July 2019: 1986 Chateau Leoville Las-Cases, 1998 Cheval Blanc, 1996 Mouton Rothschild

2016 Jim Barry Cover Drive, from the list of Wooloomooloo 05 Jul 2019. Clear purple. Fruit forward with good concentration of dark berries and raspberries, highly supple. Well balanced and lively. Opened up with good even intensity on a minerally floor, finishing on a slightly earthy spicy trace.

2016 Penfolds Bin 407, courtesy of Mr Thu at Restoran Public, Kota Tinggi, on 07 Jul 2019. Dense dark fruits and currants dominate amid traces of forest floor and dusty tannins, quite even in concentration. Finished with fine intensity of blackcurrants.

2015 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambolle-Musigny Les Veroilles, popped and poured at Otto Ristorante, 12 Jul 2019. Lovely deep pinot tint. Ample expanse of rose petals, red cherries, camphor and haw flakes on the nose and palate. Quite plump and fleshy, displaying good intensity and extraction with excellent ripeness. Highly supple. Snapped into focus after 30 minutes, becoming rounder and warmer and more seamless, layered with a deeper vein of fruit amid traces of saline minerals, finishing with a bit of coiled tension. Very fine. Great value.

2000 Champagne Henriot Cuvee des Enchanteleurs, popped and poured at Jade Palace, 13 Jul 2019. Deep lustre with a deep yeasty pungency. Medium-bodied, fleshy and dry. Lightly layered with crisp clear citrus, lime and green melons. Better developed with more presence and depth but this is never the most profound of champagne.

2014 Domaine Bernard Moreau Chassagne-Montrachet, popped and poured at Jade Palace, 13 Jul 2019. Superbly layered with chalky creaminess, not apparent at first but it gradually opened up to reveal some early complexity amidst a light minerally tone, developing further depth and richness with a lovely transparency and roundedness, finishing with wonderful length.

1986 Ch Leoville Las-Cases, popped and poured at Jade Palace, 13 Jul 2019. Deep garnet red. Powerful developed bouquet of Chinese tea leaves, deep currants and violets. Highly supple with great sublime acidity, still imbued with superb presence and layering that exuded great precision with a fabulous controlled intensity, developing a sweet velvety tannin structure over time as it finished with a wonderful hallowed glow amid traces of mint. At its peak but still amazingly youthful, this wine can easily last another few more decades.

1996 Ch Mouton Rothschild, courtesy of Meng, popped and poured at Jade Palace, 13 Jul 2019. Deep garnet core with a trace of vermilion at the rim. Highly supple, fleshy and open. Deeply layered with cool ripe fruit and dark currants amid overtones of dried mushrooms and tea leaves that underscores its terroir. Understated in complexity, it displayed great linearity as it finished with growing power in that unmistakable Pauillac signature tone.

1998 Ch Cheval Blanc, courtesy of WKW, popped and poured at Jade Palace, 13 Jul 2019. Deep crimson. Imbued with slightly darker shades dark plums and soy that caressed the palate with a lovely velvety richness. Open and highly supple, fleshing out with further notes of tea leaves as it exuded a lovely youthfulness that lasted the whole night. However, knowing the potential greatness of mature cabernet franc, I’d say this wine is still far from peaking.

2000 Ch D’Aiguilhe, popped and poured at Tunglok Signatures, 15 Jul 2019. Deep purple, exuding powerful aromas of dark currants, cherries and dark plums on the nose and palate with great concentration. Still tannic with taut tension underscored by ferrous undertones, culminating in a spicy lengthy finish.

Veuve Cliquot Brut, popped and poured at Tunglok Signatures, 15 Jul 2019. Dense bouquet of green citrus with a gentle yeasty pungency, dry and bright with good concentration lime and pomelo that imparted a slightly stern minerally tone.

Veuve Fourny et Fils Oertus Premier Cru Brut, popped and poured at Tunglok Signatures, 15 Jul 2019. Toasty yeasty characters dominate amid layers of fig, pine, green melons and lime, displaying excellent depth and concentration. Excellent.

2009 Ch Le Doyenne, popped and poured at Ka Soh, 21 Jul 2019. Early evolution, proffering dense aromas of blueberries and violets with excellent fullness, presence and layering on the palate, slightly dryish. Developed a persistent sandy earthy tone over time, rather unlike the graphite intensity previously encountered with this wine, fleshing out very well with an almost Pauillac-like character with a lovely biting open intensity that conferred superb mouthfeel.

2017 Domaine Chanson Bourgogne Rouge, from the list of Taratata Brasserie, 26 Jul 2019. Rosy hues, dark cherries and wild berries dominate on the nose beneath a sheen of paraffin. The palate is marked by prominent salinity and dry crisp acidity, showing good concentration of dark plummy fruit, developing some biting intensity over time but still generally undistinguished.

2003 Ch Lagrange, popped and poured, 28 Jul 2019. Clear purple, exuding notes of capsicum and austere green elements on the nose. Good intensity of ripe wild berries, mulberries and currants on the palate, grippy with tight acidity. Opened up very well to reveal a great fleshy presence with a delicious core. Perennially under-rated but this Saint-Julien is good value if you can find it below SGD100.

2009 Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, popped and poured at Crab At Bay, 31 Jul 2019. Deep garnet red. Shy, not revealing much on the nose though the palate is concentrated with ripe dark berries and dark plums amid ferrous elements, open with supple intensity. Still youthful.