LIQUID ASSETS
A Rhone Valley Royal
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Padraig Harrington 2008 Open Championship, Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Paddy Power: Harrington's eagle at the 17th sealed his second consecutive Open Championship title 42
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
As these glorious memories played in my mind, I emerged reborn from my Zen-like state, gavaged with inspiration, testosterone squirting from my ears and proceeded to win the first hole easily. OK, I admit it was largely because my opponent conceded when he discovered he had shoved an extra HAVE YOUR SAY club in his bag, but nevertheless my Do you have a favourite Major moment not listed here? 9 and 7 defeat represents my best If so, we’d love to hear from you. performance yet in the “Duffers”. I Please email us at letters@hkgolfermagazine.com can’t wait for next year! WWW.HKGA.COM
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Few would doubt Harrington’s credentials as a battler, but after his victory at the 2007 Open at Carnoustie, where he outlasted Sergio Garcia in a four-hole playoff, not many predicted the Irishman could replicate the feat at Birkdale the following year. Likeable Paddy, as silly as it all seems now, was considered a “One Major Man.” Harrington, of course, answered his critics in the best way possible by defending his Open crown — and he did it with one of the most memorable shots in recent Major history. Coming down the stretch on the blustery Lancashire links, Harrington held a two-stroke lead over colourful Englishman Ian Poulter with the demanding 17th and 18th to play. A resurgent Greg Norman was also lurking should the Irishman falter. After a perfect drive left him within range of the wickedly sloping green at 17, Paddy eschewed the obvious temptation to lay up and fired a brilliant 5-wood from 249-yards to just four feet to set up an eagle and effectively retain his title. Three weeks later, Harrington sealed his place in the history books by winning the final Major of the year at the USPGA at Oakland Hills. In doing so, he became the first European to win the title in 78 years and the first from Ireland to do so.
g uess for my f irst wine column I should start at one of the most amazing wine cellars in the world: Robuchon a Galera, at the Hotel Lisboa in the heart of Macau. We all know that Robuchon is fantastic; it is the only French restaurant in the enclave to have been awarded three Michelin stars. But as a wine lover, what always amazes me is that the prices on its wine list, an enormous tome roughly the size of a telephone book, make you both happy and very thirsty. Hong Kong and Macau might be the only places in the world where there is no import tax or VAT on wine, but take it from me, a wine merchant: the wine prices at Robuchon are more than reasonable and far below the market price. Recently, I had lunch at Robuchon with Nicolas Jaboulet of the famous Rhone-based wine-making family of the same name. Jaboulet is a legendary producer and among its best wines are those from a beautiful small hill in the Rhone Valley called Hermitage. It is here that they produce their signature wine: the Jaboulet Hermitage la Chapelle. Ja mes Suck l i ng a nd Robert Parker Jr., two of the world’s leading wine critics, absolutely rave about this wine, especially the legendary 1961 vintage of the Jaboulet Hermitage la Chapelle. 1961 was a truly exceptional vintage in Bordeaux and Rhone, and the wines produced t hat ye a r were si mply perfect. I was thinking about ordering a bottle of the 1961 until Nicolas i n formed me t hat at a recent Christie’s auction the 1961 went for €18,000 a bottle. But guess what the price at Robuchon was? MOP$59,000, which is less than a third of the auction price. Still a lot of money— and far over my budget— but all things considered a real bargain. Even more amazingly they still had 12 bottles in stock. WWW.HKGA.COM
We decided to order a 2003 Jaboulet la Chapelle instead. 2003 was a very hot summer in France. Sun is good for producing wine; too much sun can be a problem. But luckily for us the vintage came out very well. The wine had a beautiful nose full of intense dark fruit flavours and a hint of white pepper. Its colour was nice and dark and the intensity came out in the taste. The wine was drinking perfectly: soft spices, dark fruit and blackcurrant flavours, with a touch of that white pepper again in the mouth. I found the wine to be very well balanced and easy to drink. We decanted the wine and after about 40 minutes it really started to open up and balance out with longer and more intense concentrated flavours and soft tannins. Wow, this was good, but unfortunately we had work to do in the afternoon, otherwise I would have ordered another bottle. As our lunch came to a close, Nicolas reminded me that Rhone is where Syrah first found fame. The Jaboulet family has been producing the Hermitage la Chapelle for over one hundred years but the grape has become more commonly associated in recent years with Australia, where it is known as Shiraz. Indeed, during the 1950s, the pioneering Australian winemaker Max Schubert was so taken with Syrah from the Rhone Valley that he eventually ended up producing arguably the most famous Australian wine of them all: Penfold’s Grange Hermitage, which was named after that same beautiful small hill in the Rhone Valley where the Jaboulet family continue to make their fabulous Hermitage la Chapelle to this day. —Patricio de la Fuente Saez Patricio is the managing director of Links Concept, one of Hong Kong, Macau and China’s leading distributors of wine and spirits. Visit www. linksconcept.com for more information.
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
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