Winery	Chateau L'Enclos
Region	Pomerol, France
Vintage	2005
Type	Red
Grape Varietals	Unknown
Retail Price	$53
Rating	7/10

Pomerol, an appellation of the French Bordeaux wine region. Pride itself having produced one of the best wine among the region if not on par, nevermind the fact that they were not featured in the Bordeaux classification of 1885.

It was said that even estates classified under the Grand Vin De Bordeaux fared better than most other similar appellation under the same category.  Personnally, I had a few Pomerol wine under my collection. But none had gone under the corkscrew yet. It was not during the October 2008 Carrefour wine fair that I chanced upon some Pomerol wines. Stacks of them were sitting quietly at the extreme corner of the rack, which somehow seem to escape scrutiny from most collectors probably because it was situtated right beside the more prominent Saint Emillion Grand Crus.

Rather than letting the opportunity slipped, I was determined that this time I'l need to give my taste bud a little fresh change. Coupled with the fact that it's my pal's birthday and we'll we having a feast at Jumbo Seafood restuarant, it has given me the fullest excuse of spend the money!

It didn't took me long to choose. My instinct just directed me to the top most rack sitting rows of Chateau L'Enclos (not to be mistaken with Chateau Quinault L'Enclos) with this little vintage looking photo of a small Chateau/hamlet or some sort stick to the bottle label... and the rest was history.

At Jumbo, we swiftly got the waitress to open the wine and let it chill in an ice buket, at same time allowing the wine to breath. Since our choice was chilli crab and seafood dishes, we crossed our fingers hoping that the paring would not be diasterous.

During the first test, subtle aorma of bread toast filled my  nose as I whiff off the flavour from the glass, tingle with some asian spicies at the backdrop to wake your senses. The wine was bright ruby purple, medium bodied and slightly sweet on the palate, seemingly mellow, yet gave a good firm structure and the needed texture that  pack with punch within. Luscious black fruits, and passing flavours of chocolate shake was prominent as the wine fuse into the tastebud. A never relenting finishing of dried raisins and cherries makes me yearn for more.   

The drawback. Our chilli crab was too spicy and hot for Chateau L'Enclos to wrestle with rendering this wine a tad less suitable for such pairing. We caught a somewhat light off-bitter taste which we attributed from the lemongrass, herbs and spices ingredient of the chilli gravy. However this is not to say it suck. It still work pretty well satisfying our senses though if only the wine was spicier, then it would work very well into the seafood, chilli and oily deep fried cereal prawn.

Tasting Notes:  

• subtle aorma of bread toast filled my nose as I whiff off the flavour from the glass, tingle with some asian spicies at the backdrop to wake your senses. The wine was bright ruby purple, medium bodied and slightly sweet on the palate, seemingly mellow, yet gave a good firm structure and the needed texture that  pack with punch within. Luscious black fruits, and passing flavours of chocolate shake was prominent as the wine fuse into the tastebud. A never relenting finishing of dried raisins and cherries makes me yearn for more.   

Food Pairing:

• Deep fried seafood, braise beef and lamb chop. 

Available At:

• Carrefour Suntec