Bordeaux Wines

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Produced from a tiny parcel of old vines (80-85 years old), the 2002 Clos St.-Denis explodes from the glass with delectable aromas of sweet blueberries and cherries. Medium to full bodied, it is broad, ample, expansive, and well-structured. Ripe blackberries, cassis, blueberries, leather, and herbs can be found in its flavor profile. This effort’s copious fruit envelopes an enormous quantity of ripe yet firm tannin. Projected maturity: 2009-2018.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RP(Maison Louis Jadot Clos St. Denis Grand Cru Red) Much more deftly oaked with complex, elegant and beautifully pure red and black fruit aromas and sweet, deep, rich and mouth coating flavors that possess a spicy, powerful and extremely long finish. This is more understated than a number of the grands crus in the range though there is more muscle and punch than usual though about the same degree of structure. A terrific effort and the best since the extraordinary ’99 that should improve for up to a decade and last for another. (Drink between 2010-2017).Burghound | 91-93 BH(these vines are between 80 and 90 years of age, notes Lardiere) Dark red. Musky aromas of red fruits, chocolate and mocha, with complicating notes of herbs and underbrush. In a drier style than the Amoureuses, but with complex, well-defined flavors of red fruits, herbs and mint. Here one senses the vinification with the stems. Finishes with ripe, chewy tannins and lingering notes of earth, mocha and spice. An atypically strong showing for this cuvee.Vinous Media | 89-92 VM

Still a baby, the 2004 Cristal Rosé has begun to put on considerable weight over the last few years, which only serves to balance the focus and tension that have always been present. Even at eleven years of age, the 2004 Cristal Rosé remains tightly wound and a touch austere at times. Hints of orange peel, white pepper and cranberry add an exotic flair on the deeply expressive finish. Readers who can find the 2004 should not hesitate, as it is simply stunning by any measure.Vinous Media | 98+ VMFew of the noble wines of the world have the effortless grace of Cristal Rosé. The pinot noir for the blend, planted in the 1960s, grows in the center of the slope in Aÿ. Its flavors are more focused on the soil than fruit, as if the vines are bent on extracting the scent of fossilized seashells from the limestone their roots explore. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon blends the pinot noir with 40 percent chardonnay from Avize, creating a wine with flavors that reach the horizon line, and an ethereal fragrance that last for minutes after each taste, bright, weightless, elusive and grand.Wine & Spirits Magazine | 98 W&SWith red berry and currant aromas on the pure and salty, complex and delicately vinous nose, the 2004 Cristal Rosé is a juicy but structured, vibrantly fresh and energetic cuvée with very fine tannins, great lightness, finesse and elegance. Tasted in New York, November 2018.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RP

Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDThis is a great vintage for Cristal Rosé. The pinot noir finds a band of power and expressiveness. The power here is impressive, very assertive and rich, really mouth-filling and super deep. This is exceptional and has intense, chalky and fresh, white-peach and nectarine aromas, underpinning red flowers and pink fruit. The palate has a scintillating blend of flesh and mineral cut, packed with such sweet, pristine, white-strawberry flavor and texture. This has such incredible potential. So exciting. Will take another two or threw years to resolve. Look out for this! Drink from 2025.James Suckling | 99 JSThe 2012 Cristal Rosé is showing brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with a beautiful bouquet of fresh peach, bergamot, strawberries, tangerine and blanched almonds that’s still quite reserved. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and strikingly complete, its vinous attack segueing into a multidimensional core that exemplifies the ideal of power without weight, built around a racy but integrated spine of animating acidity and complemented by an exquisitely refined mousse. All the concentration of the 2012 vintage is on display, but it’s rendered with terrific finesse. Decidedly youthful and introverted—indeed, I spent several hours with a bottle to compose this note—the 2012 will really come into its own with five or six years in the cellar and displays all the attributes necessary for considerable longevity. It’s a blend of 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay that saw no malolactic fermentation, and it was disgorged with eight grams per liter dosage.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPThe 2012 Cristal Rosé is magnificent. When Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon started to move Roederer towards organically farmed fruit, he started with Cristal Rosé, Roederer’s smallest production cuveé. Because of that, Cristal Rosé is the wine in this range that shows the current Roederer style in its fullest expression. Rich, vivid and crystalline in the glass, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a Champagne of tremendous gravitas. Chalk, white flowers, sweet red berry fruit, mint and blood orange are all beautifully delineated. The 2012 is 55% Pinot from Ay and 45% Chardonnay from Mesnil and Avize. The Pinot fruit gets a 7-10 day cold soak an is the infused into the fermenting Chardonnay musts. Readers who can find the 2012 should not hesitate, as it is truly magical. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.Antonio Galloni | 98+ AG(Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Rosé Millésime (Reims)) The 2012 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Rosé is a magical wine in the making. It is composed this year of a blend of fifty-six percent pinot noir and forty-four percent chardonnay, with fifteen percent of the vins clairs having been barrel-fermented in this vintage. None of the vins clairs underwent malo this year and the finishing dosage for the 2012 is eight grams per liter. The wine is superb and just a bit more accessible out of the blocks than the regular 2012 Cristal, wafting from the glass in a very refined constellation of apple, white peach, gentle smokiness, chalky soil tones, a nice touch of fresh-baked bread, caraway seed, incipient smokiness and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, racy and bottomless at the core, with lovely mineral drive, refined mousse, impeccable focus and grip and a very, very long, very pure and nascently complex finish. This is not quite as buttoned up behind its girdle of acidity as the regular 2012 Cristal, but it is by no means ready for primetime drinking and still needs a minimum of eight to ten years in the cellar to really unfold. Great juice. (Drink between 2027-2080).John Gilman | 98 JGNo written review provided. | 98 W&SYears in the making, this is the first fully biodynamic Cristal rosé. The very fine 2012 vintage is a good starting point for this new era. The Champagne is just right, beautifully rich and showing some maturity while also having tension and crispness from the golden-apple and spice flavors. The wine could be drunk now but its future is assured. Organic and biodynamic. Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEAn elegant rosé Champagne, starting quietly with a subtle range of white cherry, Marcona almond, pink grapefruit zest and saffron flavors that gain momentum and volume as they expand, gliding across the palate’s fine, raw silk–like texture. This is mouthwatering and minerally, the symphony concluding with accents of oyster shell and chalk that echo on the finish. Drink now through 2032.Wine Spectator | 96 WS

