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1989 was an early year, with flowering three weeks ahead of usual. Now at 30 years old, a floral aspect curls out of the glass, with touches of roses and peonies, followed on the palate by bilberries and blackberries, with a cigar smoke and eucalyptus finish. It’s still vigorous in its tannic structure, but it’s soft and supple enough to enjoy today. This bottle was recorked by hand at the winery last year, with five people checking every single one of the 5,000 bottles remaining at the chateau. The wines were topped up from magnums of the 1989. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend - a variety not used in the grand vin since 1996. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040Decanter | 98 DECVery ripe, with raisin and dried fruits on the nose. You can smell the sun-dried grapes. Full-bodied, delivering firm tannins and a very fresh palate. Long and flavorful, offering currant, berries and all sorts of dark fruits, but turns lightly earthy and floral. This is a thoroughly complex wine. Just starting to really open into the mature 20-year-old wine it is, but such a great life ahead of it. Muscular.--’89/’99 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2009). Drink now.Wine Spectator | 96 WSOne of the most youthful wines of the vintage, the 1989 Léoville Las Cases unwinds in the decanter and glass with aromas of blackcurrant and pencil shavings, framed by a discrete patina from its aging in oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and tightly wound, it’s impressively pure and vibrant, though it lacks the mid-palate plenitude of the vintage’s best wines, displaying a touch of tannic asperity on the finish. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it continue to improve with further aging, though my sense is that the Cabernet Sauvignon might have been picked a little prematurely in this vintage.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RP

Made from 85% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2005 Clos Fourtet is a powerhouse that does everything right and is borderline perfection in a glass. Awesome notes of blackcurrants, black cherries, graphite, tobacco, and scorched earth all flow to a full-bodied, thrilling concentrated, textured beauty that has sweet, sweet tannins, a deep, layered mid-palate, and a finish that won’t quit. I think it’s drinking perfectly today, but it has two more decades of prime drinking ahead of it. Don’t’ miss this stunning bottle of wine!Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDDense ruby/purple, with notes of crushed rock, blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with some licorice and chocolate, this full-bodied, massive wine from proprietor Philippe Cuvelier coincides with the resurrection of this premier grand cru classé in St.-Emilion. As the wine sits in the glass, notes of espresso roast and chocolate emerge. This full-bodied classic should continue to drink well for another 25 years. This is a killer effort.Robert Parker | 98 RPThe 2005 Clos Fourtet is a dramatic, sweeping Saint-Émilion endowed with tremendous depth and unctuous intensity. Dark cherry, plum, cedar, tobacco and woodsmoke build as this rapturous, deeply textured wine shows off its allure. Silky, plush and wonderfully expressive, Clos Fourtet is fabulous in 2005. Bright saline notes, that are such a signature of Saint-Émilion’s plateau, balance all of the natural richness of the year. Readers lucky enough to own it can look forward to another several decades of exceptional drinking. This is a superb effort from the Cuvelier family.Vinous Media | 97 VMFeatures a lovely smoldering feel, with the currant and fig paste notes now melded seamlessly with apple wood and graphite details. Long and rich, this is starting to hint at a secondary phase, showing flashes of mulled spice, tobacco and tar. The structure has brightness and energy, but moves slowly to the background. Approachable now.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2035. 3,833 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSA perfumed, sweet wine, immediately attractive. Behind this friendly exterior is a dark core of firm tannins, along with spice, blackberries, and new wood—not too much, just right. This chateau is firmly back on form.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WENo written review provided. | 92 W&S

From the tiny luxury jewel of the Neipperg family, the 2005 La Mondotte is composed of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc from a fabulous terroir. Super-rich and dense purple in color, it represents a concentrated essence in both its aromatic and flavor profile of blackcurrant, black cherry, earth and spice. Full-bodied, pure, and again, possessing sweet, sweet tannin and a tremendously deep, full, layered personality. This is another great example of La Mondotte, which should drink well for 30-40 years.Robert Parker | 99 RPThe 2005 La Mondotte has softened considerably since I last tasted it a few years ago. Clean veins of limestone-infused minerality run through a core of inky dark fruit, showing just how distinctive this tiny Saint-Émilion property is. Crème de cassis, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spice, lavender and menthol open with a bit of coaxing. This modern, exotically lush Saint-Émilion is a real beauty. Magnificent. Tasted two times.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGThis has an incredible nose, with blackberry, black licorice and intense coffee and toasty oak character. Full-bodied, with layers of beautiful oak and ripe fruit. Long and voluptuous. Best after 2017.Wine Spectator | 97 WS

