Chateau Daugay Wine Dinner 2015 @ The View Restaurant, Equatorial Hotel Penang

The view that you get from The View Restaurant. Pardon Kaya for the poor quality of photo as Kaya is not expert in taking low light photography.

This is the first that KayaButter are invited to The View, a classic French restaurant in Equatorial Hotel Penang, famous for its panoramic view of Penang Island coastline, Bukit Jambul and also both Penang’s crowning glories which are Penang Bridge and Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge. The beautiful sweeping view of Penang is how The View restaurant got its name.

If you are looking to impress your other half or your newly-courted girlfriend, this is the place to be. Instead of me, Kaya, bringing Butter there to WOW her with the romantic and classy setting of The View, Kaya brought my trusty old Nikon D7000 as my date for the night. Huhu 🙁

So what’s Kaya here for the night? Well, Kaya is very honoured to be invited to review their occasional wine dinner called Chateau Daugay Wine Dinner which costs around RM250+!!! Definitely a night to remember! 🙂 Kaya was contemplating not to pee for a whole week. 😛 Ahem, ahem. Alright, let’s go back to being classy and formal to suit the atmosphere of the classic French restaurant. On y va? 🙂

Upon entering The View, Kaya is greeted with a display of wine bottles. Oh ya, there are certain guidelines for your attire if you were to enter The View. You are not allowed to wear short pants or slippers and you need to wear accordingly. 🙂

Kaya is here to sample and taste the exquisite Chateau Daugay’s 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 & 2011 wines. You can have unlimited wines for the night. For those wine connoisseurs, this is music to their ears but for a wine noob like me? Well, a few glasses will be enough to knock me off. Haha!

Well, as a privilege for bloggers, we managed to talk to the founder of Chateau Daugay wine farm, Mr Jean-Bernard Grenié for a while. Chateau Daugay got its name from the jay birds that congregates around that area. The locals in France calls jays as daou gay, hence the name Daugay. 🙂 Chateau means a castle or a large country house that is usually applied to the wine it makes. It is a 5.5 hectares estate that is capable of producing 25,000 bottles a year with a mixture of 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot. The wine farm is located in Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France, a wine-growing area. The founder who is a very likeable person who always winks his eyes when explaining things. As a French person, he speaks English well. 🙂 He shared with us about the criteria for making a good wine such as how to select the fruits, how the weather affected the vines, how to age the wines and so on. He also talked about the history of his wine farm.

Definitely a great way to impress your lady! So romantic! 🙂

Mr Jean-Bernard Grenié starting the wine dinner event with a brief introduction about his wine farm, Chateau Daugay.

Sharing the location of Chateau Daugay.

We started off our wine dinner with out delectable hors d’oeuvre, bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Loved the bread together with the salted butter! 🙂 Then, we are served Chateau Daugay 2005 to pair with our appetiser, Pepper Crusted Salmon Medallion with Roe, Pan-seared Japanese Scallop with Spicy Avocado and Lobster Medallion with Wasabi Caviar.

Pepper Crusted Salmon Medallion with Roe, Pan-seared Japanese Scallop with Spicy Avocado and Lobster Medallion with Wasabi Caviar

Love the mixture of type of food in this dish and their bite-size. The taste complements each other well. Kaya loves the scallop and lobster medallion very much. As shared by the wine expert on that day, we need to take a sip of the wine, enjoy it and then take a bite of the food and enjoy the mixture of the food and the given wine and let them harmonise. 🙂 That’s how you do food and wine pairing, dude! 😛 Sad to say, Kaya failed miserably. Kaya can’t really get a hang of it yet. It seems to me that wine-drinking and wine and food pairing are an acquired taste. You need to do it a few times to really appreciate the art. Since Kaya is a noob, I will be using the comments made by Wine Advocate to share with the wine experts and beginners to know the taste of each wines. Kaya personally prefer Chateau Daugay 2005 for its medium body and it is very easy to drink. 🙂

Chateau Daugay 2005

A straightforward yet enormously attractive, fruity effort, the 2005 Daugay offers up scents of licorice, tobacco leaf, cigar smoke, earth and spice. Consume this dark ruby-hued, medium-bodied wine over the next 5-6 years.

