Dec 2021: 2019 Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages, 2010 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay, 1988 Figeac, 1996 Montrose, 1999 Palmer, 1988 La Conseillante, 2000 Figeac…

2016 DeMorgenzon Maestro Red. Popped and poured at Wah Lok, 02 Dec 2021. A cabernet blend from Stellenbosch. Opaque purple, opening with lifted notes of fresh raspberries, blueberries and currants with a slightly dry rasping quality on the palate, displaying bold structured tannins with fine intensity and attack. Settled down after some time into a more seamless whole with further notes of mocha on a base of ferrous elements that confer a certain austerity towards its finish. Plenty of quality here, but not ready. This estate blasts classical music 24/7 over outdoor loudspeakers to its vines.

2017 Domaine Philippe Livera Bourgogne Rouge. Popped and poured on 07 Dec 2021. Slightly more forward in delicious vibrant fruit that recalled raspberries, mulberries and cherries. Fleshy, rounded and well-integrated with a certain masculinity, imbued with ferrous elements that do not distract from the very fine quality. Starting to drink well.

2007 Château Valandraud Blanc. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure GWC, 10 Dec 2021. Luminous golden hue, exuding attractive notes of brioche, nectarine, apricot and cinnamon amidst a white floral bloom though the palate displayed a recessed chalkiness with a chiseled edge. A certain salinity was discernible initially before the wine fleshed out with more presence of white tones and understated acidity, laced with a hint of vanillin oak, showing good clarity as it gained in lithe acidity. Drinking well but yet to peak.

2010 Marqués de Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial Rioja. Popped and poured, 12 Dec 2021. Opaque crimson. Good density of wild berries, currants and smoked meat with early secondary characteristics. Medium weight. Rounded and relaxed with sweet well-managed tannins. Drinking well.

2019 Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages. Popped and poured, 15 Dec 2021. Delicate white tones abound, so seamlessly integrated that it is impossible to differentiate between chalk and fruit. Soft and beautifully rounded with understated verve and acidity, so highly elegant and regal even for such a “lowly” wine. What they say is true: buy up all the 2019s that you can.

2016 Les Hauts du Tertre, tasted over 18-19 Dec 2021. This second label of Château du Tertre opens with initial opaque earthy textures that obscure the fruit beneath. It cleared up overnight to reveal quite a stunning depth of delicious dark currants and black berries that tease with fleeting supple intensity, nicely rounded and fleshy. Demands to be taken seriously.

2008 Rockford Black Shiraz. Popped and poured at Asia Grand, 19 Dec 2021. Australia’s top sparkling shiraz proffers deep dark plummy tones from its layered depth with a signature warm ripe Barossa character. Weighty with refined balance, exuding overtones of cordite, licorice and ferrous elements as it glided to a fabulous liquered finish. At its best.

1999 Château Palmer. Decanted on-site at Otto Ristorante, 24 Dec 2021. Deep purple. Lovely lift of early tertiary characters with quite an exuberant plummy glow. Highly supple on the medium-full palate, structured with pliant tannins and understated ferrous elements, displaying excellent freshness and integration. Snapped into tighter focus after some time with emerging notes of cedar and cinnamon, developing an open gentle supple intensity that’s almost feminine. Excellent.

Champagne Roger Coulon L’Hommée 1er. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure Great World, 27 Dec 2021. Fresh lifted intensity of clear citrus and lime amid burnished tones and white incense. Very well layered with crisp acidity and bright chalky tones that impart great clarity, developing a rich creamy sheen over time. Great value.

1988 Château La Conseillante, courtesy of WCY. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure Great World, 27 Dec 2021. Mature purplish brown with a distinct crimson rim, proffering a sharp earthy pungency on the nose that contrasted beautifully against the lovely layers of mature dark fruit and subtle ferrous elements on the palate, structured with lean precision and crisp acidity, developing a further rounded note of soy before ending with a trace of austerity. Excellent.

2000 Château Figeac. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure Great World, 27 Dec 2021. Deep purple. Effusive delicious nose of dark currants and blueberries. Medium weight. Surprisingly open with slightly dryish textures, still imbued with a trace of vanillin. Fleshed out with seamless lovely balance with dense powdery hues, supremely confident and relaxed. Doesn’t call attention to itself. Still yet to peak.

1996 Château Montrose, courtesy of Vic. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure Great World, 27 Dec 2021. Deep garnet. Classic Left Bank complexity on the nose with a lovely supple tensile presence, showing very fine definition with a deeper vein of tight black fruit. Delicious, darkish and masculine, structured with understated sweet tannins. Superb.

1988 Château Figeac, courtesy of WCY. Popped and poured at Imperial Treasure Great World, 27 Dec 2021. Mature deep crimson, exuding a delicious complex of delicious red fruits and tangerines that carried across the fleshy palate with feminine grace and elegance. Seamlessly integrated with sweet melted tannins, beautifully balanced with highly subtle tertiary characteristics. Still amazingly fresh and youthful. Outstanding!

2017 Maison de Montille Saint Romain. Popped and poured at Eastern House of Seafood, 29 Dec 2021. Pale. Dense effusive aromas of diesel, intense clear citrus and white floral tones, well replicated on the palate with a delicate high-toned acidity. Developed good minerally detail, eventually fanning out with excellent tensile presence. Quite excellent, but worth cellaring further.

2019 Domaine du Roc des Boutires Pouilly-Fuissé Aux Bouthieres. Popped and poured at Ka Soh, 31 Dec 2021. This wine opens with a great high-toned intensity of clear citrus and pomelo coupled with cutting acidity before settling down with slivery white tones and emergent minerally elements, displaying a hint of longans within its tight layering. Best to lay down for a long while.