(13.3% alcohol; picked late): Pale straw-yellow. Aromas of clove, iodine and white flowers are lifted by a note of lemon oil. Hugely concentrated, dense and utterly backward; not showing nearly the detail of the Chevalier-Montrachet in the early going but this is sweeter. Montrachet in the outsized Chassagne body-builder style. Really amazingly rich and massively structured for the vintage, but needs to lose some of its baby fat before it can be properly appreciated.Vinous Media | 94+ VMThe 2013 Montrachet Grand Cru, which comes from the Chassagne side, possesses a very precise bouquet that seems understated when compared to the more hedonistic Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles. This is much more demure, laid-back...nonchalant even. The palate is very precise - there is real detail here with delicate spicy notes furnishing the back end of this Montrachet that just expands toward the finish. I think this is keeping everything up its sleeve at the moment, but you cannot deny the balance and focus here.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 93-95 RP-NM(Maison Louis Jadot Montrachet Grand Cru White) This is restrained to the point of being almost mute and only aggressive swirling coaxes aromas of white flowers, freshly sliced citrus, pear, green apple and discreet spice elements to grudgingly emerge. There is seriously good size, weight and punch to the beautifully detailed and notably mineral-driven big-bodied flavors that, like the Corton-Charlemagne, possess a chiseled and explosively long finish that really fans out as it sits on the palate. I very much like the balance and upside development potential here and about the only nit worth mentioning is just a hint of finishing warmth. Still, this should abundantly reward 12 to 15 years of cellaring. (Drink starting 2025)Burghound | 93-95 BH

