Ric's Wine Journal

The Sales Director of Maison Joseph Drouhin, M. Jean-Paul Dumond, never fails to remind people that wine is meant to be shared amongst good company, something that surely strikes a chord with all wine lovers. It was with distinct pleasure that we had the opportunity to meet up with Jean-Paul once again in the extensive offices of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Beaune on the cold winter evening of 20 November 2017, exactly the same venue where we had first been introduced to him two years ago. This time, Jean-Paul had arranged for us to dine at the Maison itself, where chef Christophe Queant of Jean-Paul’s favourite restaurant Le Carmin had been summoned to prepare a delectable four-course menu.

First, of course, was the obligatory re-visit of the cellars which are the oldest in Burgundy, having been owned by the powerful Duke of Burgundy centuries ago, a part of which contained a wall dating back to 4th century Roman empire. We are reminded that the Maison plays a major role in vinifying many of the wines auctioned off for the Hospices de Beaune, evidenced by the presence of these barrels in the cellar.

Returning back to the dining room, we began first with a tasting of three wines. First was the 2016 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er, showing aromas of delicate nutmeg, wild flowers in bloom and some green elements, quite lifted, showing good acidity and matching minerals with good precision, just a tad chalky but neither overbearing nor opulent. Needs to flesh out. Next was the 2016 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches Blanc that featured lemongrass, yellow citrus and other grassy elements on the nose and palate, replete with delicate crème de la crème, quite rich and  highly expressive, its tingling acidity conferring superb suppleness and mouthfeel, culminating in a lengthy finish of subtle minerals. Very fine indeed.

The final wine for the brief tasting promenade came from an unmarked decanter that had been sitting in a quiet corner for several hours. From our previous experience with Jean-Paul whose generosity knows no boundaries, we guessed with certainty that this would be none other than a Montrachet Grand Cru itself, and we were spot on. The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru Marquis de Laguiche sported a rich sheen of crème de la crème and white flowers in full bloom, full and fresh with great acidity though still tight, displaying lovely tension and linearity, growing in fabulous intensity but yet to reveal inner detail. Any Montrachet will need more than a decade to come through and clearly, this one shouldn’t be touched at all.

We settled down to dinner where three wines have been listed to be served. First was the 2008 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières 1er served from jeroboam, showing a deep golden hue, exuding a lovely bouquet of deep earthy pungency, full and fresh with a great minerally concentration, showing good linearity and intensity, growing fuller with more fruit over time, finishing with strong notes of mint and spice but yet to develop inner detail. Excellent.

Next, the 2009 Hospices de Beaune Beaune Cuvée Maurice Drouhin, served from magnum, was darkly tinted with dark cherries, ripe wild berries and some earth, displaying deeper notes of graphite and smouldering ember on the palate with a vegetal trace. Fleshy, showing more acidity than fruit, finishing with dark spicy tones. In contrast, the 2001 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru displayed a deep delicious bouquet of ripe dark cherries, rose petals and camphor with good depth of fruit, showing superb acidity and concentration, dry in intensity with earthy minerals without much structure, just a tad short.

Seeing that the party was going well and that we were enjoying every drop of wine, Jean-Paul brought up an additional impromptu red, a 2015 Joseph Drouhin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru that boasted a deep glorious bouquet of fresh rose petals, camphor and bright cherries with a special whiff of cigar, open with lovely feminine elegance, poise and great balance, gently structured with sweet supple tannins, not showy at all. A great Clos de Bèze.

Finally, as is the custom always with Jean-Paul, a 1996 Château d’Yquem was popped to round off the evening, displaying notes of smoke, nectarine, brioche and cassis with a lovely depth of aged tangerines, very fine in acidity and length with lasting intensity at the finish. This is probably the only time one drinks Bordeaux in Burgundy. Many thanks, Jean-Paul, for sharing so freely with us your generosity and friendship.

Compared with many other domaines in Burgundy, Domaine Prieuré Roch must surely be one of the youngest, having been established in 1988. To me, this estate appears to run against the grain as well with an almost rebellious streak, practising biodynamic management, vinifying with stems, having different ageing periods for different wines, totally unfiltered and unfined, of course, and managing only a select few vineyards, all purely reds. Locating this domaine within Nuits-Saint-Georges is also no easy matter, the nondescript building being totally unmarked along the main road. When we arrived on the morning of 20 November 2017, its young co-owner and winemaker M. Yannick Champ was ready to welcome us. Even though we’d meet about twice a year at FICOFI events, it was really good to see him once again on his home turf. Recalling that Yannick had previously welcomed us with freshly stained hands after a very early morning harvest two years ago, he appeared far more relaxed this time, but it is clear he’d been up much earlier in the morning to prepare for our visit, evidenced by the fact that the wines we were about to taste had been carefully aired in advance. But first was the obligatory trip down the steep stairwell into its cellars, where the smaller old cellar had been present since 1862 whilst a brand-new facility had just been carved recently adjacent to it, capable of housing up to three recent harvests. It was clear that Domaine Prieuré Roch runs on lean management with Yannick himself being very hands-on in the winemaking. When we returned to its main hall, which resembled a living room-cum-workshop-cum-kitchen, Yannick proceeded to pour us bottle after bottle of his wines. What struck me most was that his drive, passion and individuality can be felt in each of his wines, made with a personal vision while always abiding by his own principles and that of Mother nature. The terroir comes through very well but they all need plenty of time to express themselves properly. These aren’t made to please the palate. They are made to pay respect and thanks for what nature has endowed us. Many thanks, Yannick, for the wonderful friendship and thanks too to FICOFI.

2015 Domaine Prieuré Roch Clos Vougeot Grand Cru. Lovely colour, exuding complex aromas of red currants and dark plums with a deep tinge of licorice. Open and seamless with lovely acidity and lift, displaying great freshness, linearity, length and tension across the palate. Possibly the best example of this much maligned plot I’ve ever had.

2015 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Le Clos des Corvées 1er monopole. Deep colour. Deep as well in aromas of dark cherries, earth and ripe wild berries with tones of red plums and orangey tangerines, medium-bodied, showing good lift, tone and tension. Very well balanced and integrated but this wine is all about its wonderful bouquet, deeply alluring and seductive.

