Bruce Cakebread In Hong Kong

Bruce Cakebread is no stranger to Hong Kong and his Napa Valley wines have been in the territory for decades. He is the president and COO of Cakebread Cellars and one of the hardest working men in the region as he does not employ an export manager – he travels the globe to talk about his own brand, meet his own customers and share his wines with the world.

Bruce and I first had lunch together last year where we pitted his wines against Chinese food at the China Club which was an interesting and stimulating experience as I have always loved his Chardonnay’s and the wines work well with Asian food. This time he was in town (earlier this week) Howard Palmes (General Manager of Cakebread’s Hong Kong importer Fine Vintage), Gerrie Lim (one of Hong Kong’s best writers) and I had a Western lunch paired with his wines.

We went to View 62, the revolving Spanish restaurant on the 62^nd floor of the Hopewell Centre to taste the latest Chardonnay alongside an aged Chardonnay as well as his Pinot Noir and his Benchland Select (a Cabernet Sauvignon).

“Carneros is made for Chardonnay”, says Bruce. “The soils are fantastic and the wines can age so well”.

And he’s not wrong! We tasted the 2010 Chardonnay and the 1998 Chardonnay together with the 2010 showing roundness with a creamy palate, a refined wine that one can image will age rather well. The 1998 was a delight – deep golden colour, not a hint of oxidation and still very fresh but with lovely mature flavours on the palate.

I tried both of these wines with a Spanish Octopus dish (Octopus Galizan style with potato puree and olive oil – see picture) and the savoury flavours of the octopus worked really well with the aged Chardonnay; more so with the aged Chardonnay than the younger one as the powerful flavour was a bit too much for the young fresh wine.

Bruce’s Pinot Noir comes from the Anderson Valley, an area he tells me is “perfect for Pinot Noir because of the hot days and cool nights”. In fact, the grapes themselves are picked at night when it is cool so that the grapes keep as much of their flavour in as possible. The wine, the 2011 is bursting with red fruit flavours, subtle, elegant and feminine in style. I imagine this wine would work really well with fish dishes such as salmon, trout and sardines.

Moving on to the Benchland Select as the main course arrived I was excited about tasting this wine again but this time paired with a sumptuous beef cheek dish with artichokes and bacon. I have to say that the food was excellent and the beef, tender and perfectly cooked was an excellent pairing to the bold, masculine nuances of the 100 per cent Napa Cabernet.  This wine comes from a small crop and is highly concentrated, not one of those fat, undrinkable Parker-like wines but big and velvety at the same time.

We closed off the lunch with a second bottle of the Benchland Select and as the third hour kicked in we thought it prudent to have a spot of cheese. A selection of Spanish sheep and goat’s cheese arrived including the staples such as Manchego but the cheese that stole the day was something called Idiazabal, a sheep’s cheese from the Basque country which was stunning and, shaved thin was a beautiful accompaniment to the now very open Benchland Select.

It’s always good having the winery owners or winemakers in town each year here as you can see the vintages change and you can really get a feel for the vintage through the passion and experience of the winemaker or owner. Bruce is always excellent company, something that’s backed up by his fantastic wines. Me, I am still a big fan of the Chardonnay, even more so now having seen how long they can age. The Pinot is a delight and one to look out for and if big, bold but refined reds are your thing, the Benchland Select will not disappoint.

Cakebread Cellars wines are available in Hong Kong from Fine Vintage. For more information contact Fine Vintage by telephone on (+852) 2896 6108 or by e-mail on h.palmes@finevintage.com.hk (Howard) or nicolas@finevintage.com.hk (Nicolas).