Nov 2024: 2010 Cloudburst Chardonnay, 2017 Hospices Meursault-Charmes Lanlay, 2013 Roulot Meursault Clos des Bouchères, 2006 Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Rom Suchots, 2008 Ramonet Chassagne-Mont Vergers, 2014 François Lamarche Grands-Échezeaux, 2015 Coffinet-Duvernay Bâtard-Montrachet, 2020 Yvon Clerget Volnay Clos du Verseuil, 2002 Armand Rousseau Charm-Chambertin, 2004 Château Cheval Blanc

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain, courtesy of Vincent and Jimmy Leung at Imperial Treasure Great World, 04 Nov 2024. Pale. Lifted nose of clear citrus in soft focus, matched by excellent concentration of fruit and distant minerally elements that exert reductive tightness with fine clarity, though a little short.

2015 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru Cuvée Madeline Collignon, courtesy of Dennis at Imperial Treasure Great World, 04 Nov 2024. Good colour, proffering a burnished tone from the excellent concentration of red fruits and cherries undergoing early secondary development, structured with sweet rounded tannins.

2016 Domaine Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Les Saint-Georges, courtesy of Sir Bob at Imperial Treasure Great World, 04 Nov 2024. Bright crimson. Already into its secondary development characters with a sweet undertow beneath its rich velvety textures, yielding lovely definition within its chiseled structure.

Champagne La Closerie Les Béguines Extra Brut NV, courtesy of Wong Gang at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Light golden. Fairly effusive in yeast, preserved plums and medicinal overtones. Medium-full. Fleshed out with further notes of olives haw and orange peel with a sweetish undertow.

2017 Hospices de Beaune Meursault-Charmes 1er Cuvée de Bahèzre de Lanlay at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Poured from magnum. Luminous, taking its time to proffer overtones of cool icing amid ripe citrus, fig and honeysuckle with subtle complexity. The medium-full palate is beautifully nuanced with a rounded velvetiness, seamlessly integrated with excellent detail, eventually settling down with glacial elegance and regal sophistication. Yet to develop secondary characters, but this is so irresistible.

2008 Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Vergers, courtesy of Gary at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Pale golden, exuding gentle white floral hues amidst capsicum and spicy white pepper. Medium-weight, imbued an oily density and slick acidity that impart fair intensity. Impeccably balanced and proportioned, settling down with the classic glowing white tones of Chassagne that stretched with lengthy persistence. Still astonishingly youthful.

2018 Esprit Leflaive Puilly-Fuissé, courtesy of Isabel at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. The inaugural vintage of this wine displays a relative pallor and understated concentration that bely the controlled intensity of fruit, producing lifted white tones with fine detail against a deeper vein of subdued minerals. Became wonderfully slick as it morphed together with lovely length and restrained elegance.

2013 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Clos des Bouchères monopole, courtesy of Andrew at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Luminous golden. Highly aromatic in complex citrus, brioche and honeysuckle. Medium-weight. Open with supple intensity from its sleek tangy acidity tinged with saline minerals. Beautifully integrated with great precision, turning even more minerally over time.

2015 Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, courtesy of Edmund at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Pale golden. Weighty bouquet of cider and freshly roasted cashews. Much more developed on the medium-full palate than expected where there was a distinct autumnal note, turning more racy over time, developing chromatic tones with a bit of pebbly shine from the saline minerals, underscored by sublime acidity. Moderate finish.

2014 Domaine François Lamarche Grands-Échezeaux Grand Cru, courtesy of Morgan at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Deep crimson. Effusive in bright rosy hues from the generous body of red fruits undergoing early secondary development, framed by dryish tannins that offer good definition, displaying refined balance. Modest finish.

2006 Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots, courtesy of Gary at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Good colour. Generously endowed in red fruits and cherries, imparting glorious lift with a bright supple intensity, layered with a deeper darker vein of currants. Highly integral. Excellent terroir character.

1998 Château Musar, courtesy of Isabel at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Clearly mature in appearance, exuding a powerful plummy glow from the abundant medium-full palate. Remarkably fresh and rounded with lively acidity, its tannins having melted to yield savoury sweetish tones. Reminds me of Tertre Roteboeuf.

2010 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Mazoyères Grand Cru, courtesy of Edmund at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Some age is evident from its bright crimson, proffering red fruits, raspberries and haw with a perfumed lift. Softly contoured with velvety textures, imbued with ferrous elements.