2010 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Le Clos des Corvées 1er monopole. Evolved in colour with a beautiful bouquet that is most expressive, yielding red plums with some tobacco leaves, open and fleshy with just the right degree of supportive acidity. Highly elegant and sophisticated.

2014 Domaine Prieuré Roch Nuits-Saint-Georges Le Clos des Corvées 1er monopole. Slightly darker tint than the 2015, showing delicious plums and currants with excellent lift, rather minerally in concentration with good tension from the higher acidity though the fruit itself is rather backward, finishing on a stern note. Again, it’s the nose that is quite special.

2014 Domaine Prieuré Roch Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru. Great colour. Stunning deep bouquet of dark currants, red fruits, dark plums and cedar, structured with lovely tension and full acidity, more minerally than outright fruity opulence, seemingly a hallmark of the estate’s 2014.

2001 Domaine Prieuré Roch Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru PURE. Poured from magnum. Fully evolved. Delicious sweet gentle bouquet of earth and aged plums. Very open with wonderful freshness and great purity from the melted tannins, showing great linearity without any distraction, becoming more expressive with time. Truly a revelation. As explained before, PURE indicates that the wine has been bottled straight from the barrel without any oxygen contact, preserving its integrity and freshness. Yannick demonstrated the simple two-way tap used for this laborious process that requires three persons to operate, taking three hours to manually bottle a barrel whereas conventional bottling methods can do the job in five minutes. A real labour of love, for Yannick truly heeds his passion.

Having barely recovered from the evening at the La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin gala dinner, we arrived on time at Bouchard Père et Fils on the morning of 19 November 2017 to re-visit its wonderful cellars. Bouchard has the most extensive series of underground cellars in all of Burgundy, located 10 metres below ground and spanning 4 kilometres in total length, with walls that are 5-7 metres thick. In the old days, they were used by the military as its ammunition store before the Bouchard family took over the property in the early 19th century. The temperature here is always consistently between 13-15 °C with a humidity of 80%, ensuring that the corks do not shrink from dessication. It was good, once again, to see the special section holding the estate’s oldest bottles (1846 Meursault) that had been walled behind four false walls during the Second World War to prevent the Nazis from looting.

After the tour, we were joined by M. Luc Bouchard, who appeared amazingly fresh in spite of the previous night’s exertion, for an extensive tasting of the 2016 line-up, helmed by its Technical Director M. Philippe Prost, who exuded great knowledge and expertise about each individual wine: its terroir, individual characteristics and limitations. I have never attended such a precise and masterful discourse of such an extensive line-up within the space of an hour, M. Prost making it clear right from the outset that we’d have to keep pace. And indeed we did so. These days, there are still people who tend to view the wines of Bouchard with some condescension as a negociant producer when the fact is it is now largely a domaine with its own holdings in many regions. 2016 was a difficult growing season dominated by the problems of frost in the early part but the grapes were eventually picked under cool conditions.

Technical Director of Bouchard Pere et Fils, M. Philippe Prost.

At this tasting, I found the quality of the reds to be highly consistent, showing good color, ripeness, power and balance, perhaps even a couple of notches higher than the reds of 2012 which I tasted during my last visit here two years ago. The whites, expectedly from Bouchard, are truly outstanding, combining fruit, acidity and balance with utter precision, harmony and detail. Absolutely stunning. One understand why Bouchard always opens its tastings with reds before the whites. I’ll have to load up on these when the offer comes around next year.

Bouchard Père et Fils used to make La Romanée Grand Cru before it became a monopole of Comte Liger-Belair from 2002

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Monthelie. Darker tint. Shy but there’s plenty of cool raspberries and dark cherries on the palate with some attractive earthiness, showing good levels of ripeness, acidity and concentration.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune du Chateau 1er. Blend of 17 premier cru. Good colour. Cool fruit with notes of dark cherries, forest floor and light ember, showing gentle acidity and good integration, finishing with mild sweet tannins and fine acidity.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Clos de La Mousse 1er. Dark tint. Medium-bodied. Raspberries and dark wild berries dominate with a mild vegetal tinge, showing good acidity but unremarkable.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Greves Vigne de L’enfant Jesus 1er. Good colour. Lovely floral fragrance of red fruits and dark roses. Fleshy, open with good detail, showing gentle sweet subdued tannins, fine acidity and understated minerals with good balance. Gentle dryish finish. Very fine.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay Les Caillerets 1er. Significantly darker hue and tone. Generous in dark cherries and licorice. Dry with good levels of ripeness and acidity supported by an understated ferrous base. Good overall delicacy.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Le Corton Grand Cru. Appropriately dark with abundant red fruits and currants. Fleshy with excellent acidity and silky tannins, showing good sophistication and great balance. From soils with less clay and more of limestone, explaining for its good overall delicacy and feminine poise in spite of its proportions. Very fine.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Cailles 1er. Raspberries, dark cherries, dry ash and mushrooms replicate the classic Nuits-Saint-Georges character, deft with good acidity and freshness.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Échezeaux Grand Cru. Good fragrance recalling dark roses, ripe raspberries and wild berries. Rather full, showing great acidity, definition and linearity though not opulent, finishing with a vegetal trace.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru. Excellent colour. Excellent depth of red fruits and dark berries. Robust with very good levels of ripeness. Highly supple and fleshy, showing a deeper vein of rich dark cherries. Open with fine detail, structured with subtle tannins amidst fine understated acidity. Great potential here. Highly successful.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Bourgogne chardonnay. Highly aromatic with srong grassy elements, lemongrass and malt. Delicates tones of creme with a dash of raw nutmeg on the gentle palate, finishing with great acidity and a touch of sweetness. Good complexity. I’m happy to drink this anytime.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Les Clous. Perfumed with lifted aromas of white flowers and clear citrus. Has a minerally feel, slightly crisp in its fresh delicate minerals.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Clos Saint-Landry 1er. Good aromas. Chalky tone with green fruits, understated acidity and minerals. Great tone, rounded and smooth. Finishing well.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Genevières 1er. Lifted with delicate notes of nutmeg, clear citrus and earthy minerals. Rounded, showing excellent presence, detail and linearity with superb mouthfeel.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Perrières 1er. Deep complex bouquet of white flowers. Rather full. Gentle on the palate with great acidity, depth and minerality with superb definition and integration. Finishing with great length amidst traces of sweet. Excellent.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. Cool ripe fruit. Open with great delicacy of lovely clear citrus, showing excellent presence, acidity and integration. Very fresh, finishing with exotic spices amidst mild lovely intensity on the back palate. Superb.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru. Great delicacy with complex crème de la crème, some nutmeg and chalkiness with complex early minerals. Great acidity. Very well integrated but tight. Not showing too much now but it’s richness, sophistication and potential is unmistakable. Excellent.