The 2005 Le Tertre Roteboeuf is just about off the charts and shows how good this vintage is for Bordeaux. Still inky ruby/purple-colored with a huge nose of blackcurrants, chocolate, black cherries, and hints of scorched earth, it hits the palate with a huge, full-bodied, concentrated, yet impeccably balanced profile. This is an incredible wine that’s just now at the early stages of maturity and will keep for another two decades or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDA sensational effort, Tertre Roteboeuf’s 2005, along with the 2000, is one of the most profound wines made by Francois Mitjavile. A dense ruby/purple color is followed by a stunning perfume of sweet black currants, jammy cherries, licorice, and spice. Full-bodied and opulent with high, but remarkably sweet, velvety tannins as well as a stunning texture and a finish that lasts nearly a minute, this prodigious St.-Emilion should be drinkable in 3-4 years, and last for two decades or more. Kudos to the proprietor.Robert Parker | 98 RPGood deep medium ruby. Wonderfully perfumed, fresh aromas of blackberry, raspberry, licorice, spices and violet pastille. Brilliantly pure and energetic, with outstanding flavor intensity and inner-mouth perfume. Still an infant today, with primary black fruits dominating. But this has the spicy, floral perfume of the greatest vintages of this wine. The ripely tannic, palate-saturating finish is wonderfully long and vibrant. "Our most beautiful vintage since 1990," notes Mitjavile.Vinous Media | 94 VMBeautiful fruit with a Burgundian style. Pure and aromatic. Full-bodied, with gorgeous fruit and a long, long finish. Seductive. This is a fascinating and cerebral wine that wows you with its beauty. This could easily move up to a classic rating.Wine Spectator | 92-95 WS

