Jacques Selosse Blanc de Blancs Initial Brut NV
“Medium yellow with silver highlights; very fine, persistent mousse. Exhibits fresh orange and mandarin aromas and echoes of white stone fruit, some flowery honey and mineral notes in the background, and a touch of nuts. Very complex, filling the mouth completely, showing pleasantly sweet extract, fine yellow fruit, delicate, appealing nougat on the finish; very long on the finish, in perfect balance, a great food companion.”
96 Peter Moser, Falstaff Magazin
Marie-Noëlle Ledru LB5 Grand Cru Brut NV
“The current release of non-vintage Brut from Marie-Noëlle Ledru is young and absolutely outstanding, offering up a deep and nascently complex bouquet of apple, tart orange, a complex base of minerality, fresh-baked bread, a touch of citrus peel and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with great mineral drive, refined mousse, brisk acids and outstanding depth and complexity on the very long, racy and youthful finish. While I had great pleasure drinking this bottle after a long day of tasting in Burgundy, the reality is that this wine is still three to five years away from fully blossoming and is built to age beautifully in the cellar.”
93 John Gilman, View From the Cellar
Domaine Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 2009
". . . honeysuckle and spiced pear aromas that complement rich, generous and lightly mineral-inflected middle weight flavors that possess simply stunning refinement on the long, dry and classy finish. This is an exercise in finesse but with plenty of flavor authority."
94 Allen Meadows, Burghound.com
Château Laville Haut-Brion 2006
“An absolutely staggering vintage for this historic and tiny estate, this 2006 has a huge nose of tropical fruit, including pineapple, as well as a liqueur of minerality, with quince, white citrus, and a hint of subtle toast. Full-bodied, with huge concentration, an almost flinty mouthfeel, zesty acidity, and a monster finish, this is a prodigious Laville Haut-Brion . . .”
98 Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate
Château Grillet 2001
“Green-tinged straw. Intense mineral, floral and botanical herb notes accent orange and pear on the nose; reminds me of yellow Chartreuse. Firm and sharply focused, with spicy pear, citrus, licorice and succulent herb flavors. Finishes with an oily sensation of concentration and impressive length. This improves with aeration and, as Mme. Baratin notes, ‘should be served at the same temperature as a red wine.’”
92 Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre 1999
"Raveneau’s 1999 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre is in a marvelous spot right now. Petrol, smoke, slate, apricot pit and wild flowers are some of the many notes that grace the palate in an utterly vivid, vibrant Chablis endowed with magnificent purity and pedigree. At fifteen years of age, the 1999 Montée de Tonnerre still has a lot to say. What a beautiful wine!"
94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Laherte Frères Les Beaudiers Vieilles Vignes de Pinot Meunier Rosé de Saignée Extra Brut NV
“Back in this era, the Les Beaudiers was not aged quite as long on its fine lees, so this spent two and a half years sur latte and was disgorged in late 2008. The dosage for this iteration was five grams per liter and the wine is aging beautifully. The bouquet is deep, complex and developing secondary layers of complexity in its mélange of peach, a touch of raspberry, chalky soil tones, a fine note of patissière, orange peel, wheat toast and a gentle touch of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and really defined today by its chalky soil tones, with a fine core, lovely focus, elegant mousse and superb length and grip on the perfectly balanced finish. This is beautifully complex today and at its apogee, but clearly has years and years of life in it.”
93+ John Gilman, View From the Cellar
Domaine de L’Arlot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos de L’Arlot 2012
“A huge, boisterous wine, the 2012 Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos de L'Arlot hits the palate with waves of dark, balsamic-inflected fruit. The 2012 is deep and vertical, with superb depth and tons of pure power. Readers will need to be patient, as the 2012 is built for the cellar. There is plenty of underlying structure, but the fruit is so rich, the tannins are nearly buried by the sheer richness of the fruit. In a normal vintage the Domaine has 10-12 barrels of the Clos de L'Arlot. In 2012 there are 5.
93-95 Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Ponsot Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Cuvée des Alouettes 2007
“As good as the 2007 Chambolle Charmes is (and it is very good), the premier cru Morey is a notable step up both in terms of length and precision on both the nose and palate. This is a terrific bottle of premier cru, as it jumps from the glass in a mélange of blackberries, black cherries, violets, dark chocolate, a bit of venison, smoky notes and a complex base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very, very pure, with a sappy core of fruit, great, tangy acidity, brilliant focus and grip, and a very long, complex and perfectly balanced finish. A terrific wine.”
92 John Gilman, View From the Cellar
Michel Gaunoux Corton Renardes 2002
“The 2002 Corton “Renardes” is a really superb example of this vintage and one of the best 2002s I have tasted of late. The wide open and very pure nose delivers a fine mix of red currants, strawberries, cherries, a touch of coriander, incipient notes of bonfire, orange zest and a great base of stony minerality. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure and rock solid at the core, with beautiful balance, tangy acids, moderate tannins and a very long, focused and complex finish. Admittedly, this is Corton, which is often one of the most transparent reds in the Côte de Beaune, but I get a strong signature of soil in the 2002 Gaunoux Renardes that is very exciting and often missing in many of the higher pedigree examples of this vintage that I have tasted in the last few years. A beautiful wine . . .”
93 John Gilman, View From the Cellar
Domaine des Comtes Lafon Monthélie 1er Cru Les Duresses 2002
“Lafon is particularly proud of what he’s accomplished in recent vintages with his parcel of Monthélie Les Duresses as he’s been able to prevent its tendency towards rusticity. The 2002 is a particularly successful effort. Dark cherries and spices can be detected in this wine’s sappy, medium-bodied personality. Revealing outstanding concentration and depth, it coats the taster’s palate with loads of cassis liqueur, jammy blackberries, and cherries that linger in its long, supple finish.”
89-91 Pierre Rovani, The Wine Advocate
Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques 2001
“The juicy, light to medium-bodied 2001 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques reveals black cherry aromas. Produced from Dugat’s coolest terroir, this is a vibrant wine with cassis, black pit fruit, and stone flavors. Highly refined, yet powerful, it has stupendous balance, huge depth of fruit, and a complex, lengthy character.”
92-95 Pierre Rovani, The Wine Advocate
Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2005
“Really dense and locked up now, this is packed with dark fig, currant and blackberry fruit shrouded by layers of tar, hot stone, bittersweet licorice and espresso. The long, dense finish has a great tug of iron buried within it.” 2008 WS Top 100: Rank 8
96 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator
Conterno-Fantino Barolo Sorì Ginestra 2004
“Conterno-Fantino have once again produced one of the vintage’s finest wines with their stunning 2004 Barolo Sori Ginestra, which is just as impressive in bottle as it has been on the several occasions I have tasted it from barrel. This explosive, heady Barolo bursts onto the palate with seamless layers of ripe dark fruit, black cherries, menthol, cinnamon, pine and minerals, revealing profound depth and richness. It offers superb length, gorgeous, sweet tannins and a finish that lasts forever. Although it is a surprisingly accessible Sori Ginestra at this stage, I expect it will close down at some point in the near future. Readers who have an opportunity to taste this wine in the next few months should not hesitate to do so. This is a remarkable Barolo in every way.”
96 Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Château Léoville Barton 1995
“A beautiful wine, with layers of ripe fruit, berry, cedar, vanilla and light spice. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a long finish. Very, very classy stuff.”
94 James Suckling, Wine Spectator
Vieux Château Certan 1979
“Vieux Château Certan is one of the greatest estates in Pomerol, and with its unique varietal blend, is one of the most singular personalities to be found on either side of the Gironde. For Vieux Château Certan, unlike almost all of its other neighbors in Pomerol, is a wine that has relied in the past quite heavily on both cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, with merlot traditionally making up only about half of the blend in the grand vin. It is this unique combination of classic Pomerol soils and the large percentage of cabernets franc and sauvignon in the blend that gives Vieux Château Certan its very compelling and inimitable voice. VCC is located in the heart and soul of the Pomerol plateau, with its closest neighbors being Châteaux Certan de May, Certan-Giraud, l’Evangile, La Conseillante, La Fleur Pétrus and Pétrus itself. Throughout much of its history, VCC has been made up of roughly fifty percent merlot, twenty-five percent cabernet franc, twenty percent cabernet sauvignon and five percent malbec. This blend gives the older vintages of this wine a most compelling and singular style that is really not of either Pomerol or the Médoc, as the wine delivers a much more black fruity, cigar box and truffley profile in most vintages than is typically found amongst the other great estates of Pomerol, while at the same time being a much more suave, velvety and slightly herbaceous wine than those found in the Left Bank. Unique, compelling and an iconoclastic estate of impeccable pedigree, Vieux Château Certan is undoubtedly one of Bordeaux’s greatest properties.”
John Gilman, View From the Cellar
Château Pontet Canet 1947 (1.5L) "Lovely Pauillac nose . . . in 1956. A beautiful, well-preserved Cruse-bottled jeroboam in 1973 . . . . Lively-looking, 'singed,' rich but slightly tart in the early 1980s, and a fairly intense-looking, rich, ripe-smelling double-magnum . . ."
Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine |
