Wine Ratings

wines

The 2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Vide Bourse shows considerable promise, unwinding in the glass with aromas of pear and orange oil mingled with notes of white flowers, mint and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and structured, with lively acids, chalky grip and a resonant finish, it will only be bottled after a second winter on the lees.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPLike the Vergers, the wood treatment is prominent but not invasive as it permits the ripe and again vaguely exotic aromas of white and yellow peach, passion fruit and citrus confit to be appreciated. The wood also appears on the caressing and plush medium weight plus flavors that are also blessed with an abundance of sappy dry extract that coats the palate on the powerful and serious but well-balanced and refreshing finale. While this could be approached young, I would advise holding it for at least a few years first so that the wood treatment can more completely integrate.Burghound | 92 BHPale lemon. Powerful character. Stands up like a limestone menhir. Too concentrated to see all the detail yet, with also a little salinity. Mostly white fruit but with some riper yellow tints to it. Clean at the finish, not too oaky, and of course persistent. Drink from 2028-2036. Tasted Oct 2023.Jasper Morris | 92-94 JM

In 2022, the Chambolle Baudes was my favourite of Lignier’s several holdings in the village. The wine displays an expressive red and black fruit aroma, with notes of Asian spice and peonies, yet there is also a savoury, earthy side to the aroma. The texture is supple and not at all heavy. Ideally, one would wait five years to open this and then drink it over the next twenty or more that follow since it has the substance to age well.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECThere is one new barrel out of the four. Mid purple, much more energy, and density behind. A lower pH compared to Chabiots is what drives this. An explosion of red berry fruit on the palate, with a crisp clean long finish, very complete. Drink from 2032-2038. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 93-95 JMThe 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Baudes 1er Cru has a very floral bouquet like the Chabiots…more intense perhaps, a touch more mineralité. Very well-defined. The palate is svelte and velvety smooth in texture, with vivacious redcurrant, strawberry notes, blood orange, and a touch of fresh fig towards the caressing finish. This will be very seductive.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMThe 2022 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Baudes is one of the highlights of the range, offering up aromas of ripe cherries, red berries, orange zest and Indian spices. Medium to full-bodied, supple and layered, it’s deep and concentrated, with a style that reflects its proximity to Bonnes-Mares.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPHere the ripe, spice and floral-suffused aromas display notes of violet, rose petal, anise and both red and dark pinot fruit. There is equally good size, weight and power to the slightly more muscular flavors that deliver excellent length on the balanced and slightly more structured finale. The Lignier Baudes always ages extremely well and the 2022 version should be no exception.Burghound | 91-93 BH

Aromas of peonies, mint and sweet red berries introduce the 2022 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Chabiots (négoce), a medium to full-bodied, supple and perfumed wine with melting tannins and a saline, rose-inflected finish. This delicate, ethereal red will offer a broad drinking window.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90-92 RPThe 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Chabiots 1er Cru comes from purchased fruit, 25% whole bunches, and comprises three barrels. This is nicely focused with rose petals, red cherry, and crushed strawberry on the nose. The medium-bodied palate is floral in style with pliant tannins, quite lush red fruit, and a smooth, sensual finish. Très Chambolle, this should be drinking after four or five years.Vinous Media | 90-92 VM3 barrels, one new, from purchased grapes. A pink crimson colour, flowery, soft strawberries, a little peppery behind, minor tannins. Agreeable yet lacking the density of the Nuits Poisets. Fair length though. Drink from 2030-2035. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JMA much spicier and more elegant nose freely offers up its aromas of fresh red cherry, plum and pretty array of floral elements. The delicious, vibrant and moderately muscular medium-bodied flavors exude evident minerality on the dusty, firm and youthfully austere finale. This could use better depth but I like the balance, which should allow it to age gracefully over a decade plus.Burghound | 89-92 BH

