Ric’s Big Five-O @ Iggy’s: 1967 Mouton Rothschild, 1961 Ducru Beaucaillou

I last celebrated my big round number ten years ago at Iggy’s at the Regent Hotel Singapore (a location fondly missed by all who have followed the fortunes of this restaurant) with a most memorable line-up of wines that included a 1988 Haut-Brion, 1964 Cheval Blanc and 1967 Climens. Ten years on, I decided it would be perfect to host dinner again at Iggy’s, now at the Hilton Singapore, on 05 December 2017 with the same small group of close friends who were there back in 2007, albeit with a different line-up of wines, where Iggy himself was also able to join us in the private room. No theme was set but, given the nature of the occasion, I knew we were set to taste some really mature stuff.

We opened with a 2005 Leroy Meursault Blagny 1er (courtesy of Kieron) that exuded a lovely gentle fragrance of white flowers and delicate crème de la crème, setting an excellent tone with fabulous detail amidst a deeper streak of glorious fruit on the palate, becoming richer and broader and utterly seamless over time with superb complexity. Truly an outstanding start. We followed on with the 1998 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault (courtesy of Kieron), displaying a deep golden hue with aromas of aged honeycomb, crème and cinnamon, slightly reductive though its palatal tone and depth cannot be faulted, growing in intensity and power over the course of dinner whilst turning more minerally and stony as well, finishing with subtle acidity.

Hiok kicked off the reds with a 1964 Jean Bourdy A Arlay Cotes du Jura, served blind but the distinctive bottle shape and light color of wine gave it away, dominated by saline minerals and high-toned acidity while the red fruits within have receded significantly, leaving some earthiness with mild degrees of sweetness.

Amazing colour of 1967 Ch Mouton Rothschild

The pair of clarets that followed demonstrated amply their true ageing ability. The 1967 Ch Mouton Rothschild from my birth year (thanks Vic !!) belied its age and supposed poor reputation of this vintage, still showing great colour, utterly seamless throughout its length though obviously having shed some cabernet weight over the passage of time, exuding gentle earthy tones with lovely feminine fragrance amidst characters of red fruits and plums without any sign of drying out, coming across as being seemingly younger than its fifty years. Poised with lovely elegance, this is a wine that has aged most gracefully. If only we ourselves can age so well likewise.

The piece de resistance to close the evening was a 1961 Ch Ducru Beaucaillou (courtesy of Kieron and David). Though its label has faded considerably and its cork thoroughly soaked through, this wine is still full of life, displaying good colour with dominant earthy tones and marked earthy pungency on the nose whilst the palate is infused with dark plums and tangerines of tremendous presence and gorgeous acidity tinged with earthy textures, still holding on well and likely able to continue as such for another couple of decades, just a tad short. Well, truly, great friends are for life, as are great wines. Thank you very much guys !!