Malaysian-born Mason Ng is wine director of Singapore wine lounge and wine academy Park90, leading a team of 19 sommeliers across Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. In 2019, Mason passed his Advanced Sommelier qualification and was crowned Best Sommelier of Singapore as well as South East Asia at the age of 24, the youngest in the history of the competition. In 2022, he won the title ASI Best Sommelier of Asia & Oceania, the only candidate in southeast Asia to have won this competition.
His next aim is to qualify as a Master Sommelier.
When it comes to choosing my coup de coeur for this, it’s an easy decision – it has to be the wines of Jura in eastern France, and in particular the reds.
Jura has traditionally been known for two main things: excellent Comté cheese and its classic accompaniment vin jaune (a sensational pairing). This oxidative white wine, made from Savagnin, shows notes of straw, hazelnuts and fenugreek, backed by an extremely fresh and vibrant acidity – a wine for connoisseurs.
Located in the mountains between France and Switzerland, the region is extremely cold – white grapes have always had to strive here, producing wines of precise acidity as well as profound minerality – perfect for vin jaune. But global warming means that we are also seeing the three main red grapes of Jura – Pinot Noir, Ploussard (or Poulsard) and Trousseau – gain more attention as they can now achieve the ripeness required to produce stunning,
