Slightly garnet on the rim, with a clear reddish core. Super bright, fragrant nose. Loads of lovely morello cherry on the nose, a little sweet, almost taking on stewed notes with time, along with some funk and lots of earth and dry dirt, a hint of flowers and a nice minerality all undergirded with an umami tone. Very nice. Palate showed a touch of youth still, being more restrained than the nose. Very focused flavours. Bright, clean cherries at first, wed to good acidity and resolved tannins that just retained a hint of what might have been an early hardness and austerity. The slowly unfolding finish was long and mouthwatering. With time, a beam of wet stone started running through the palate, along with a touch of tree bark and roots intermingled with emerging coffee notes towards the end. I thought it was a 1998 Armand Rosseau Clos St Jacques when served blind – which says a lot about the quality of the Fourrier’s stuff. Still young, this needs a few more years of cellar time. A really excellent wine nonetheless.

Absolutely profound. This must be the best red wine I have had this year. Orange and garnet all over. Just an amazing mature Burg nose. At once pretty, lush and fragrant, with wet matted earth, mushrooms and truffles, lots of floral notes reminiscent of crushed flower petals, rich blackcurrant and cherry. With time, a savoury chicken stock tone weaved its way through these rich secondary flavours and the fruits took on the sweet tone that is so beautiful in aged Burgundy. No artificial confected stuff here, just honest to goodness accents of stewed cherries and kirsch. Beautiful. I was just hoping the palate would not let down, and it absolutely did not. Lots of clean acid still, wed to a silky lightness – this wine was definitely alive and kicking. I got cherries, strawberries, fresh cut flowers and more of the lovely natural sweetness, if only a little more restrained than the nose. At first, the wine was marred by a hollowness that sounded at the mid-palate, where a submerged metallic note rang out in spots. We were afraid that the wine was beginning to collapse. However, as it took on air and the nose started singing in sweeter notes, the palate also filled up with an incredible rush of cherries, preserved strawberries and sweet dates and just started showing better and better. My written notes say “Complex!! Singing!! Opened!! Profund… ecstactic… LONG!!!” The finish was superb – with cherry compote, almost candied, hisbiscus notes and orange peel just swirling around the mouth. This is one wine I am going to remember for a long, long time.

This looked the youngest wine of the day, with a dark core and a still pinkish rim. Really, really tight at first, nose was mostly dominate by glycerin, varnish and I thought just the slightest hint of metallic. Same thing on the palate – velvety tannins notwithstanding, I found the wine rather tight and hard, with quite a bit of extract and lots of acid. Its rich, plump cherry notes were about the only attractive feature. A couple of sips and I set the glass aside to drink the other goodies first. Thankfully, it evolved very nicely in the next half-hour. The varnish and glycerin peeled away to show earth, mushroom and pleasant cherries tones interwoven with coffee notes. Still young and tight, but pretty pleasant. Returning to the palate, I found it a lot more opened, with more of the rich cherry tones, morellos I thought, along with a touch of ginger and a finish that lengthened and stretched out in the mouth with time, showing crystalline fruit, orange peel and flowers. Very nice indeed, with superb quality of fruit, but it needs a lot more time yet.

Another wonderful wine. Darkly coloured, slightly pink on the rim, but surprisingly, already drinking very nicely. Nose opened with something that reminded me distinctly of Roquefort. That toned down shortly, which was a good thing – secondary characteristics are good, but I do not want my wine smelling of blue cheese. It eventually became an undertone playing against fresh cranberry and raspberry tones, accompanied by rich notes of cherry syrup, strawberry compote, preserved petit fruits rouge and little brambly bit. Sweet without ever being confected – it was all really pretty, lush and very complex. If anything, the palate was even more impressive than the nose. There was some firmness and a nice acid backbone, but the wine was certainly developed and very nicely integrated. I found sprinkle of high-toned cranberries, than the purest, cleanest, roundest and most luscious cherry flavours – they just filled the mouth in an almost creamy fashion. Just absolutely incredible. There was plenty of complexity, with a touch of raisins and orange peel moving around, but I was astounded by the purity and power of the fruit, which struck at the attack, filled the mid-palate and just slid down the throat in a beautiful glide of velvety tannins in a finish that was replete with cherries and a touch of lingering prunes. Beautiful.

When Siang first poured this, all I got was, unfortunately, a crushed cockroach scent on the nose (others said crushed beetle, but who am I to nitpick?) That took a really, really long time to blow-off, and even then, there was always the slightest hint of it floating around. Still, this eventually turned out to be a rather nice, really idiosyncratic wine under its hard, insectoid carapace. The nose held out notes of dried wood and toffee, along with a sweet underlayer of plums, berries and a touch of menthol. We all guessed new world cab when tasted blind – but on reflection, my written notes do reflect some Shiraz character on the nose. Nevertheless, the palate was dark and rich, but very clean, with loads of acid supporting flavours of berries, prunes and a rich Chinese herbal Luohanguo with a pinch of frehsly squeezed orange and orange zest. Finish was fresh and longish, with redcurrants and the tiniest bit of spice. Very interesting and pretty enjoyable wine – but we would not have guessed this right in a million years.

Actually very impressive at this price range, just not very typical for a Chianti Classico. Tons and tons of leather on the nose - of the sweaty horse saddles variety. It faded a little, which was somewhat of a relief, to show very sweet, almost candied plums, blackcurrants, and a dash of spice, like cloves and cardammon - reminded me of an Indian murtabak. Palate was really fresh, yet super rich, creamy textured - a testament to the strength of the 2001 vintage as well as a telltale sign of very "modern" winemaking. Flavours wise, I got cherries, plums, a touch of crystallined fruits and some smoke. Finish was medium length, with tightly grained tannins which were on their way to being resolved. Yummy, and would be excellent with food - I can just imagine a lovely osso buco!

This was simply mind-blowing. The piece de resistance in a fantastic tasting and far and away the best desert wine I have ever had, d’Yquem and TBA’s included. Almost maple syrup brown in colour and only 8.5% alcohol, but this wine sure packed a knockout punch. Nose was super complex – caramelized figs, raisins, musk, mushroom, truffles, springy moss on a forest floor, a higher-tone grassy hay, perfumed flowers – it is almost impossible to capture in words. The palate was even better. Superbly integrated, it was supple, velvety smooth, and syrupy, yet framed in the freshest, most mouthwatering acid. I would have said that there was an explosion of flavour, but this wine was not so much exuberant or bursting at the seams, but refined, persistent and inexorable, with flavour after palate coating flavour unfolding seamlessly – caramel, a touch of chocolate, orange peel, prunes, nectar, figs, peach, dried apricot – layer after layer into a long, long, long finish that was fresh to the very last drop. Incredible.