Investment Grade Wines

wines

The 2017 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru has a very precise and focused bouquet, almost the epitome of transparency and utterly encapsulating. There is real mineralité here. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very tensile from the start with tart red cherries, Japanese yuzu and orange zest that fans out beautifully on the finish. This is a Charmes-Chambertin with a skip in its step.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMLight, pale and charming, this is always the most approachable and forward of the Rousseau grand cru bottlings, almost ready to drink from barrel. It’s sweet and appealing, with supple summer pudding flavours, a hint of cola and supple tannins. Drinking Window 2023 - 2027.Decanter | 94 DEC(Charmes-Chambertin- Domaine Armand Rousseau) The 2017 Charmes-Chambertin from Domaine Armand Rousseau is another great vintage for this bottling, which has hit some superb high water marks in recent times, with 2005, 2010, 2014 and now 2017 a significant step up from what this bottling was capable of back in the decades of the 1980s or 1990s. The 2017 offers up a deep and nicely black fruity bouquet of black cherries, black plums, dark soil tones, raw cocoa, grilled meats, woodsmoke and a touch of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite powerful in personality this year, with a sappy core of dark fruit, ripe, seamless tannins, excellent focus and grip and (Drink between 2029-2075).John Gilman | 94 JGRousseau’s 2017 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru is showing nicely, wafting from the glass with inviting aromas of red berries, plums and peonies mingled with hints of cedar, raw cocoa and mandarin orange. Medium to full-bodied, supple and enveloping, it’s soft and charming, with melting tannins and an ample core of fruit. Generous and demonstrative, like many 2017s it has picked up a bit of richness and depth in bottle.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP(Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Red) This too reflects just enough wood to mention as it serves as a relatively neutral backdrop for the restrained and pure essence of red pinot fruit, earth and discreet spice whiffs. The backward if supple medium-bodied flavors possess a beguiling sense of underlying tension that carries over to the detail but very firm, serious and youthfully austere finish that delivers sneaky good length. Of all the Rousseau wines, the Charmes has made the most progress over the last 5 years as it’s finally beginning to consistently achieve grand cru quality. (Drink starting 2032).Burghound | 91-93 BH

The brightness and intensity here is fantastic with density and firmness that is most impressive. Squared-off tannins give this classicism and beauty. Full body. Extremely long and powerful. One to watch.James Suckling | 97-98 JSDark, bright-rimmed purple. Powerful red and dark berry preserve and cherry cola scents are complemented by exotic spice, incense and floral oil notes. Sappy and densely packed, offering palate-staining black raspberry, cherry liqueur, violet pastille and spicecake flavors braced by a core of juicy acidity. Youthfully chewy tannins build steadily on a strikingly long, penetrating finish that leaves behind smoky mineral and juicy dark berry notes.Vinous Media | 97 VMI also tasted the 2017 Pingus, which had a tough competition with the bottled 2016 and a barrel sample of the 2018 (and the fermenting 2019, but that doesn’t really count). 2017 was a weird vintage for the zone, as the year was marked by one spring frost that decimated the crop and completely changed the balance of the year. In 2007, they put a windmill in one of the plots, and although the plot was not able to escape the frost, it was not as acute as it was in the Flor de Pingus vineyards, where they lost up to 40% of the crop. At the Pingus vineyards, they lost some 25% of the grapes. They started the élevage in used barriques, where they wine matured for 12 months, and then moved the wine to larger barrels so they could extend the aging. There are alternate sensations of ripeness and herbal aromas. You can see a little bit of the tannic style of a concentrated year (1995, 2004, 2014), which is very different from fluid years like 2016 or 1996, with a rustic Ribera character. They saved the vintage with their knowledge of their vineyards, whereas in the past, a vintage like this could have been a disaster. Sometimes wines like this can have an unexpected development in bottle... 5,700 bottles were filled in July 2019.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RP