Conservatively, the 2009 Ermitage l’Ermite (702 cases) needs 25-30 years of cellaring. Another monumental effort from Michel Chapoutier, it possesses copious notes of smoky asphalt, black truffles, pen ink, graphite and blackberry liqueur intermixed with hints of flowers and crushed rocks. Extremely full-bodied with abundant sweet tannins, amazing penetration on the palate and a long finish, this historic effort should age effortlessly for 50-100+ years.As I have written many times, all of these wines are produced from rigidly cultivated, bio-dynamically managed vineyards. That has been the rule since Michel Chapoutier first took over this firm in the late 1980s. Now, with over 20 years of biodynamic viticulture under his belt, Chapoutier remains committed to this rather radical style of organic farming. He believes the effect is to reduce rot in damp, rainy vintages. Moreover, he has observed that after 10 to 15 years of biodynamic farming, the natural acids tend to be more vivid and the overall pH of the soils (as well as the wines) has dropped. Controversial, outspoken and brutally candid, Chapoutier, who suffers no fools, continues to admirably produce wines that are among the finest in the world and potentially the longest lived. Refusing to acidify, chaptalize, or touch the wines in any way, he clearly wants every wine to capture the very essence of its terroir and vintage personality. In this, he succeeds remarkably. No one has made more effort in resurrecting the once-forgotten backwater appellation of St.-Peray than Michel Chapoutier. Working in conjunction with the famed Michelin three-star restaurant family, the Pics, Chapoutier has produced a sensational 2010 Gamme Pic and Chapoutier St.-Peray, and the first single-vineyard St.-Peray, the 2010 Lieu-Dit Peyrolles St.-Peray, which is one of the greatest St.-Perays I have ever tasted. This appellation is all steep hillside vineyards planted in pure, decomposed granite soils, not dissimilar from Hermitage, but they are located on the other side of the Rhone, facing the city of Valence. The single-vineyard wines, or selections parcellaires, 2010 whites are absolutely amazing, with production levels ranging from 300 to 700 or 800 cases of each cuvee. These wines are for true connoisseurs, as they are expensive and meant for long, long evolutions, but they capture the essence of a vintage and terroir as well as any wines in the world. As for the selections parcellaires of 2010 reds, Chapoutier likes this vintage almost as much as 2009, but feels it is very different, emphasizing more acidity and minerality, whereas 2009 is a combination of pure power, concentration and great potential longevity. Michel Chapoutier considers the 2009s, which are all in bottle, to be among the greatest wines he has ever produced, equaling his finest wines of 2006, 2003, 1999, 1990 and 1989 (his debut year).Robert Parker | 98+ RPThis has a taut feel still, with an almost searing iron edge, but there’s plenty of flesh in reserve, with plum compote, cherry pâte de fruit and anise notes that slowly fill in on the lengthy finish. Offers lots of grip too as this slowly unwinds with air, letting its iron edge stretch out even more. There’s terrific spine and cut, with very impressive length. Best from 2016 through 2036. 702 cases made, 40 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 98 WSSeemingly the most structured and traditional of the Ermitages, the 2009 M. Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite comes from 80+ year-old vines and is 100% destemmed Syrah that’s aged in a combination of new and 1-year-old barrels. It possesses an absolutely brilliant array of black raspberries, smoke, graphite, mineral, and assorted floral characteristics on the nose, and this is followed up by a full-bodied, structured, dense, and layered Syrah that has masses of ripe tannin, gorgeous precision and focus, and a blockbuster finish. As with the Le Pavillon, this needs a decade or more in the cellar, and will have an incredibly long life ahead of it.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDBright purple. Explosive aromas of candied red fruits, potpourri and incense, with a medicinal nuance adding complexity. Stains the palate with intense raspberry and bitter cherry flavors lifted by smoky mineraity. Becomes spicier and deeper with air and finishes with superb clarity and lingering florality. By all means allow this to rest for at least another five years.Vinous Media | 94+ VM

Proprietor Denis Durantou has produced a blockbuster Pomerol from a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, tipping the scales at just over 14.5% natural alcohol. A riveting wine, pure, elegant, but at the same time, extremely powerful and concentrated, with stunning texture, opulence and density, the tannins are abundant, and the wine certainly in need of a decade of cellaring. Fabulous creme de cassis and cherry liqueur notes are intertwined with hints of licorice, truffle, and graphite. Full and rich, but still in an infantile state of development, this wine needs to be cellared for 10 years but should keep for five decades or more. This 2009 is absolutely profound.Robert Parker | 99+ RPThe 2009 l’Eglise-Clinet was picked 14 to 28 September and matured in 80% new oak. It remains remarkably youthful on the nose, rendering the brilliant 2010 a bit introverted by comparison. This comes racing out of the blocks with ebullient red cherries, crushed strawberry and raspberry fruit, touches of dried rose petal and melted tar. With aeration there is just a touch of liquorish. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin that belies the arching structure underneath. It manages to retain awesome power and yet deliver a refined finish that feels long and tender. Stunning. Tasted at the l’Eglise-Clinet vertical at the château in April 2018.Vinous Media | 97 VMThe nose on this already suggests a deep and contemplative wine with blackberry, dried flowers and sweet berries. Evolves to black olive and hints of asphalt. Full-bodied, with supersilky tannins and tangy, rich fruit. It really grabs hold of you and wants to tell you it’s special. Loads of ripe tannins too. Big and structured. Turns to tapenade.Wine Spectator | 97-100 WSAromas of dark fruits, hazelnut and dark chocolate, follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins that are polished and refined. Beautiful depth of fruit to this. Best in 2018.James Suckling | 96 JS

