Mat Ryan

In this monthly column, Shanghai’s most committed dipsomaniacs get together to share and compare some of the wines around town. It’s a no-nonsense guide to the good, the great and the bloody ordinary of wine. Which wine will win the day this month?

KWV Café Culture Pinotage 2005, South Africa

We couldn’t have had a better setting for this tasting: outside The Shed and road testing the new BBQ with a massive rib eye steak as the perfect accompaniment to these wines from the good people at China Wines and Spirits. Nick first declared that he’s never been a fan of Pinotage, but upon tasting it was quite happy. He declared “it needs food”, which was a hint to Chef Alan to check up on our steaks. Alan thought this would be a great wine for the Chinese market, as it’s a bit sweet and fruity. The similarly-named Allan said this would be a nice “home alone wine”. I really liked it, I’ve always been a fan of a good Pinotage, and this fits the mould. We’re not sure how it would go with a steak, as they weren’t quite finished, but we did have some sausages ready, and they went very well.

Price: RMB 132

 Trapiche Broquel Malbec 2008, Argentina

Upon tasting this very fine drop, I realised I’d probably erred in the drinking order. This probably should have been first, as it’s definitely a soft, velvety wine. Allan loved it with the sausages we were still consuming. Nick was obviously converted and said that he preferred the Pinotage. The earthy palette on this wine just goes on and on – really, for such a soft wine, it lasted very well. Good Malbecs are sensational and underappreciated. I’d love to give a glass of this to everyone in a Chinese restaurant that was about to order a Bordeaux simply because it’s French, and then see their reaction. I’d probably get more conversions than Jonny Wilkinson!

Price: RMB 192

Château Vieux Lavergne 2008, Saint-Emilion

The steaks arrived with perfect timing! My favourite French wine, St Emilion, was next on the menu, and the steak was guaranteed to be the perfect companion. I poured it with much anticipation, gave the glass a good swirl to get some air into it and then gave it try. “Winner!” I declared. Probably a bit too loudly actually, as the table next to us gave us strange looks – jealous looks most likely, as we had this wine and massive steaks! “High octane” was what Alan noted, and I think it was unanimous. A very good example of St Emilion this was – quite good straight out of the bottle, but it did improve slightly after a few minutes in the glass. That’s about all the time we were prepared to spend waiting for this wine to age, as it did not last long at all.

Price: RMB 285