Ric's Wine Journal

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.

These are short notes from a very small impromptu tasting that was part of a lecture by renowned wine expert Eric Riewer, organised by FICOFI, at the Four Seasons, Singapore, on 22 Oct 2017. Directed at those already with a keen interest in wine, Eric, who has forty years of experience tasting and writing for Gault & Millot (of which he was Director of Wines) and Decanter magazines, took us through the technicalities of wine tasting and, more interestingly, how he rates wine. Whilst acknowledging that actual tasting notes matter more than scores, Eric favours the 20-point scale. We were made to taste a series of wines blinded and to rate them. I must say Eric and myself are pretty conservative in our scores, and I certainly preferred that approach rather than the outright exuberance that some wine writers tend to favour.

2007 Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal. Generous in clear citrus and fresh morning dew, producing a very clean feel on the palate with lovely fullness and excellent subtle acidity, turning more yeasty and minerally over time with overtones of pears and apricot, beautifully balanced and layered with good definition, tapering to a gentle minerally finish that is slightly steely, yet to produce tertiary characters. Excellent now, but needs further bottle age.

2010 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru. Shut initially, though it gradually opened up well with an effusive bouquet of sweet floral aromas and ripe citrus with traces of crème, very lovely on the palate as well with excellent layering, presence and acidity, its dryish minerally tone announcing, without doubt, its Puligny origin, exuding a mild intensity as it tapered to a long minerally finish. Yet to develop significant complexity. Excellent, but a waste to pop now.

2004 Pavillon Blanc du Margaux. Closed, just displaying faint traces of white flowers with a hint of sweetness, rather backward and reductive on the palate where further notes of icing, apricot and cinnamon are discernible amidst grainy textures, finishing on a long minty note of raw nutmeg. Regrettably uninvolving, though there were some who liked it.

2009 Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils Beaune-Greves Vigne de L’enfant Jesus. Good colour. The bouquet is absolutely lovely, filled with an abundance of red cherries and rose petals, quite beguiling, more of the same with further notes of camphor on the palate supported by saline minerals, displaying great typicity and presence, very harmonious, finishing well but turning a little soft towards the end, lacking structure. Nevertheless, this is a very fine drop, almost profound.

2000 Château Palmer. Powerful glow of dark plums, ripe dark currants and black berries that literally leapt from the glass, complex and enticing, utterly seamless between its fleshy plush fruit, sublime acidity and superb velvety tannins, distinctly feminine though it needs more precision at the finish. I maintain that the 1999 Ch Palmer is still the better wine, layered with more character and detail.

1995 Château d’Yquem. Effusive aromas of nectarine and aged apricot shrouded within overtones of preserved tropical fruit, its acidity still fresh, producing lovely intensity and tension across the palate that left indelible impressions of marmalade and preserved orange skins. Probably at its peak and should hold.

After the event, I joined Eric, Nicolas and CW for a late dinner over some comfort food at the ever-reliable Jade Palace, where we had more wine:

2006 Vieux Château Certan. Good color, open on the nose and palate with the distinctive Pomerol signature of soy-like elements and dense dark fruits that blend seamlessly with well-managed tannins and fine acidity, medium-full, yielding good definition, just a tad spicy towards the finish.

2014 Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet Clos des Cailleret 1er. Whereas this fabulous monopole used to be utterly sublime just earlier this year, it appears to have shut, proffering only faint citrus. Some icing, soft subtle fruit and minerals are present on the medium-bodied palate, suffused with excellent acidity but this wine appears to have retreated into its shell. If you have managed to obtain any, please let them rest for at least 8-10 years post vintage.

2011 Pavillon Blanc du Margaux. Lively with a great abundance of green fruits, showing good vibrancy and some early complexity with traces of vanilla still present, absolutely lovely in its striking freshness with further notes of green mint and cane sugar, building up inexorably in intensity towards a climatic burst of complex floral tones. Truly a revelation. Gorgeous!

2014 Weingut Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Spatlese. This producer never disappoints, proffering a glorious bouquet of diesel fumes, rich tropical fruits and complex minerals, superbly supple in its intensity of flavours with its fruit and minerals presented in great definition and wonderful depth. Outstanding.