2016 Bouchard Père et Fils Montrachet Grand Cru. Lovely tones of crème de la crème and chalk with gentle deep aromas of white flowers and morning dew. Deeply aromatic with lovely delicacy, almost ethereal, already showing some very early complexity. Full, sophisticated and elegant. So much promise here.

That wasn’t the end. With the tasting efficiently concluded within an hour, we were ushered to the domaine’s pavilion for an utterly decadent lunch:

Champagne Henriot Blanc de Blancs NV, over lunch at Bouchard Père et Fils, 19 Nov 2017. Poured from magnum. Open and expansive with a deep crystalline tone, lifted in characters of crème and complex minerals, vibrant and refreshing. Very fine.

2012 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, over lunch at Bouchard Père et Fils, 19 Nov 2017. Lovely hue, rich in crème de la crème with fabulous intensity matched by powerful spicy tones at the sides, displaying good linearity with some early complexity but still primal, tapering to a lengthy lasting finish. Excellent now, potentially outstanding in time to come.

2009 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune Les Teurons 1er, over lunch at Bouchard Père et Fils, 19 Nov 2017. Delicious aromas of ripe dark berries and camphor, rich with fine acidity and fullness, very well-balanced and integrated. Excellent. I have a newfound respect for the Cote de Beaune reds.

2000 Bouchard Père et Fils Le Corton Grand Cru, over lunch at Bouchard Père et Fils, 19 Nov 2017. An abundance of dark fruits here, showing good levels of ripeness with tangy cedary tones, rounded with good acidity without the usual burliness that Corton may sometimes impart in lesser hands.

What a way to start a Sunday!! I can’t thank M. Luc Bouchard enough for his generosity in taking such great care of us…last night at the La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin dinner, this entire morning at the domaine, and later this afternoon when we adjourn to the town hall for the annual Hospice de Beaune auction, where again Luc will be bidding on our behalf for a barrel. Merci beaucoup!!

This week marks the start of my week-long annual pilgrimmage to France with the usual suspects, this time to partake in festivities surrounding the annual Hospices de Beaune wine auction that takes place on the third Sunday of every November. Having arrived from Singapore, we drove straight to Beaune, making good time. This year, the weather has turned really cold much earlier than usual and everywhere, the vines stand in forlorn nakedness, awaiting the imminent harsh winter to turn over the 2017 season.

Beaune, from the higher grounds of the Cote de Beaune

The game plan for the Saturday of 18th November 2017 was to participate in the famous dinner of the La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin at the Château du Clos du Vougeot, made possible for us through FICOFI which had arranged for us to be hosted by the affable M. Luc Bouchard of Bouchard Pere et Fils, always a major participant in the proceedings of the auction. Founded in 1934, this organisation, now boasting some 12,000 persons worldwide, serves to promote Burgundy to the world though I feel this is far less imperative now that Burgundy is so highly coveted by wine lovers around the world.

Arriving in black tie in the evening in near-freezing temperatures, the grand Chateau du Clos du Vougeot still appeared youthful and eager to continue its long tradition. About 600 guests had arrived, a significant number having specially flown in from around the world. The Americans were prominent and I’m proud that Singapore was well represented, not just by ourselves, but by the presence of the venerable Dr N K Yong, still looking well in his advanced years. As we gathered in the anteroom before dinner, it was good to bump into M. Pierre-Henry Gagey, owner of Louis Jadot, who still remembered well our dinner with him a couple of years ago at Lameloise.

As the room swelled with guests, canapes and wine were served freely. The 2014 Ch du Clos de Vougeot Macon-Lugny was light-medium with gentle clear citrus and good acidity, somewhat backward in tone, making it an easy drinking wine to pace oneself for the long evening ahead. Short but agreeable. The Cremant de Bourgogne Rosé was more substantial, proffering light tones of rose petals, strawberries and grapefruit, well proportioned with a bit of lift and understated sweetness, not too dry.

When the doors to the dining room were finally thrown open, we were greeted by the sight of long rows of tables packed within, each immaculately laid out for a long night of feasting and wining. In fact, it was similar to a La Pauleé, save for the overall formality. We took our places at a corner that provided us with a vantage view of the entire hall and stage. Our kind host M. Luc Bouchard looked every bit his relaxed and genial self. The dinner opened with great fanfare from the Chevaliers, and I am truly amazed by the great quality of the traditional Burgundian fare that came from the Château’s old kitchen, served by an entire company of highly proficient wait staff who fussed around us within the tight confines with great efficiency. Most importantly, the wines were free flow without one even having to ask for it. Unless stated, the wines are largely labelled under the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. Hence, it is unclear who vinified these wines.

2012 Meursault Santenots 1er. Clear notes of crème de la crème and crisp citrus. Very clean and precise with light floral tones, turning more minerally towards the finish with good linearity of fruit, evoking icing and mint at its finish. Very successful effort.

2014 Marsannay. Clear ruby. Ripe strawberries, cherries and raspberries are evident with traces of ember. Fleshy with good concentration and true pinot character but straightforward.

2005 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Dames Hospitalieres. Served from magnum, this wine is deep in colour and bouquet, showing excellent concentration of dark plums, dark cherries and currants. with overtones of Asian spices, a touch astringent as it finished with dry intensity. Needs more time to settle but should evolve well.

2010 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru. Good colour. Very well integrated and balanced, proffering a generous tone of red fruits, ember and incense framed by smooth tannins and spice at the finish, showing good refinement but lacks true distinction.

