TN: Burgs, Rieslings, Bdx, Loires and more in Chinatown

Todd was in town and Jay organized a nice group for dinner at Bite of Hong Kong in Chinatown. The lines that run to Grand St were a mess, so I took subway to Canal and walked over to find several people waiting, and the rest dribbled in. Dried squid with chives, crab, egg tofu, lamb chops with black bean sauce, steak kew, and more

My notes were split between a piece of paper and phone. Made it home with both, but somehow lost former over weekend. So even spottier than usual

Bubbles NV Calsac Brut Rose Full, tart, needs food. B

NV Le Mesnil(Rare Wine Co) Blanc de Blancs Bright pear fruit, chalk, citrus, delicious. Good value. B++

White

2008 Hirtzberger Singerriedel Smaragd Probably my wine of the night. Racy, wet rocks, yowsa. A-

2017 Silver Thread Riesling lemon, just a bit of RS, not very exciting

2013 Weiser-Künstler Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Spatlese Electric acids, zingy, great with food, a bit sharp without

1994 Muller- Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Spatlese This was good, but not ?pay Egon Muller price? good

1990 Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese ?90 ripeness but acidic support, apple pie with lemon, nice underlying minerality, great finish.

1997 Domaine du Closel ?Cuvee Speciale? Savennieres I had a bunch of premoxed Closel (mostly 2002), but this was nice- a bit oxidative, but more in a planned style than a problem. Long and rich

Reds

1972 Alexis Lichine Clos Vougeot (375 ml) Very pale, looks brown when poured, tastes brown too! Better with food, some fruit shows through, fun to try but not that tasty. B-/C+

1993 Prince de Merode Corton Clos du Roi Best showing of this, still pretty structured,. Full and long, just hitting stride. B+

1995 Bertrand Ambroise Corton-Rognet Red fruited, maybe a little tired.

1979 Giscours An old friend, a rather gentle bottle,but I enjoyed it.

1989 Ch. Grand Puy Lacoste Opened there, this was pretty tight to me, I should have revisited, but lots of wine on the table.

2017 Edmunds St John Gamay Noir Lovely young Gamay

2017 Lamoureaux Landing T23 Cabernet Franc Fresh but not too interesting

1960 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo

3 of us have big birthdays this year, so I thought a good time to try. Double-decanted before traveling, very light color, but sweet fruit nose. This is light on the palate as well, some sweet cherry fruit and tar, not a lot of depth, but pretty good for a year that?s pretty horrid across most of the planet,.B-/B

1997 Olga Raffault ?les Picasses? Chinon Mature and ready, good showing, one of my faves

Sweet wines

1997 Pithon Coteaux du Layon More demi-sec than moelleux, caramel and orange zest, I think others liked more than I did.

1993 Hilltop Neszmely Tokaji 5 Puttonyos (500 ml) No notes but I wasn?t really impressed with this,

1990 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Beerenauslese (375 ml) No notes but this was stunning

Very fun night

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.