A candidate for wine-of-the-vintage honors in Champagne, Roederer’s 2013 Cristal Rosé is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers, red berries, stone fruit, freshly baked bread and tangerine oil. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, the vintage’s bright girdling acids are amply cloaked in exuberant, expressive and notably concentrated fruit; so while this Cristal is as tensile and age-worthy as one would expect, it’s also impressively fleshy and generous given the year. Concluding with an intensely sapid finish, the 2013 isn’t as overtly structured as the muscular, tightly wound 2012: rather, it’s the 2013’s alliance of cut and flesh, precision and charm that’s so compelling this year. This is another banner vintage for what I consider the reigning champion of the region’s tête de cuvée bottlings, and it will be worth an effort to acquire.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 99 RPThe 2013 Cristal Rosé is searingly intense right out of the glass, just like the Blanc, except it has a bit more fleshiness because of the skin contact on the Pinot. Cristal Rosé has one of the best track records for aging in Champagne. I suspect the 2013 will join the ranks of the epic vintages, but it is painfully tight today. The blend is 55% Pinot Noir (from Aÿ) and 45% Chardonnay (from Avize and Mesnil) done in the classic Roederer infusion style in which Pinot Noir is vinified on the skins and then blended with Chardonnay to complete the fermentation. About 25% of the lots were done in oak, while malolactic fermentation was blocked.Antonio Galloni | 98 AGIf you’re a Champagne lover and this doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will. A magical Champagne that’s just about as good as it gets, the 2013 Cristal Rosé reveal a lighter salmon hue to go with a rich yet also subtle nose of orange blossom, white flowers, toasted brioche, and chalky minerality. It takes some coaxing but is incredibly complex aromatically and offers more spice, dried strawberry, and library book-like nuances as it sets in the glass. Richly textured on the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied and has surprising opulence as well as a great mid-palate, all of which are balanced by a vibrant spine of acidity. It starts out seemingly soft and easygoing yet changes with air, and it possesses an incredible mix of suppleness, texture, and precision that is something to behold. It can be drunk today or cellared for 20 or 30 years, possibly even longer.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDAromas of strawberry, iron, orange peel and brioche follow through to a full body with gorgeous fruit and sweet tannins that layer the wine. Strawberry-patisserie undertones. Rather juicy and chewy with very round, fine tannins. Savory, flavorful and lightly spicy. Caressing finish with lots of fruity flavor and dryness. Drink now or hold.James Suckling | 98 JSLike an orchestra that melds the voices of many components into one compelling song, this bright rosé offers precision balance, seamlessly knitting an expressive range of ripe nectarine and raspberry fruit, Marcona almond, blood orange peel and candied ginger flavors with racy acidity and saline-laced minerality. Plush and creamy on the lasting finish. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Drink now through 2036. 154 cases imported. Wine Spectator | 97 WS(Louis Roederer “Cristal” Rosé Brut Millésime (Reims)) The 2013 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé is composed of a blend this year of fifty-five percent pinot noir and forty-five percent chardonnay, with all of the pinot hailing from the village of Aÿ and the chardonnay from Avize and Mesnil-sur-Oger. Twenty percent of the vins clairs were barrel-fermented for this vintage of Cristal Rosé and the wine received a dosage of seven grams per liter. The bouquet is pure and very precise, wafting from the glass in a youthful blend of white peach, strawberry, rye bread, a beautiful base of chalky soil tones, delicate floral tones and a gently spicy topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and youthfully complex, with a lovely spine of acidity, great focus and grip, supremely elegant mousse and a very long, racy and seamlessly balanced finish. This seems a touch more reserved out of the blocks than the regular 2013 Cristal and will demand a bit more bottle age before it starts to drink with generosity, but once it blossoms, it will be brilliant and extremely long-lived. (Drink between 2026-2065)John Gilman | 97 JGA pale rosé color of this great Champagne leads to a wine that has toast, spice and layers of citrus and red fruits. Its richness is balanced by freshness that will take several years to fully mature. So, even at eight years, the wine has plenty of room to develop. Drink from 2023.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEIn keeping with the talents Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon brings to rosé Champagne, this offers joyous drinking in a serious wine. It’s pale pink in color with a floral highlight to the honey notes and fresh-picked raspberry flavors. A pink-chalk impression lasts, and though this is not at the level of the 2012, it is immediately refreshing and delicious.Wine & Spirits | 92 W&S

The 2018 Musigny Grand Cru is matured entirely in new oak. During racking in July, it was decided that one of the two barrels was too toasty, and so the wine was racked into a used Bonnes-Mares barrel. It has a compelling bouquet of intense blackberry, raspberry and floral aromas that seem to explode from the glass. The palate is very well balanced with fine, supple tannins. I adore the symmetry of this Musigny and the panache it exudes toward the very long finish. This is one of the best the domaine has produced. Outstanding.Vinous Media | 96-98 VM(Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Musigny Grand Cru Red) Very generous wood again fights with the spicy and ripe red and dark currant aromas that are cut with pretty floral wisps. There is excellent richness to the punchy and wonderfully textured medium weight flavors that flash good minerality on the somewhat dry and spiky finish that avoids being tough though it would be fair to observe that this is not an elegant version of the appellation. Once again, this is not without interest but the balance isn’t what it could be and whether it will ameliorate in time is an open question but I doubt it. (Drink starting 2035).Burghound | 90-92 BH

Enormously complex nose that marries so many flinty, savory and citrus aromas. Astonishing texture on the rich but precisely delineated palate, the concentration creeping up on you, building and building to a great crescendo. Enormously mineral aftertaste. Drinkable now, but best from 2023.James Suckling | 98 JSThis is also aromatically cool and restrained with its combination of essence of white orchard fruit, especially pear, along with hints of wood, spice, mineral reduction and rose petal. There is excellent intensity to the textured, concentrated and quite powerful big-bodied flavors that exude evident minerality on the focused finish that is quite tightly wound. This is going to need at least 6 to 8 years of bottle age first.Burghound | 93 BHThe 2019 Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Grand Cru opens in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers, orange oil, almond paste, pineapple and fresh pastry. Full-bodied, satiny and textural, it’s rich and expressive, with lively acids and a charming, demonstrative personality.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RP