2019 Occidental Running Fence Vineyard Cuvée Catherine, courtesy of Hiok at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Deep crimson. Forward nose of delicious red fruits. Equally full on the palate, cushioned by a certain velvetiness, boasting great purity of fruit within a frame of soft sweetish tannins. Highly integral but short.

2004 Château Cheval Blanc, courtesy of Iqbal at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Deep crimson. This wine proffers a fairly deep bouquet of red capsicum with a hint of nail varnish. Already well into its secondary development, its ample fruit open with inviting supple intensity, the cabernet franc coming into play with overtones of haw, imparting subtle tension of the fullish palate. Yet to reach peak maturity but this is shaping up very well. 

2010 Cloudburst Chardonnay, courtesy of Wong Gang at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Light golden. This Margaret River white opens with great sophistication on the nose, so very correctly nuanced with a lovely lift of capsicum and nutmeg. Equally sublime on the fullish palate, imbued with sleek acidity and a certain oiliness that impart a hint of earthy diesel, impeccably integrated with elegant complexity as it finished with lengthy persistence. Highly burgundian. Outstanding.

2013 Domaine Jean-Marc Millot Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Grand Marpetui, courtesy of Morgan at Otto Ristorante, 07 Nov 2024. Classic pinot tint. Delicious. Softly focused and integral, boasting elegant intensity of red fruits laced with ferrous elements, yielding fine definition and linearity.

2017 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambolle-Musigny Les Véroilles, aired in bottle for couple of hours ahead of dinner at Asia Grand, 19 Nov 2024. Aromatic profusion of red fruits and cherries, lighting up the medium-full palate with classic Chambolle character. Quite fleshy and rounded, displaying excellent ripeness and freshness with understated intensity. Lovely.

2019 Champagne C.H. Piconnet Brut Nature at Les Amis, 25 Nov 2024. Pale golden, exuding brilliant crisp citrus and traces of flint that burst through a mild yeasty sheen, boasting great balance and clarity with further notes of summer hay and floral tones, taking on an even greater flinty intensity. Drinking very well.

2015 Domaine Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Les Genevrières at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Displaying a golden luminosity, this wine was more developed than expected at nine years, opening with an oxidative restraint of honeyed toast, straw and glazed icing. Medium-full and fairly lithe, layered with oily density and slick acidity that gave way to a concentrated chalky shine.

2020 Domaine Yvon Clerget Volnay 1er Clos du Verseuil monopole, courtesy of Vic at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Bright purple. Utterly seductive in its lush expanse of ripe raspberries, very gently oaked with a hint of sweet vanillin, matched by sexy tannins that flatter with seamless supple intensity almost to the point of voluptuousness. Distinctly feminine, and irresistibly delicious.

2018 Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils Chassagne Montrachet 1er Clos Saint-Jean Blanc, courtesy of Sanjay at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Pale. Rather cool and placid at first, displaying light grassy elements with understated intensity, the fruit set a little backward, proffering a little more inner detail over time though its overall restraint remained.

2016 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru, courtesy of Vic at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Classic pinot tint. Rather unusual note of rhizomes and capsicum on the nose. Medium-full. Open and fleshy with a predominance of red fruits and haw, structured with supple tannins that exert delicious juicy succulence with lovely purity.

2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, courtesy of MH at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Classic pinot tint, proffering delicious red fruits caught at peak maturity where the supple freshness is infused with understated feminine intensity, imparting lovely purity with an undertow of limestone and other subtle minerally elements. Highly elegant, not flashy at all.

2012 Guado Al Tasso, courtesy of CHS at Otto Ristorante, 26 Nov 2024. Very deep purple. Forward bouquet of delicious dark currants and black berries still tinged with vanillin, matched by a full presence of glorious fruit infused with black tea leaves and dry medicinal notes, structured with pliant supple tannins.

2016 Domaine Thibert et Fils Puilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays. Aired in bottle for three hours ahead of dinner at Liang Kee, 30 Nov 2024. Pale. Excellent presence of white fruits and clear citrus supported by a tinge of austere minerally elements. Slightly racy in its focused tangy intensity and fresh but understated acidity, developing a lovely floral bloom over time with a hint of pineapples. Great value.