May 2024: 2018 Sauzet Hameau de Blagny 2019 Arlaud Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas & 2021 Peccavi Chardonnay

2018 Chain Of Ponds Adelaide Hills Morning Star Pinot Noir. Tasted from two different bottles on 01 May and 05 May, 2024. This single vineyard offering displays a slightly darkish hue for pinot though the nose and medium palate are quite correct with a fair abundance of dark cherries and rose petals, just slightly darkish in tone, tinged with a dash of plums that lend further weight, structured with smooth rounded tannins and refined acidity. Good balance. Has potential for further development. For those who are familiar with the area, this winery is just a stone’s throw from Gumeracha where the giant rocking horse is.

2010 Champagne Dom Pérignon, courtesy of Dr WKW at Imperial Treasure Great World, 08 May 2024. Displaying a lovely luminosity, this wine boasts an effusive lift of clear and yellow citrus. Appropriately tight and reductive with a coiled density of fruit that exude delicate intensity, beautifully detailed, seamlessly layered with distinct minerally elements and lemon bitters that impart a hint of austerity. Not quite as opulent as the 2002, 2004, 2006 or 2008 but its pedigree is obvious.

2018 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Hameau de Blagny. Aired in bottle for more than two hours ahead of dinner at Imperial Treasure Great World, 08 May 2024. Pale luminosity. Gentle glowing floral fragrance, somewhat distant initially, showing a certain restraint in fruit and overall chalkiness. Took another two hours to flesh out with a slick oiliness, covering itself with glorious white tones that exert delicious intensity and exciting detail. Excellent, but patience is required.

2019 Cyprien Arlaud Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas. Aired in bottle for more than two hours ahead of dinner at Imperial Treasure Great World, 08 May 2024. Deep purple. Rose petals dominate with a hint of varnish on the nose. Highly integral at just the right level of extraction, producing a rich creamy tensile mouthfeel from the controlled intensity. Only village, but excellent.

2006 Fontanafredda Barolo La Rosa. Aired in bottle for four hours prior at the in-laws, 12 May 2024. Dull crimson. Lovely bouquet of red fruits matched by an open supple intensity, imbued with a plummy quality laced with exciting acidity. Very well balanced with refined tannins, yielding fine detail with a deeper darkish vein of fruit. No longer has that tough rusticity previously encountered.

2021 Peccavi Chardonnay. Aired in bottle for five hours prior to dinner at home, 19-20 May 2024. In spite of that, this Margaret River white was still tightly chiseled, quite intensely reductive in its minerality. It loosened up with food, becoming much broader and fleshy, boasting dense layers of white fruits and orchard with traces of vanillin whilst the nose took on an attractive floral note but still far from ready. One of my perennial favourites, I’d rate this on par with Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Chardonnay (but at less than half the price), both requiring years of cellaring in order to do justice to their quality.

2022 Penfolds Rawson’s Retreat Chardonnay at Krisflyer Gold Lounge, Changi Terminal 3, 24 May 2024. Pale. Floral scents leading to a tight intensity of fresh citrus layered with ferrous minerals and cutting acidity amid light creamy overtones. Does its job.

2023 Peacock’s Heritage Chardonnay at the SAS Lounge, Copenhagen Lufthavnen, 28 May 2024. Pale golden hue. Keen nose of fig, nutmeg and clean white tones though the palate is only light-medium in weight, proffering some exotic spices laced with faint minerality that finished well in a peppery glow. Does its job.

2023 Vallado Duoro from the restaurant list of Cervejaria Pinóquio, Lisbon, Portugal, on 29 May 2024. Popped and poured. Pale greenish floral hues. Keen attack and intensity of green melons and fig underpinned by crisp acidity. Fleshed out with excellent body and gritty minerally subtlety after an hour. Great value at only €28.