The 2020 Musigny Grand Cru has a well-defined bouquet with red cherries, blackcurrant, touches of animal fur and black truffle - very complex and intense. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, wonderful depth and cohesion, the acidity perfectly judged. The 30-40% stems here lends a discrete peppery note on the finish to what is one of the best Musigny that I have tasted from Jadot in recent years. Stunning.Vinous Media | 97-99 VMThere are two barrels of the magical 2020 Musigny Grand Cru (Domaine Louis Jadot), a striking wine that soars from the glass with scents of blood orange, rose petals, wild berries, sweet soil tones and musk. Full-bodied, ample and enveloping, it’s vibrant and multidimensional, with a deep, layered core and a long, resonant finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95-97 RP(Maison Louis Jadot Musigny Grand Cru Red) Much like the Amoureuses, the dazzling nose of plum, black raspberry and floral scents is super-spicy with its combination of anise, sandalwood, clove, hoisin and dried orange peel nuances. There is both outstanding volume and even better intensity to the more mineral-driven, concentrated and focused flavors that exude a touch of bitter pit fruit character on the hugely long, balanced and highly complex finale. This is very classy juice that should age gracefully for the better part of two decades. (Drink starting 2037)Burghound | 93-96 BH

The 2020 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is very pure and harmonious on the nose with plush black cherry and cassis fruit, well-integrated oak and a floral aspect that becomes more prominent with time. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, taut and fresh, lightly spiced with quite a vivacious, mineral-driven finish that retains superb definition. This is very impressive and bloomin’ delicious (already!)Vinous Media | 96-98 VMThe wine is massive, with grippy tannins, full body and an interminable finish. ’A great vintage to taste in 20 years,’ according to winemaker Frédéric Barnier. The 0.27ha Jadot parcel (owned by the house itself) is in a strip that goes from the top of the vineyard to the bottom, and thus includes both terres blanches (white marl) and terres rouges (red clay). The fruit character is black plum and cassis, with a firm, mineral and earthy element. Drinking Window 2025 - 2040.Decanter | 96 DECA wine with huge potential is the 2020 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru (Domaine Louis Jadot). Unwinding in the glass with notes of raspberries, red cherries, vanilla pod, exotic spices and raw cocoa, it’s full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with an immensely concentrated core, powdery tannins and a tightly wound profile. This will be among the slowest to evolve of all the wines in the cellar, and also among the most long-lived.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94-96+ RP(Maison Louis Jadot Bonnes Mares Grand Cru Red) Very generous wood and menthol nuances still allow the liqueur-like aromas of red currant, violet and range of spice elements to be appreciated. There is first-rate power and punch to the moderately dense and beautifully textured flavors that display superb length on the sappy finish where the only nit is a hint of warmth. (Drink starting 2037)Burghound | 93-96 BH

Pale lemon colour. Very little nose as yet, too early perhaps for a wine of this potential power – which it certainly has on the palate, and very good acidity as well. The immense square of fruit in the mouth doesn’t yet show specific flavours but everything hangs together impressively for what will be an imposing Bâtard. Tasted: November 2021.Jasper Morris | 97-99 JMIt is classic Bâtard, rich and almost honeyed. The wine avoids heaviness, however, and simply tends toward the richer side of the spectrum. This is made from fruit purchased from the Puligny side, most of it from very old vines. It is done in large, double-sized casks to reduce the influence of the wood.Decanter | 94 DECAromas of buttery orchard fruit, citrus zest and stone fruit mingle with hints of white flowers and freshly baked bread to introduce the 2020 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru (Maison Louis Jadot), a full-bodied, ample and layered wine that’s taut and structured, with racy acids and fine depth at the core. This, too, shows plenty of promise.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RPHere too there is a subtle application of wood framing the beautifully layered nose of white peach, carnation, citrus confit and a plethora of spice wisps. There is a bit more size, weight and volume to the solid concentrated flavors that brim with dry extract on the palate staining, powerful and impressively persistent finish. This is also quite tightly wound and packed with development potential. (Drink starting 2032)Burghound | 92-95 BHThe 2020 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru has more attack and penetration compared to the Bienvenue, greater mineralité and terroir expression. The palate is finely balanced with plenty of ripe citrus fruit laced with stem ginger and dried orange rind. Perhaps it just cuts away a little swiftly on the finish, but otherwise this is a decent 2020 white. Closure: DiamVinous Media | 91-93 VM