And so the feasting went on and on, interrupted on occasion by the necessary speeches (M. Laurent Ponsot taking the trouble to promote the 2017 vintage in English), the famous ban bourguignon that would recur several times, the pat-a-backs amongst existing chevaliers and the induction of new members, the merry-making and the songs, including sing-a-longs, which naturally grew louder and louder through the evening. By the time we left past midnight, the party was still going strong but we’d been properly hammered by the long flight and lack of sleep. Luc Bouchard took pity on us and bade us bon nuit, but not before reminding us that we were to be at his domaine next morning before 1000h to go through a pre-auction tasting before the actual event. This has, indeed, been a most memorable evening that will not be forgotten. Many thanks, FICOFI, and to M. Luc Bouchard for the generous hospitality.

These are notes from a very generous promenade hosted by Dr Kieron Lim on 08 Nov 2017 to celebrate his move to The Mountain. Reserved exclusively for members of Bacchus and special guests that included the great Dr Ngoi, Iggy himself and Timothy Goh, Kieron has pushed the boat out for the line-up, complete with canapés, cheeseboard, exquisite stemware and the professional services of FICOFI’s preferred sommelier Kok Hong. I must say the whites have been lined up in perfect order, while the reds easily sorted themselves out. What a great way to ease into a great evening of wining and dining after a long day…

1996 Champagne Dom Pérignon Enothèque. Light golden in hue, this wine exudes an effortless floral bouquet with a perfumed fragrance that was quite ethereal, leading to delicate tones of clear citrus and pomelo with faint traces of icing, highly subtle in grassy elements and gentle sweet minerals, open and poised with supreme elegance, the fine bubbles and density of fruit producing superb texture and mouthfeel. Still youthful. Outstanding.

2012 Aubert. Fleshy, just a tad forward in nutmeg, crème de la crème, chalky elements with a trace of sweetness, yet remaining gentle with superb integration, highly poised and enticing, glowing inexorably towards a finish of exotic spices. Yet to develop but will be fascinating to track its development.

2010 Peter Michael Belle Côte Chardonnay. Significantly bolder than the preceding Aubert, this wine exudes bold aromas most lovely on the nose, richly endowed in crème and green fruits, opening up well with great definition though still tight with gentle intensity, finishing with traces of mint. Almost like a Corton-Charlemagne. Excellent.

2010 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er. Luscious gold with a mesmerising glow of morning dew, sweet wild flowers and malt. the palate is distinctly minerally there is a rich tone of clear citrus beneath the sheen of icing and great acidity that imparted a touch of crispness, highly harmonious, finishing with excellent linearity. Superb.

2007 Domaine Georges Comte de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er. Delicious abundance of red fruits and red cherries, medium-full with further notes of earth and camphor, lovely in intensity and acidity, finishing well on a note of mint but not entirely distinctive on the whole.

2007 Domaine Faiveley Échezeaux Grand Cru. Very correct in pinot tint with a lovely fragrance, awashed in red fruits of superb freshness and acidity with further notes of camphor and earth. Highly delicious and attractive, showing great character. Trumps the preceding Comte de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er of the same vintage by some margin.

2009 Christophe Roumier Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand Cru. Notes of pepper, Asian spices and dry red fruits dominate on the nose, displaying great sophistication on the palate where its glorious fruit has begun developing early secondary nuances of cedar, earth and ember, replete with silky tannins and sublime acidity that confer great elegance and finesse, superbly integrated, just a tad dry at the finish. Quite glorious.

2001 Domaine Georges Comte de Vogüé Musigny Grand Cru. Great color. Beautifully delicate on the nose where red fruits, dark cherries and rose petals dominate with overtones of incense, displaying some early complexity on the open palate with a deep core of tangerines amidst some earthiness, gentle and seamless, suffused with sublime acidity and lovely tension that lingered on and on  long after the wine had left the palate. A complete wine.

These are faint recollections of a most memorable outing of Bacchus on 23 March 2017 at Tunglok Signatures, Orchard Parade Hotel, for all the wrong reasons. Thinking that we should set the bar higher henceforth, we decided to precede dinner with a free-for-all promenade a la FICOFI style. Packed into a tiny private room (in spite of me having borrowed Dr Ngoi’s name), we decided to walk around the table tasting every wine available, the restaurant offering only miserable plates of appetitisers. In no time at all, we were hopelessly inebriated such that even those sitting outside in the main hall could hear the mayhem within. By the time we sat down for dinner proper with an outstanding set of wines based on the theme of Morey-Saint-Denis Grand Cru, we were already terribly drunk. A few of us began deconstructing their main courses and dessert eaten earlier right on the table itself, whilst another few just barely  managed to keep the lid down until they had staggered to the toilet. The rest couldn’t remember how they reached home. Not surprisingly, my recollection of the wines drunk was vague. But here’s the lot…

2010 Valentin Zusslin Pfingstberg Grand Cru. Bouquet of classic diesel fumes, absolutely intoxicating, quite full and generous in green fruits and yellow citrus stuffed with chalky minerals, developing fine tension across the palate. Excellent.

2012 Joseph Drouhin Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. Great nose of pineapples and tropical fruits, medium-bodied and soft, dry and resinous, displaying good presence and acidity, finishing well with subdued intensity. Lovely.

2002 Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal. Luscious golden hue with lovely tones of earth and some yeasty pungency, generous in tangerines and yellow citrus against a backdrop of dry ferrous minerals, finishing well with traces of sweet.

2011 William Fevre Le Clos Chablis Grand Cru. Closed, proffering only faint traces of raw nutmeg, similarly underwhelming on the medium palate where chalky tones dominate with a bit of mint and creaminess. Going through an awkward stage.

2012 Aubert. Good concentration of white fruits amidst stern minerals with overtones of creme de la crème and paraffin, medium-bodied, nicely rounded with quiet intensity, a little short at its finish. Would have been difficult to place if tasted blind.

2012 Ch Pape Clement blanc. Generous in icing, licorice and vanilla, displaying good concentration and depth but unresolved on the mid-palate, finishing a little short.

2014 Beaux Freres Willamette Valley pinot noir. Intense bouquet of rose petals, quite lovely, suffused with raspberries and bright cherries on the palate, rather full with subtle acidity, coming across with a very clean feel, finishing with stern minerals. Very attractive.

