Feb 2023: 2014 Kongsgaard Chardonnay, 2018 Florent Garaudet Monthelie Taupine, Pierre Péters Cuvée Réserve Blanc de Blancs 2017 Bouchard Corton-Charlemagne

2019 Domaine Vincent Bouzereau Meursault. Popped and poured at Crab At Bay, 02 Feb 2023. Pale golden. Distant morning dew on the nose, slightly chalky. The medium-bodied palate is generously endowed with subtle minerally layers amid overtones of cool icing, displaying refined balance and understated verve. Very fine.

Champagne Pierre Péters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV. Popped and poured at Crab At Bay, 02 Feb 2023. Open white tones dominate, its very soft refined bubbles surfing up the palate with tremendous agility and excellent linearity. Possesses great verve and balance, underpinned by a deep but understated yeasty intensity, finishing with sweet intensity. Very close in character to Les Chetillons. Superb.

2010 Château Chasse-Spleen. Popped and poured at Crab At Bay, 02 Feb 2023. Dark purple. Restrained earth, bark, raspberries and mulberries, structured with refined tannins. Displays a very smooth even presence with excellent seamless integration, yielding good complexity with further detail of crushed fruit. Drinking very well.

2017 Meerlust Rubicon. Popped and poured at the in-laws, 05 Feb 2023. Deep purple. Dark fruits, currants and ripe wild berries dominate with forward presence on a dryish floor of wood shavings and bramble. Well-structured with good refinement and acidity.

2019 Domaine Jean-Philippe Fichet Cote d’Or Bourgogne Blanc Vieilles Vignes, drunk at home between 5-9 Feb 2023. Light greenish hue, promising green fruits and citrus amid fresh morning dew. Somewhat tight and reductive at first. A lot better after three days (!!), more open with excellent fullness and acidity that imparted a high-toned vibrancy underpinned by an understated chalky minerality.

2005 Hestan Chardonnay, courtesy of CHS at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Dull golden, allied with weighty mature tones on the nose with some early apricot and cinnamon. Medium-full, proffering fine fleeting intensity and acidity before settling down with a recessed chalky glow, eventually fleshing out with smooth creamy textures. At its best.

2014 Kistler Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay, courtesy of Sir Bob at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Light luminosity. Resolutely shut on the nose though the palate is generously imbued with delicate citrus basking in a glow of distant vanillin and glacial tones, well-layered with a tight controlled intensity.

2015 Domaine Georges Nöellat Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Boudots 1er at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Purplish tint. Soft fragrant lift of raspberries and dark cherries. Softly contoured and fleshy. Very well integrated with some early development but rather unassuming and understated on the whole with a distinctly feminine stance.

1994 Pahlmeyer Merlot, courtesy of LF at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Opaque dull red. Medium-bodied. Quite fleshy with darkish fruit, slightly velvety on a floor of earthy tannins. Developed further overtones of spice and mahogany, eventually blossoming with a superb lift ripe plums and dark roses that finished in an effusive glow. Nearing peak maturity.

2017 Château de Meursault Meursault Les Charmes Dessus 1er, courtesy of Sanjay at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Restrained on the nose though it has a very attractive cultured mouthfeel of ripe white fruits and chalk, seamlessly integrated with controlled intensity and great refinement, fanning out with some bite.

2014 Kongsgaard Chardonnay, courtesy of Vic at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Dull golden. This wine opens with a laidback restraint though the palate is quite full and weighty, generously endowed with dense citrus structured with clean controlled intensity and good power. Still primal.

2007 Château Suduiraut, a half-bottle at Crab At Bay, 07 Feb 2023. Deeply coloured. Dense apricot and cinnamon dominate with aged honeyed tones that impart velvety textures with moderate sweetness, not too luscious. Still imbued with fine acidity, finishing with residual tones of ash and ember.