Revealing incredible quality and performing better than it did from barrel, the 2009 appears to be the greatest Pichon Longueville Baron since the 1990 and 1989. An amazing opaque blue/purple color is followed by scents of spring flowers, graphite, smoky charcoal, incense, blackberries, blueberries and hints of coffee and chocolate. Incredibly intense, pure and flawlessly constructed with extravagant layers of fruit and richness, this offering has developed beautifully under the management of Christian Seeley. It is a voluptuous, opulent Pichon Longueville Baron that may eclipse anything they have made in the past. This brilliant wine should be at its peak between 2018 and 2045.Robert Parker | 98 RPStraight away the deep, rich colour tells you that this is a sexy, powerful wine, barely hitting the next stage of evolution at seven years old. The nose is rich and spicy, and carries through perfectly onto the palate of exotic, spiced plum flavours with a tarry, liquorice edge. Great confidence on display. 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot. Drinking Window 2017 - 2045Decanter | 98 DECThe 2009 Pichon-Baron replicates its epic performance at the vertical tasted last year. It has one of the finest bouquets among the group of Pauillac with copious blackberry, mint, melted tar and graphite notes, fresh and supremely well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, very well judged acidity. Harmonious with plenty of tobacco and pencil lead infused black fruit towards the persistent finish. Awesome. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMThis delivers a massive core of black Mission fig, black currant paste and roasted fig fruit, backed by alder wood, bay leaf, singed cedar and maduro tobacco. The finish lets a racy iron note take over. Long and authoritative, with gorgeous acidity giving the balance for long-term cellaring. Best from 2013 through 2030. 13,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSBold, smoky and chocolatey, this is a concentrated and massive wine for the Medoc, the alcohol showing slightly at the bold warm finish. Where is that T-bone steak? Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)James Suckling | 95 JS(Château Pichon Longueville) The 2009 Pichon Longueville is a very, very successful example of the “luxe” style in Pauillac. The nose is deep and very enticing (in its strumpet manner), as it offers up scents of sappy black cherries, cassis, coffee, Cuban cigar smoke, a lovely base of gravelly soil tones and plenty of nutty, beautifully integrated new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, utterly suave and polished, with excellent mid-palate depth, great focus and balance and a very long, ripely tannic and seductive finish. This will not demand a lot of time structurally before it is drinkable, but it would still make good sense to give it a full decade in the cellar to allow its secondary layers to fully blossom. A very well-made wine that is obviously inspired by the new Lafite style, and does an admirable job in turning out a luxurious example of the vintage. But should not a Comtesse be more of a strumpet than a Baron? Ah, well, it is all very much above me. (Drink between 2020-2070)John Gilman | 92-93+ JG

A wine with great beauty and finesse. Such elegance and ethereal quality for this estate. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a juicy delicious finish. Long and beautiful. This is the best Lynch in a long, long time. I love the precision here. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSStill a saturated ruby-black in hue, the 2010 Lynch-Bages offers up aromas of rich cassis fruit mingled with hints of pencil shavings, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, it’s rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that’s framed by firm, powdery tannins and lively acids. The most brooding, backward Lynch-Bages of the decade and one of the real successes of the vintage, this is a vibrant, tightly wound wine that is still an infant at age 10. Readers with bottles in their cellars might try one now out of curiosity, but this 2010 won’t begin to hit its stride until age 20.Robert Parker | 97 RPDeep inky purple in colour, this is a majestic Pauillac to be savoured by Bordeaux lovers. Again we are far from it being ready to drink and the tannins continue to be dominant, although not hiding the layers of rich earthy loam, slate, pencil lead and concentrated cassis that lie underneath. It’s impressive and built, muscular, taut and architectural. An excellent reflection of what 2010 brought to the wines in this corner of the Médoc. It’s not the most enticing for drinking today; give it another few years to soften and open further, or really allow it to have a good four to five hours in a carafe. But there is no mistaking the future of this wine. Drinking Window 2022 - 2050.Decanter | 97 DECRoasted cedar, tobacco and bay leaf notes start off this structured but lively bottling, with intense currant, blackberry and black cherry flavors at the core. The iron-laced grip and pleasantly austere plum pit and licorice snap accents fill in on the tar-tinged finish. Great range, character and typicity. If you ever need to explain Pauillac to someone, give them this. Best from 2018 through 2037. 25,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThis sumptuous wine is driven by perfectly ripe fruit as well as dense, dusty and dry tannins. Great swathes of blackberry sweep across the palate, followed by juicy acidity. Such a combination will make this impressive wine a delight to drink in 10 years and beyond. *Cellar Selection*Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe 2010 Lynch-Bages has a stunning bouquet with pixelated black fruit, crushed stone and graphite aromas that soar from the glass. This is just amazingly focused. The palate is medium-bodied with concentrated black fruit curiously tinged with cough candy, which here I find just a bit out of place. The acidity is extremely well judged and there is immense persistence on the finish. Bold, brassy and ambitious, this is an extremely impressive wine, although I suspect that there are better bottles out there. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 95 VM(Château Lynch-Bages) The 2010 Lynch-Bages is one of the stars in the Left Bank this year, as the Cazes family has fashioned a superb and perfectly balanced example of the vintage. The deep and complex nose soars from the glass in a mélange of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar ash, a touch of lead pencil, gravel, leafy young cabernet tones and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and most impressively soil-driven, with a fine core of pure fruit, excellent focus and balance, bright, well-integrated acids and fine length and grip on the ripely tannic and beautifully delineated finish. A fine, fine vintage for Lynch-Bages. (Drink between 2022-2075)John Gilman | 94+ JG