FICOFI kept up its series of impromptu events in Singapore with a superb masterclass on Old World syrah pitted against Australian shiraz, conducted by Michael Hill Smith, M.W. who is no stranger to experienced oenophiles. Having attained his Master of Wine way back in 1988, he has gone on to helm his own winery – Shaw & Smith of the Adelaide Hills, South Australia – in addition to keeping busy with his countless classes and wine publications. Indeed, Michael charmed the small group at the Four Seasons Hotel, 13 October 2017, with his vast knowledge and hands-on experience with Rhone wines and Aussie shiraz, all delivered in his clear, authoritative yet affable and self-deprecating manner. FICOFI had laid on a generous vertical of various well-known Rhone producers while the shiraz flag was flown by three examples of Michael’s own wine, though it was all rather one-sided in favour of Old World syrah, hardly representative of the many different styles of Aussie shiraz. Nevertheless, there was already too much wine to go around and certainly nobody is complaining when there were generous refills of such great stuff, ensuring that we were all happily in La-La Land (literally!!) by the time we ended some two hours later.

As usual, we began with a champagne aperitif, the 2007 Delamotte Blanc de Blancs on this occasion displaying very good presence of clear citrus and lime with some chalk at the sides, very fine and delicate with good detail. A lovely start. The first flight of syrah came from the same producer, same hill and same vintage, offering us the opportunity to appreciate purely site differences. The famous house of Chapoutier is both negociant as well as winemaker, owning some 26 ha of Hermitage alone, all 100% biodynamically farmed and de-stemmed, favouring single varietals without any blending for their top labels. Derived from one of the very best plots at the top of Hermitage hill right next to the famous chapel, the 2011 Maison M Chapoutier Ermitage L’Ermite, showed a slightly evolved purple, exuding sweet dark cherries and raspberries on the nose, highly perfumed but imbued with more earthiness as well compared with the Le Pavillon below. Very rich on the palate with superb depth amidst a tinge of forest floor supported by firm earthy minerals and framed by very fine-grained tannins, fresh and bright, culminating in a long minty finish. Excellent.

In comparison, the 2011 Maison M Chapoutier Le Pavillon was brilliant purple, appreciably a bigger wine than the preceding L’Ermite, displaying superb depth of dark cherries and raspberries with a trace of lifted tangerines on the nose whilst a generous abundance of fruit is laid on the palate, more minerally and robust, tight with some brazen intensity and crisp acidity at the edges, filled with overtones of vanilla, medicinal traces and green elements that contribute towards a stern demeanour. Excellent and should surpass the L’Ermite in time to come though the latter is more approachable now.

Next came a generous trio of Jaboulet’s Hermitage La Chapelle that spanned twenty years, spaced ten years apart. The 2009 Paul Aine Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle, coming from a very warm dry vintage, was essentially closed on the nose although some sweet dark fruits were discernible. On the palate, though, this wine was absolutely singing, imbued with bright red fruits of great freshness and purity with very lovely acidity, framed by supple chewy tannins, beautifully seamless though still primal, finishing with superb linearity. Excellent.

The 1999 Paul Aine Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle, hailing from a terrific vintage, has already undergone some evolution in color, offering earth, spice and cedar with some leathery notes amidst traces of port, quite full with raspberries and dark currants, rounded with fine subtle acidity and gentle tannins. Drinking well but yet to fully mature. To me, the 1989 Paul Aine Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle was the wine of the night. Still showing an impressive deep dark purple from a ripe vintage, this wine possesses a highly lifted bouquet filled with great tertiary character, open with superb presence and richness, exuding quiet complexity and power with further notes of mint, forest floor and earth, full of finesse and great subtlety. Truly beautiful.

From there, we moved on to a flight of Cote-Rotie wines from Guigal, the famous so-called La-La series of single vineyard syrah. The 2011 Domaine E Guigal Cote-Rotie La Landonne appeared fabulously rich and dark with an impressive glossy sheen, full, masculine and primal, layered with an abundance of dark plums and dark currants that was beginning to open up with great acidity and linearity throughout its wonderful length. In contrast, the 2011 Domaine E Guigal Cote-Rotie La Mouline, coming from a single hectare of the Cote Blanc, proffered a generous swathe of sweet dark fruits with great velvety tannins, very smooth rich and sumptuous with plenty of toasty characters and gravelly earthiness, open and highly supple with excellent linearity. Truly a dark elegant beauty. It was a pity the 2003 Domaine E Guigal Cote-Rotie La Turque wasn’t of the same vintage but one must be grateful for any opportunity to taste any of these. Also displaying a dark glossy sheen, this wine is highly aromatic with a glorious tone of dark ripe berries and black currants with an exciting tangerine core, producing fabulous intensity and grip on the palate, still tight and still cloaked in some vanilla. Great stuff. While that was the order listed, Michael opined that he’d have preferred to taste the Guigal wines in reverse order, starting with the older vintage of La Turque, followed by La Mouline with its more elegant minerality, then the La Ladonne, supposedly the most robust due to its 100% syrah makeup.

