesting to get a sake master's comments on the wines we served, and get a chance to see wine through his eyes.

We had an interesting range of wines, plus some tasty bites along the way...including hand-made sausages, some marbled "wagyu" (Japanese beef), served both raw and pan seared, and some local made bacon added to the mix. In addition, there were some seafood items and a few unusual Japanese tastes that I had to run by [V.], just so he could take a few more exotic memories home with him.

Two Slovenian wines kicked things off......and I came away feeling like this is a region I want to know better.

2000 Movia Puro, Brut Rose, Collio, Italy? Slovenia? Both? Apparently the winemaker's vineyards straddle both countries. Biodynamic, the 2000 is a blend of mostly Chardonnay, Ribolla and a bit of Pinot Noir (it seems the percentages change, depending on the year). Non-dosage and requires either disgorging, or enjoying right along with the lees. We weren't sure what we wanted to do, so in the end opted to pop and enjoy, cloudy and all. Popped and fizzed nicely over the table (LOL!) and in the glass was a lovely coppery peach, translucent cloudiness. I found a distinct, but subtle tone of fresh pressed cider notes from the nose, a touch of yeast and herbs. With air, crushed ripe strawberry aromas, though on the palate overall, the flavors were much more muted and dry. Much of the petillance seemed to fade quickly, though there was a nice pillowy texture of lightness on the palate for a while. Sometime later, I checked back in and with all the petillance gone, the wine seemed to take on the character of grapefruit juice, nearly un-wine like. Certainly off the beaten path flavors and an interesting wine.

2002 Mlecnik Chardonnay, Bukovica, Slovenia, 12.8% - Honey gold in glass and a reticent nose at first, so I threw half the btl into a decanter and we went off to the public bath. Upon return, the wine had opened a bit more. Lemon rind, a bit of wood polish, pine resin notes on the nose and a striking salinity on the palate which spun into mineral and yellow grapefruit notes. Long finish. This stuff was fascinating...I've never experienced such a salt water/mineral mouth as this before. As time passed and the wine warmed, the body weight seemed to increase and it brought out even more of a briney seawater like component. Good bit of bite on the finish. Very interesting stuff. Worked well with various dishes.

2003 Weingut Brundlmayer, St. Laurent, Ried Ladner, Kamptal, 12.5% - Deep transparent violet. Ripe dark fruit, plums on the nose with a touch of yeast. On the palate a fresh, fruity wine...easy going quaffer as they say, though not quite at an entry level price point. I am a huge fan of the Brundlmayer whites, at all price levels, so I had high hopes for this first red Willi B. I was a little underwhelmed here actually. Nothing wrong with the wine, but I felt that there are a lot of reds that taste like this and I've been here, done that already. Decent and polite, but not a lot of intrigue beyond that, especially given the 2 wines preceding it.

1988 Chateau Musar, Gaston Hochar, Bekaa Valley - Classic, fecund Musar barnyard at first. With air, ripe cherries and strawberry compote are added to the compost. Later, deep pinot like forest floor, earth, dark fruit, then plum and crushed pine needles. Very fresh and rich on the palate without being heavy. Great balance in this bottle and showing traits closer to Right Bank Bordeaux than the Rhone which I find Musar sometimes shows, with the plum notes, dark earth and barnyard. Add to that some brighter red cherry fruit notes, ripe acidity, beef juices, bouillon. Long finish. Really hard to believe this is over 20 yrs old, and showing like a fresh youth. Thoroughly enjoyable wine. Thanks for sharing this, [V.] My fondness for this maker deepens.

2002 Kracher, Nouvelle Vague Zweigelt TBA, #1, Burgenland - 12.5%. Copper gold in glass. Vivid aromas of apricot, fresh plum, raisin, lemon and umeshu (green plum wine). Rich attack of apricot, apricot liquer, buttery mid-palate, bright acidity and a long finish of toffee and honey. This was a tasty way to wrap up the evening and elicited yums and ah's from everyone.

Looking forward to next time, [V.]...and we hope you made it home safely, with all those 1.8L bottles intact...