Wine Ratings

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The 2023 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru has another riveting bouquet with notes of white peach, orange pith and crushed limestone. It is intense but very elegant and delineated. The palate has exquisite balance and a little more rondeur compared to others. A touch more spiciness emerges toward the finish, with perhaps the longest aftertaste. This is superb.Vinous Media | 94-96 VMHere too the nose is cool and airy with its aromas of smoked apple, acacia blossom, crushed fennel and citrus confit. The richer and more concentrated, though less mineral-driven, middle weight flavors coat the palate with sappy dry extract on the clean, dry, delineated and balanced finale. This is really quite classy and well-worth your interest.Burghound | 91-94 BHA large block adjacent to Meursault. A fairly pale lemon yellow, with a concentration of solid white fruit on the palate. Significant weight, powerful on the palate, all very much a monolithic block of flavour, some ripe grapefruit at the finish. Weightier perhaps but Benoît’s style here at Sauzet is not for the massive. Two thirds come from 70 year old vines, one third 30. Good acidity to finish. Drink from 2029-2034. Tasted Oct 2024.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JM

The 2023 Puligny-Montrachet les Folatières En la Richards 1er Cru has a crisp, precise and penetrating bouquet with perhaps the most conspicuous mineralité of Sauzet’s Premier Cru. Shucked oyster shell notes manifest with aeration. The palate is beautifully balanced with succinctly integrated oak, real depth and hints of orange pith and citrus lemon. It’s utterly harmonious and fans out stunningly on the finish. Wow.Vinous Media | 95-97 VMMid lemon yellow. A Puligny of refinement with some weight of fruit too, though the holding comes from the lighter-bodied end of Folatières. That’s how it seems on the nose but then there is an explosion of pure white fruit which soars across the palate, fine acidity, a little mineral crunch enhanced by lemon zest, even a touch of grapefruit in the long, complex finish. Very white chalky soil here, a bit like upper Chevalier. Drink from 2029-2035. Tasted Oct 2024.Jasper Morris | 93-95 JMCool, airy and restrained aromas include those of petrol, exotic tea and spiced white-fleshed fruit. There is a gorgeous mouthfeel to the sleek and stony medium-bodied flavors that aren’t particularly dense but they do possess a lovely sense of underlying tension that adds to the appeal of the bracing, chalky and bone-dry finale. This is quite firm and a wine that should be more than capable of repaying at least a decade of keeping.Burghound | 91-93 BH