Borderline perfection in a bottle, the 2010 Pichon-Longueville Baron (79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot) boasts a saturated purple color as well as truly extraordinary aromatics of crème de cassis, licorice, crushed rock-like minerality, graphite, and spring flowers. Possessing full-bodied richness, a huge, unctuous mid-palate, and building tannin, it shows the purity, grandeur, and precision that makes this vintage so remarkable. Hide bottles for another 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy bottles over the following 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 99+ JDIncredible depth apparent from the first whiff as well as powerful aromatics combining graphite, black fruit and spices. The palate is concentrated but brimming with energy, yet what really stands out is its confounding freshness as well as the finesse and precise contours of the tannic framework. An already profound wine that will reach new heights over the next two decades. (Drink between 2022-2050)Decanter | 99 DECAdministrator Christian Seeley thinks the 2010 is the greatest Pichon Longueville Baron he has ever made, equaling some of the estate’s colossal wines from vintages such as 1989 and 1990. It was certainly showing well when I stopped by the chateau in January. Opaque purple, with loads of charcoal, licorice, incense and some exotic Asian spices along with abundant cassis liqueur, blackberry and hints of roasted coffee and spring flowers, it is full-bodied and opulent, with relatively high tannins, but they have sweetened up considerably and seem less aggressive than they did from barrel. The oak is clearly pushed to the background by the wine’s wealth of fruit, glycerin and full-bodied texture. This sensational Pichon Longueville Baron needs 5-6 years of cellaring, and should keep 30+ years.Robert Parker | 97+ RPThis is quintessential Pauillac, a great wine with its Cabernet proudly at the fore. It ranks with the 2009 and, with its tannins, is sure to age longer than that vintage. Solidly structured, powerful and dense, with fruit promised for the future, it succeeds with its weight and great concentration.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEThe 2010 Pichon-Baron is simply one of the greatest wines produced under Christian Seely’s tenure. It has a stunning bouquet with penetrating black fruit, wilted violet and a touch of sea spray, a distinctive marine note verging on shucked oyster shells. The palate is very well balanced with fine grain tannins, layers pf graphite infused black fruit and a very detailed, captivating finish. Brilliant. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMSolidly built, with a roasted edge to the steeped fig, blackberry and black currant flavors, quickly followed by brambly tannins and notes of bay leaf and espresso. Stays dark and tarry through the finish, with superb drive and verve. Best from 2017 through 2030.Wine Spectator | 95 WSA dense and layered wine with lots of ripe and sweet fruit. Loads of currants, plums and tar. This is concentrated and almost jammy with velvety tannins. Powerful. Chewy. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 95 JS(Château Pichon-Longueville) The 2010 Pichon-Longueville is also quite ripe at 13.75 percent alcohol, and includes a higher percentage of cabernet sauvignon than usual at seventy-nine percent in this vintage. However, with most of the merlot exiled to the second wine, the result is a more precise and focused wine than the Les Tourelles de Longueville, as it offers up a ripe and pure nose of black cherries, cassis, coffee bean, cigar ash, herb tones, gravelly soils and a generous base of smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and shows a very nice note of youthful cabernet tobacco leaf, with a fine core of fruit, ripe, well-integrated tannins and excellent length and grip on the chewy and slightly oaky finish. The 2010 Pichon-Baron was raised in eighty percent new wood this year (with thirty percent hailing from Taransaud), and the wine is currently showing just a bit of oak spice and uncovered wood tannins on the backend. I expect that this is just a reflection of the extreme youth of the 2010 and that it will eventually absorb its wood seamlessly. This will be a very long-lived wine and will need plenty of time in the cellar to start to blossom. (Drink between 2022-2075)John Gilman | 92+ JG