We moved to a trio of South Australian shiraz for the final flight, all coming from Michael’s winery based at the Adelaide Hills, a cool climate region with an elevation of about 400 feet. The 2015 Shaw & Smith Shiraz Adelaide Hills was filled generous ripe dark fruits and dark berries with traces of rice wine and some earthiness, covering the palate with excellent fullness and integration, beautifully rounded and highly approachable in spite of its youth, not at all assertive, culminating in a long minty finish. In comparison, the 2009 Shaw & Smith Shiraz Adelaide Hills was similarly fulsome, recalling ripe dark plums with a lovely expanse of warm ripe fruit supported by a minerally floor with some attractive earthiness, the additional years in bottle conferring greater elegance, roundedness and superb integration. Truly a wine of great potential. And, finally, there was the 2014 Shaw & Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz. Having lived in Adelaide for a year and visited the Adelaide Hills many times, I can tell you the Balhannah area is a lovely site, close to Bridgewater and the charming German village of Hanhdorf, en route to the Barossa Valley (if you are planning to enter via Lyndoch). This single vineyard shiraz offered a prominent note of malt and steamed rice on top of the generous presence of ripe dark berries, full but nicely rounded, its freshness, succulence and great acidity conjuring up a superb mouthfeel, finishing with a gentle trace of spice. The choice of these cool-climate shiraz, which are more elegant than the bolder examples of ripe and highly extracted warm Barossa shiraz, was certainly most apt as the northern Rhone syrah that we’d just gone through come from cooler climates as well. And, truth be told, if I’d been blinded, I certainly wouldn’t have known these were all Aussie shiraz, such was the quality and sheer sophistication on display here, bringing the educational evening to a most satisfying conclusion.

These are notes from an entire evening of New World wines at Yan, National Gallery Singapore, on 08 Aug 2017. Many of these are still youthful, fresh and big even after many years of bottle age.

2011 Champagne Marquet La Grande Ruelle. Not a New World, but who is complaining when such intense notes of ripe citrus and powerful yeasty tones seduce the senses with a rich presence of peaches, lime and clear citrus, attractively open and not too dry. Quite excellent.

2010 Opus One, courtesy of Miah Hiang. Deep purple, throwing off an intense bouquet of dark currants and blackberries, still expectedly tight with a dense body of fruit underscored by silky smooth detailed tannins, mellowing rather quickly in the glass to become more open and accessible but obviously still best to lay down for another decade or two.

1998 Joseph Phelps Insignia, courtesy of Li Fern. Deep garnet red, throwing off some bottle stink followed by an attractive earthy pungency, rich in dark plums and dark berries on the palate supported by graphite minerals, very full, finishing with ferrous tones.

2012 Sea Smoke Sea Spray, courtesy of Li Fern. A Blancs de Noir, this wine displays a lovely hue with aromas of grapefruit and after burn with excellent depth of ash, ember and yeast on the palate amidst dryish textures.

1995 Araujo Eisele Vineyard, courtesy of Hsiang Sui. Deep dark inky red, this is a big wine possessing an abundance of black fruits, raspberries and red currants of immense depth with traces of enamel, still youthful, opening up well, glowing with great intensity of flavours that culminated in a lengthy finish. Simply quite phenomenal.

2013 Ao Yun, courtesy of Li Fern, tasted blind. Deep purple, this wine is generous in ripe dark berries that exuded sweet tannins with a tarry quality, rather firm, full and lengthy though without much structure. Still primal with quite a prominence of enamel from the new wood, slightly racy, finishing well with excellent linearity amidst splashes of spice. It reminded me somewhat of a Penfolds Bin 707. Turns out Ao Yun (flying above clouds) is a cabernet grown at very high altitudes of 2600 metres in Yunnan. That’s right…this is a made-in-China cabernet!! 2013 was its inaugural vintage. Highly promising.

2002 Wolff Blass Platinum, courtesy of Vic. Displaying a deep impenetrable red, this wine is stuffed with warm ripe Barossa fruit of great concentration, oozing with sweet dark tannins and overtones of enamel, still primal. Truly a wine of huge proportions, yet satiny smooth with excellent linearity, finishing on slightly spicy note. Still youthful.

2005 Torbreck RunRig. Showing again an impenetrable crimson, this wine displays deep tones of licorice with a liberal splash of black pepper that imparted an immediate note of spice, framed by sweet bright tannins, its viognier component clearly discernible, positively glowing as it sat in the glass. Excellent.

