2014 Bouchard Chevalier-Mont La Cabotte, 2013 M Chapoutier Ermitage De L’Orée, 1996 Château Rayas, 2007 Château Rayas, Jaboulet La Chapelle 1999, 1998, 1991, 1989 2015 Henri Bonneau CdP Réserve Célestins, 2001 Sine Qua Non Midnight Oil

For reasons unclear, Rhône is relatively neglected amongst wine lovers compared with Bordeaux and Burgundy. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the wines tend to be very robust in its youth, requiring decades of cellaring to come round, or that some examples may be rather rustic and gruff before they turn the corner. It may as well be that Burgundy alone provides endless fascination, leaving oenophiles with little room for other regions. But Rhône is an excellent source of sensibly-priced wines that offer great quality and immense satisfaction, even in the present era of outrageous prices, as shown in the mostly-Rhône line-up tasted at Imperial Treasure Great World on 10 October 2023. All wines were blinded. Many thanks, everyone.

2008 Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal, courtesy of Kieron. Clear luminosity, proffering intense lime, yellow citrus and mandarins with a high-toned acidity, lighting up the palate with structured blazing intensity. Became slightly reductive after some time with emerging ferrous elements though maintaining its tremendous verve, oozing a little sweetness.

1993 Champagne Dom Pérignon, courtesy of Vic. This bottle opened with marked oxidised tones that almost veered towards cork taint though never really there, saved by emergent notes of ferric oxide and dried mushrooms that offer velvety comfort, eventually gaining some semblance of pochai pills that shrouded the abundant golden fruit within. Not the best example of Dom, but likely to be bottle variation.

2021 M Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Blanc. Luminous gold. Zingy energetic chalky white tones cut with razor sharp precision amid overtones of rhubarb and olives. Medium weight, settling down with good refinement and elegance though it lacks further dimension, the fruit turning a little backward after some time. Nevertheless, still great value at SGD27 all in.

2013 M Chapoutier Ermitage De L’Orée, courtesy of LF. Pale golden. Some notes of diesel on the nose amid white tones, imbued with fine powdery textures. Medium-full. Slightly austere and medicinal, turning brighter over time with lovely inner detail and glowing intensity. Good length.

2014 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte Grand Cru, courtesy of Vic. Displaying a pale luminosity, this seminal white is uncharacteristically restrained on the nose like the shy beauty it is though the palate is open with lithe white tones tinted with cool icing, seamlessly integrated with a recessed chalkiness that added immeasurably to its placid elegance, almost to the point of aloofness. Yet to really develop. Looks like the 2014 Puligny grand crus are truly set for the long haul.

2017 Château des Tours Côtes-du-Rhone, courtesy of Anthony. The evolved crimson is highly deceptive though the palate of wild berries and rose petals accurately reflects its youthful energy and freshness, exuding distant hues of soft red fruits from its rounded contours, yielding fine definition with a growing feminine intensity supported by a firm minerally base. Excellent.

2007 Château Rayas Réservé, courtesy of Anthony. Displaying an aged crimson, this wine proffers a feminine lift of elegant red fruits and cherries underpinned by secondary characters. Still rather full, carrying cool elegant verve within its seamless layers of mature ripe fruit supported by firm minerally undertones, structured with pliant tannins. Exactly why Rayas commands such premium.

1996 Château Rayas Réservé, courtesy of Sir Bob. Evolved crimson, matching the mature medium-weight palate of rosy hues and feminine floral fragrance, just entering its autumnal phase with a slight medicinal after note. Beautifully open and fleshy, imbued with firm but elegant intensity.

1999 Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle. Fairly deep crimson. Rather restrained though the medium-full palate displays a clean presence of red plums and orangey fruit with a savoury splash, boasting excellent definition and cohesion. Much better than a previous bottle from the same case without the vegetal gruffness.

1998 Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle, courtesy of LF. Pale crimson. Distinctly more mature than any other La Chapelle in the line-up, where the red fruits have softened with early autumnal character, turning more rustic with a distant note of petroleum, not helped at all by a dense darkish mid-palate of briar, bramble and earth but saved by acidity that’s still quite slick.

1991 Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle, courtesy of Kieron. Deep garnet with a bare rim of crimson, exuding a full bouquet of ripe black berries and dark plums. Masculine and well-proportioned, perhaps a little more forwardly balanced with undertones of dried mushrooms, structured with refined tannins that ooze a bit of sweetness. Still swinging after thirty-two years; may not even have peaked.

1989 Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle, courtesy of Sir Bob. Deep crimson at its core, proffering some early complexity on the nose with a dash of sweet varnish. Robust with masculine proportions, generously endowed with fruit that is still wonderfully full, fleshy and ripe, recalling orange peel and mandarins. Highly fluid and elegant, just a tad short.

2015 Domaine Henri Bonneau et Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins, courtesy of Alvin. Crimson with some evolution. Ample depth of warm dark fruit tinged with vanillin that moves with lithe agility in spite of its tight structured intensity, proffering glimpses of inner detail with a discernible alcoholic flash at the finish. Needs another two decades of cellaring.

2001 Sine Qua Non Midnight Oil, courtesy of LF. Very deep garnet. Immediately recognisable as non-Rhône from its dark robust and almost hedonistic tone. Unapologetically masculine and concentrated, endowed with very deep dark plummy fruit and black currants supported by a dense vegetal blackness laced with some pruny sweetness. Yet the balance is there between the fruit, tannins and acidity, just that everything is delivered full-on. I guessed a Penfolds Grange; it belongs to that league.