Dinner with Anthony Hall

Anthony dropped me a message on the Wine Berserkers board saying that he was coming down to Singapore with his family, so E and I had the chance to bring them around on a little tour of Singapore, culminating with a lovely little dinner at one of our usual haunts. HM joined us for the meal, and with interesting blind wines and some delicious food, this was quite a night. The stand-out dish of the night was truffled egg-whites poached with live prawns, which was a superb pairing with the Leflaive.

• 1993 Dopff au Moulin Riesling Schoenenbourg 91 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  An archetypal Alsace Riesling, this was a nice little wine to kick-start the evening with. It had a slightly sweet nose, with notes of honey and white peach, then fresh citrus notes, some green apple scents, and a touch of mineral. Pleasant. The palate too showed just a tiny touch of sweetness on the attack, with nicely pure white peach and apple notes, but this leans out into a dry midpalate and decent finish with a nice minerally backbone. There was a sense of ripeness to the wine, and it had a nice depth and breadth to it, but it was also nicely balanced and focused throughout. Overall, a very pleasant, if not tremendously complex package, and drinking quite nicely.

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• 1995 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  This was quite a remarkable wine. I am quite sure there was a whiff of cork taint on it, but it was still such a strong showing that the entire table enjoyed this tremendously. There was no mistaking this for anything but a Leflaive Puligny on the nose, with its typical notes of ripe apples wed to earthy mineral and gunflint aromas, and then reams of spice and a little flowery accent trailing behind. But for a little bit of rubber and wet cardboard that floated around, it was a really arresting bouquet. The palate was lovely too - rich, velvety, with not quite enough depth and power to be a Grand Cru, yet enough for us to pick it out as most possibly a Les Pucelles. This showed the ripest apple flavours with juicy lemons following on the mouth-filling midpalate, all interlaced with truffles, spice, and an underground stream of mineral and earth. While not exactly a zippy wine, there was a decent amount of freshness on it as well. The puzzling suggestions of cork taint peeked out amidst the long, minerally finish again unfortunately. But that aside, this was an excellent 1er Cru. It had no pretensions towards the Montrachet plots, but boy was it a solid Puligny. Taint aside, I would say it is drinking very well now.

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• 1997 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Taillepieds 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  Wow, this was a great wine. A tremendous success for its vintage - blinded, no one picked it up as a 1997. It had such a pretty nose, with lovely aromas of maraschino cherries and raspberry jam and wafts of violet flowers on an underlayer damp, earthy undergrowth and spice. Very attractive. The palate was surprisingly solid for a 1997, with fine, firm tannins and beautiful fresh acidity giving the wine a gorgeous sense of fine-boned structure that really belied the vintage. Its flavours of fresh dark cherries and blackberries offered a rather darker fruit expression than the nose, but these were super fresh and lively, still on strong after 15 years of age. It finished beautifully too, with a lively backpalate dancing with spice and dried flower hints. Such a beautiful wine. Drinking perfectly well now, but I think it will hold and possibly develop a bit more complexity over the next 4-5 years.

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• 1991 Domaine Thierry Mortet Chambertin 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin Grand Cru

  A decently good wine, but not a great Chambertin. I sort of liked the nose, with its attractive aromas of red fruit and dried flowers tossed with a good amount of toasty wood spice and earthy accents. The palate was weak for Grand Cru though, especially from a Chambertin. It was still very enjoyable, with a soft, silky smooth plushness and a nice juicy acidity underlying yummy red fruited cherries and berry flavours seasoned with touches of spice and flowers. In fact, while not as deep or powerful as one would expect, even on a vintage like 1991, there was a nice clarity and elegance on the wine. However, it did lack the conviction you would expect at this level. Given a distinct lack of depth and rather shortish finish, I would have guessed an excellent village or decent 1er Cru instead.

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• 2002 Domaine d'Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Meursault 1er Cru Gouttes d'Or 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  A brilliant wine. We had some pretty decent stuff on the night, but this was quite clearly the best of the lot. Anthony had this decanted for a couple of hours, and the wine really needed it too - it seemed to have just about thrown off a heavy cloak of sulphur when it was finally poured into our glasses towards the end of the night. What a distinct nose this had - ripe apples, dried earth and tons of gunflint. I thought it was a Coche-Dury on the nose, but when we were told the guess was off, this could only really be a Leroy or a d'Auvenay. It was on the palate that the wine really impressed though. Wow. Deep, rich, almost Grand Cru in scale in its pure expressions of ripe apples riding on a reservoir of deep white fruit, yet it was also perfectly balanced, with a lovely harmony between its profound depth and supple, deeply woven acidity. This was still a bit on the primary side even with more than a decade of age, but there were nice secondary notes of notes of chalky mineral and spice emerging as the wine pulled away into a fantastic finish that coated every crevice of the back-palate. This was power and presence without any heaviness. Great stuff. Yet for all that, while the wine was clearly from Burgundy, one would be hard-pressed to call it a Meursault, let along a Gouttes d'Or - such were Leroy's fingerprints on it that it seemed to display the mark of its maker more than it did its terroir. It is perhaps for that reason that the wine, while quite clearly one of the best 1er Crus that I have had in a long time, somehow just failed to achieve true greatness. Nevertheless, this was a really impressive. Great now, but it will be even better with another 5 or 6 years under its belt.

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