Sep 2024: 2000 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2014 Henri Gouges NSG Les Saint-Georges 2019 Etienne Sauzet Puligny Champ Gain, 1990 Château Calon Ségur, 1996 Clinet

2019 Henschke Euphonium. Aired in bottle for two hours ahead of dinner at Bedrock Bar & Grill, 02 Sep 2024. Deep purple. Concentrated bouquet of blackcurrants, raspberries and black cherries with a hint of gravel. Creamy smooth, displaying lovely supple balance with a controlled intensity, producing an understated spicy lift. Morphed very well with lithe definition and precision. Excellent.

2016 Antinori Castello Sella Sala Cervaro at Buona Terra, 05 Sep 2024. Pale golden. Some reductive pungency on the nose amid warm pebbly tones. Medium weight, the fruit a tad backwards initially though it fleshed out well with full presence of clear citrus and pomelo. Harmonious.

2017 Domaine Jean Chartron Saint-Aubin Murgers Des Dents de Chien 1er at Buona Terra, 05 Sep 2024. Poured from magnum after about ninety minutes of aeration. Luminous. Restrained bouquet of white floral fragrance with a faint note of vanillin. Good density and intensity of white fruits laced with a distinct salinity, turning more chromatic and agile over the next two hours, developing early characters of nutmeg and spice. Good value.

2018 Jordan Chardonnay. Aired in bottle for about an hour ahead of dinner at Bedrock Bar & Grill, 09 Sep 2024. Pale. This wine opens with a restrained lift of clear citrus tinged with lemon bitters, carrying well onto a medium-full palate layered with subtle intensity. Turned a little more crisp and minerally over time without being too reductive.

2018 Mondot, courtesy of Li Wei at Bedrock Bar & Grill, 09 Sep 2024. Popped and poured, proffering a restrained rosy fragrance with distant currants. Rather mellow and well-balanced, tinged with a slight minerally glare before fleshing out with attractive plush intensity.

2014 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er, courtesy of Vic at Bedrock Bar & Grill, 09 Sep 2024. Aired in bottle for an hour prior, this wine exudes a lovely glow of red cherries and rose petals from the ample depth of fruit. Beautifully ripe and evenly proportioned, dressed in silky smooth tannins that impart elegant restraint. Highly integral. Still far from full maturity but its allure is quite irresistible.

2021 Peccavi Chardonnay. Aired for two hours ahead of dinner at Shao, 12 Sep 2024. Quite effusive in white floral tones, nutmeg and vanillin emulsion, boasting a beautifully nuanced mid-palate laced with gorgeous acidity and well-integrated minerally detail throughout its glowing length and finish. Highly burgundian in every way. Great value.

2019 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champ Gain, courtesy of Sir Bob at Shao, 12 Sep 2024. Lovely luminosity, exuding a light tinge of menthol amid white floral tones whilst the fullish palate recalls raw nutmeg and distant green fruits. Very evenly proportioned, developing a superb teasing intensity of jackfruit whilst maintaining its crystalline clarity. Delicious!

2011 Domaine Martelet de Chorisey Puligny-Montrachet 1er Hameau de Blagny, courtesy of Sir Bob at Shao, 12 Sep 2024. The crumbly cork here has not affected the wine, displaying a golden luminosity glowing with gentle floral hues. The fresh medium-weight palate is structured with fine precision and clarity, exerting an urgent intensity that settled eventually into more relaxed tones.

2017 Domaine Duroche Gevrey-Chambertin Champ, courtesy of LF at Shao, 12 Sep 2024. This wine is distinctly feminine, a tad forward in delightful red fruits and berries that seduce with graceful elegance on the slender palate. Quite impeccably balanced. Modest finish. Doesn’t call attention to itself.

2018 Villaneuva de Avila La Breña, courtesy of LF at Shao, 12 Sep 2024 Pinkish red with some bricking at the rim. Almost shy in its highly restrained rosy fragrance, slightly reductive as well. The slender palate is wonderfully fresh, predominantly driven by soft red flavours that impart a lovely controlled intensity laced with a distinct minerally edge.

2012 Taittinger Comtes de Champage, courtesy of Russ at Hayop, 18 Sep 2024. Luminous golden hue, proffering intense yellow citrus with attractive overtones of brioche and yeast. Quite full but rather slender in spectrum, not too dry, underpinned by a minerally tinge that does not obscure the trace of sweetness from the fruit.

2000 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Aired in bottle for well over two hours ahead of dinner at Hayop, 18 Sep 2024. Fairly deep garnet, exuding wafts of dark currants, rose petals, blueberries and raspberries from the glorious expanse of ripe fruit on a plush bed of velvety tannins, now well into its secondary development with overtones of cedar, cinnamon and cigar box, teasing with mild focused intensity that added further to its poised elegance. Very close to peak maturity and will hold.

2021 Louis Jadot Chablis Cellier du Valvan at Changi Airport T3 First Class Lounge, 20 Sep 2024. Light golden. Slightly buttery with a restrained chalkiness, yielding fine clarity. Medium-weight. Modest finish.

Champagne Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Blancs, at Changi Airport T3 First Class Lounge, 20 Sep 2024. Pale golden. Light-medium, boasting gun metal flint and white ash with a minerally glint. Moderate intensity, developing a fine density of fig, yellow citrus and distant green fruits. Good balance.

2022 Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay on board SQ336 SIN-CDG, 20 Sep 2024. Luminous. Lovely bouquet of green fruits and floral bloom, laced with some sweet vanillin. Medium presence. Very clean in feel, exuding understated elegance.

2016 Château Livran on board SQ336 SIN-CDG, 20 Sep 2024. Sandalwood, dark plums and wild berries dominate with a tinge of sweetness. Medium-full, boasting supple intensity and good levels of ripeness.

2021 Sons of Eden Marschall Shiraz on board SQ336 SIN-CDG, 20 Sep 2024. Restrained deep bouquet of ripe plummy fruit doused in vanillin. Full and evenly proportioned, sporting a firm backbone of tensile tannins from the dense Barossa fruit with overtones of licorice.

1996 Château Clinet, from the list of Tan Dinh, Paris, 27 Sep 2024. Still rather deep garnet in colour, proffering a deep bouquet of black cherries, currants and dark roses. Rather sleek and slender at first before fleshing out very well with layers of dense but supple fruit with classic overtones of soy amid a vegetal tinge, structured with silky smooth tannins. Drinking very well.

1990 Château Calon Ségur, from the list of Tan Dinh, Paris, 27 Sep 2024. Opaque purplish core. Opens with a delicious soft darkish fragrance right from the first pour amid a lifted earthy pungency. The sleek medium palate is imbued with ample depth of cool ripe fruit, structured with lively acidity and detailed sweet tannins, yielding fine inner detail of exotic herbs and spices, developing a rounded intensity over time. Good finish. Caught at peak maturity and will hold.