Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

Sauvage by Moonlight

Aug19

Restaurant: Lunasia [1, 2, 3]

Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222

Date: August 14, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Fine Cantonese

_

About once a year the Sauvages lunch group heads down to some wine friendly SGV Chinese restaurant for some fun filled Cantonese.

Flight 0: Les Amuses

2013 Château Miraval Côtes de Provence Rosé. VM 90. Pale orange. Fresh tangerine, strawberry and white flowers on the fragrant, mineral-accented nose. Silky and precise, offering tangy red fruit flavors that are lifted and sharpened by a white pepper nuance. Finishes clean, nervy and long, with excellent clarity and lingering minerality. This suave wine has the power to work with rich foods and the energy to give pleasure by itself.

agavin: a decent provencal rose. The big claim to fame is the Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie connection.

Typical sauce: mustard, chili, and XO (fermented shellfish with a bit of chili).

Flight 1: Radical Riesling


2011 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg. VM 92. Pale straw. Sweet chamomile, anise and licorice notes complicate very ripe pear jelly and Golden Delicious apple on the nose and palate. Dense and suave in the mouth, with smooth flavors of ripe citrus, chamomile and minerals carrying through on the very long finish. Like many of Ostertag’s wines, this one comes across as unctuous yet very fresh, thanks to firm acidity and chewy buffering extract. Ostertag owns two parcels in this grand cru, mostly in the central part of the cru, which is exposed full south. The average age of the vines is almost 50 years, and you can tell from the wine’s rich texture and depth of flavor that this is a true vieilles vignes bottling.

From my cellar: 2011 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus. VM 91. Rich aromas of vineyard peach, passion fruit and acacia honey. Tautly strung on the palate, with juicy apricot fruit wound around a vibrant backbone. The wine’s discreet residual sugar is disguised by abundant minerals and a lemony nuance. With a long finish featuring yellow plum and wet rocks, this riesling shows good balance in spite of its 14% alcohol.

2002 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Deep Golden Yellow, Crisp and fruity
Very tasty.

Jumbo shrimp har gow. As good a version as I’ve had.

Jumbo pork siu mai. Perhaps more succulent and tender than many.

Spring roll. Perfectly fine. I forgot to photo one at the beginning and had to make due with this unappetizing “after the fact” image.

Flight 2: Alsace Alpha


2012 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg. VM 92. Luminous straw-green. Delicate aromas of nectarine, lemon verbena and jasmine are complicated by racy minerality. Deep, dense, clean flavors of white stone fruits and aromatic herbs are penetrating and very long, with the finish showing an obvious saline edge. Made from vines grown on the higher slopes of the Schlossberg hill, this wine is always characterized by ripe, floral acidity and rarely expresses fusel aromas, especially when young.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine. VM 91+. Pale green. Complex aromas of citrus skin, ripe peach and spices, with a tangy whiff of botrytis. Spicy, dense and rich but quite backward and wound-up. This, too, is classically dry in style, with nearly exotic mace and nutmeg notes perking up the palate. Finishes very dry and very long, with flavors of pineapple and dusty stone. Penetrating and rather austere-in need of aging. This is mostly from the bottom of the Schlossberg, but 20% of the wine comes from outside the grand cru border.

In the back, Turnip roll. A light flakey pastry stuffed with turnip and onion. Quiet nice actually, if a little heavy.

Front and center, BBQ pork. My favorite type, sweet and flavorful.

To the right, BBQ roast duck. Great except for all the bones (which are usual).

Duck sauce. Good on the pork too if you like to double down on your sweet.

Flight 3: Hot in the South


2004 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. Parker 99. A wine that tastes akin to liquid rocks as well as white currants and quince is the light golden 2004 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree. This is a fabulous wine, with blockbuster intensity and richness. This is the kind of wine that may last 50-100 years, but of course most readers will opt for earlier consumption.

agavin: Parker loves these, and I own a whole bunch, but I’m not really feeling the love. They are so high alcohol.

2007 Guigal Condrieu la Doriane. Parker 95. This full-bodied white was aged in one-third new oak and two-thirds tank. One hundred percent of the 2007 Condrieu La Doriane is vinified in new oak, and put through malolactic. It is then aged for 11 months prior to bottling. Absolutely exquisite, with the oak pushed to the background, this wine’s fruit character is dominated by apricots, peaches, honeysuckle, and marmalade. The beautiful floral and honeyed fruit aromatics are followed by a sumptuous, full-bodied white that is never heavy (because of good acidity) or flabby. Consume it over the next 2-3 years.

2012 Andre Perret Condrieu. Parker 92. Moving to his Condrieus, the 2012 Condrieu (aged in equal parts barrel and tank) offers up classic lychee nut, flowers and tangerine aromas and flavors, medium-bodied richness, and brilliant purity of fruit. Possessing a perfect mix of freshness and richness, with vibrant acidity and loads of fruit, it should drink nicely for 4-5 years.

