1994 Rheingau

1994 Schloss Schönborn Riesling, QbA Rheingau

Since this entire dinner is Rieslingfest, we must talk about the wonderful rieslings we drank. A lineup of Rheingau and Mosel rieslings, with some age. Chilled, and thirstily drunk up - the wines were fantastic with our seafood, and although I may have indulged a bit too much, it ranks as one of the great wine dinners in recent memory.

This must be the 4th or 5th bottle of this wine I've had, and I've enjoyed it every time for what it is . . . a simple riesling, showing great character from its time aging in bottle. There's 3 instances of documentation here: August 2008 . . . March 2009 . . . July 2009. I may have been a bit enthusiastic in my praise for the wines earlier, but this still gives a lot of pleasure.

Pale, intense bouquet that's purely and entirely of the Rheingau - mature citrus fruit, oily and penetrating minerality. All that I want out of an old riesling. Palate is a bit tired, acidity rising, but with our shrimp, this bottle was just delicious.

DF

Rieslingfest - Seared octopus on cognac

Glistening.

After all the blathering on, we finally get to eating. Octopus, done with a cognac sauce. Honesty above all . . . this was not a success. It's certainly palatable - not a disaster, but not transcendent either. Should be seared harder, less lemon juice, and the cognac was a mistake.

We went over what should be done differently next time. It was an interesting exercise in cooking something entirely new for me, but more experimentation is required.

DF

Rieslingfest - Sea monster, flambé!!!

Finally, let's finish off the sea creature. Poached, then seared in olive oil and onions, with a liberal splash of fresh lemon juice. And then . . . time for the fireworks. Because flamethrowing in the kitchen is so, so fun. Cognac supplied by sample bottles of Courvoisier Exclusif - many thanks!

Cognac in, hands out of the way.

Light your match and . . .

Boom. Bright may you burn.

DF

Rieslingfest - Searing octopus

Clueless as I was, the ideas started coming as I saw the octopus beginning to cook. Into a hot pan, olive oil and sliced onion. I thought it was simple enough - besides, I had help searing it. And then we started getting really creative . . .

DF

Rieslingfest - Cutting the creature to pieces

Divide and slice

Section the tentacles

Split in two

The creature in pieces

DF

Rieslingfest - Sea creature simmered

The beast out of water. Texture still firm, but not chewy - now it's time to actually start cooking. How to slice, how to prepare? I have no clue.

DF

Rieslingfest - The creature goes back into the water

I never expected octopus to be so slimy. Never. Remember, this fellow was frozen solid, and I had running cold water over it for a good 5 hours. The slime just seemed to ooze out of every crevice, just a viscous layer of clear discharge. You clean it as well as you can, and then hope for the best.

I admit, having never handled octopus before, I was making things up as I went along. With no clue of how to prepare it (to be edible at least), it was a free for all. Absolute freedom, yes, but also no pressure - the only thing I promised was that I wasn't going to give anyone food poisoning. So, to begin, I slowly poached it in aggressively salted water on a low simmer, for about 50 minutes. Look how repulsive it looks - we played around with the suction cups (they suck hard), and the long, firm tentacles. Defrosted, this is an impressive specimen, and heavy as well. Once it cooks, the water turns dark purple, and the colour of the octopus deepens as well. Quite beautiful, in fact - enough to make you momentarily forget you're about to eat an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Step one, of my first attempt to serve a sea monster for dinner.

DF

Rieslingfest - The sea monster

This is what I had been waiting for all night - the sea creature. I've never handled octopus before - never, but I've always had this fascination with all those tentacles and suction cups, and general repulsiveness of the animal. I wasn't able to find a fresh octopus - fresh meaning unfrozen, not live. We do see unfrozen octopus (octopuses? octopi?) Unless I lived on a boat and had the nerve to dive down for these suckers, dead and frozen is as good as it gets.

Look how repulsive it looks. Flash frozen from Chile, the package is in block form, with all the tentacles neatly tucked into the ice. Once defrosted, you see that the creature is remarkably well-shaped and intact - nothing is damaged in the freezing process, and there doesn't seem to be any shrinkage. I'm playing with its beak in the bottom photo, not the anus. Octopus don't have anuses. At least I don't think so. Took a good 5 hours to defrost, continually running under cold water, for the creature to be ready to cook.