As always, the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée De Mon Aïeul is all Grenache (from La Serres, La Crau, and La Guigasse) that was not destemmed and was brought up all in used demi-muids. It’s an extraordinary wine, offering a mammoth bouquet of kirsch liqueur, black raspberries, ground pepper, white flowers, and spice. Full-bodied, concentrated, and opulent on the palate, with silky tannins, it’s not going to match the 2010 or 2016, but t’s a magical, elegant, layered wine that does everything right.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDThis is lush and inviting in feel, with waves of warmed raspberry reduction taking center stage, while plum paste and cherry skin notes add range. Underneath the fruit, notes of anise, red and black tea and gently mulled spice notes course along, all supported by perfectly embedded acidity. A gorgeous wine that’s hard to lay off now because of the fruit, but there’s absolutely no rush. Best from 2023 through 2040. 375 cases made, 150 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 96 WSBrilliant ruby-red. An expansive, spice-accented bouquet evokes ripe red fruits, incense and potpourri, and a smoky mineral element adds urgency. Juicy, seamless and appealingly sweet, offering concentrated raspberry, boysenberry and floral pastille flavors that firm up slowly and turn spicier on the back half. Shows serious heft, but there’s a distinctly graceful quality as well. Finishes sappy, gently tannic and extremely long, leaving a suave lavender pastille note behind.Vinous Media | 94-95 VMRich and almost painfully intense, from yields that were reduced by coulure to only about six hectoliters per hectare, the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul is steadfast in being all Grenache and all whole cluster. Licorice, chocolate and super ripe plums appear on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied and velvety, with a long, warm finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPAnother string release under this label, showing rich dark fruit and earthy notes with plenty of spice. Tarry notes as well. The palate has a very plush, ripe and rich feel with juicy, ripe dark berries and plums, really bathed in deep, long and smooth-honed tannins. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JS

Roses and lavender with other flowers. Peaches. Glorious fruit of dark plums and ripe strawberries. This is dense and intense but there are layers of very fine tannins, like fine cashmere. Goes on for minutes. Opens in the mouth. Almost endless. Three years in cask and two years in bottle before January 2023 release. Give this at least five to six years.James Suckling | 98 JSThis year’s top-end release from Bruno Giacosa is the 2017 Barolo Riserva Falletto Vigna Le Rocche (in the red label). Bottled in 2019, the wine stands apart thanks to a hot and dry growing season that Bruna Giacosa is very excited about. In fact, she prefers 2017 to 2015, although the two vintages do share similarities. This wine is very open-knit, and it reveals dark concentration in the form of ripe blackberry, candied cherry and spice. The tannins show a loose, granular quality that adds considerably to the textural impact of this Riserva.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPThis supple red is elegant and powerful, driven by an underlying mineral element. Strawberry, cherry, rose, iron and wild thyme aromas and flavors persist, building to a long aftertaste, while dense, refined tannins lend support. Offers superb balance and length. Best from 2025 through 2045. 110 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 97 WS

The 2017 D’Alceo possesses mind-blowing intensity and pedigree to burn. Rich, ample and explosive, the 2017 is magnificently impressive right out of the gate. Lavender, rose petal, spice, kirsch, mint and violet lead into a core of inky dark blue/purplish berry fruit. Soft contours and suave, silky tannins give the 2017 so much immediacy, but there is plenty of cellaring potential too. In a word: epic.Vinous Media | 100 VMIt’s not easy to wrap your head around the Castello dei Rampolla 2017 d’Alceo. The wine is exaggerated on almost every front, including its powerful tannins, shaped by a scorching hot and dry vintage that produced super concentrated fruit. I can’t say that this vintage is my style or that it delivers the extreme elegance and finesse that this estate at the heart of Panzano, one of the greatest growing sites in Italy, is capable of. However, there is a lot to be said about this blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Petit Verdot. The wine opens to an almost impenetrable appearance with inky black hues and unruly intensity. The power of the bouquet is driven by the ripeness of the fruit and perhaps a positive pinch of volatile acidity (just the right amount for emphasis) that adds extra lift and punch to the overall effect. Syrupy blackberry segues to smoky tar and resin. We saw impactful tannins in the 2016 Sammarco, but the 2017 d’Alceo takes that astringency one step further. The 2017 will sure take many years to reach harmony, although I suspect that the tannic imprint is here to stay.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPUnderbrush, scorched earth and leather aromas mingle with camphor and whiffs of blue flower on this full-bodied red. The savory palate is concentrated and tightly wound, offering spiced blueberry, ripe black plum and chewing tobacco alongside firm, close-grained tannins.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE