A surprise of the "L" themed wine party Li Jen and I hosted near Valentine's Day was that the first two bottles were both Muscadet (a French white wine).
The first bottle, "Lobster & Shrimp" from the Barton & Guestier Pairing Collection, was part of the half dozen we bought before our NTUC Fairprice Just Wine Club membership expires. Based on the label, we wanted to serve it with a garlicky, umami-bomb dish of fried shell-on sakura prawn, like the version who had at Al Cicchetto. Al Cicchetto is a lovely tiny Taiwanese spot serving Italian small plates, in the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei. That was where Li Jen and I had dinner when we visited for TEDxTaipei in 2012 - and we returned in 2013. That dish captured the mood of those nights where we chatted about the wonderful talks we had listened to the whole day, in a cramped but utterly charming restaurant.
Unfortunately we couldn't get the right prawns, so the only seafood pairing was with herring. I realise now that I'm one of the only Singaporeans I know who enjoys herring. And herring didn't quite match that wine.
I bought this bottle to expand beyond my comfort zone of Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling for white wine. I'm also intimidated by French wines, and this bottle seemed friendly without being tacky. The nose was gentle and flowery, compared to the usual intensely aromatic Australian / New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. And in the mouth it was bright and lively, crisp and not too heavy with alcohol, going well with some of the cheeses.
Initially I wasn't paying complete attention that the a bottle was a Muscadet Sevre-et-Maine (from the Loire Valley). Until someone brought a bottle of Muscadet Côtes de GrandLieu Sur Lie. Most of the time when I see "Muscadet" I actually get confused thinking it might be a cousin of "Moscato" (a sweet wine that seems to be the favourite of many in Singapore).
So we were surprised at how dry this second bottle was, and how much we enjoyed it too (not realising it was a cousin of the first bottle).
We decided on the "L" theme because it was a sort of "Love" themed party in protest of the commercialisation of Valentine's Day. We didn't even realise the "Lobster" bottle was from "Loire Valley". The convenient thing is that if we throw a "M" party next, we can still drink these Muscadet bottles!
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