Saturday, January 24, 2015

Hi Blog, I'm Back.

New Year's resolution: blog again.

Instead of catching up on the past ~10 months sans blog, how about I catch you up on the past week starting with yesterday.

Saturday started with a lovely hike with Neil up to the Peak where we stopped in for a chat with Katie.  What weather we're having! Then we scurried down Old Peak Road so I could meet Alicia and Raquel for an Italian wine lunch.

Me, Alicia, Raquel
The lunch was organized by Fabio, second in on the left below, who is trying to launch his wine business here.  He's Italian and works in lighting and has over the past couple of years decided to bring some wines into Hong Kong.  As you do when you're Italian.  Over the course of lunch we sampled 7 or so wines: 

2 sparkling- easy and pleasing and interestingly made with Pinot Noir and Lambrusco
2 Gavis- fresh and super pleasant
1 Petite Verdot from Tuscany, which is an oddity in itself- commercial and quite chemically
1 100% Sangiovese from Tuscany that was just lovely.  Filled with chocolate and fruit and well integrated oak
and we finished off with a Moscato d'Asti.  Hard to go wrong there. 


And quite possibly the best tiramisu ever.

Bam.

Earlier that same week I hosted an even at work for the Femmes du Vin.  We had 20 or so women come to G+C for a tasting of 11 lovely wines.   We started with 2 Champagnes from Gosset- stunning value!- and then 3 Burg whites.  The Ramonet Puligny Montrachet was absolutely stunning.

Then served 6 Pinots from around the globe blind.  The ladies had to work out which Pinot was which.  It proved difficult and surprisingly, the favorite Pinot was from Stoller in Oregon. 


How great is my office?

The day before I hosted a tasting of 2012s from Roulot- outstanding- Liger Belaire- outstanding- and Dujac- super outstanding.

I have most definitely found my calling.

I started running again.  After the whole collapsing with dysentery during a half marathon thing I was a little put off.  I was also quite busy studying so it took a backseat, but then this week, with this amazing 20+ degree weather, got me back out. 

Look at it!  We've also had some of the highest pollution this week.  Yick.

This has me laughing for hours. 
#BernDownNapa

Simone hosted Jean and I for an Alsace tasting.  <3 Pinot Gris and my Monday night tasting group. 

And Todd came for a visit/13 hour layover

Todd and his girlfriend Kass were here for ~ 1 year and then moved to London for 6 months.  They were supposed to come back to HK at the end of it but ended up getting transferred to Melbourne instead.  Hong Kong living...everyone leaves...

I met my new friend Charles for lunch.  I suggested we get Chinese and he suggested we get snake.  Not bad la.  The mushroom and chicken dominate in flavor and the snake bits kind of blend into the texture of the chicken shreds.  It's supposed to keep you warm.

When Charles asked the 200 year old lady working the cash register of her family business what she thought about the snake, she replied that she had never tried it because she was scared.  

Last week we did a tasting of 1995 & 2005 Burgundy.  The 1995 Chablis from Ravenau was a revelation.  Super aromatic with tons of different aromas including Sherry, baked apples, caramel, and honey.  I had never had a Chablis that old and was impressed by its age ability.  It was a 1er cre from arguably the best producer in Chablis.  Yum.


So that's what's been happening here.


In other news, I'm moving!  I've been in my Sheung Wan apartment just over a year now and it's time to move on.  Not to bigger and better, but smaller and cheaper. It's a studio with, wait for it...an oven!  Trust me, this is unheard of for a studio.  There's also a roof deck and it's a walk up, all of which are amazing things.  And it's above a gin bar.  This could get dangerous.  

I'm off for a hike with some friends and then to Simone's for some cheese and Vin Jaune.  More posts coming soon.