Uncorked: Big 9 pops into consciousness
Talk about not noticing the cork beneath your nose: I was walking toward The Den during the May holiday when I spotted a wine club called Big 9 - yes, a wine club, in my ‘hood, sitting there and aging as I took my sweet time to discover it. (It’s beside City Hotel, just down from The Den, with another outlet in Dongshishitiao.)
A nice place it is, too - a long and narrow combination of wine racks, rough-hewn wood, casks turned into tables, and sofas. It’s dimly lit, but pleasant, and the projector suggests it could be a great venue for wine classes. The staff is friendly and efficient, though with limited English, and brought us proper glassware for our bottle of Indis Shiraz Rose 2006 (this is the only venue where I’ve seen this wine).
This Western Australian wine came with confected fruit (berry) flavors, and - I mean this in a positive way - notes of strawberry Kool-Aid. In short, it was extremely refreshing. Fongyee Walker and Edward Ragg, with whom I visited Big 9, also gave it thumbs up. Even better, this wine was easy on the wallet, at 152 kuai a bottle. And even better, it inspired further research, since as Edward put it, “I’d try their other wines based on this one.”
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