The 2011 Ermitage l’Ermite is a killer Hermitage that offers a huge bouquet of thick crème de cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as the classic minerality, graphite, and licorice notes this cuvée always shows. Full-bodied, dense, and concentrated on the palate, it’s a glorious effort that’s still moderately backward and tannic yet is just now starting to round the corner. It’s going to be very long lived, especially for a 2011.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe opaque black/purple-tinged 2011 Ermitage l’Ermite offers a combination of crushed stones, creme de cassis, blackberry liqueur, barbecue smoke and roasted meats. It is a powerful, slightly austere, backward effort that will need 5-6 years of bottle age after its release next year. It may turn out to be a 30-50-year wine in a vintage that made relatively forward wines. In that sense, it is an outlier in this vintage.Robert Parker | 95-98 RPOpaque ruby. An explosively perfumed bouquet features blackberry, cassis, cola, potpourri and smoky Indian spices. Broad, concentrated and alluringly sweet, with pliant dark fruit and violet pastille flavors showing wonderful depth as well as purity and vivacity. Bright mineral and spice notes accent the long, penetrating finish, which is firmed by silky, harmonious tannins.Vinous Media | 94 VM

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

30 Jul, 2019 – This is only in magnums and jeroboams and is stunning, with the sensibility of a red Burgundy, yet fresh and bright, due to the Chardonnay. Wild aromas of brioche, white pepper and rosemary. Maybe even some lavender. Full-bodied, yet always agile and vivid in the mouth. Stunning finish. Minerally and vivid. Only few bottles made. A blend of 1995, 1993, and 1990. Drink now. | 99 JSThis is a blend of wines from 1995, 1993 and 1990. That has given it a golden glow of toastiness, maturity and wisdom. Even now, there is some freshness and plenty of acidity to give the wine a lift. It is a great Champagne, produced in tiny quantities and only in magnum. Drink now. ROGER VOSS | 99 WEOne of my favorite renditions of this cuvée is the striking NV Brut Grand Siècle #17, a blend of the 1995, 1993 and 1990 vintages. Tasted from magnum, the wine offers up a complex bouquet of candied peel, pear and peach complemented by suggestions of wheat toast, iodine and beeswax. Full-bodied, textural and concentrated, the wine is deep and serious, built around racy acids and structuring dry extract—it exemplifies this cuvée’s elegant, seamless style. Readers lucky enough to find a bottle are in for a treat. | 96 RPThe NV Brut Grand Siècle Les Réserves Cuvée No. 17 (Magnum) is in a beautiful place where it offers a good deal of flavor complexity and yet remains light on its feet. An exotic mélange of orange confit, petrol, dried flowers, baked apple tart and hazelnut give the No. 17 striking aromatic nuance. Bright floral and citrus notes, along with a hint of reduction, add freshness. It’s a terrific choice for readers who enjoy Champagne with a good deal of mature nuances. The No. 17 is a blend of vintages 1995 (60%), 1993 (20%) and 1990 (20%). Disgorged May 27, 2019. | 95 VM