Shrimp lettuce cup. The plum sauce unfortunately came AFTER I had finished the roll. Nice crunch to it though.

Stir-fried lobster w/ black pepper sauce. A nice lobster.

Flight 4: Rhone Rampage


1999 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine. Parker 89-91. The 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape La Bernardine offers a sweet perfume of jammy black cherries, cassis, licorice, and minerals, moderate tannin, medium to full body, and excellent ripeness as well as flesh. It will age well for 10-12 years.

2000 Domaine de la Grange des Peres VDP de l’Herault. Parker 94. Profound aromas of peppered blackberries, and garrigue emanate from the glass of the 2000 Vin de Pays de l’Herault (red). This juicy, fresh, concentrated wine is a powerfully elegant beauty. Dark cherries, black raspberries, flowers, and assorted red fruits are found in its seamless personality as well as in its luxurious finish. Anticipated maturity: now-2014.

2004 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rouge Cuvee Cabassaou. Parker 91. The nose stubbornly refuses to charm: surly, introspective with faint scents of forest floor, damp moss, leather and blackberry. The palate is full-bodied, very backward, dense and at the moment just lacking some cohesion. But I am sure this will meld together with ageing but it just lacks a little persistency on the finish. Drinking 2015-2022.

Stir fried frog. With whole garlic, mushrooms, and sweet Chinese sausage. Tasted great, although the look of the frog legs in this sauce wasn’t the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen.

Flight 5: Power of the Priorat


2004 Clos Mogador. Parker 96+. Clos Mogador is produced by the esteemed Rene Barbier who has hit homeruns in both 2003 and 2004. The 2004 Clos Mogador has a more saturated purple color than the 2003 as well as a more expressive perfume of mocha, coffee, and flowers (violets) in addition to toasty oak, earth, and blue and black fruits. More extracted and backward than the 2003, it demands a decade of cellaring and should drink well for an additional 20 years. The 2004 is a tour de force.

2001 Costers del Siurana Clos de l’Obac. Parker 91. This unfiltered blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, and Carignan, aged for 14 months in new French oak, and bottled unfiltered, boasts a deep purple color along with a pure bouquet of raspberries, blueberries, wet stones, and toasty, subtle vanillin. Medium-bodied with outstanding concentration, impressive elegance, and a nice texture, this tight but promising 2001 should hit its prime in 2-4 years, and last for 12-15.

2003 Alvaro Palacios L’Ermita. Parker 94-97. I tasted a ready-to-be-bottled tank sample of the 2003 L’Ermita. Typically there are 400-500 cases of this blockbuster, but because of the vintage’s tiny crop as well as a severe triage, only 240 cases were produced. This superb effort displays a black/blue/purple color along with a huge nose of creme de cassis, flowers, crushed rocks, and a hint of smoke. The wine is full-bodied and opulent, with tremendous structure, great definition and purity, and a huge, but elegant, persistent finish. It will benefit from another 1-2 years of bottle age, and last for 15 plus.

agavin: someone brought out the big guns!

On the left, fried frog. Really great crispy garlic fry. Few bones. One of the best frog preps I’ve had.

On the right “french beef.” Sweet and beefy. Good with the wine.

Asparagus. Sort of the prep for Szechuan string beans, but with asparagus.

Flight D: Sweet Finish


2003 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese. VM 93. Birch beer and pungent brown spices in the nose. Enormously rich, with a hint of caramelization, yet only subtly sweet in overall impression. Peach jam with candied lemon zest, herbal essences, and brothy meat and mineral depths. Firmer in feel than this year’s Brucke Auslese #19, and apt to unfold over a long period.

My cup of tea! Actually it’s the Donnhoff.

Macao Egg Custard. This version was a little eggy, but good.

Sesame mochi ball with bean paste. Nice texture and a really good bean paste. Too bad I don’t digest beans like I used to.

A mango soup, very refreshing.

First off, I have to say this may be my first (regular) Chinese meal that was individually plated. Impressive.

Second, we had a LOT of great straight up Cantonese here and some fun wines with a lot of variety. I thought the dry rieslings paired best, but some of the reds were fabulous wines. Oh, how I love the SGV.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

Related posts:

  1. Sauvage Republique
  2. Feasting Lunasia
  3. Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Sun
  4. Sauvages – East Borough
  5. Sauvages in the Forest
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese, Chinese cuisine, Lunasia, Sauvages, Wine
Watch the Trailer or

Buy it Online!

Buy it Online!

