Wines with Age

wines

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 La Muse is composed of 93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec. Wow—it comes strutting out of the glass with flamboyant crème de cassis, ripe plums and black cherries notes followed by nuances of aniseed, chocolate box, wild thyme, violets and chargrill plus a fragrant suggestion of potpourri. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, the densely packed perfumed black fruit layers are beautifully framed by perfectly ripe, finely grained tannins and fantastically knit freshness. It finishes long with the most incredible display of mineral sparks. 2,300 cases were produced.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPIncluding the highest percentage of Merlot (at the moment anyway), the 2016 La Muse checks in as 93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec that spent 15-16 months in roughly 90% new French oak. This magical wine shows how good Merlot (and Sonoma) can be and offers extraordinary notes of crushed violets, spring flowers, scorched earth, graphite, black cherries, and crème de cassis. As elegant and seamless as they come, it’s full-bodied, perfectly balanced, has an incredible spine of acidity and tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. It has the class and purity to drink well even today, but it’s not going to hit prime time for at least another decade and will keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo!Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDThis is a fabulous, merlot-based red with blackberries, blueberries and rust. Ink, too. Medium to full body, round tannins and a juicy finish. 93 per cent merlot with the rest in cabernet franc and malbec. Drink after 2021.James Suckling | 96 JSThe most approachable of the three Verité wines right now. This is richly textured with plush raspberry and grilled damson, high floral aromatics, and plenty of tannic structure that becomes more apparent as you give it time, and the weight of the mid palate asserts itself. There is a serious side to this wine that will become clearer as it ages and the welcoming puppy fat of young fruit trims down. This is Merlot dominated, and is exceptionally successful. Drinking Window 2023 - 2040.Decanter | 95 DECThe 2016 La Muse is a brooding, somber wine, just as it was en primeur. Black cherry, gravel, savory herbs, smoke, game, licorice and incense add a real feeling of gravitas that comes through in the wine’s tannic heft. La Muse is often more showy when it is young, but the 2016 is going to require quite a bit of patience.Vinous Media | 94 VMDense, smoky and powerful, featuring notes of freshly ground coffee to the roasted plum and dried blackberry flavors. Hoisin sauce accents show on the tannic finish, with green herbal shadings. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Drink now through 2025. 2,205 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Saturated ruby. Heady aromas of ripe dark berries, cherry liqueur, vanilla and incense, with smoky mineral and exotic spice accents building in the glass. Seamless in texture and deeply concentrated, offering palate-staining black and blue fruit, floral pastille and mocha flavors that turn sweeter with air. At once plush and lively, finishing extremely long and smoky, with repeating dark berry and floral notes and velvety tannins.Vinous Media | 96 VMThis blend of Barossa Valley (67%) and Eden Valley fruit hails from five parcels averaging 80 years old, the oldest planted in 1854. Intensely concentrated in hue and muscular flavour. Spicy and mineral to the nose and palate, with glimpses of violets. Its iodine and liquorice-edged black cherry and blueberry flavour is succulent, but still in the grip of the sinewy, charry oak, making for an imposing, slightly austere finish. A powerhouse.Decanter Magazine | 96 DECThere’s a stronger Barossa Valley expression in 2016 with ripe blackberry and dark-plum flavors delivering a very pure, focused fruit impression. Vibrant fruit purity here. The palate has gently grainy tannins and good weight. Fresh, succulent dark berries and an impressive, deep, driving finish. A blend of Barossa Valley 67% and Eden Valley 33 shiraz from very old vines. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 95 JSThe average age of the vines for this premium Shiraz is 1936, but some date back to 1854. From French and American staves coopered on site, "Octavius" offers an evocative and multifaceted nose with everything from currants, licorice and mocha to cedar, bay leaf and cloves. There’s a lovely woodsy, wintery vibe, and a touch of bottle age, too that softens the ripe fruit but highlights the oak. The palate is powerful and lean at the moment, with elevated acidity and taut, slightly woody tannins. There’s a nice tang to the fruit. It’s hard to predict how this will age but the hope is it’s got another decade left in it at least.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEBlackberry, plum and toasted herb notes, including sage and thyme, mingle with earthy details and dense tannins. Impressive for its concentration, suggesting a candidate for the cellar. Drink now through 2040. 1,500 cases made, 30 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Opening in the glass with hints of honeycomb, toasted nuts, fresh pears and wet stones, the 2017 Mâcon-Cruzille Clos de la Mollepierre is medium to full-bodied, enveloping but precise, with a tensile core, excellent concentration and a long, chalky finish. It’s another very serious wine from Domaine Guillot-Broux.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92+ RP

