ok, so due to your schedule and my tight schedule this week (except friday), could we move it to next week? say Wednesday evening? (19th Jan)
@reign: you ok with this arrangement?
on a side note, i dunno if anyone feels the same as me, but i think that 'Bottle Shop 1855' and ‘Bottles & Bottles’ are run by the same management? I had this feeling when I first visited Bottle Shop 1855 last year and saw some of the similar range from Bottles & Bottles (B&B). And just yesterday, I visited the B&B at Parkway Parade and felt they had almost identical product range (B&B @ Parkway had a slightly wider range though); but all the key producers were there.
When I first visited 1855 last year, I asked them whether they were under any group or a retail extension of a distributor or something. They replied saying they are solely on their own….i dunno, next time you should take a visit to both and give us your opinion.
Aside from that I picked up a half bottle of 2009 Chateau Favray Pouilly Fume from B&B @ Parkway Parade, they have a wider selection than most B&B branches. Pouilly Fume (poo-yee foo-may) is the name of a white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire Valley. Pouilly is the name of the village while Fume means smoke. Pouilly Fume wines are 100% sauvignon blanc and both Pouilly Fume and the neighbouring region of Sancerre is considered as the ‘home of Sauvignon Blanc’.
New World Sauvignon Blanc (SB) has experience a meteoric rise for the past decade or so, especially in New Zealand with Cloudy Bay as one of the early favourites. The crisp, sharp grassy and gooseberry notes along with the high acid has made it a food favourite all over the world and you see the supermarket and wine stores dominated by New Zealand SB.
There has been some complaint in recent years that NZ SB is becoming a victim of its own success. The winning formula of crisp grassiness has transformed into a varietal with little variation from producer to producer. A lot of them cashing in on similar flavor profiles has created a stagnation and little difference between a mid tier to a higher end SB. They have mentioned that Riesling, from the various parts of Germany is a great food wine with such flavor variation between producers, truly expresses its terroir.
Many of the NZ SB critics are going back to old world SB from the Loire Valley, whose style has remained consistent through the years. Even within the sub-communes of Pouilly Fume & Sancerre there is variation depending on the soil type and wine making. Pouilly Fume wines can age from 5 years up to beyond 10 years, they tend to possess more texture and fuller bodied than their new world counterparts. In addition, they do not possess the overt grassiness and instead have a smokey (hence the name ‘Fume’) and flinty profile. They also tend to need 3-4 years in the bottle to develop fully before drinking.
The only downside is that Pouilly Fume is generally priced at a higher point than NZ SB. You can easily find NZ SB in the $20+ region while you have to look at the $40s & above for Pouilly Fume. I have not tried this wine yet, but perhaps in a year or two. But from my past two to three experiences with Pouilly Fume, it has been a very enjoyable experience and an surprising change for those who are used to NZ SB. Try a bottle or two this year and see if you like it.
Booze.com.sg, Le Benaton and B&B carry some Pouilly Fume, but I am sure the other big retailers also do.