Find Andy at:

Follow Me on Pinterest

Subscribe by email:

More posts on:



Complete Archives

Categories

  • Contests (7)
  • Fiction (404)
    • Books (113)
    • Movies (77)
    • Television (123)
    • Writing (115)
      • Darkening Dream (62)
      • Untimed (37)
  • Food (1,481)
  • Games (100)
  • History (13)
  • Technology (21)
  • Uncategorized (16)

Recent Posts

  • OOToro Double
  • Robo Eats - Anarbagh
  • Fred loves N/Naka
  • Major Major Major
  • Far East - Beijing Tasty House
  • Home Sweet Spicy Home
  • Quick Eats - Bafang
  • Quick Eats - Peking Restaurant
  • Quick Eats - MK BBQ
  • Wolfing it Down
  • Big Night at Capital
  • Coche In at Brothers Santa Monica
  • Dirty Dozen semi Grand
  • Date Night at Addison
  • Date Night at AR Valentien
  • Camphor Cool
  • Not all Dim Sum are Created Equal
  • Eating Geneva - Le Chat-Botté
  • Eating Corsica - Beach Lunch
  • Eating Baja - Somu

Favorite Food Posts

  • Food Home
  • Food Index
  • Foodie Club
  • Hedonists
  • LA Sushi Index
  • Chinese Food
  • LA Peking Duck
  • Eating Italy
  • Eating France
  • Eating Spain
  • Eating Croatia
  • Eating Vietnam
  • Eating Australia
  • Eating Israel
  • Ultimate Pizza
  • Margarita Mix
  • ThanksGavin
  • Foodie Photography
  • Burgundy Vintages

Recent Comments

Tags

Andy Gavin Arts beef Book Review books Burgundy BYOG California Champagne Chinese cuisine Chinese Food Cooking Crash Bandicoot Dessert eating-italy Fantasy Fiction Food Foodie Club Game of Thrones Gelato George R. R. Martin HBO hedonists Italian cuisine Italy Japanese cuisine Los Angeles Naughty Dog pasta Pizza Restaurant Restaurant Review reviews Santa Monica Santa Monica California SGV side dishes Sushi Television ThanksGavin The Darkening Dream vegetarian Wine World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Archives

  • March 2023 (9)
  • February 2023 (11)
  • January 2023 (14)
  • December 2022 (11)
  • November 2022 (13)
  • October 2022 (14)
  • September 2022 (14)
  • August 2022 (12)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (6)
  • May 2022 (8)
  • April 2022 (5)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (2)
  • January 2022 (8)
  • December 2021 (6)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (8)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (5)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (3)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (11)
  • March 2020 (15)
  • February 2020 (13)
  • January 2020 (14)
  • December 2019 (13)
  • November 2019 (12)
  • October 2019 (14)
  • September 2019 (14)
  • August 2019 (13)
  • July 2019 (13)
  • June 2019 (14)
  • May 2019 (13)
  • April 2019 (10)
  • March 2019 (10)
  • February 2019 (11)
  • January 2019 (13)
  • December 2018 (14)
  • November 2018 (11)
  • October 2018 (15)
  • September 2018 (15)
  • August 2018 (15)
  • July 2018 (11)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (13)
  • April 2018 (13)
  • March 2018 (17)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (15)
  • December 2017 (15)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (16)
  • September 2017 (16)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (11)
  • June 2017 (13)
  • May 2017 (6)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (7)
  • December 2016 (14)
  • November 2016 (11)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (13)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (13)
  • February 2016 (12)
  • January 2016 (13)
  • December 2015 (14)
  • November 2015 (14)
  • October 2015 (13)
  • September 2015 (13)
  • August 2015 (18)
  • July 2015 (16)
  • June 2015 (13)
  • May 2015 (13)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (13)
  • January 2015 (13)
  • December 2014 (14)
  • November 2014 (13)
  • October 2014 (13)
  • September 2014 (12)
  • August 2014 (15)
  • July 2014 (13)
  • June 2014 (13)
  • May 2014 (14)
  • April 2014 (14)
  • March 2014 (10)
  • February 2014 (11)
  • January 2014 (13)
  • December 2013 (14)
  • November 2013 (13)
  • October 2013 (14)
  • September 2013 (12)
  • August 2013 (14)
  • July 2013 (10)
  • June 2013 (14)
  • May 2013 (14)
  • April 2013 (14)
  • March 2013 (15)
  • February 2013 (14)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (14)
  • November 2012 (16)
  • October 2012 (13)
  • September 2012 (14)
  • August 2012 (16)
  • July 2012 (12)
  • June 2012 (16)
  • May 2012 (21)
  • April 2012 (18)
  • March 2012 (20)
  • February 2012 (23)
  • January 2012 (31)
  • December 2011 (35)
  • November 2011 (33)
  • October 2011 (32)
  • September 2011 (29)
  • August 2011 (35)
  • July 2011 (33)
  • June 2011 (25)
  • May 2011 (31)
  • April 2011 (30)
  • March 2011 (34)
  • February 2011 (31)
  • January 2011 (33)
  • December 2010 (33)
  • November 2010 (39)
  • October 2010 (26)
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin