Matteo Correggia Roero 2008

Canale, Roero, Piedmont, Italy. Nebbilo. 14.5%. Cork. Approx $A30.

It's not easy to find an Italian Nebbiolo from the Piedmont region for $A30, so if you spot this, go long. . .

Bright and clean, dried herbs and notable alcohol on the nose - an inauspicious but steady start. Quite delicious in the mouth - firm, meaty and savoury - a strapping wine with lovely length and definition. There's a hint of creaminess in the mouth, but mostly it's ink, tar and sinew. Very good. 90-91. Now - 2015+

In search of Buah Keluak

I think I found it, on my penultimate day in Singapore. All the previous iterations I had tasted, which were nominally Ayam buah keluak had tasted insipid and thin. A nondescript, forgettable chicken curry. Nothing like opium or ambrosia - though I might add, these are two other known unknowns.

I decided to venture further afield and spent a few hours wandering around Katong. In my limited time in Singapore, this is as close to yesterday as it comes. The colourful and ornate two storey shopfronts are losing the battle against the rain and the tropical plants which seen capable of taking root in invisible crevices. People openly spit and park their cars illegally, the rainwater drains are open and there is a sense of disorder.

In amongst this heightened authenticity is the squeaky clean dining room of Guan Hoe Soon. As I ate the pictured Ayam Buah Keluak, I had two competing thoughts. What is this? And Eureka! I've found it. . .

The nut shell is thin and hard, black from processing and the flesh within is meaty and olive tapenade like in texture, while in the mouth there is the impression of fat and umami. How can a nut taste like this? I started the meal politely trying to work the flesh from the shell, but by the close delicacy had become greedy desperation. . .

Post script: I now know that the nut is extracted and minced together with meat, sugar and salt and then returned to its chamber.

Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1998

Pauillac, Bordeaux, France. 12.5%. Cork.

I should travel to South East Asia more often. It seems each visit is accompanied by the opening of a bottle of Pichon Lalande. . . Though not an esteemed vintage, I still found the wine superb. This of course might have something to do with the preceding several hours, which were spent blissfully and sweatily wandering around the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The dragonflies are obviously camera trained. . . I think this is a male Neurothemis fluctuans - aka the common parasol.

Before the Pichon a lovely bottle of the 2004 Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet. This seemed more flesh than stone and being Antipodean I was reminded of Margaret River. The red was beautiful - spiced and pretty, violet and tobacco and a sense of refinement and grace. Something not easily captured by the hoards of new world pretenders. Lovely texture and structure, more enveloping and less sinew and hardness than the 1999. Tasted out of context (the only red Bordeaux @ for lunch, in a beautiful home on a manicured Singaporean hill, surrounded by strange fruit and friendly faces) I'd give this 95. Now - 2016+

Chocolate and wine

Chocolate and wine have many similarities and though I frequently enjoy both together, I'm yet to be convinced that the pairing is synergistic. I thought this was a clever take on the often suggested pairing of fortified wine and chocolate. Each slab of chocolate ganache is pierced by a plastic ampoule of wine.

Image: One of the many offerings at the all chocolate buffet @ Marina Bay Sands.

Rambutan

It's been many years since I've found the appearance of a rambutan strange, but I still find the sight unfailingly beautiful. The examples that reach Australia seem bedraggled and suffering from bad hair, no such aesthetic issues for this partly naked example.

Post script: I'm home after 10 days in Singapore, very little wine was consumed, but a great deal of food eaten. A tasting note and something beautiful tomorrow. . .

Postcard: Friday

I've written before about drinking at altitude, the cabin pressure is lower and the air drier. Both factors having a possible effect on olfactory thresholds. Wine tastes and smells different at altitude compared to sea level, even taking into account the variability of your palate and nose. I'm curious to see if a squirt of saline nasal spray will improve the experience. (1,2)

Which is a cryptic way of saying that I'll be in the air and taking a short break. I'll be equipped with all manner of electronic gadgetry, but I'm hoping to be mostly disconnected from home and keyboard.

Dombeya Boulder Road Shiraz 2006

Stellenbosch, South Africa. Shiraz. 14.5%. Diam. Approx $A35.

Quite delicious. Savoury, spiced and earthy. There's also a clean leather saddle, smallgoods, plum and eventually a hint of resin. Bright acidity (I'd assume added), pleasing texture and a core of sweetness and richness. Quite full, but certainly not clumsy. 91. Now - 2015.

Postcard: Wednesday

Apparently Perth is about to be enveloped in a cloud of volcanic ash from a Chilean volcano. Domestic airspace is to be shut down and schedules and plans will be disrupted. It seems so unlikely - outside I can hear the trickle of water and the light fluctuates from dull to brilliant as the rain clouds separate and reform.

I spent the morning in Cantina. It's wonderful to taste the changes (1,2) and to luxuriate in the knowledge that work is far away. The menu has changed, and my previous favourite of Corned Beef has been replaced and surpassed by the pictured slab of home cured bacon. A guilty combination of fat, salt, moistness and crunch.

Jauma Wood Vineyard Grenache 2010

McLaren Vale, South Australia. Grenache. 15.5%. Diam. Approx $A70

A formidable, but not completely enjoyable wine. Even though the sky is dark and the air cold and moist, the weight and heft stand out and dominate the mouth feel and balance. It's a curious wine. A princess with tattoos and body piercing. The nose, even with its waft of lifted alcohol, smells clean and pure. Rose petal, musk and candy. . . only later does is smell of rosemary, eucalyptus and dry sticks. Even with the prettiness of the nose, you get the impression that a monster lurks beneath. Quite massive, raw and hard in the mouth. Sticks and stones. In time it softens, though only fractionally and not enough to endear. 87. Now - 2013.

Related.

A Sunday paella

I had planned to follow a recipe for this, but the morcilla I had bought and forgotten about, smelt fetid and unsafe. A few modifications and late additions resulted in this. . .

Ingredients:

• 250g of chicken thigh
• 1 teaspoon each of Juniper berries and black peppercorns
• 6 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
• 60mls of Pedro Ximenez (PX)
• 90mls of olive oil
• 100 - 150g of uncured (soft) chorizo
• 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh Marjoram
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 large pinch of saffron
• 1/4 cup of dry white wine
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 300g of Calasparra rice
• 1 handful of piquillo peppers, from a tin, then drained and chopped
• 100g broad beans - podded
• 6 large raw prawns - peeled and de-veined
• Fresh parsley to garnish

How?
Some hours before hand make a paste from the juniper berries, peppercorns and 3 of the garlic cloves. To this add 60mls of the PX and and equal amount of olive oil. Add the diced chicken thighs and marinate for a few hours.
30 minutes prior to eating, heat your paella pan (I used a small pan, for a family of 4), add the remaining olive oil and then brown the chicken thighs and the chorizo. Add as much of the marinade as possible and when the meat is coloured, remove and set aside. To the remaining oil add the last 3 cloves of garlic, the thyme, marjoram, dried spices and a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan. Return and position the cooked meats, add the stock and now distribute the rice. Cook at high heat for about 10 minutes, then turn the heat down and top with the diced piquillo peppers, broad beans and the uncooked prawns. Cook for a further 10 minutes, turning the prawns if needed and then garnish was parsley and serve.

Château Canon 2004

Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, France. Merlot, Cabernet franc. 13.5%. Cork. Source: Cellar.

How unintentionally prescient to photograph the bottle on a piece of cardboard. The wine was corked. From the moment the stopper was removed, it was clear this was tainted and wrong.

Postcard: Thursday in the city

A mostly aimless walk through the streets of the city (a prelude to a night of feasting and drinking), it seems to become more alien to me as I grow older and have less reason to be there. A new generation of sky scrapers is emerging to complement the tired examples of a previous boom. Windy, litter filled streets, young men in suits and shirts, which seem too shiny to my eye, like the mostly glass veneers of the featureless uninspiring towers. I wander around and then in to a cathedral. St Mary's. It too has been renewed, but in a seemingly halfhearted, though clearly expensive way. Despite this, even to the ungodly, it still offers peace and solace. Certainly much more than the tired corridors of its neighbour, Royal Perth Hospital. It seems so much smaller and yet more crowded than before. The faces are all different but I can recognise the emotions, as if they have been frozen in time. Bored despair, impatience, dread and in some of the young doctors, confidence verging on snugness.

Post script. Four lovely bottles of wine, shared over dinner with old friends. To open a 2009 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer. Perfectly poised and without any cellulite. Rose petal and lychee, crunchy in the mouth and rather than a generic suggestion of spice, there is a clear and welcome note of white pepper. Next a 2008 Marchand and Burch Meursault - a correct and enjoyable white Burg, but also the nights most unremarkable wine. The sole red a delicious 2005 Leroy (Bourgogne Rouge) which was scented and structured and in need of more time (in the cellar and in the glass) and a clearer minded observer. To end a 2006 Ch. Rieussec Sauternes which was warm and cuddly. Smelling of a clean wool and nail polish this was suitably luxurious and OTT.

Cristom Mt Jefferson Pinot noir 2008

Williamette Valley, Oregon, USA. Pinot noir. 14%. Cork. Approx $A60.

Possesses all the correct elements, though for me the balance and emphasis is not quite right. Slightly hard and harsh to begin - sap, cedar, earth and stems, a hint of smoke and char. Later a welcome flood of crushed raspberries and cranberries cut with baking spice. Cola like flavours - cinnamon and nutmeg, zip and pace followed by the taste of whole bunches (stems and a sensation of tightness and hardness) and then expansive, slightly furry and abrasive tannins.
89 - 90. Now - 2014.

Burn Cottage Pinot noir 2009

Central Otago, New Zealand. Pinot noir. 14%. Cork. Approx $A85.

Sensual and seductive, though the charm and appeal fades in time. Rose petal and meat, an odd amalgam, but my mind can do no better. It's pure and beautiful, in time a suggestion of earth, stalk and rubber, but to open it smells divine and new. Silken and curvaceous, it feels round and plump. A soft, but full wine. The tannins when they arrive are fine and fleeting. I found it quite disarming and wonderful, though by nights end I was less convinced. 92. Now - 2013.

Related.