Laurent Lignier’s 2022 Gevrey Combottes is a resounding success, with its expressive black and red fruit aromas and abundant earthy complexity and depth. The texture is broad and dense, and the structure carries the wine to an impressively lingering finish. The wine is produced from Lignier’s tiny 0.15-hectare plot at the foot of Mont Luisant, surrounded on three sides by grand crus. The grapes are from vines originally planted in 1957; they are partially destemmed before gentle fermentation on native yeasts and ageing in cask.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECThe 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Combottes 1er Cru has a beautiful bouquet (as usual) with pure red cherries, wild strawberries, pencil box, and light loamy scents in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannins. There’s impressive depth, fleshier than the La Petite Chapelle, with a caressing, persistent finish. Very seductive. Very delicious.Vinous Media | 94-96 VMA rich and even purple. A little bit of graphite on the nose. A fine density of dark red fruit, with some roses and peonies as well. All building together very well. A rich fruit quite lush, yet with an electric backbone through the middle, leading to a long sensuous finale. Very good. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 93-96 JMRich and wild, the 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes offers up aromas of licorice, plums, smoked meats and spices. Medium to full-bodied, supple and carnal, with a fleshy core of fruit and powdery tannins, it can’t quite match the level of the Morey Vieilles Vignes this year.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPMore discreet wood influence more easily allows the elegant, and more floral, aromas of mostly dark pinot fruit to be enjoyed. The caressing but punchy medium weight flavors possess good mid-palate richness before terminating in a dusty, youthfully austere and well-balanced finale. This is lovely and very Combottes in character, which is to say refined but with focused power.Burghound | 91-94 BH

From 1.02 hectares of vines, the 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées includes one-third whole bunches this year. The intriguing bouquet offers red berry fruit, brown spices, and hints of Earl Grey - quite complex and mercurial in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied, fresh, and vibrant with sappy red fruit, fine delineation, and a svelte, harmonious, graphite-tinged finish. This superb Gevrey should age well in bottle.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMA fine mid ruby. Less immediately seductive on the nose than the Gevrey Regnard, but still with plenty of red berry fruit, a little more structure from the barrel, and will take longer to come round. A fine intensity of strawberry fruit behind. Old vines, some pre-war, the rest 1950s-60s. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMAromas of spices, wild berries, smoke and loamy soil introduce the 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées, a medium to full-bodied, pure and charming wine that’s ample and fine-boned, with melting tannins and a saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 89-91 RPA slightly more deeply pitched nose features notes of plum, earth, violet and a hint of the sauvage. There is very good mid-palate density to the solidly powerful middleweight flavors that exhibit fine length on the muscular, dusty, rustic and muscular finish. This is built-to-age and should repay 7 to 10 years of aging.Burghound | 89-91 BH

The ripe mulberry and black cherry fruit aromas here have hints of leather, earth and spice that carry through to the palate. The structure has admirable grip and focus, leading the wine to a pleasantly persistent finish. The grapes are from a half-hectare recently purchased; he extracts very carefully, with a pre-soak but no more punching down. The result is elegant and should be ready to drink shortly after release.Decanter Magazine | 93 DECA pretty purple with good depth, on a steady slope well exposed to the south. Attractive juicy red fruit, more strawberries, with good energy all the way through. As with the village wine, this is more about the fruit than the structure. Drink from 2028-2033. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 89-91 JMThe 2022 Monthélie 1er Cru Sur la Velle is seamless and charming, offering up notes of plums, sweet berries, smoke and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, supple and charming palate. This will offer expressive drinking on release.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 88-90 RPFirm reduction blocks an assessment of the nose though there is good freshness and verve to the succulent, delicious and velvet-textured medium-bodied flavors that deliver reasonably good length on the firm, dusty and mildly chewy finish that is rustic but not hard.Burghound | 88-90 BHThe 2022 Monthélie Sous la Velle 1er Cru has a crisp, well-defined bouquet, the 20% whole bunches neatly integrated, offering hints of raspberry and blackcurrant leaf. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins and well-balanced, though it needs a little more depth toward the finish. But I appreciate the white pepper notes on the conclusion. An admirable Monthélie.Vinous Media | 87-90 VM