2012 Cristom Vineyards Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley “Eileen Vineyard” pinot noir. Deep red with an abundance of raspberries, dark roses and redcurrants with traces of earth and vanilla, very fine in depth and acidity, displaying good linearity through to its finish. Excellent.

Dinner of Morey Saint-Denis Grand Cru:

2002 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru (courtesy of Pipin). Fairly evolved in color, evoking lovely concentration of red fruits with a delicate core of tangerines, open and elegant, just a tad short but its feminine poise is quite irresistible.

2005 Domaine Georges Comtes De Vogue Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru (courtesy of Victor). Notably darker in tone and colour which is a hallmark of this esteemed producer, displaying wonderful depth of glorious fruit with a delicate pungency, nicely open, layered with complex tangerines at its core, exuding complex wondrous aromas throughout the whole evening. Superb!

1996 Domaine Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche Grand Cru (courtesy of Andre). Well evolved, very open and highly seamless, still showing superbly with good concentration of ripe strawberries and red fruits with overtones of grapefruit that produced a lovely tensile tone across the palate. Excellent.

1999 Domaine Hubert Lignier Clos de La Roche Grand Cru (courtesy of David Tan). Showing good evolution as well though clearly a wine that is richer and deeper than the preceding 1996, proffering vanilla with lovely red fruits, currants and tangerines, notably darker in tone with a quiet intensity, finishing with great linearity and persistence. Excellent.

2006 Louis Jadot Clos Saint Denis Grand Cru (courtesy of KP). Good color, very correct in its pinot tone (as always with great domaine/negociant), displaying great acidity and concentration of fruit with a lovely subtle intensity, still youthful with traces of vanilla, very clean and crisp in its finish. Excellent.

2006 Domaine Dujac Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru (courtesy of Kieron). Lovely gentle nose., very beautiful in its presentation of glorious rose petals and raspberries with rich tones of camphor, poised with subtle intensity and concentration, still showing traces of vanilla, yet to peak.

2002 Domaine Dujac Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru (courtesy of LF). Beautifully crafted, utterly seamless and beguiling in its gentle intensity with lovely complex of ripe red cherries, strawberries and rose floral, absolutely elegant, developing seemingly at a glacial pace. Great stuff.

2001 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart Grand Cru (courtesy of David Ong). Showing some vermillion, this wine is beautifully poised with an elegant spread of evolved red fruits and cherries with a deep core of orangey fruit, slightly plummy, seamless with excellent acidity, producing good tone and tension across the palate, utterly feminine. Excellent.

2002 Domaine du Clos de Tart Clos de Tart Grand Cru. Very similar in character to the 2001 but reaping the advantages of a stellar vintage, showing better ripeness and definition of red fruits and cherries with a much deeper core of delicate tangerines, equally seamless and highly elegant as well but clearly more opulent and delicious. Superb, and will hold for many more years.

2015 Donnhoff Kreuznacher Krotenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett (courtesy of MH) at Mr Thu’s residence, 02 Oct 2017. Gentle aromas of peaches and melons with good presence on the palate, oozing controlled sweetness with a light touch, tapering to a long cool finish. Very fine.

1975 Macarini Brunate Barolo (courtesy of LF) at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Bouquet of gentle aged tangerines and soft rose petals, open and seamless, still retaining good acidity, fleshing out well though the fruit has begun to recede, still holding up pretty well but short. Time to drink up.

2006 Robert Arnoux Echezeaux (courtesy of Hsiang Sui) at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Delicious aromas of cherries, red fruits and strawberries with a deeper vein of darker fruit on the palate, opening up well with excellent presence amidst a tinge of saline minerals, never overbearing. Very fine.

2008 Domaine Coche-Dury Auxey-Duresses (courtesy of Vic) at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Good color with just a hint of evolution, rather reticent, though the palate is open with red fruits and light raspberries amidst a hint of clear citrus, producng some attractive deftness, very well balanced and fleshy with good tone but lacking in opulence. Very fine.

2004 Weingut Fritz Haag Brauneberger Wehlenur Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkap at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Intoxicating bouquet of diesel fumes amidst delicate tones of peaches, melons and other tropical fruits, highly aromatic, its outstanding concentration and sublime acidity producing superb mouthfeel. Delicious and lengthy. Still youthful. Outstanding.

1998 Gaja Barbaresco (courtesy of LF) at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Shy at first, becoming more profusely aromatic in dark cherries and redcurrants. Medium-full, still rather tight with crisp acidity, turning slightly stern towards the finish.

1996 Domaine Georges Comte de Vogue Musigny Grand Cru (courtesy of MH), at Otto Ristorante, 03 Oct 2017. Very correct in its pinot tint with intoxicating beauty, proffering ripe cherries and red fruits with earthy tones, opening up beautifully with fabulous intensity and great sublime acidity, producing further lifted plummy notes, displaying great balance and verve. A complete wine, still with decades of life ahead. Outstanding.

2011 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St Jacques 1er, popped and poured at Yan, National Gallery Singapore, on 05 Oct 2017. Very correct in its pinot tint, displaying an abundance of camphor, cherries and dark strawberries with a trace of earthiness from its saline minerals, showing good purity and intensity with lovely acidity, its lack of structure conferring a distinct feminity.

1982 Ch Branaire-Ducru (courtesy of LF) at Yan, National Gallery Singapore, on 05 Oct 2017. Highly delicious aromas of mature dark berries, glowing with beautiful earthy tones, rounded and feminine, opening up well with attractive glowing pungency and subtle acidity though there was a distinct fade-off towards the back palate, ending short.

1982 Ch Leoville Poyferre (courtesy of LF) at Yan, National Gallery Singapore, on 05 Oct 2017. Considerably broader and deeper in bouquet compared with the preceding Branaire-Ducru, glowing in red fruits with an attractive earthy pungency glowing red fruits, more minerally on the palate where it imparted a distinct ferric tone with lovely acidity, producing excellent mouthfeel.

1982 Ch Beychevelle (courtesy of LF) at Yan, National Gallery Singapore, on 05 Oct 2017. Brilliant burst of violets, dark fruits, spice, menthol and vanilla on the bouquet led to a great deep vein of redcurrants and dark fruits on the palate, oozing with sweet dark tannins and fine acidity, well-evolved with further notes of tangerines, still holding well at its peak. Excellent.

2005 J P Belle-Terroir, at the Singapore Recreation Club, 11 Oct 2017. Made by the legendary Chris Ringland, it seems, with its characteristic rich smooth opulence, loaded with mocha, vanilla and dark ripe plummy fruit with mild overtones of prunes and licorice and an after note of ember, displaying good linearity all through to its lengthy finish.

2000 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er, courtesy of Kieron at his residence, 13 Oct 2017. Minerally, well-balanced and deft with an alluring lightness, displaying notes of aged citrus and some caramel, a bit short.

2008 Domaine Faiveley Latriceres-Chambertin Grand Cru, courtesy of Kieron at his residence, 13 Oct 2017. Lovely notes of fresh cherries and red fruits with a prominent base of earth and saline minerals, tinged with camphor. Drinking well, but I fancy Faiveley’s latter-day Latriceres is far better than those of last decade.

2013 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Goldkap, a half-bottle courtesy of Kieron at his residence, 13 Oct 2017. Great abundance of  tropical fruits and lychees with an after note of burnt cider, all laid out with lovely freshness and gorgeous supple acidity, yet to develop but I’d imagine this will turn out very well in another 7-8 years.

2005 Ch Du Tertre, popped and poured at Otto Ristorante, 17 Oct 2017. Dark cherries, raspberries and sweet dark currants dominate on the nose with good levels of ripeness, slightly assertive at first, gradually gaining in richness and velvety textures over time, developing supple tannins with lovely acidity, more plummy and feminine over time. Very fine.

2004 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, popped and poured over a dimsum lunch at Jade Palace, 18 Oct 2017. This wine exudes a deep minerally glow amidst luscious crisp citrus and exotic Asian spices, developing more chalky elements over time. I’ve not had Leeuwin Estate chardonnay aged beyond ten years but this wine is still remarkably youthful, displaying great vigour and verve, highly burgundian, not unlike a Chassagne-Montrachet.

2001 Ch Musar, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Well evolved in colour with prominent minty tones while red fruits and aged plums fill the palate with overtones of camphor, showing  very fine presence and acidity, still quite full. Very fine.

2012 Podernuovo A Palazzine, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Medium-full, oozing with deep dark fruits and black currants with fine acidity, very good in concentration, dryish with splashes of spice.

2010 Podernuovo A Palazzine, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. A 100% cabernet franc, this wine was closed, revealing only glimpses of blueberries and dark currants on the nose and palate, rounded with good acidity though streamlined in profile, slightly racy.

2013 Petrolo Galatrona, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. A wine of great concentration, acidity and intensity, loaded with fresh dark cherries though without much opulence, dryish in texture and finish.

2013 Petrolo Campo Lusso, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Dark, earthy and gravelly, quite full and spicy, structured with stern minerals that imparted a certain austerity at the finish.

2012 Peccavi chardonnay, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Not officially listed at this event but, knowing that Peccavi makes a gorgeous chardonnay, I asked for it and the rep duly reached below the table. I wasn’t disappointed. A lovely gentle floral bouquet of subtle complexity greeted the nose, opening up with generous tones of white flowers, delicate citrus, crème and earthy minerals amidst great acidity that produced superb tension and excellent mouthfeel, balanced with great ease and verve. Almost sublime. Buy.

2007 Avignonesi Desiderio Merlot, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Powerful medicinal tones with licorice and a hint of mint, almost port-like, rather full, displaying good weight and layering with subtle acidity.

2015 Two Hands Sexy Beast Cabernet Sauvignon, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Generous in sweet red fruits, currants and ripe wild berries of excellent concentration, intensity and structure, not overwhelming, surprisingly approachable, rounded with a deep minerally streak, finishing with splashes of spice.

2015 Cullen Diana Madeline, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Notes of plums and tea leaves with a fair degree of earthiness, medium-bodied, surprisingly open with good delicacy, displaying fine concentration, subtlety and acidity.

2014 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Big racy wine, displaying good levels of ripeness, cedar and earth, quite full with fine acidity, not too tight but unsettled at this early stage.

2013 Mas de Daumas Gassac rouge, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. This wine from Languedoc Rousillon has a delicious open bouquet of dark berries and mushrooms, medium-full, showing very good concentration and linearity with very fine acidity and attractive subtlety at the finish.

2006 Ch Nenin, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Delicious ripe berries, exuding lovely colour and freshness with good detailand some early complexity, plush and slightly racy, finishing wellon a minty note.

2016 Ch Valandraud, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Intense bouquet, leading to notes of dark berries, red fruits, dark plums and some earth on the palate, surprisingly open with subtle acidity and sophisticated tannins, very well-balanced.

2009 Ch Siran, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Generous aromas of dark fruits, earth and undergrowth, seamlessly rounded with ripe dark berries, subtly structured with smooth sweet tannins, superbly balanced. Good stuff.

2011 Ch Valandraud, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Dark inky red with a deep bouquet of ripe dark berries, rather full and rounded with earthy tones and sublime acidity that burned with lively intensity, finishing with just a hint of green.

2009 Les Trois Maria, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. From the Cotes de Rousillon Villages,  this wine exudes a glorious deep purple with a stunning brilliance, delicious in ripe wild berries and dark currants amidst attractive earthy tones, stuffed with great presence and acidity, finishing with exciting tannins. A great buy that would belong to any table.

2010 Casanova di Neri Pietra Donice, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Excellent fullness, minty with notes of licorice and stern earthy minerals.

2013 Tua Rita Redigraffi, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Deep in red fruits, rather intense and concentrated, stuffed with exciting tannins with traces of burnt and hot stones, a bit too assertive now. Good potential ahead for those who like their reds full on.

2013 Ridge Monte Bello, at the Matter Of Taste event, Grand Hyatt Singapore, 21 Oct 2017. Rich in redcurrants and ripe berries. Bright, open and plummy with a deeper streak of tangerines, quite open, finishing with overtones of tobacco leaves and cedar. Lovely potential.