The 2020 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru has a crisp bouquet with crushed rock mixed with touches of dried flowers and a light sea spray note - classic Chablis really. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry. Touches of dried honey and chamomile, but underneath it all is a fine mineral spine and a decent, quite Les Preuses-like finish. Fine. Tasted blind at the BIVB tasting in Chablis.Vinous Media | 91 VMThough ripe, offering aromas and flavors of lemon cake, melon and white flowers, there’s also a stony, mineral element underneath this balanced white, which ends with a light chalky sensation. Drink now through 2028. 712 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

This is displaying aromas of anise, dried lemons, white grapefruit, gun flint and even smoked meat, with dried mangoes and some green tea, too. Sophisticated rather than generous, with tight and firm layers. Full body. Mineral and tight finish.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2021 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is one of the more powerful wines in the range, mingling aromas of sweet orchard fruit and confit citrus with hints of toasted nuts, white flowers and new oak. Full-bodied, ample and layered, it’s rich and expansive, but it also maintains good tension.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RP

TOP QUALITY PRODUCER Weighty, profound and rich, this is a stunning Les Clos which has an extra level of depth and richness that would please many a Côte-d’Or fan. White flowers on the nose, spice and stone fruit on the palate with 40% oak and a lingering, freshening mineral undertow. A grand cru with gravitas that will drink for 15-20 years. Droin has 1.4ha with vine age averaging 40 years. Its plots are located in various sectors of the cru with some lower down in the western sector, and part on the blue clay soils on the mid-slope.Decanter | 96 DECThe 2021 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru has a clean and precise bouquet, flint and chalk filtering through the citrus fruit, gaining intensity as it opens in the glass, though I feel the Grenouilles has more sophistication. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, very harmonious, nicely poised with a dab of stem ginger and white pepper towards the finish that is resolutely classic in style. Very fine.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMLike the Grenouilles, there is enough wood to merit mentioning but not enough to overshadow the cool, airy and very fresh aromas of oyster shell, white flower and ocean breeze. The succulent yet powerful and delineated flavors brim with both minerality and dry extract, all wrapped in a driving bitter lemon-inflected and youthfully austere finale. This is a lovely combination of power and refinement that should amply repay a decade plus of cellaring.Burghound | 92-95 BH

An exuberantly fresh nose of spicy purple fruit, exotic tea, violet and hints of cinnamon and sandalwood are trimmed in discreet but not invisible wood. There is both good richness and punch to the supple medium-bodied flavors that conclude in a lightly austere but impressively long and harmonious finale. This could use better depth but like the VRBM, the Rouget Ech has an excellent track record for aging well.Burghound | 92-94 BHThe 2021 Echézeaux Grand Cru, aged in 100% new oak, is tasted from two barrels as one is heavily reduced, while the other shows fine delineation: crushed strawberry, wild mint and loam. The palate is heavily reduced at first, quite dense and broad-shouldered, black cherries mixed with cassis, a little chocolaty towards the finish.Vinous Media | 91-93 VM

TOP QUALITY PRODUCER Quite a different, cool, fresh character on the nose. Louis Moreau always aim to pick early to preserve freshness. Lemon-lime citrus characters dominate the palate giving lots of vibrant acidity, balancing the concentrated fruit notes and providing a great backdrop for future ageing. Needs a two or three years to settle in bottle, and it’s a keeper.Decanter | 95 DECThis white’s creamy texture is offset by lively acidity that frames its lemon, yuzu, floral and vanilla flavors. Tense and racy, picking up mineral and herbal accents on the long finish. Drink now through 2032. 712 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

This white’s creamy texture is offset by lively acidity that frames its lemon, yuzu, floral and vanilla flavors. Tense and racy, picking up mineral and herbal accents on the long finish. Drink now through 2032. 712 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe 2021 Chablis Clos des Hospices Dans Les Clos Grand Cru is the standout cuvée from Louis Moreau in this vintage. It has a slightly peachier bouquet than the regular Les Clos, well-defined with yellow flowers and light tertiary scents. The palate is well-balanced with a fine spine of acidity, taut and fresh with a saline finish urging you back for another sip. This is a delicious and well-made Les Clos that should age with style.Vinous Media | 92 VM

The 2022 Chablis Les Clos Grand Cru Hommage à Louis has quite a malic, green apple and Anjou pear-scented nose that unfurls beautifully in the glass. The palate is taut and linear, with moderate depth, clamming up slightly towards the finish compared with the Grenouilles or Valmur.Vinous Media | 91-93 VM