From 60-year-old southeast-facing vines, with 10% of the blend matured in new oak. This shows Mont de Milieu at its best. Floral notes combine with good ripeness of stone fruit on the palate, freshened up by lovely acidity. Plenty of mineral notes add extra complexity to the whole. A fine premier cru which has power but in a refined, elegant package.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECAs is often the case with Mont de Milieu, there is a trace of exoticism suffusing the white and yellow fruit aromas along with classic Chablis elements of oyster shell, iodine and algae, all of which is trimmed in noticeable though still reasonably subtle wood influence. There is excellent size, weight, density and power to the succulent but muscular larger-bodied flavors that coat the palate with sappy dry extract while delivering excellent length on the overtly stony finish. This bone-dry and highly recommended effort is also going to require patience.Burghound | 93 BHThe 2022 Chablis Mont de Milieu 1er Cru sees ten months on the fine less. It has a keen, fresh, marine-influenced bouquet with dewy green apples and kiwi fruit. Fine delineation. The palate is fresh and vibrant, the acidity well judged with just a slight creaminess creeping in toward the finish. I’d afford this 12 months in bottle; it should evolve into a fine Mont de Milieu. Tasted blind at the BIVB tasting in Chablis. (Drink between 2025 - 2036)Vinous Media | 92 VM15% is vinified in new wood, then matured as the other 1ers crus. A little more yellow in the colour, and a slight touch of coconut on the nose. The wood can be detected on the palate too but it will certainly integrate. There is a fine full bodied classical Chablis lurking behind. A notably long succulent finish, then some classical minerality. Certainly, a fine acid balance. They make sure to pick here very early thus avoiding the over exotic character seen in some cellars. The 2022 is set to be a great success. Drink from 2028-2038. Tasted Jun 2023.Jasper Morris | 92-95 JM

Lush, juicy and seductive, this red features blackberry, black currant, blueberry, iron and earth aromas and flavors. Quickly tightens up courtesy of the solid structure, with fine promise for its evolution. Offers terrific balance and length. Best from 2029 through 2047. 400 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WSThe 2022 Nuits Saint-Georges Clos des Porrets-Saint-Georges 1er Cru had been racked the previous week, but it was essentially the final wine I tasted as it was just about to be bottled. It has a stricter and more backward bouquet than the Chênes Carteaux: blackberry and wild strawberry fruit, the 20% new oak neatly folded in. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannins, leaning more towards black fruit laced with tar and tobacco. Quite Morey-like towards the finish with impressive persistence. Give this two or three years in bottle to shave the edges. Very fine.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMRacked, to bottle in December. 35 hl/ha. A darker purple, just a little oak showing on the nose alongside the dark raspberry fruit. The grain of tannin is very good, and ideally integrated, with just the right acidity as well. Drink from 2030-2038. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JMThis manages to be at once ripe yet cool with its layered combination of black cherry, plum and just turned earth and humus nuances. There is notably better density and volume to the bigger-bodied flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the firm, moderately austere and sneaky long finish. This by contrast is going to need at least a few years of keeping first.Burghound | 90-92 BH

Opulent, yet with racy acidity underneath, this red bursts with cherry, strawberry, floral, mineral and spicy oak aromas and flavors. Silky and airy, gliding effortlessly across the palate. Yet there’s ample support in the form of dense, finely wrought tannins, and the finish seems to go on forever, with a flash of cinnamon along with mineral and spice details. Best from 2030 through 2050. 20 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 98 WSNicolas Groffier has done a superb job with his Amoureuses; he will separate the upper and lower parts in 2022. Just under Musigny, he explains, there is a lot of sand, which helps the vines ripen to a greater degree. This cuvée has a black plum and cassis fruit character with notes of earth and smoke. The texture is fuller and more powerful, with great ripeness and depth. One should wait seven to ten years to open this monumental wine and drink over the next thirty.Decanter Magazine | 97 DECAlso made with 30% new wood and 100% whole bunches. A fine fresh purple, albeit a little less dense than the clay version. The bouquet is lighter, more airy, this is more cerebral, a romantic lover (I think that bit was a contribution from Nicolas!). With a delicious purity of cherry and alpine strawberry topnotes, less body behind. Really markedly different! Delicate and sensual together. I am going to give my preference, albeit fractional, to Grâce des Argiles as that seems to be the wine which is more typical of my expectation of Amoureuses. Drink from 2030-2040. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 95-97 JM