2013 Brokenwood Wade Block 2 Shiraz, tasted at Wine Fiesta, 28 Oct 2017, in ambient temperatures that are far too warm. Very bright tones of red fruits and currants with fruit that is typically warm, ripe and assertive, almost astringent on the back palate, lacking depth, finishing with generous splashes of licorice, spice and mint.

The opportunity came my way to taste a vertical of Château Palmer organised by The Vintage Club at the Capella Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore, on 25 Oct 2017 with the chateau’s Brand Ambassador M. Damien Grelat in attendance. We began with a pre-dinner tasting promenade of eight vintages between 2000 and 2012, followed by a delectable 5-course Chinese dinner at the hotel’s superb restaurant Cassia, where the 2000 and 2008 vintages were re-visited, along with the estate’s second label Alter Ego 2010 (truly excellent) and 2011. All wines are ex-château. All in all, a wonderful evening.

2015 G de Château Guiraud. Pale straw colour, exuding a minerally bouquet with saline notes along with lifted tones of clear morning dew, refreshing trace of sweetness, slightly crisp, tapering to a subdued finish. Drinking well.

2011 Alter Ego de Palmer. Bright purple with pleasant aromatics, displaying good concentration of red fruits and red currants with good acidity, but tight and tannic, shorn of fat.

2010 Alter Ego de Palmer. Deep dark purple with delicious aromas of sweet red fruits, showcasing a palate of ripe dark berries and redcurrants, excellent in breadth and depth with fine detail and lovely velvety intensity, culminating in a lengthy finish. Almost voluptuous. Better than one or two of the grand vin below!!Excellent stuff and perhaps not surprising, for it seemed 50% of Palmer’s crop went into its second label for this vintage, making it almost a dead ringer for the grand vin. Pity we didn’t have the 2010 Château Palmer on hand to compare with.

2012 Château Palmer. Deep crimson, exuding dark berries and blueberries with a feminine fragrance, rounded and fleshy on the palate with a warm plummy tone though not opulent at this early stage, displaying good acidity on a minerally bed, very well textured, glowing with biting intensity within its detailed tannin structure, finishing with good length. Great potential here. Excellent.

2011 Château Palmer. Deep purple. Plenty of dark fruits and blackberries that exuded a sweet lovely fragrance but less expressive on the gentle palate where the fruit is shy, shutting down rather quickly in the glass. Somewhat dour in spite of its good minerality and quiet acidity. An introvert.

2008 Château Palmer. Bright purple, proffering effusive aromas of fresh dark roses and dark currants with a sweet floral fragrance, very lovely. Medium-full, supple and fleshy, highly approachable with understated acidity and subtle tannins, showing good detail but a tad short. Tasted again at dinner where it seemed more intense and velvety but still short with a tangible ceiling to its scope and breadth. Highly promising, nevertheless.

2007 Château Palmer. Deep purple with attractive dark cherries, raspberries and some very attractive earthiness replete with traces of pungency on the nose though the palate is somewhat lean, displaying good integration with understated acidity, evoking a mild gentle intensity towards the finish. Already ten years post-vintage, this is good to go with food now.

2006 Château Palmer. More developed on the nose than any of the preceding wines, quite lovely and perfumed with generous attractive plummy tones. Quite consistent as well on the palate where some early secondary development is evident, highly supple and fleshy with good concentration and detail, developing an attractive mild intensity with a dash of green towards the finish. Preferable to the 2007.

2005 Château Palmer. Deep dark purple. Immediately glorious on the nose – sensuous, deep and complex, almost seductive in its gentle plummy glow. Medium-full with a slight tarry quality, richly opulent and layered, glowing with a lovely arching intensity across the palate where loads of ripe dark fruit lay beneath, barely evolving, turning just a tad stern at the back palate from the complex minerals, finishing with superb length. Truly outstanding but won’t be ready for at least another decade. Don’t waste it.

2004 Château Palmer. Deep dark purple as well, but with such lovely fragrance of sweet dark cherries and dark roses, deeply inviting, rounded with warm ripe fruit and understated minerals that produced an attractive seamless intensity, displaying excellent presence and good detailed tannin structure. A classic claret. Some would bemoan the lack of true distinction for the clarets of 2004 in that they all seem to taste similar but I’d be happy to enjoy them now over the next couple of decades.

2000 Château Palmer. Very deep purple, rounded with the hallowed glow of a claret approaching tertiary development, utterly seamless with great succulence and sublime acidity, teasing the palate with glorious fleeting intensity, revealing understated tannin structure with great detail and linearity, culminating in a superlative finish. I had just drunk plenty of 2000 Château Palmer over the past two days prior to this evening’s tasting but I must say this present sample is the best: much fresher and more detailed, possessing absolute precision. On this evidence, the 2000 has surpassed the 1999. Glorious!

The renowned wine writer Eric Riewer, formerly Director of Wine at Gault & Millot, concluded his visit to Singapore with an insightful lecture on wine fraud at the Intercontinental Hotel, Singapore, on 23 Oct 2017. Emphasising that these confidence tricksters never served any bad wine even if they were fake, Eric proceeded to conduct a blinded tasting over dinner at the hotel’s renowned restaurant Man Fu Yuan, where the wines declared were three Burgundy Grand Cru whites (all from the same producer), four Pauillac reds and two Sauternes. We had to identify each vintage and, if possible, each wine itself. Before we began, we helped ourselves to a liberal flow of the 2006 Comtes de Champagne Taittinger Blanc de Blancs, rather shy on the nose, offering just faint traces of white flowers and crème, though there is a superb presence of crystalline minerals and clear crisp citrus on the palate with an after note of pomelo and bitter lemon, somewhat feminine in demeanour. An excellent start. The blinded wines were revealed only at the end of dinner, but I will detail each of them in the order served.

The first white displayed attractive floral aromas with superb creme de la crème on the nose that grew in exuberance over time, rather minerally on the palate but beautifully layered with great opulence and subtle acidity at the sides, producing some lovely intensity and superb mouthfeel though undoubtedly youthful, yet to develop secondary characteristics. Only a Puligny-Montrachet is capable of such sublimity in its youth and it must be Bouchard, judging from the general delicacy in color and feel. I guessed 2010 Bouchard Bâtard-Montrachet. Close, for it turned out to be the 2009 Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru.

