Dinner with Crurated: Charles Lachaux, Pierre Peters, Benoit Ente, Leflaive, Dujac, Meo Camuzet, Prieuré Roch, Leroy, Roumier, Denis Mortet, Armand Rousseau

These are wines from a couple of dinners with the boss of Crurated, Alfonso de Gaetano of Napoli (he’d even played football with Maradona), and his top-level management, Paolo Sforza and Ivy Lim at the Michelin-starred Buona Terra, Singapore, on 7th and 28th May, 2025. Started in 2021, Crurated sells wine directly to you from the chateau or domaine, cutting out all middlemen. Several top estates have already consigned volumes of wine to Crurated, including Groffier, Charles Lachaux, Dujac, Camuzet, Cathiard and Clerget, not to mention a whole range of Bordeaux as well. Crurated’s app is dangerously addictive. Everything is at your fingertips: browsing, ordering, one-stop payment, cellaring and delivery. The utilisation of blockchain technology ensures that the movement and provenance of every bottle, with its own unique non-fungible token (NFT), is known to everyone concerned. Another unique feature is that you can even just buy 750 mL from a barrel and customise the bottling as you wish. You can store your wines with them or take delivery, and you are kept informed about the movement of your bottles every step of the way right down to the hour of delivery. Crurated also plans to link up with restaurants such that these NFT-tagged wines can be despatched on an on-demand basis to restaurants without the latter having to bear the cost of stocking up expensive cellars. Once a bottled is purchased, Crurated as well as the estate owner get paid immediately, thanks to blockchain. With such an innovative business model, Crurated is set to disrupt the conventional wine business in a big way. Do yourself a favour and get on board.

2006 Champagne Pierre Peters L’Esprit Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, courtesy of LF. Light golden, proffering lovely dryish density of toast, almonds and wafer that exploded with exquisite intensity and sublime acidity in the mouth, imparting superb energy and aristocratic balance throughout its impressive length.

2022 Charles Lachaux Bourgogne Aligoté Les Champs d’Argent, courtesy of Ivy and Paolo. Pale golden. The cool lift of delicate orchard fruit and morning dew belies its structured racy intensity, boasting very fine definition and seamless integration with excellent length and linearity. Settled down with great clarity amid a certain waxy stoniness that betrayed its non-chardonnay identity.

2015 Maison Leroy Auxey-Duresses, courtesy of Kieron. Light golden. Very lovely bouquet of dense floral hues. Equally generous in delicate citrus with a rounded warmth underpinned by sublime acidity, boasting lithe elegance amid shades of bitter pomelo, firming up with a chamfered chalkiness over time. Superb.

2021 Domaine Jean Chartron Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Pucelle monopole. Pale. Surprisingly reticent on the nose in spite of the sharp presence of delicate citrus laced with pointed acidity, turning more reductive over time as emerging notes of juicy nutmeg and distinct salinity took hold with fine density and linearity.

2017 Domaine Benoit Ente Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Truffière. Pale luminosity, exuding a cool delicate lift of concentrated clear citrus and refined chalkiness with considerable restraint. Equally enticing on the medium-full palate, the fruit just a tad backward in favour of sleek acidity, yielding great clarity before turning more highly expressive with glowing tones of white fruits and nutmeg. Excellent.

2015 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles, courtesy of Kieron. Pale. This stalwart opens with an effusive bouquet of tropical fruits and intense white tones laced with vanillin, matched by a sleek fullness from its glorious layers of fruit and acidity that teased with great agility. Almost reductive in feel, leading to an initial impression of Meursault until it began fleshing out with superb inner definition, announcing its class and pedigree with a lush velvetiness. This is a distinct change from the traditional style of Leflaive, more contemporaneous than ever. Outstanding.

2021 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis, courtesy of Anthony. Seemingly more evolved in appearance than it really is, proffering a lifted velvety fragrance from the ample presence of supple red fruits dashed with mandarins. Wonderfully fresh and agile and impeccably balanced, imparting exquisite mouthfeel with unmistakable pedigree. A village, but truly a complete wine.

