2008 Joseph Drouhin Musigny Grand Cru 2006 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru 1990 Château Mouton Rothschild

A late dinner for a small group at Chaleur (the private dining arm of Chapter 1) on 01 February 2024, generously hosted by SC, where the focus is always about quality than quantity. All wines were popped and poured. Thank you!

1996 Champagne Dom Pérignon Rosé, courtesy of SC. Deeply coloured but surprisingly restrained, proffering just a hint of earthy reduction. Softly contoured with a medium diffuse presence of tangerines, the fruit somewhat distant with a restrained intensity, imparting a distinct feminine stance. Very well-balanced, eventually gelling together with lovely bloom.

2006 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru, courtesy of Boon. Surprisingly evolved for a grand cru of this age, displaying a rather heavily tinted dull golden hue, distinctly autumnal in its bouquet of glazed caramel, apricot and honeyed toast. Medium-full, the fruit rather shy and backward initially, resulting in a slightly tensile glare on the mid-palate. It gradually fleshed out with a fine intensity of glowing white tones, developing a certain note of barley as the mature chalkiness became more apparent though it remained somewhat lean. Perhaps not the most pristine example of a Montrachet from this excellent estate; a bottle with impeccable provenance and adequate aeration is more likely to be what it ought to be.

2008 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Musigny Grand Cru, courtesy of Boon. Lovely pinot tint, exuding a beguiling rosy fragrance tinged with mint and mocha. The medium-full palate is beautifully structured with a supple intensity of raspberries and dark cherries picked at just the right degree of ripeness, ample in breadth and subtle depth yet delicate enough, laced with integral slick acidity throughout its minty length. Excellent.

1990 Château Mouton Rothschild, courtesy of SC. Any potential reservation about this particular vintage of Mouton (thanks to its “low” Parker score) is swept away by this magnificent magnum. Appropriately mature, this wine opens with a superb glowing complex of sweet dark berries, cherries and black currants underpinned by a sublime earthiness, utterly beguiling and seductive. Cool and slightly darkish, seamlessly layered with copious fruit and ferrous minerals amidst broad swathes of cinnamon and peaches that boast lithe supple intensity, the fruit and acidity still wonderfully fresh beneath its outward relaxed charm. Moderate finish. One of the best examples of Mouton I’ve had.

1955 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Selección, courtesy of John. Opaque dark reddish brown. Rather port-like in its sweet medicinal tones. Appropriately dense and viscous yet balanced with a velvety intensity, imbued with overtones of balsam and tumeric.