2017 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, over lunch at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, 11 Feb 2023. Greenish hue. Lovely clean lift of morning freshness and floral bloom with a bit of chalky hint. More effusive over time, developing quite an intense minerally presence. Highly harmonious with a very fine floral inner essence, underpinned by just the right degree of acidity. Thoroughly elegant, almost ethereal. Far from peaking but it’s simply quite irresistible.

2018 Domaine Florent Garaudet Monthelie 1er “La Taupine”, over lunch at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, 11 Feb 2023. Darkish pinot tint, proffering dark plums and currants. Quite richly layered with a deeper vein of fresh black fruits dressed in svelte sexy tannins. Rounded and seamlessly integrated, exuding a lovely rosy fragrance with quiet intensity. Manages to combine velvety power with refined elegance. Confirms my initial impression from a glass tasted a month ago. A real gem.

2018 Weingut Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese, by the carafe over lunch at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, 11 Feb 2023. Marked profusion of earthy petroleum fumes which I like very much, matched by a luscious density of deft tropical fruit characters. Not cloying at all, showing great balance, clarity and refinement.

2019 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault, by the glass at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, on 13 Feb 2023. Dull golden-greenish. Delicate lift of tight citrus, white flowers and chalk, displaying slick fullness with lovely freshness and oily density, underpinned by sublime understated acidity. Beautifully layered with fine precision and structure, yet so subtly detailed, turning a shade sterner as it became more minerally in the glass. Excellent.

2019 Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chênes.by the glass at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, on 13 Feb 2023. Effusive warm ripe tones with a deep intensity of dark roses at its core though the sleek rounded medium-bodied palate could do with greater presence of fruit. Fleshed out better after some time with shrubbery characters and Asian spices.

2012 Champagne Pol Roger Rosé. Popped and poured at Corner Grill, 14 Feb 2023. Orangey hues. Nose of grapefruit and pomegranate with a mild yeasty pungency, brightly lit with tight dry intensity. Loosened up a little after some time, becoming more introspective and minerally with a cool balance before evolving with further notes of orange peel and inner raspberries.

2019 Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages. Popped and poured at Eastern House of Seafood, 18 Feb 2023. Clear golden luminosity. Rich white tones and chalky creaminess dominate with excellent fullness, clarity and precision. Turned tighter after some time, almost steely with a bit of stern austerity developing from the mid-palate of ferrous minerals.

2016 Domaine Thibert Père et Fils Saint-Véran Champ Rond. Aired in bottle for well over an hour prior to dinner, 20 Feb 2023. Fairly deep yellowish hues, proffering an exciting bouquet of frangipani in full bloom, yellow citrus as well as delightful tropical fruits that, interesting, became more distant as the medium-bodied palate loosened up in the glass, developing a laidback character with unprecedented clarity and brightness with the white tones and chalky elements set rather backward. Became more minerally over time, distinctly austere and steely.

2019 Nicole Lamarche Bourgogne Rouge. Tasted at home, 21-22 Feb 2023. Rose-tinted hues dominate throughout the nose and palate, softly contoured with laidback charm and feminine elegance, showcasing fine purity of raspberries and dark cherries amid traces of incense with tannins well out of the way. Drinks very well though, perhaps, just a tad too polite.

2020 Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron Côtes de Nuits-Villages La Montagne, by the glass at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, on 24 Feb 2023. Greenish hue. Attractive aromatic bouquet. High-toned tensile presence of white fruits and yellow citrus with an after note of lychees on the rounded but narrow body that impart a bright intensity, eventually settling down with a more open even presence.

2018 Kuheiji Pommard Les Arvelets 1er, by the glass at 67 Pall Mall, Singapore, on 24 Feb 2023. Clean nose of tangerines, red fruits and currants. Medium-full. Well layered with refined acidity, displaying fine tension and suppleness with an attractive freshness. Vibrant fruit within its understated tannin structure, just a tad darkish. Good balance and intensity.