DF

Rieslingfest - Cured hams

Thanks to some gastronomically intrepid friends, we now have a new addition to our dinner table - a platter of cured hams, a sort of break in between courses. The meats are from Grande Cheese Factory, in Toronto, on Orfus and Dufferin. The most amazing hams there, and so many varieties. The one on the right, with the slightly brown colour is a Spanish prosciutto - not Iberico ham, but delicious, with a peppery layer on the outside. On the left is an Italian parma prosciutto. Rich, and silky, it'll make you think all sorts of naughty things.

I don't have weird eating habits, but you need to make love to each strip with your mouth.

DF

Rieslingfest - Poached prawns

West coast prawns, so fresh that they were still twitching and jumping around as I was washing them. Sorry fellows, but I wanted to eat you. So, to answer the question I posed earlier - what do you do with such fresh seafood - well, as little as possible. Quickly poached for 3 minutes in furiously boiling water . . . that's it. Don't play around with perfection. I made a simple dipping sauce consisting of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and green onion.

The meat comes out extraordinarily sweet and succulent - you have to eat these piping hot. I have thick skin, so by the time some of my friends started peeling their first shrimps, I was on my third. Was not about to start being shy about eating these - shrimp at its finest.

DF

Rieslingfest - Prawns, in wine

I'm proudly Chinese, and this is how I show it. I eat shrimp raw. My buddy ROKChoi agrees with me, and so we ate a few of these prawns the freshest way possible. This is how we eat shrimp in ZheJiang province. Dunked in wine while they're still alive - the idea is that the shrimp drinks in the liquor, flavouring the meat. As soon as they stop twitching is when they're ready to eat.

These were interesting. Very firm texture, but not as sweet as we both thought it'd be. The meat has a strange, irony tinge. Certainly, these prawns are much better with some type of heat applied. This method of preparation is best suited for the type of lake shrimp only found in Southeastern China - shrimp smaller than a dime, but with the most amazing flavour and texture.

We're intrepid eaters, yes, but Chinese to the core, above all.

DF

Rieslingfest - Prawns, by air

Another benefit of knowing your local fishmonger well is the access to the fresh produce just dropped in. My boy led me to the back, where a few crates of these beauties were waiting. Just flown in from Vancouver, these prawns were jumping and twitching and just all sorts of wonderful. What to do with such extraordinarily fresh seafood? As little as possible. Read on, we ate these 2 different ways.

DF

Rieslingfest - Oven roasted porgy

Some old standbys for dinner. Trying to refine everytime, trying to make it more flavoursome, more delicious. Porgy, oven-roasted with lots of sea salt, lemon, basil, and olive oil. Simple, yet delicious. In the oven, 160° Celcius, for 50 minutes. The basil makes it so fragrant, and if it comes out properly from the oven, the meat flakes off, staying moist and tender. My goodness, so simple, but when it's done right, it's just so right.

Don't try to clean this fish at home - get the fishmonger to do it for you. It has what resembles dragon scales - tightly packed, impenetrable. When I was buying the fish, one of the barbs on the head poked through my middle finger as I was digging through the ice. Blood started pouring out, and with no tissue in sight, I walked around the store with my finger in my mouth. Dirty digit, just rummaged in raw fish ice, drinking my own blood - good times, and infinitely worthwhile for good fish.

DF

Rieslingfest - Fish soup

Same fish, cooked two ways. Striped bass, bought live, absolutely nothing wasted. So, fillet the fish and sear, finishing on beets. Done. What to do with the bones, head, and tail? A traditional Shanghainese fish soup, of course. Seared in vegetable oil, then dropped into aggressively boiling water.............then you wait. If it is meant to be, the broth will turn milky and rich. Drop in tofu, and season. Plate with thinly sliced green onion. Of course, plenty of meat is left, so make sure you take the fish out and eat - after all, the cheeks and tail of a fish are the most tender and delicious parts.

This turned out as perfect as I could ever have hoped for. The highlight of the entire meal.

DF

Rieslingfest - Seared striped bass

Right, so beets reduced nicely, ideally with fresh chicken stock. You extract that wonderful colour, soften it to be edible, and with heat, it suddenly becomes incredibly sweet. I bought two 1.5 lbs striped bass, live. I know one of the fishmongers, not intimately (but well enough), and he gives me the goodies. Cleaned, but I made sure to fillet myself. About 3 portions per fish, seasoned and then seared hard in olive oil. Fish comes off beautifully flaky, with that assertive bass flavour.

Live fish makes all the difference in the world. But the cooking technique does too.

DF

Rieslingfest: Turning beet red

I like working with beets. Fresh Ontario produce, beautiful colour and texture. Just a bit difficult to prep, because it stains like nothing else, and it's rock hard when raw. Shave the skin off, cube (slowly, and very, very carefully), and make sure you have an apron on. I looked like I had been cannabalizing something - knife and cutting block bright red, t-shirt splashed and stained. Forced to change clothes, because now I know why people refer to it as being beet red.

DF

Rieslingfest: On ice

We're in the heat of summer, and what better than to celebrate with many, many, many bottles of riesling? Time for dinner with friends...time for Rieslingfest.

Since no one's fridge is big enough, an ice bath in a cooler is probably the best way to store your drinks for the evening's dinner. And because I don't have a fancy fridge that shits out ice cubes, I had to do it the old fashioned way - tray after tray after tray of ice. Five days of work, but it kept the wines nice and chilled all night. Keep a towel close by.

DF

2007 Vinsobres

2007 Perrin & Fils Les Cornuds, AC Vinsobres

I did something stupid here that I've never, ever done before. I forgot that I had ever drank it. So stupidly, I saw it on release, and scooped it up, thinking that I last drank the 2006. Oops. At least the 10 months or so between the tastings helped the wine develop a bit.

I was cooking lamb shank, and wanted something herbal, more wild, maybe even a bit jammy. So a Vinsobres, decanted for 20 hours, chilled. A dark wine, lots of crushy fruit, but with a linear minerality that actually helps absorb the alcohol. It's not a bad wine, not at all. But I have over-exaggerated a bit when I drank it last November (click on that red link!). With the lamb, delicious.

These wines apparently don't change, in terms of assemblage. Always at 50% each of syrah and grenache, and for such a heralded Rhône vintage such as 2007, sometimes the wines show more explosiveness and modernity than in a more subdued (less highly scored) vintage. These wines are jammy, certainly impressive, but are they regional? Do they have character? I love syrah, but not necessarily like this.

DF

Leffe Brune

Leffe Brune

Strange, that the first time I would drink this beer would be in Shanghai, in an Irish pub, in the middle of the 2010 World Exposition. At the time, I thought it was wonderful. I was also starving, soaked from the rain, and cold. That might have had something to do with that initial impression. Big change this time - this beer all of sudden was sickly, syrupy sweet, toasted, and at times, undrinkable. I don't know what these monks are doing, but adding a load of syrup for colour and flavour is a mistake. Big mistake.

Expensive too.

DF

2009 Côtes du Roussillon

2009 Saint-Roch Grenache Blanc/Marsanne Vielles Vignes, AC Côtes du Roussillon

People who like white Rousillon (or white Rhône for that matter) are special. Special in the best possible way, of course. You're sort of out and proud by drinking these wines right, all unabashedly hipster-ish? Yeah, you've got to be. These are funky wines, and I see producers are looking to change that odd image these wines (unjustly) suffer from. Look at the bottle! That's the most modern looking bottle design I've seen in months, and I haven't exactly been drinking only old Burgundies.

I don't know these wines. Honesty is key, right. So I was so excited to drink that one night, I just opened it. Like an incredibly aggravating itch, I pulled out my corkscrew, stem, and scratched away. Good wine, all floral and fresh citrus. A linear, clean wine, that would actually benefit from a few years of age. Nice surprise, but this is a modern wine, not that that's an issue - this wine does show varietal character, balance, and all those good things.

Now - the big question - would I actively search for white Roussillon? I don't think so. I don't think I will. It's a good wine and all, but there's a lot of good white wines in the world. We need something a bit more, no?

DF

2003 Tokaji

2003 Puklus Tokaji Aszú 2 Puttonyos, Hungary

On the back of a delicious Tokaji we drank a few weeks ago, I wanted more. This one satisfied that itch effectively, with an assertive hit of botrytised fruit and sugar. What is lacks in complexity, it more than makes up in texture. Simple, but sometimes intellectual wine experiences are overrated.

We just put in new windows in the two upstairs bedrooms. After a long day of cleaning and painting and general miscellaneous work, I was shivering for a drink. Sweet wine, rich food, yes, that makes DF a happy boy.

DF

Cameron's Lager

Cameron's Lager

Crisp, clean, fresh beer. You need something to cleanse the palate with, after a heady night of wine-binging. My failproof test of how I know when I've had too much - if you fail to knock off the beer cap in one go, you shouldn't be drinking anymore. Three or four of these should do the trick.

DF

The point of it all

With all the writing, all the note-taking, all the serious this is what this wine is lectures, maybe I'm forgetting the true meaning of why we drink wine. To celebrate, to have fun, to love. That's the point of it all.

And of course, three of the four people shown here are drinking beer.

DF

2008 Mâcon Uchizy

2008 Paul & Mallory Talmard Mâcon Uchizy, AC Mâcon Uchizy

It's hard to shake off prejudices. But I'm working hard, to convince my friends to keep an open mind about wine. For example, wines for special dinners, in this case, a big birthday. Everyone expects a big red wine - something dense, structured, powerful - something that says, yes, I'm getting my money's worth. But it would be a shame to cook so many wonderful Chinese dishes, and have them completely eviscerated by a tannic nuke of a wine. Which is where this comes in. A simple chardonnay from an unheralded part of Burgundy, that just delivers.

The wine showcases simple, textbook chardonnay characters. Pure fruit, creamy texture, elegant but wonderfully balanced. Married perfectly with almost all the dishes, ranging from savoury to delicate, spicy to highly aromatic - and that's all you can ask for out of a wine, isn't it?

DF

How the Shanghainese carve

My friend insists on using scissors to carve up his duck. First, he hacks off the neck with his ridiculously blunt and chipped knife - the rest of the work is done with kitchen shears. In my opinion, he kind of tears the meat apart, but it's quick. The duck is broken down in less than 2 minutes, and it was certainly delicious, but presentation should still count for something. I would have kept it simple - fillet the breasts, legs, thighs, keeping everything neat and intact. And I would have sharpened my knife first.

DF

Fresh from out back

My friend grows wonderful vegetables in her backyard. All sorts of great, green things. If I had the space and optimal amount of sun exposure - I'd be DF, the tomato, mint, and apple tree grower, a gentleman farmer.

DF

This is how we roll

Wu Liang Ye. A lethal sorghum liquor of China, at 52%. It was my friend's birthday, so I was ready to celebrate and to rumble. Lethal and long in every way, but it's a Chinese drink. If you can't take this - you have absolutely no business calling yourself Chinese. I drank myself silly, to the point of not being to stand straight. But I celebrated my friend's birthday properly. And that is as Chinese as it gets.

DF

Keep it simple

Keep it simple, assholes. Keep it simple - I could add in an expletive, but because if I want to advertise these pieces as something I do, I'd have to go back and censor everything. I was born a Communist, so I've developed a frustration with censorship, no matter how little.

I'm writing after drinking heavily, please disregard the nonsense. Keep it simple. At a friend's dinner, instead of serving some kind of plonk like Coor's or Labatt's, he serves a lesser known form of junk. I drank 4 or 5, so I certainly wasn't complaining. Keep it simple.

DF

Sichuan-style poached fish

Our host cooked this dish, a novelty for Shanghainese dinners. A Sichuan-style fish, poached in chili peppers and peppercorns, spicy and numbing and absolutely delicious.

DF

Food everywhere

We had a dinner last week to celebrate a friend's birthday party. The Shanghainese enjoy their food. I snapped a shot as we were wrapping up. They're going to be eating leftovers for a week. Drunk and well fed - that's how we do dinner. Drank and well fed. That's all I want my friends to be, after dinner chez Fang.

DF

In photos: Veuve Clicquot, après

And the gentleman photographer takes another photo, after pop. 1990 Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin, so rich, so delicious. The definitive experience of my Champagne drinking life. I just can't thank my friends enough for giving me this bottle. Beautiful, in every way, every way.

DF

In photos: Veuve Clicquot, avant

Here's to the slow dance. Two people, body on body, hot and sweaty. What does this have to do with 1990 Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin? If you have to ask, you just won't get it. All love, all love.

DF

1990 Veuve Clicquot

1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Vintage Reserve Brut, AC Champagne

Mon Dieu - where do I begin. This was a very generous gift from my dear, dear friends, to commemorate my university graduation, many years ago. I've been holding onto this bottle for a much more significant occasion, as all great wines should be - for my 20th anniversary of living in Canada. Yes, I arrived in Toronto in 1990, a little 4 year old Chinese kid, not a word of English, not a friend in this country. It's been tough, but 20 years is certainly something to celebrate.

The cork came out cleanly, without so much as a whisper. I was worried about storage, but the wine was still perfectly bubbly. Deep golden colour, the bouquet is just extraordinary. Rich, creamy, thick - penetratingly mature. Such fragrance, so complex, so perfect. This wine has taught me what a perfectly mature Champagne is at its peak. Still fresh, still lively - this is as good as it gets.

Many, many thanks to my friend who gave me this bottle - I can't thank you enough. A dream come true, merci bien.

DF

NV Ambonnay

NV Marguet Père & Fils Blancs de Noirs Brut, AC Ambonnay

Champagne is the dream, always. Everyone talks about desert island wines; I hate these idiotic clichés, but apparently, you can't be a successful blogger without resorting to them, so here we go - if I were forced at gunpoint to name a desert island wine, it would probably be a Champagne. And I won't go into how only wines produced in the region of Champagne can be called a Champagne, because if that concept eludes you, I don't care much for you as a human being. I've been drinking, dear reader.

This is a special bottle to me. I've been holding onto it for a few years - the disgorgement date isn't labelled, but I have reason to believe that it was disgorged around late 2006, early 2007. The British palate dictates that nonvintage Champagne deserves at least 18 months of bottle age before it's acceptable to be drunk, so I faithfully tried to adhere to that unspoken rule - the results turned out quite well for me.

A small producer, this wine has a beautifully deep gold colour, with flecks of orange fire. Such freshness, almost green aromas. I always thought it silly that people detected apple core in wine bouquets - wtf is apple core? I kind of understand it now...it's definitely an apple aroma, but the acidity is so high that, yes, it does smell like the portion you wouldn't eat. Autolysis character present, very well integrated - I took my time with this bottle (as with all my wines) and after 24, then 48 hours, it becomes more rich, more round, more delicious.

Damn, and it figures that I have to pay over $50 for such a wine experience. Sugar mammas, email this gentleman.

DF

Mulberry wine

The mulberry wine, pictured earlier with the berries. As discussed, the wine itself isn't what's interesting about this fruit wine - the berries, after absorbing all the liquor, are the real excitement. At this point, we had been keeping this for too long. Perhaps a product of using less than stellar fruit to begin with, the wine was listless and bitter in flavour, although it's quite creamy in texture. Clearly lacks the colour, and the flavour explosion of the first bottle, drunk way back.

DF

Mulberries and liqour

My paternal ancestry is from the coastal town of Ningbo, in the southeast Chinese province of Zhejiang. This is a fortified fruit wine that they make. The mulberry tree grows everywhere in the region, and enjoys the reputation of producing fruit of high quality - perfect for making these wines. Picked at their ripest, the mulberries are dropped into a 52% Chinese sorghum liquor, usually Maotai, and aged for 1-2 years. We managed to bring a few jars of this treasure back, and it's been sitting, forgotten, in the back of the fridge for at least 5 years. I finished our first jar a while back, and I'm holding onto two more, although a taste of this has me convinced that I better start drinking soon.

What's extraordinary is that the wine has lost a lot of the flavour and the alcohol - everything has been absorbed into the fruit. Four or five of them, and the room starts spinning. Complex flavour, with the texture remaining firm, the most delicious berries in all the world.

DF

2008 Marlborough

2008 Staete Landt Estate Riesling Auslese, Marlborough

How interesting is this - a New Zealand riesling labelled in the German manner, in this case, an Auslese. From the region of Rapaura in New Zealand's South Island, I had every expectation that this was a riesling made in the tradition of the gems from the Mosel and Rheingau. I was so right - this riesling is all sex, all style.

The bouquet is so gorgeous, busting with minerals, citrus, and lanolin cream aromas. The richness is apparent, which carries to the intense palate. Very crunchy, substantial amounts of extract in the mouth, impeccably balanced and so long. A clean wine, no botrytis aromas or flavours, if the grapes were allowed to botrytise. Builds and builds, relentlessly. Holds up well to the third day.

Certainly an impressive wine. It would be fanciful to think that it's the soil that contributes to this intensity and extract, wouldn't it? Could be the low yields, age of the vines, sur lie aging - any number of things, but this is a spectacular wine. I'm convinced more than ever that when New Zealand gets it right, it's really right.

DF