2014 Domaine Romanée-Conti La Tâche, 2014 Romanée-Conti Romanée-Saint-Vivant, 2000 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée, 2013 Claire Naudin Échezeaux Grand Cru, 2009 Leroy Vosne-Romanée

The great Dr Ngoi very generously hosted a dinner on 02 October 2023 at Imperial Treasure, Great World City, Singapore, in honour of Monsieur Philippe Capdouze’s 60th, certainly a most auspicious occasion. The theme was Vosne and we all duly obliged. An evening of great excesses, no doubt, but it would be sinful not to finish every drop. Merci beaucoup!

2018 Les Treilles. 100% chenin blanc from Anjou. Poured from magnum. Pale. Perfumed floral aromas tinged with a hint of vanillin sweetness. Layered with fine clarity and sleek definition. More effusive in powdery white tones over time with a growing sweet intensity, yielding fabulous detail.

Champagne Chevreux-Bournazel La Parcelle NV, courtesy of Dr Ngoi. Poured from magnum. Light golden. Wet grassy nose, strongly resembling post-rain funk. Medium-full. Very good presence of clear citrus that exert controlled intensity with attractive detail, settling down with relaxed demeanour after some time.

2018 Domaine Michel Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Les Beaux Monts 1er. Good color. Generously endowed with darkish fruit interspersed with reddish highlights. Medium weight. Highly supple, seamlessly integrated with a subtle minerally vein. Impeccably proportioned with elegant verve. Great potential.

2017 Domaine J Coudray-Bizot Vosne-Romanée La Croix Rameau 1er, courtesy of Dr Ngoi. Classic pinot pint. Effusive rosy hues. Medium-full, imbued with an oily density within its seamless depth, exuding feminine intensity throughout its length. Only one of three owners of this tiny 0.6-ha plot.

2018 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne-Romanée La Colombière, courtesy of CHS. Good colour. Vibrant rosy tones and red fruits dominate, superbly structured with silky smooth tannins that exert lovely intensity. Highly integral and feminine, finishing with excellent length and linearity.

2019 Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet Vosne-Romanée Les Rouges du Dessus 1er, courtesy of Jordan. Classic pinot tint. Distilled fragrance of rose petals and red fruits laced with a note of ember that teased with delicate intensity on the medium palate. Good cohesion.

2014 Albert Bichot Domaine du Clos Frantin Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts 1er. Classic pinot tint. Delicious nose of rose petals amid haw and red fruits though the fruit is more recessed on the palate in favour of a more prominent saline note, displaying a furred biting intensity.

2009 Maison Roche Bellene Vosne-Romanée Aux Malconsorts 1er. Slightly darkish tint. Rather reticent in fruit, shrouded by a powdery medicinal quality that obscure its ample depth of dark currants. Medium-full, imbued with supple intensity and power within a frame of sweet resolved tannins.

2013 Claire Naudin (Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand) Échezeaux Grand Cru, courtesy of Gisela. Evolved pinot tint. Lovely lift of perfumed rosy fragrance, leading to a highly elegant, seamlessly layered open presence with plenty of feminine charm. From the wife of Jean-Yes Bizot.

2008 Jean-Luc & Paul Argeter Échezeaux Grand Cru. Brownish-red. Heavier presence of orangey-red hues from the ample depth of kumquat fruit. Open with supple intensity, displaying excellent linearity.

2014 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru, courtesy of Philippe Capdouze. Classic pinot tint, proffering a well-defined bouquet of raspberries and mandarins with a tint of paraffin. Medium-full. Supple and well-structured with great refinement, developing further complexity with effusive powdery medicinal overtones that teased with gloved power and lithe intensity.

2014 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru, courtesy of Philippe Capdouze. Good colour. Rather restrained on the nose. The attention is clearly centered on the palate, boasting a controlled verve of intense mandarins and kumquat that offer tremendous inner detail with superb clarity of its layers of fruit, refined tannins and sublime acidity even though they are seamlessly integral. The nose came through much later, an effusive beguiling complex of perfumed characters that added further dimension to its length and finish. As always, La Tâche is truly a complete wine.

2010 Domaine Prieuré Roch Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er PURE, courtesy of Winfred. Evolved pinot tint, indicating some age, proffering plummy red fruits, bramble and herbs marked by a sweetish entry on an earthy dusty base. Good rounded presence.

2014 Domaine de L’Arlot Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er, courtesy of Vic. Good colour. Generously endowed with red fruits that impart effusive fragrance and rosy intensity from its subtle depth. Considerably more mellow after some time, revealing early secondary characters against a slightly dryish backdrop. This final effort of Jacques Devauges (before he left for Cos de Tart) has character. Excellent.

2014 Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er, courtesy of John. Good colour. Unusual sharp note of capsicum amid red fruits on the nose. Medium-full. Good concentration, imbued with lovely freshness and purity though the finish is a little short.

2005 Domaine Dominique Laurent Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er. Poured from magnum. Good extraction, displaying a brilliant ruby, leading to a weighty palate of ripe wild berries and bramble that exude a bit of mustiness.

2000 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée Grand Cru, courtesy of Sameer. Good colour with a distinct crimson rim, exuding a cool ripeness of mature red fruits with glowing rosy hues. Utterly seamless and impeccably proportioned though the fruit appears rather distant, laced with understated acidity, giving the illusion of a certain weightlessness on the medium palate almost to the point of aloofness, finishing with fine linearity. Highly feminine. You probably can’t tell this is the great monopole grand cru if blinded.

2009 Maison Leroy Vosne-Romanée, courtesy of Nasrat. Evolved color. Nose of warm gravel amid a gentle feminine lift of mature red fruits. Rounded and utterly seamless, yet wonderfully detailed in its subtle layering, imparting regal elegance with effortless grace. Drinking even better than the 2000 Bouchard La Romanée Grand Cru. The old lady certainly knows how to work her magic.

2002 Château d’Yquem, courtesy of Winfred. Dull golden. Wonderfully perfumed bouquet, literally leaping out from its rich luscious depth of nectarine and apricot that shone with brilliant intensity of white tones. Amazingly lithe and agile, only just developing some early maturity. Excellent.