The delicate nose of floral honey and acacia blossoms leads you into this elegant Meursault Charmes. Very focused and vibrant on the medium- to full-bodied palate, the fine tannins keeping this straight. If the firm finish was a bit more elegant, this would certainly rate higher. Drinkable now, but best from 2025.James Suckling | 93 JSMore subtle oak influence can be found on the cool, airy and exceptionally pretty aromas of citrus, white flower and Granny Smith apple. Once again there is a beguiling texture to the impressively rich and mineral driven medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate on the youthfully austere, firm and beautifully persistent finale. While this could reasonably be approached after only three to four years, it has an excellent track record for aging and is a wine that should repay up to a decade of keeping.Burghound | 92 BHNotes of freshly sliced citrus and mineral reduction combine with those of white flower and discreet spice nuances that are trimmed in discreet oak. There is a restrained energy to the caressing, intense and lilting middle weight flavors that possess good richness but also a lovely sense of refinement on the bitter lemon-infused finale. This is certainly pretty but it will need a few years of cellaring to better develop the overall depth.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMMid lemon yellow. This is rather more open on the nose, with an easy white fruit, no great detail as yet but showing more on the palate. Quite intense apples with some ripe citrus rind alongside, medium plus bodied, fair length. Drink from 2028-2034. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JM

A powerful and ripe Meursault with plenty of Mirabelle plums filling out the generous medium- to full-bodied palate. Attractive interplay of creaminess, fine tannins and freshness. Matured in small oak barrels, of which one third were new. Very limited production. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThe 2022 Meursault Santenots 1er Cru has a complex nose: yellow fruit, spice box, touches of fennel and crushed stone, all coming through with aeration. The palate is very well-balanced with good weight - a lovely creamy texture whilst retaining tension. More open than other cuvées and persistent in the mouth, this is a well-crafted and delicious Meursault.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMAll from Les Santenots Blanc. A lime and lemon colour, some charm to the nose along with the energy. Rather a pretty expression of fruit, then a little more flesh behind, well integrated with the oak. A supple rounded Meursault with still a sense of refinement. Drink from 2027-2033. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMThere is enough wood present to merit pointing out surrounding the ripe aromas of primarily pear compote and citrus confit. The sleek, intense and solidly voluminous flavors possess an interesting hint of sweetness on the lingering finish that could use a bit better depth. With that said, this is sufficiently tightly wound to repay 6 to as much as 10 years of cellaring which should prove beneficial.Burghound | 90 BH

Pure and airy aromas of mineral reduction, essence of pear, just sliced apple, acacia blossom and a whiff of spice are trimmed in admirably subtle wood. The lively and overtly stony medium weight flavors are sleek to the point of being almost glossy on the youthfully austere, compact and built-to-age finale. This is really quite classy.Burghound | 91 BH

Bottled in late July. Pale lemon colour. A pure and fresh bouquet, mostly white fruit. Particularly stony this year behind a raft of white apple fruit, plenty of energy, starting to soften at the back. Middleweight plus, quite attractive. Tasted Oct 2023.Jasper Morris | 92 JM

