All magnums: 2008 Louis Roederer Cristal, 1975 Ch Latour, 2000 Grand-Puy-Lacoste, 2009 Bonneau Martray Corton-Charlemagn 1995 Lafleur-Pétrus

A.B.L.E. – Abilities Beyond Limitations and Expectations – is part of the social mission of the Catholic Church of Singapore that has been doing its good work since 2010, quietly helping the physically challenged to live productive, meaningful, and independent lives. A charity gala was held at the Shangri-la, Singapore, on 17 February 2023 in support of this worthy cause where a good sum was raised though more would always be welcome; please kindly call +65 68017460 or email enquiries@able-sg.org should you feel inclined towards any donation. Many thanks, Tim, for your kind invitation and to everyone for your generous contributions.

2019 Château Grand Village. Deep purple. Fairly attractive nose of enamel, varnish and warm pebbles. Medium-full. Slightly plummy with a racy presence of ripe fruit, structured with refined tannins and intensity though the finish is short.

2008 Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal, courtesy of David. Poured from magnum. This wine opens with an effusive white floral bloom amid dense overtones of sweet citrus though pomelo and bitter lemon are distinctly dominant on the medium-full palate, imparting a hint of austerity balanced against structured fullness and sharp acidity, fleshing out eventually with open rounded intensity.

2009 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, courtesy of Russ. Poured from magnum. Pale luminosity. Highly restrained at first, gradually warming up with cool overtones of frangipani and vanillin though remaining rather understated with polite supple intensity, evoking elegant creamy textures with undertones of summer hay. Very impeccably proportioned with youthful balance, still light years from maturity. They don’t make ’em like this no more.

2000 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, poured from magnum. This wine proffers raspberries and dark roses in soft focus, imbued with graphite minerals. A little narrow in spectrum on the palate though it makes up with a stylish display of cool ripe fruit laid on a deeper vein of dark currants laced with slick acidity, yielding good balance with fine velvety detail. Ever reliable, though it doesn’t quite possess that classic dryish Pauillac signature.

1995 Château Lafleur-Pétrus, courtesy of Kieron. Popped and poured from magnum. Dark purplish core, seducing the senses with a kaleidoscope of rosy characters amid an attractive earthy pungency. Softly contoured with lifted ripe plummy tones, superbly fresh and supple. Structured with svelte velvety tannins that exert delicious intensity with secondary characters of cedar, finishing with good length and smooth linearity. Superb.

1975 Château Latour, courtesy of Sir Bob. Poured from magnum. Still fairly deep purplish. This wine is singing beautifully, still amazingly fresh and vivacious on the supple medium-bodied palate. Totally integral with a balanced cool ripeness and understated intensity, exuding a delicious rosy glow with a deeper core of tangerines in soft focus. Almost opulent. At its ethereal best and seemingly immortal, stamped with real class and pedigree.

2005 Domaine Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny, courtesy of Andre. Classic pinot tint. Well-extracted, resulting in delicious darkish characters that mark the palate with excellent presence and purity of fruit, structured with very refined tannins that are a little sweetish, exerting controlled intensity.

2017 Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny. Classic pinot tint. Profusion of cider, dried red fruits and raspberries amid overtones of ember that inform the medium-bodied palate with slick understated verve and layering, displaying superb purity and acidity that convey the fruit with suave exuberance yet with just the right degree of delicate presence. Superb by any standard.