Wine Advocate #178 Aug 2008: 88 Points

Pan-seared Balsamic Marinated Quail Breast with Angel Hair Pasta

Our next dish is Pan-seared Balsamic Marinated Quail Breast with Angel Hair Pasta. This is a highly recommended dish. The quail breast is deeply marinated and strong in flavour. Coupled with the tender and juicy meat together with the Qness of the angel hair pasta, the tasting experience is heavenly. How Kaya wish that I can have another serving of this awesome quail breast! 🙂

We are to pair the food with Chateau Daugay 2007 and 2008. Sad to say, Kaya finished the dish before I even though of pairing it with the wine. My bad! 🙂  Kaya noticed that as the food and wine pairing progresses on, the wine is getting more full-bodied and our faces are starting to get red. Well, except the wine experts whom I observed are drinking wines like water and they still stay normal. Salute them! 🙂

Chateau Daugay 2007

2007 is a well-made wine, whose colour begins to evolve. The bouquet is a combination of coconut and eucalyptus. It is fresh on the mouth supported by refined tannins.

Chateau Daugay 2008

Sweet red and black currant fruit, spice box and herb aromas jump from the glass of this dark plum/garnet-hued 2008. As in most vintages, this is an equal part blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Soft and complex, it should be consumed over the next 5-6 years.

Wine Advocate #194 May 2011: 87 points.

Cucumber and Lemon Sherbet

This is a rather unique experience whereby it is Kaya’s 1st time to have a dessert after the appetiser and before the main course. Maybe it is to wash away the taste and to let our taste buds start anew? 🙂 Kaya loved this sherbet. Cool and refreshing! Now, we get to choose between 3 main courses which are:

Pan-roasted Yellow Tail Fillet on Fennel Ragout and Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Jerk Marinated Chicken Breast with Sautéed Green Asparagus with Red Wine Reduction

Pan-seared Garlic Marinated Lamb Loin with Sautéed Pumpkin-zucchini and Sage Bordelaise Sauce 

The wines to pair with this main course are Chateau Daugay 2010 and 2011.

Chateau Daugay 2010

A sleeper of the vintage, this St-Emilion exhibits plenty of black currant, black cherry, incense and Christmas fruitcake notes as well as hints of licorice and tobacco leaf. Well-made, medium to full-bodied, fleshy and succulent, it is ideal for drinking in its first decade of life.

Wine Advocate #205 Feb 2013: 89 points

Chateau Daugay 2011

A dense ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by a wine with lots of fruit, spice box and earth characteristics as well as medium body, supple texture and a front end-loaded style. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.

Wine Advocate #212 Apr 2014: 87 points

Pan-roasted Yellow Tail Fillet on Fennel Ragout and Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce

One thing that stood out immediately is the beautiful carrot and it is sweeeettt. Kaya loves it at the first bite! 🙂 The yellow tail fillet is well done and goes well with the tomato cream sauce. Kaya tried to pair the food with wine and still can’t get the hang of it. 🙁 Needs more training… I guess. Who wants to sponsor me? 😛 Just joking. The wine expert who is the MD of the company importing and distributing these wines told us that he would like to see one day that there will be wine pairing with our local food. Imagine wine and char koay teow or curry mee. Interesting right?

Chocolate Pave with Rich Chocolate Mousse Topped with Chocolate Ganache and Pistachio Ice Cream

A very nice and sweet ending to a wonderful wine dinner with lots of interesting tips on how to truly enjoy wine and better understanding of wine. A rich chocolate pave with ice cream is irresistible. 🙂 We are to pair this dessert with Chateau Daugay 2006.

Chateau Daugay 2006

This sleeper of the vintage exhibits sweet black cherry and black currant fruit interwoven with notions of cedar, roasted herbs and loamy soil. Displaying a lovely texture, excellent purity and a medium-bodied, lush finish, it can be consumed now and over the next 5-7 years. Good value.

Wine Advocate #181 Feb 2009: 89 points

The wine dinner ends with the photography session among the wine experts.

Thank you very much to Ms Debra for the invite and the rest of The View staffs for the professional and wonderful service in making this Chateau Daugay Wine Dinner a memorable one. Although Kaya left with a red face, Kaya reached home safely. 😛

contact information

The View Restaurant
Hotel Equatorial Penang,
Jalan Bukit Jambul,
11900 Penang.
Tel: +604-632 7000

business hours

Daily

Lunch: 12:00pm – 2:30pm

Dinner: 6:30pm – 10:00pm