This blended premier cru has always been the chouchou (special favourite) of Laurent Lignier. It is two-thirds of a hectare, blended from Faconnières and Les Cheneverey. The vines were planted beginning in 1936, the youngest—in 1962. It usually gives a wine that is a model of elegance and finesse, and 2022 is no exception, with pronounced aromas of mulberry and cassis touched with violets, liquorice, and cedar. The texture is ethereal and perfumed, yet the finish is astonishingly long. This wine should be accessible relatively early and should drink for 20 years at least.Decanter Magazine | 96 DECClear bright and lively ruby purple. Super perfume, this has an innate class over and above even the Chaffots, with a lovely tensile strength. More red fruit than black, perfectly poised, with a long stylish finish. All in finesse! Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 94-96 JMThe 2022 Morey-Saint-Denis Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru comes 60% from Les Faconnières and the rest from Chenevery. The very complex bouquet has a mixture of red and black fruit, detailed with crushed rock and graphite. The medium-bodied palate has fine-grain tannins with that graphite element hovering in the background. It is very detailed and precise toward the finish. This is one of Lignier’s finest cuvées, and the 2022 is no different. Superb.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMThe 2022 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes unwinds in the glass with aromas of rich, smoky berry fruit mingled with notes of rose petals, spices and grilled squab. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with a fleshy core of fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins, it concludes with a perfumed finish. As usual, it’s one of the high points of the range.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPThis is also firmly reduced. By contrast, there is a lovely sense of freshness and verve suffusing the exceptionally rich and highly seductive medium-bodied flavors that brim with old vine sappy dry extract while exhibiting evident minerality on the superbly long, balanced and powerful finish. This is excellent and, along with the Combottes, almost always the domaine’s best 1er.Burghound | 91-94 BH

The Beaux Monts from Hudelot-Noëllat is another level of richness and depth in 2022, with a pronounced mulberry and fig fruit aroma touched with earth, smoke and spice. The wine is dense and tannic, impressively muscular for this appellation. One can only imagine the secret is the old vines and judicious punching down; Van Canneyt farms 0.3 hectares at the top of the slope; otherwise, it is a cool terroir. The grapes were partially destemmed and firmly punched down before ageing in cask (25% new).Decanter Magazine | 95 DECRuby purple in colour, with an intensity on the nose well ahead of its predecessors. The Beaumonts goes into the mouth discreetly, then blossoms, offering summer pudding fruits with vivacious acidity, an excellent balance here. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 93-96 JMAromas of plums, red berries, orange zest, exotic spices and potpourri preface the 2022 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaumonts, a medium to full-bodied, deep and layered wine with a concentrated core of fruit that’s framed by sweet, powdery tannins. It’s pure and complete.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPThe 2022 Vosne-Romanée Les Beaumonts 1er Cru has red and black fruit, plus a touch of shucked oyster shell and Japanese nori. Impressive delineation and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a pretty and relatively delicate Les Beaumonts. It is sapid and quite linear, maybe needing a little more grip on the finish. Give it 3-4 years once in bottle. Again, I think this will gain weight during its élevage.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMA more deeply pitched and spicier, if perhaps slightly less elegant, nose is comprised by notes of exotic tea, sandalwood and an interesting hint of star anise. Here too the medium-bodied flavors possess a really lovely and sophisticated texture yet no lack of power on the intensely mineral-driven, dusty and youthfully austere finale. Excellent quality in an equally age-worthy package.Burghound | 91-94 BH

