Oct 2018: 1996 Etienne Sauzet Combettes, 2005 Lynch Bages, 2004 Torbreck RunRig, 2006 Bouchard Chevalier-Montrachet…

2013 Bonacchi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, from the list of Ristorante A Mano, Berlin, 01 Oct 2018. Deep vermillion, exuding earthy tones, red plums, dark fruits and mocha on the nose and palate. Open and inviting, rounded and fleshy with refined tannins and acidity, revealing excellent depth and fine intensity. Very fine.

2015 Weedenborn Riesling, at Lokal, Berlin, 01 Oct 2018. Illusion of fizz with notes of icing amidst traces of diesel, blossoming with white floral tones and raw nutmeg after some time, developing lovely fullness with cutting acidity, revealing fine intensity and detail before turning austere as its underlying ferrous textures became more apparent.

2007 Weingut Schembs Spatburgunder at Lokal, Berlin, 01 Oct 2018. Delicate red fruits and rosy tones on the nose. Medium-full, showing good acidity but its fruit  is set too far backward. Underwhelming.

2015 Enrico Serafino Barbaresco, from the list of Essenza Ristorante, Berlin, 04 Oct 2018. Transluscent plummy red. Somewhat shut, proffering bright plummy tones on the palate with sharply defined acidity, developing further notes of earthy incense and ash as it grew in supple intensity though still rather tightly coiled within a narrow spectrum. Not ready.

Santa Margherita Rose Brut NV, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Lightly colored. Full but gentle expanse of grapefruit, pink roses and light tangerines. Appropriately delicate. Very refreshing and pleasant. Attractive.

2016 Bouvet Saphir Saumur Brut, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018 White citrus tinged with green elements on a bed of mild ferrous minerals. Quite full. Not too dry. Serviceable.

Bouvet Ladubay La Petite Bulle, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. This Vin Frizzant exudes soft gentle aromas of fresh green melons, fairly smooth, carrying good concentration of fruit, very seamlessly integrated. Very agreeable.

2016 Sankt Annaberg Burrweiler Stannaberg Riesling Pfalz, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Classic diesel fumes with an attractive complex of light citrus and pomelo that carried well onto the palate with faint traces of sweet.

2015 Ch Borie de Noailin, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Predominance of earthy tones, undergrowth and dusty tannins. Full but unremarkable, supported by a spicy acidic spine.

2015 Bodegas Alconde Optimo, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Full bouquet of warm ripe fruit, matched by excellent density of ripe wild berries with a touch of white citrus. Medium-full, quite supple and sprightly with fine acidity.

2017 Vieille Ferme, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Lovely white citrus though rather narrow in spectrum. Very well-integrated with fine acidity and good concentration, just a tad flinty.

2015 Cambria Benchbreak Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley, at Tegel Airport Senator Lounge, Berlin, 05 Oct 2018. Great earthy pungency with exotic spices on the nose, imbued with dense chalky minerals on the palate, rather full with well-developed tones of creme and magnolias. Very well structured, tapering to a lasting finish tinged with nutmeg.

2004 Torbreck RunRig, decanted on-site at Otto Ristorante, 06 Oct 2018. Deep dark ruby, exuding an earthy glow of dark plums and licorice with a suggestion of rustiness. The palate is imbued with fine concentration of delicious red fruits, dark cherries and raspberries that confer abundant freshness with a dash of spice, quite robust and firm as well, revealing secondary nuances of cedar and cinnamon. Still yet to peak.

2005 Champagne Henriot Hemera, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. This wine exudes lovely yeasty tones with an attractive earthy pungency, medium-bodied, very rich and refined with smooth gentle bubbles, open with clear transparent crystalline tones and subtle minerality, finishing with a slight ferrous trace. Very fine but a bit too refined. I’d expected more complexity.

2015 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. This wine exudes a great earthy pungency on a concentrated palate of tight distilled citrus with overtones of raw nutmeg and paraffin, less minerally than usual for Les Pucelles, displaying excellent linearity as it finished with quiet intensity. Excellent.

2006 Bouchard Pere et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Lovely bouquet, displaying a broad expanse of deep chalky tones and grassy elements. Excellent in concentration, highly focused and seamlessly integrated, very lively, finishing with great persistence amidst a tinge of green melons.

2006 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Shut at this stage, though the palate is tight with abundant fresh clear citrus, structured with crisp focused acidity. Not ready.

2005 Ch Pichon Longueville Baron, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Dark with abundant density of black fruits and dark currants amidst dryish textures that imparted taut focused acidity and intensity, opening up with further signature Pauillac dryness but shy. Still infantile.

2005 Ch Lynch Bages, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Displaying a bare hint of evolution, this wine has more of an aged feel compared with Pichon Baron of the same vintage, highly fleshy and supple, layered with dark currants and blackberries that conferred excellent presence, depth and silky intensity on a classic Pauillac backdrop. Absolutely delicious and seductive. Excellent.

