Sep 2017: 1996 Jaboulet Domaine Thalabert, 2011 Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay

2016 Clarendelle Blanc, at MEH Radiology’s quarterly function, 21 Sep 2017. Clean, fresh with faint grassy elements on the nose, essentially closed, though showing well on the palate where it is rounded with gentle minerality and understated acidity, nicely intense and linear but a bit short.

2016 Domaine Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf-duPape, at MEH Radiology’s quarterly function, 21 Sep 2017. Gentle earthy tones with notes of morning dew, rather closed, imbued with a mild saline minerality but not much else.

2011 Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay, at MEH Radiology’s quarterly function, 21 Sep 2017. Cool, clean and fresh with rich aromas of lime, lemon and clear citrus, glowing with gentle buttery characters, superbly layered with good detail, highly supple with a teasing quality that produced a most seductive mouthfeel, finishing with good length. Still youthful, definitely one for the long haul. Excellent.

2012 Jacques Boyd, at MEH Radiology’s quarterly function, 21 Sep 2017. This second label of Ch Boyd Cantenac is medium-full, rounded with good concentration of wild berries and dark cherries amidst earthy tones, cloaked in soft sweet tannins. Knows its place and doesn’t try too hard. Good table wine.

2013 Clarendelle Rouge, at MEH Radiology’s quarterly function, 21 Sep 2017. Closed on the nose, offering dark berries with a gentle softness that is awkward at best, not helped by a sudden mid-palate drop off.

Philipponnat Royale Reserve NV, over beehoon crab at Ming Kee Live Seafood, 23 Sep 2017. Generous tones of fresh lime and crisp citrus with stony minerals, dry at the finish with traces of bitter lemon.

1996 Domaine Paul Aine Jaboulet Domaine de Thalabert, after hours at Glen,  25 Sep 2017. Cracked from a sealed OWC of half-dozen. Highly evolved in colour, proffering notes of rhubarb and ripe aged plums with a fragrant exuberance of red fruits tinged with incense, clearly at full maturity on the palate but still commanding excellent presence with great acidity, highly supple,  finishing with a slight minty trace. Very fine but I wouldn’t wait any longer.