2021 Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux Chambolle-Musigny, courtesy of Alfonso. Bright crimson, proffering a highly enticing exuberance of mandarins, orange peel and red fruits with a deeper vein of dark currants that convey lovely verve and excitement throughout the sleek integral palate. One can understand the appeal of Charles Lachaux in spite of the prohibitive pricing.

2017 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Vieille Vignes, courtesy of Anthony. Cloudy opaque crimson. Stunning lift of perfumed plummy fragrance amid overtones of icing and nail varnish on the nose that contrasted sharply against a palate of distinct salinity and rustic earthiness with pronounced ferrous undertones, laced with assertive acidity. This is certainly NSG on steroids with plenty of promise, but probably best to give it another 5-6 years.

2012 Domaine de L’Arlot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Clos des Forêts monopole, courtesy of Vic. Good colour, proffering haw, red fruits and rose petals. Still imbued with youthful freshness and vibrant intensity, yielding fine detail even though it is not the lush weighty sort, finishing with good persistence.

2017 Domaine Yvon Clerget Pommard 1er Les Rugiens. Some early bricking with a sense of elusiveness on the nose, although the palate is almost exuberant in its structured lithe intensity, unmistakably masculine with clean acidity. Came together quite well after more than four hours, a little more lean over time.

2013 Domaine Meo Camuzet Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Brulées, courtesy of Ivy and Paolo. Deep crimson core, exuding a profusion of perfumed red fruits, rose petals, haw and cherries with a haunting fragrance. Highly integral and fleshy, the darkish plummy fruit a little chamfered in structure amid the pronounced acidity, leading to some degree of astringency in spite of its lengthy persistence. Probably a function of the vintage.

2010 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Champeaux, courtesy of Vic. Displaying an evolved crimson with leathery textures amid an enticing velvety rosiness, this wine is caught at peak maturity, boating layers of warm ripe plummy red fruits supported by fine acidity and ferrous undertones, picking up some verve over time. Excellent.

2009 Domaine Georges Roumier Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Clos de la Boussière, courtesy of Kieron. Bright crimson with a darker core, exuding the signature fragrance of Roumier from the lovely layered expanse of blackberries, currants and cherries and refined acidity that convey youthful verve with effortless grace. Superbly integrated and proportioned. Modest finish.

2021 Domaine Poisot Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru, courtesy of Sir Bob. Good colour. Rather alluring in rose petals and effusive floral fragrance. Medium weight. Brightly lit with refined detail, its supple tannins exerting terse tension. Modest finish.

2017 Domaine Tawse Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru, courtesy of LF. Displaying an evolved crimson, this wine sports a highly exuberant bouquet, positively glowing with orangey tones and a dash of leafiness. Equally energetic and tense in the mouth, richly imbued with ripe red fruits within structured tannins that impart a certain spicy sweetness. Racy and delicious.

1995 Domaine Jacques Cacheaux Échezeaux Grand Cru, courtesy of Sir Bob. Clearly well-aged from its mature crimson, proffering sweetish bouquet of red fruits with a warm ripeness amid notes of heated gravel. Still fairly full and youthful with a concentrated teasing verve, structured with well-defined tannins and ferrous undertones. This domaine is famous for its tiny 0.16 ha of the 0.6 ha Vosne-Romanée 1er La Croix Rameau.

2013 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche Grand Cru, courtesy of Kieron. Good colour, boasting a deep vein of delicious blackberries, currants and raspberries that exude the distinctive rich luxuriant sheen of a classic Dujac. Equally classy on the fresh exuberant palate, sharply delineated with lean definition that gave off an illusion of fizz, finishing with a dash of sweetness.

2013 Domaine Armand Rousseau Chambertin Grand Cru, courtesy of Anthony. Displaying an evolved crimson, the fruit comes across as mature with plummy and orangey hues, deliciously fresh and full with supple intensity and structured definition from unobtrusive tannins. One would have imagined this to be an older wine, but its brilliant pedigree comes through in this awkward vintage. Very expertly crafted.

2000 Cappellano Otin Fiorin, courtesy of Alfonso. Made from nebbiolo, this Barolo is beautifully expressive with glorious hues of complex red fruits tinged with varnish from its ruby depth. Equally extroverted and delicious on the palate, impeccably balanced and integral in spite of its masculine proportions, gaining in power and intensity in the glass. Almost Burgundian.