2001 Veritas Hanisch, courtesy of Mr Young. Again a deep impenetrable red, this wine is still dark and primal, cloaked in spicy tones of menthol and vanilla, saturating the palate with rich ripe syrah that is barely open, decidedly stern at the finish. Looks like this will take many more years to turn the corner.

1998 Three Rivers Shiraz, courtesy of Hsiang Sui. From an outstanding vintage for South Australia, this wine is stuffed with a abundance of ripe shiraz that imparts sheer richness and opulence to match its stern graphite minerals, very full but well structured, turning slightly medicinal towards the finish. Glorious stuff.

2006 Markus Molitor Haus Klosterberg Beerenauslese. Copious notes of paraffin, nectarine and apricot dominate on the open palate with controlled sweetness and intensity, developing a light floral complex over time with superb deftness. Excellent.

After a brief hiatus, FICOFI resumed its series of impromptu tastings in Singapore at the Four Seasons Hotel on 28 Sep 2017, featuring the wines of Champagne Henriot and a mini-vertical of a rarity from Domaine Leflaive. The history of Champagne Henriot may be traced back to 1640 when its ancestors settled in Champagne (having uprooted from Lorraine), starting first with wine brokering before producing its own champagne in 1808 after many years of quietly acquiring plots of vineyards. While not quite as big as some of the more commercialised and better known names from Reims, Champagne Henriot has holdings in several plots of premier cru and grand cru throughout the Côte des Blancs. The Brut Millésime is a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay, all from grand cru vineyards, while the Cuvée des Enchanteleurs, named after the old days when wine was still vinified in barrels stacked high on wooden beams, is an equal blend of pinot noir and chardonnay also exclusively from grand cru, but declared only in exceptional vintages.

2000 Champagne Henriot Brut Millésime, poured from magnum. Displaying a lovely golden hue with a rich bouquet of enticing citrus and lime that was highly aromatic, quite open and expansive on the palate with notes of lovely toast with gentle nutty and yeasty characters laid on a great minerally floor, suitably complex, producing superb fullness and mouthfeel. Highly elegant. Excellent.

2003 Champagne Henriot Brut Millésime, poured from magnum. This wine is even more lifted, seducing the senses with a generous bouquet of delicate floral notes with lovely delicacy and detail that was missing from the 2000, distinctly more feminine and more perfumed, drier with more toasty characters and a tad yeasty, again supported by a fine minerally floor but marred by a finish that was almost non-existent, betraying the intense heat of that vintage. This  wine is all about its bouquet. On the whole, the 2000 is still preferable.

1999 Champagne Henriot Cuvée des Enchanteleurs. Poured from magnum, this wine exudes a deep complex bouquet, highly alluring to its deep dark secrets, revealing fleeting richness of delicate lime and clear citrus on the palate with overtones of what seemed like rice wine, displaying good detail with a lovely feminine elegance, finishing with good linearity and length along with subtle acidity. A second bottle that was popped later in the evening seemed a tad fresher, though much more minerally as well. Still yet to peak, I’d say. Excellent.

The whites of Domaine Leflaive need no introduction, but a red from Leflaive? Its Blagny 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane is a rare pinot noir hailing from a plot within Puligny-Montrachet, now made even more rare by the fact that it had been completely uprooted after 2002 and re-planted with chardonnay instead. What prompted the decision is unclear to me but that’s right, the Blagny 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane is now an extinct wine. We were really fortunate this evening to be able to taste a mini-vertical of this rarity because FICOFI had the foresight to buy up all existing holdings of the rouge from Domaine Leflaive. With the switch to chardonnay, French laws mandate that the wine is now called a Meursault 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane, even though its terroir remains unchanged. How convenient.

2002 Domaine Leflaive Blagny 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane. Delicious dark cherries and red fruits dominate on the rich bouquet with a hint of undergrowth, velvety on the palate with good concentration, fine acidity and saline minerals amidst prominent overtones of Asian spices, layered with lovely purity and good complexity, finishing on a long minty note. Truly a wine of power, structure and length. Excellent.

2001 Domaine Leflaive Blagny 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane. Darker in tint than the 2002, this wine is quite remarkably perfumed with generous notes of aged red fruits, camphor and exotic spices along with dry mushrooms and some earthiness, rounded with very good presence and purity, well structured with crisp acidity and fine linearity though it seemed slightly unsettled at the finish.

1999 Domaine Leflaive Blagny 1er Sous Le Dos D’Ane. This celebrated vintage, now 18 years, possesses lovely color with a rich yeasty pungency, displaying wonderful depth and breadth though, curiously, it seems a little awkward on the back palate where stony minerals seem to cause a little bit of hardness, also a tad short.