This exquisite wine has intense red and black fruit aromas with a floral edge and an almost salty savoury intensity. The texture is silky but tightly wound. It is commonly thought that the upper part of Suchots is superior, but this version gives that idea the lie. Here, the 100-year-old vines in the domaine’s 0.45-hectare parcel make the wine special, along with Van Caneyt’s very able winemaking. This wine should open well in three to five years and will undoubtedly last another 40 (at least) beyond that.Decanter Magazine | 97 DECThe 2022 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots is one of the highlights of the range this year. Wafting from the glass with aromas of plums, cassis, orange zest and exotic spices and framed by a deft application of new oak, it’s medium to full-bodied, concentrated and multidimensional, with terrific depth, velvety tannins and a long, broad finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RPThe 2022 Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 1er Cru has an overtly floral bouquet with rose petals and violets complementing the red fruit. It’s vivacious as it was in barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy, succulent tannins and iodine touches. The finish needs a little more complexity and nerve. Tasted at the Stannary Wines dinner in London with Charles van Canneyt.Vinous Media | 92 VMOnce again the nose is wonderfully fresh and even spicier with its aromas of poached plum and liqueur-like dark pinot fruit that is also tinged with exotic tea wisps. There is noticeably better density to the caressing and seductively textured yet decided powerful flavors that brim with dry extract before concluding in a moderately austere and hugely long finale. This too is quite compact and very much built to repay extended keeping.Burghound | 92-94 BHA distinguished crimson purple. The oak is a little more apparent, and the fruit a riper, fleshier raspberry. Oak continues to take a hand but the fruit stays with it. Lower acidity in the Suchots, at least by taste. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JM

Bize owns 2.1 hectares here, including a half-hectare of Chardonnay. The red has an explosive blackberry and wild strawberry fruit aroma with hints of fresh and dried flowers, earth, and cigar leaf. The texture is tannic and firm but less tightly-wound than the 2020s. Fermentation is done as whole clusters; the wine is aged in cask, with just 5 – 10% new. When finished, this delicious wine should be approachable earlier than some vintages have been.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECThe 2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Vergelesses 1er Cru has a complex and perhaps cerebral nose: dark berry fruit, black pepper, green tea and light scents of damp moss/forest floor. This unfurls beautifully in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins framing gorgeous dark berry fruit, a little peppery in style, quintessentially Savigny with a very persistent finish. Everything you want from a Savigny Premier Cru (and more).Vinous Media | 93-95 VMHalf in a foudre, half in a barrel. Pale colour with a faint green streak. The reduction is keeping the wine tense, while the fruit on the palate is immediately engaging. Ripe limes, fresh apple, a certain sensuality behind, and an excellent long finish. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMCool, fresh and bright aromas of red currant, cherry, warm earth and a hint of spice are trimmed in a plethora of floral elements. The rich, velvety and solidly voluminous flavors possess the best concentration in the range while displaying focused power on the firm, serious, moderately austere and very much built to age finale. This is a buy and forget it wine for at least 7 to 8 years.Burghound | 90-93 BH

A total of one hectare is planted in Fournaux. The vines from the top of the slope in stony soils are blended with those from the deeper clay at the base. All the grapes are fermented as whole clusters and are ageing in mainly used casks to create this wine with a bright mulberry and pomegranate fruit aroma underpinned by saline minerality and a hint of savoury game. The texture is firm with grippy tannins and good length.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECThe 2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Fournaux 1er Cru is more closed on the nose compared to the Grands Liards, yet it is still well-defined with black plum and bilberry fruit, intermingling with sous-bois and a touch of crushed stone. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins. It’s an elegant Savigny, not powerful, but armed with reassuring persistence on the white pepper-tinged finish. Lovely.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMAn even fresh purple. At first there is not much nose but a little fresh raspberry fruit begins to emerge. The Fournaux 2022 delivers a rounded raspberry and strawberry fruit across the palate with sterner tannins at the finish, and still a good acid balance. Tasted Nov 2023.Jasper Morris | 90-92 JMMore somber, even brooding, aromas of various dark berries, warm earth and a touch of the sauvage enjoy a floral top note. There is notably better punch, though not better density, to the powerful and serious medium-bodied flavors that coat the palate with firm tannins on the built-to-age finale.Burghound | 89-91 BH

Fine lemon and lime colour. The bouquet is very alluring and signals a yellow fruit style. Guillaume thinks the plant material is earlier ripening here than in Vergers. The fruit is sunny, the finish remains all lemons and limes. Tasted Oct 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMThe 2022 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chenevottes 1er Cru has an impressive sense of delineation and poise on the nose, yellow fruit commingling with sea spray and linseed aromas, and a touch of chai tea. The palate is well-balanced with a fine line of acidity, taut and fresh with subtle stem ginger notes towards the Meursault-like finish. Good potential.Vinous Media | 90-92 VM

The 2022 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Vergers 1er Cru has more intensity and tension than the Chenevottes, greater mineralité coming through with aeration. The palate is taut and sapid, with satisfying mid-palate weight and a grippy finish boding well for bottle maturation. One to watch.Vinous Media | 91-93 VM

Grown on red soil on hard limestone, planted partly in 1985 and mostly in 1995 at 14,000 vines per hectare. There’s a smoky touch to this, reminding me of my childhood overheated Scalextric set. This apart, the Clos du Meix offers linear intensity, fresh apple, a slight bitterness behind, then kicks on to a concentrated finish. Drink from 2027-2034. Tasted Nov 2024.Jasper Morris | 92 JMModerately firm reduction renders the nose impossible to assess. More interesting are the caressing, delicious and more subtly mineral-driven flavors that deliver fine persistence on the compact, youthfully austere and built-to-age finale. Once again, this is very good though a wine that’s also going to need at least a few years of keeping.Burghound | 91 BH

Complex smoky and nutty character, excellent concentration with a wonderful mineral acidity that keeps this very bright through the long, multilayered finish. No hint of anything exotic or overly ripe in spite of the ample depth.James Suckling | 96 JS

The 2023 Chassagne-Montrachet Clos Saint-Jean 1er Cru was picked a couple of days earlier than the Clos des Murées. Despite being opened the evening before my visit, there is still some reduction on the nose. The palate is taut, fresh, quite nutty and Meursault-like in style with an energetic, persistent finish. Give this a year or two in bottle—it is very promising.Vinous Media | 91+ VM

Like the 2023 les Minots, the la Forêt chez Piuze is nicely expressive and generous right out of the blocks this year and will drink beautifully from the moment of release. The beautiful bouquet wafts from the glass in a mix of lemon, pear, chalky minerality, fruit blossoms, beeswax and a topnote of citrus peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and succulent at the core, with lovely mineral drive and grip, bouncy acids and a long, seamlessly balanced and zesty finish. Fine juice. 2025-2055.John Gilman | 93 JGThe more giving, fruit-forward 2023 Chablis 1er Cru Les Forêts offers a lovely contrast to the pronouncedly mineral Séchet. “It comes from the bottom of the valley, where the soils are deeper,” observes Piuze, and it’s evident in the glass, as the wine wafts with a deep bouquet of beeswax, peach skin and pear mingling with savory tones. Flamboyant, elegantly muscular and enveloping, it’s fleshy yet laden with lively acidity, concluding with a saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RP

From a site within the climat of Les Vaillons, where the vines are planted east to west and the grape skins are never kissed by the sun, Patrick Piuze’s 2023 Chablis 1er Cru Les Roncières has turned out very well. Opening in the glass to reveal a bouquet of beeswax, peach and lemon zest, it is medium-bodied, textural yet racy, with lovely tension and a long, mineral finish. It retains a classically Chablisien profile even in this warm year.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPI have never seen another vigneron who bottled their Chablis “Les Roncières” on its own. As this premier cru can also be bottled as Vaillons, most producers choose this direction for labeling of this wine. As I have mentioned before, Pat’s parcel in the les Minots section of Vaillons has a completely different exposition than his vines in Roncières, so the two are bottled separately for a very good reason. The 2023 version is lovely, offering up a complex nose of lemon, pear, a complex base of chalky soil, paraffin, orange peel, a touch of anise and a topnote of lemon zest. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and impeccably balanced, with a very good core of fruit, fine transparency and grip, zesty acids and lovely nervosité on the long and precise finish. Fine juice. 2027-2055.John Gilman | 92+ JG