Only white for a change

THE instruction was "White wines only please", the dinner menu being "Popah". A bit tough, but an interesting change.

BARON DE L 1982

Dutifully I scoured my cellar for an interesting white, an older one preferably, and in due course came across one of the last few bottles of a French Pouilly Fume, Baron de L 1982, a 32-year old Sauvignon Blanc from one of the most respected producers in the Loire. I figured this would be a good test of a French Sauvignon Blanc but for safety, I took along a replacement, which in the event was not needed.

The Baron de L performed splendidly. For its age, a brilliant light golden colour, attractive light fresh aroma, a blend of oranges and lemons; interesting lemony-melon taste, rather complex, good freshness and length. For a 32-year old Sauvignon Blanc, surprisingly young on palate. Very impressive. Not the slightest hint of Chinese gooseberry. (I wish I had a similarly old Cloudy Bay for comparison.)

Pure Sauvignon Blanc wines from France were at the time not available in Singapore and had to be ordered from London wine merchants, which was an expensive way of securing inexpensive white wines but there was no choice. At the time, few if any decent French wines could be bought here. I had heard about the Baron de L from some English wine friends, in particular the premium Sauvignon Blanc wine of Baron Ladoucette and happily included them in an order from London.

Many of us cut our teeth on THE Sauvignon Blanc wine of the eighties - Cloudy Bay from New Zealand's Cloudy Bay Vineyards on South Island. With its aromatic, fresh Chinese gooseberry bouquet and taste, and its comfortable price, just under $30 (Jason's) it was an instant success.

Those were the days when Cloudy Bay was still owned and run by its founder, David Hohnen, owner and founder of Cape Mentelle Winery in Margaret River, New Zealand. In 2003 Cloudy Bay Vineyards was bought by the big French conglomerate, Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy, and subsequent vintages of the wine carried too pronounced a Chinese gooseberry influence on bouquet and flavour, for me at least.

OTHER WINES DRUNK

YGREC 2005

A very youthful light yellow colour. Very fine bouquet, light citrus character. I found it too sweet for me, much sweeter than the Ygrec of older vintages that I am more familiar with.

Ygrec is the dry white wine produced by Chateau d'Yquem in years when there is insufficient botrytization of the grapes to permit the production of its grand liqueur wine Chateau d'Yquem. The first one was 1959, a great year for red Bordeaux but not for Chateau d'Yquem. I was propitiously in London in 1985 when the 1977 was released and managed to purchase a case from Fortnum & Mason's to my great delight. A rare find.

RIESLNG CLOS STE HUNE 1990, MAISON F E TRIMBACH

Very pale straw colour; very fine Riesling character bouquet, which means a whiff of "lightly petroleum" smell. Dry, slightly nutty (hazelnuts particularly), touch of tangerine, very complex, very long. This is a big wine and at 24 years old, still young, will need time. Another 4-5 years.

Trimbach's Riesling Clos Ste Hune is a monumental wine. It is not massive - fine Rieslings never are - but its complexity, filigree-like structure, subtlety and elusiveness, all demand patience. I was expecting this wine to be more ready but had not given enough weight to its vintage, 1990, a great Alsace vintage. I would think another 5-10 years are needed.

CHÃTEAU HAUT BRION BLANC 2001

Many would have heard of this legendary white from Chateau Haut Brion. Not many would have had the privilege of drinking this. Its rarity and its price are the excluding factors.

Very light lemony colour, a lovely bouquet, reminding me of a sweet mango. This was a big wine, full-bodied, fine long finish, at 13 years' age, still not quite free of a vanillin touch in its bouquet and on the palate. A great white Bordeaux, needing another 20 years.

DORSHEIMER GOLDLOCH TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE 2005, SCHLOSSGUT DIEL

14-carat gold in colour. Very ripe fruit, viscous in texture, very thick with lots of botrytis, and beautifully balanced. A very fine wine.

I confess to a great fondness for German dessert wines, preferring them by a long chalk to the more famous and more popular Sauternes - principally because of their lovely acidity. Armin Diel of Schlossgut Diel makes quite a lot of dessert wines from his three main vineyards in Dorsheimer - Pittermanchen, Goldloch and Burgberg. All of them very fine, and great collectibles, not expensive. They need time though, and this wine, although nine years old and already drinking attractively, will need another 10 years to show its full capabilities.

A very wide choice in the way of white wines for dinner, very interesting, indeed esoteric, and perhaps slightly rare, selection, all French except one, all different origins. Sadly none of these are regularly available in Singapore wine stores and would need to be sourced from overseas wine suppliers.