July 2024: 2000 Domaine Chevalier Rouge, 2019 Roc des Boutires Aux Bouthières & 2000 Ch Sociando-Mallet, 2014 Ch Ausone, 1990 Château Figeac

2000 Château Sociando-Mallet. Aired in bottle for ninety minutes ahead of dinner at Bedrock Bar & Grill, 01 July 2024. Still quite deeply coloured, exuding a lovely glow of mature Médoc. Medium-weight with fleshy contours, imbued with a soft presence of cedar and dark currants. Well-balanced and lively, displaying fine definition with understated acidity and elegance, finishing in a mild spicy lift with a distinct salinity. Highly rewarding but will not improve further.

2005 Château Duhart-Milon. Aired in bottle for three hours with further decanting on-site at Cook & Brew, 06 July 2024. Deep crimson. Lifted bouquet of red plums and dark currants. Medium-full. Rather sleek and slender at first, gaining more weight and depth as it became more open with a hallowed glow of green capsicum, cedar and snuff box. Morphed together very well with delicious understated verve, veering a little towards some savouriness.

2021 Coldstream Hills Chardonnay. Popped and poured at Eastern House of Seafood, 20 July 2024. Pale. Green fruits, melons and fig dominate with refreshing zest from the open concentrated intensity of fruit, displaying a chalky glow with chiseled precision. Good balance and finish.

2019 Domaine Roc des Boutires Pouilly-Fuissé Aux Bouthières. Partially decanted for ninety minutes ahead of lunch at Asia Grand, 21 July 2024. Lovely luminosity. Well-integrated with gleaming chromatic tones from its excellent chalky precision. Fairly intense at first though not the reductive sort, eventually settling down with a refined cool elegance, developing a glowing finish tinged with a dash of spice. Quite classy. One can see why this plot is now 1er cru within the newly-classified Pouilly-Fuissé.

2000 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge. Partially decanted for about two hours ahead of dinner at Otto Ristorante, 24 July 2024. Beautifully perfumed nose of black fruits, dark currants and distinct capsicum with a ripe warmth. Medium-full. Subtly nuanced within its soft fleshy contours, underscored by great acidity and understated minerally and medicinal elements, developing an intense succulence over time. Nearing its peak.

2019 Château Thieuley Cuvée Francis Courselle, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Green fruits, fig and distant tropical fruits on the nose. Clean and refreshing with good intensity of fruit, recalling lychees. Quiet finish. A blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon made by pair of sisters.

2018 Sebastien Carreau Le Terrier Malbec, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. This Blaye-Côtes de Bordeaux displays a deep crimson with a ripe plummy savoury nose. Subtly structured and soft though it is packed with ample fruit that impart very good intensity with a minty finish.

2020 le Puy Emilien, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Deep crimson. Perfumed lift of red fruits leading to a soft medium palate. Perfectly balanced with refined acidity and earthy tannins that impart a slight bitter note. Drinking very well. No new oak here.

2019 le Puy Barthélemy, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Deep crimson. Considerably weightier on the nose than the Emilien, matched by a layered palate yielding good detail with chewy gritty tannins that impart robust intensity.

2014 Château La Gaffélière, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Good colour. Lovely aromas of darkish fruit entering early secondary development, evoking feminine characters. Seductively supple with refined intensity and acidity. My second tasting of this wine in as many weeks.

2017 Les Fiefs de Lagrange, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Highly aromatic with a forward nose of currants and dark fruits, displaying good power with structured intensity.

2017 Château Giscours, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Dusky red. Powerful nose of ripe velvety fruit laced with a trace of sweetness, delivering well on the structured palate with supple intensity and attractive mouthfeel.

2014 Château Pontet Canet, tasted at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Richly imbued with black fruits and dark currants that impart darkish tone and colour with a brooding quality. There is a trace of sweetness on the supple medium-full, subtly structured with a lovely tensile presence though the Pauillac signature isn’t quite apparent.

2014 Château Ausone, tasted blind at Vintage warehouse, 29 Jul 2024. Crimson with a bit of evolution. The nose is a little forward but few will complain given how well the fruit blends with attractive savoury characters offset by a dash of haw and sweetish oak. Softly contoured with a rounded cool elegance, this wine exudes subtle intensity. Highly supple and integral. Doesn’t proffer much inner detail though its pedigree is unmistakable. Modest finish.

1990 Château Figeac, courtesy of Dr Ngoi at Yang Ming Seafood (Ubi), 29 Jul 2024. Poured from magnum. Brownish. Restrained nose of mature fruit with overtones of lychees. Still quite wonderfully sleek, the fruit distinctly autumnal but still fresh, dressed in silky smooth tannins with supple acidity that produced a bit of spicy lift towards its modest finish. Unlikely to improve any further.

2018 Mondot. Aired in bottle for three hours ahead of dinner at Summer Hill, 30 Jul 2024. Opaque purple. Attractive nose of blueberries and dark currants. Medium presence. Quite fleshy with slightly dryish textures initially, producing terse mouthfeel. Developed a surprising juicy intensity after some time that went well with the overall cool ripeness, proffering fine detail. Fairly delicious. Drinking well.