1995 Ch Leoville Las-Cases, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Deep purple. Ample presence of ripe wild berries, considerably more relaxed and open with supple lean acidity, very well-integrated on a cedary floor with amidst subdued tones of graphite minerals that announce its origins. Excellent.

2013 Gaja Barbaresco, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Shut on the nose, though the palate carries an abundance of racy dark currants and delicious red fruits with plenty of vigour and intensity, taut with tense acidity. Excellent potential but too young at this stage.

2013 Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussua Romirasco, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Amply layered with rich ripe fruit and currants that exude overtones of paint, enamel and varnish – all very racy and exuberant – structured with detailed gritty tannins that lend a spicy edge to the persistent finish.

2009 Sandrone La Vigne Barolo Le Vigne, at a FICOFI blind tasting conducted by Eric Riewer, 08 Oct 2018. Closed on the nose though the palate is richly layered with abundant ripe dark fruit and currants that impart lovely freshness with silky smooth tannins, exuding fair intensity.

2008 Rockford Black Shiraz, over dimsum at Asia Grand, 14 Oct 2018. Gentle but deep herbal and medicinal bouquet that precedes a full rounded palate of warm ripe Barossa shiraz with characteristics of earth and dark wild berries, excellent in concentration and presence with smooth tannins that exude subdued intensity, though the fizz is already beginning to dry out and there isn’t much of the expected complexity. Rather disappointing on this occasion.

2014 Domaine Pierre Damoy Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Tamisot, popped and poured at home on 15 Oct 2018. This wine opens with a severe stern demeanor, layered with a rather thick opaque sheen as a result of its high extraction such that its fruit struggles to shine through. It did become a bit more relaxed after 90 minutes in the glass as more of dark cherries and raspberries came through but it is going through an awkward phase now.

2015 Pierre Frick Riesling, courtesy of Javier at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. This natural wine, whatever that means, proffers sour plums, nutmeg, olives and mature frangipani on the nose amidst a gentle hint of raw diesel, imbued with tight intensity of white fruits, yellow citrus and clear minerals on the palate, showing good definition but short.

2003 Champagne Henriot, poured from magnum at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Open with dry minerality, proffering a soft gentle floral bloom allied with mild ferrous undertones, showing excellent depth and youthful intensity.

1996 Domaine Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er, courtesy of John at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. This wines exudes a powerful earthy pungency on the nose with other notes of wild grass and diesel, almost peaty in character whilst broad swathes of gentle chalky minerals with complex undertones dominate on the palate, yielding excellent depth and detail. Absolutely lovely.

2014 Freeman Chardonnay, courtesy of  Vic at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Shut on the nose, though the palate is covered in rich creamy tones and smooth oily textures, underscored by crisp subtle acidity with forward tones of nutmeg and white floral characters, all very subtly managed with lovely proportions, just a tad short. Quite excellent.

2014 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambolle-Musigny Les Veroilles, at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Lovely clear ruby, exuding gentle aromas of rose petals, cherries and red currants with just the right degree of presence and concentration on the palate, beautifully balanced.

1999 Domaine Robert Ampeau Savigny-les-Beaune, courtesy of CJ at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Significantly darker, showing good concentration of dark fruits with overtones of undergrowth. Rounded and smooth, structured with silky smooth tannins and fine acidity.

2015 Maison Leroy Bourgogne at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Darkly coloured and shut. Well- extracted but done just right, reveling in a lovely intensity of dark currants, raspberries and ripe wild berries, displaying great definition and sublime acidity. Excellent.

2014 Domaine Coquard Loison Fleurot Chambolle-Musigny, courtesy of LF at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Superb colour and freshness, imbued with gentle saline minerals and earthy tones underscored by great acidity.

2014 Domaine Coquard Loison Fleurot Gevrey-Chambertin, courtesy of LF at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Ample in warm ripe fruit and dark currants, structured with stern minerality amidst sublime acidity. Distinctly masculine.

2012 Jurancon Les Jardins de Babylone at Il Den, 18 Oct 2018. Very deftly balanced with a teasing quality on the cool palate imbued gentle tropical fruits.

2002 Piper Hiedsieck Rare Millesime, tasted at the Silver Kris First Class Lounge of Changi Airport T3, 20 Oct 2018. This wine opens with abundant earthy pungency and toasty oak amidst gentle yeasty overtones, absolutely bone dry on the palate where dense yellow citrus and lime dominate with fine intensity on a backdrop of graphite minerals. Excellent.

2017 Antonin Rodet Vire-Classe L’Epinet, on board SQ346 SIN-ZRH Business Class, 21 Oct 2018. Green elements, white fruits and floral tones proliferate on the nose, possessing a very clean feel and focus within its tight slim profile on the palate. Rather straightforward.

Javier’s creation at Il Den, Singapore.