Weekday treat at Jade Palace

Alex and Fiona just got back from Vietnam, so Elsa and I called them for dinner, and we all joined Yew Meng at Jade Palace for a "not so simple" night. Three great wines, good food, good friends. What a lovely way to spend a Tuesday evening.

• 2006 Egon Müller/Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Riesling Spätlese 93 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Lovely example. All the ripeness of the 2006 vintage, nicely tempered by Egon Muller's classic balance and cut. Lovely nose, fleeting petrol droplets, white flowers, poutpourri, pineapple, orange and, with time in the decanter, some honeysuckle and nectar notes. Superb balance on the palate, fresh, incredibly integrated, so that the wine slid down the mouth in a complete whole, with nuances of minerality, pineapples, apples, starfruit, honey sea-coconut, lychee, more honeyed tones and into the long finish, fruity, flowery, chamomile tones. Expressive for a young Egon Muller, a bit sweet for a Spat, yet so well-packaged that it came across all balanced and poised, with lots of focus. Really went down beautifully - this was doing that incredible balancing act between fruit and acid that the very best German Rieslings display.

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• 1972 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Grappe des Papes 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Garnet, brickish colour. Nose showed like an aged Burg, with winter melon soup, earth, fruit tea notes, some ferrous, bloody mineral and plenty of sweetish crushed strawberries and haw flakes, along with some meaty notes, wood spice accents. Lots of complexity. Palate was still alive and kicking, quite nicely so. Thickly textured, but fresh, with more meaty notes, sweet red fruits, tons of cherries, more spice and a longish finish, replete with black tea, winter melon, haw flakes and slight bittersweet notes developing into cigarette smoke and spice at the end of the glass. Remnants of tannins just played in the mouth at the very tail of the wine. Probably better 5 years back, this will be knocking at death's door soon, but when we had it, it was certainly still respectable, still going strong, and very nice indeed. Jaboulet does not make wines like this anymore.

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• 1982 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A couple of hours in the decanter when I got to it, and it really only hit its stride, coming truly alive on the third hour. A beautiful wine. Lovely nose. Flowers, cassis, dark cherries, hints of leather and meat, earthy scents of tobacco and wet leaves. Every bit as good on the palate too. Clean, pure, lovely focus and direction. Super-fine tannins caressed the palate, as the wine unfolded in lacy, mouthfilling flavours of cassis, little hint of meat and graphitey mineral that started to show with time, gentle tobacco flavours, and a gentle finish with lovely length, full of cassis, tobacco and some herb notes. I guessed Margaux AOC when told it was a left bank, such was the elegance of the wine, but spotted it as a GPL when told it was a Pauillac. There was certainly still some grip there even given the silky finesse of the tannin structure. A superb example, and a lovely treat on a weekday night. Great with lamb and herb stew. I see this developing and improving over the next 3-5 years and holding for a lot longer after that.

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