The second white displayed a slightly heavier tint of color and hue, appropriately more evolved on the nose and sweeter with more floral characters, deeper as well on the palate where it was rather minerally, smooth and vibrant with plenty of verve but very well behaved, displaying excellent purity though its finish was a bit short. I thought it was a Chevalier but it was the 2005 Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and, in fact, some people got it correct.

The third white proffered highly enticing floral aromas, displaying great seamless integration between fruit and minerals, superbly balanced and harmonious, almost ethereal, bright and lively but poised with absolute control, still youthful. We took a vote whilst still blinded and almost everyone was unanimous in declaring this third white to have the greatest potential. Coming after the first two wines, this surely must be Montrachet itself, I thought. But no….a 2009 Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils Meursault Les Perrières 1er!!! This was when Eric doubled up as wine fraudster. Remember they are, first and foremost, confidence tricksters? Having served up two genuine superb whites, no one would have doubted if the label on the third wine had read Montrachet Grand Cru and one could have easily unloaded cases of this. A real lesson learnt here and a real revelation.

From there, we moved on to the flight of Pauillac, the first of which was deep in colour with lifted aromas of dark currants and abundant dark berries and black fruits, open and rounded on the palate with good definition, developing more body with time, just a tad feminine in its suppleness with traces of green. I thought a 2000 Pichon Lalande, though it was a 2006 Ch Pontet Canet. Really very fine.

The second Pauillac showed some early evolution in colour, proffering dark plummy fruit on the nose with lifted tobacco notes and mushrooms, yielding excellent definition on the open palate with good intensity and presence though still seemingly youthful, on the verge of secondary development. I thought a 1996 Lynch Bages, but it was the 2005 Ch Clerc Milon, truly an estate that has emerged from the shadow of its godfather Mouton Rothschild.

The third Pauillac was clearly a much older wine, well evolved in colour with an attractive earthy pungency, open and utterly seamless with overtones of Chinese tea leaves, infinitely charming, almost feminine, just a tad short in its autumnal quality. Beautiful. A 1985 Mouton Rothschild? Well, it wasn’t even a Pauillac, but a 1966 Saint-Julien! This goes to prove the power of suggestion: once implanted in one’s mind, it can influence and distort one’s perception and even sense of logic without one even realising it.

The last red was also clearly well evolved with a trace of richness in colour, delicious with a bit of minty port-like character on the palate, finishing well with sweet melted tannins. Most intriguing. I was totally flummoxed. So was everyone. It turned out to be the same 1966 Saint-Julien adulterated with a dash of Quinta do Noval vintage port! Like an old man propped up with anabolic steroids. Again, this exercise serves to demonstrate how easy it is to make a fake wine and to gain the confidence of others. Another lesson learnt is really how good the so-called lesser estates can be especially in good vintages without busting the wallet.

Finally, the Sauternes. The first yielded great concentration of nectarine, peaches and apricot, fabulous in intensity with superb acidity that combined to produce a stellar wine of great freshness, undoubtedly still primal. Definitely a d’Yquem…the 2005 Ch d’Yquem, no less. The last wine was deep golden, indicating significant bottle age, proffering luscious nectarine, honeysuckle and marmalade with a distinct aged quality, the fruit set somewhat backward though there was more complexity than the preceding d’Yquem. I had drunk too much that night to think properly. A Tokay? It was the 1996 Ch de Farques, an inexpensive Sauternes (but also made by Lur Saluces of d’Yquem at that time) that can easily pass off for something far more costly, proving that top quality lurks everywhere if only one knows where to look. This had been a most outstanding and educational evening. More of these please, FICOFI.

Dr and Mrs Wang Kuo Weng hosted yet another dinner again on 21 Oct 2017, this time at the beautifully anointed Dining Room of the Raffles Town Club Singapore. KW was keen to explore wines from vintages overshadowed by the great years of 2000 and 2005, which meant we’d drink between 2001-2004. Not really a cohesive theme, but who cares when there is good wine to be drunk and someone else is paying for dinner? Mrs Wang, as always, had gone the usual length to customise the dinner menu and I must say the food was truly excellent.

We began with a pair of 2014 Domaine Chateau de Meursault Meursault Les Charmes-Dessus 1er to go with the generous platter of cold prawns, oysters, mussels and crayfish. Displaying a minerally tone with excellent concentration of clear citrus, this wine was a bit closed initially, though it opened up well over the course of dinner, turning more fleshy and creamier with good definition, developing a broad expanse of rich tropical fruits with fabulous intensity, its fine acidity adding immeasurably to the freshness without ever being too cutting.

The reds were drunk in two flights. The 2004 Ch Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande took quite some time to open up, revealing delicious aromas of dense dark berries and currants, quite full on the palate with  excellent ripeness of fruit tinged with traces of earth, undoubtedly feminine in character and proportion, finishing with tight svelte tannins but never jarring in any way. Quite a classic claret, as is the case with many of the Left Bank estates of that vintage. The 2003 Ch Bellevue Mondotte (courtesy of WKW and double decanted) was very ripe and pruny on the nose, betraying the excessive heat of that year where the Right Bank bore the brunt of it. The wine has already entered into secondary development on the palate, medium-bodied and supple, suitably expansive with some cedar, mint and a hint of licorice but, like most 2003s, it faded alarmingly towards the finish.

We began the second flight with the 2002 Ch La Mission Haut-Brion (courtesy of Hean Meng, double decanted as well). Initially closed with a mild bottle stink which, thankfully, blew off to reveal aromas of ripe dark berries, the wine medium-full, slightly monolithic with a rustic presence characteristic of this estate, finishing with violets and dark currants but missing in the opulence and layering of the best vintages in spite of its good concentration. The best, as usual, was saved for last, a 2001 Ch Cheval Blanc (courtesy of WKW, double decanted in advance) that was shy at first, just faintly delicious in spite of the deep purple that promised an abundance of fruit beneath though its attack on the palate was rather minerally with a lovely expanse, layered with ripe berries and dark cherries, poised with great elegance and finesse. A feminine beauty still in its adolescence that should blossom beautifully at its peak maturity another decade on, bringing the evening to a lovely conclusion. Many thanks again, Dr & Mrs Wang and to HM as well.