The 2017 Ornellaia Bianco is a slightly tweaked blend compared to the 2016 and includes a splash of Viognier. The blend is 91% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% Viognier, which is a combination you don’t see often, yet it makes sense, and the Viognier plays the role of Semillon seen in Bordeaux Blanc releases. Coming from a dry, hot year, it has a beautiful bouquet of Meyer lemons, honeysuckle, flowers, and hints of barrique. This carries to a seamless, full-bodied white that’s flawlessly balanced, has a bright core of acidity, ample mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It’s one seriously classy white I’d be thrilled to drink any time over the coming 4-5 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDA really beautiful, layered white with sliced lemons, limes, stones and hints of steel. Some lemon curd. Tight and solid with fine phenolics that give it structure and focus. Extremely poised and dignified. Drink now or hold.James Suckling | 95 JSThe previous vintage of this wine was made soley with Sauvignon Blanc, but as expected, the Ornellaia 2017 Ornellaia Bianco sees a small percentage of Viognier added to the blend. The exact percentage of the two components is 91% Sauvignon Blanc and 9% Viognier. If you are a fan of these grape varieties, as I am, this wine will appeal to all your basic pleasure points. Showing medium rich concentration and a creamy textural fiber, it reveals some of the weight that we associated with this hot and dry vintage. However, any trace of over-ripeness is mitigated by the cool soils that, in this case, consist of deep calcarious clay broken up by rocks at a breezy 80 to 100 meters above sea level. This consistency is perfect for locking in moisture even in drought vintages. The wine is fermented in oak, but no malolactic fermentation occurs, and the wine instead rests on the fine lees with frequent stirring. Orchard fruits and Cavaillon melon give the wine a sturdy center of gravity. Some 5,000 bottles were made, and this wine was released in April 2020.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPThe 2017 Ornellaia Bianco is impressive, especially within the context of the warm, dry year. Bright and focused, the Bianco shows the natural richness of the vintage - that is impossible to escape - but it also retains quite a bit of energy. Orchard fruit, citrus and floral notes are beautifully delineated throughout. Once again, the Bianco is a wine of real distinction.Vinous Media | 94 VMSubtle peach, passion fruit, elderflower and earth flavors converge in this white. There is a touch of oak adding a vanilla accent. Though lush in texture, this is also intense and long, with an echo of passion fruit and salty elements. Drink now through 2024. 75 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

This has a fresh, floral aroma, with honeysuckle and elderflower notes leading the way, followed by a rather creamy, refined palate of kiwifruit, makrut lime and verbena flavors. As the finish glides through, this offers hints of quinine, acacia and white peach. Shows beautiful range and definition, with serious length. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Drink now through 2026. Wine Spectator | 95 WSFor the third time in its history, this was entirely harvested in August (mainly 23 to 28, but the first berries were picked on August 13 - the earliest date ever). Rich fruit, lovely acidity and salinity on the finish, shot through with honeysuckle and clear citrus. They harvest Y in the same way as Yquem, where it is grape by grape rather than vine by vine, and sometimes grapes from the same bunch goes on to make Yquem later. 3.15pH. Also tasted September 2020; same score.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECWhite pear, honeysuckle, elderflower, quince, rich lemon, with a bitter edge of orange peel. This is starting to deepen at three years old, and show a richer texture than when I last tasted it in November 2020. It’s unquestionably one of the great whites of Bordeaux, although extremely low yields in 2018. Harvest began on August 13, the earliest date ever, with the majority of the whites coming in from August 23 to 28, harvested grape by grape as per the main sweet estate wine - meaning that grapes from the same bunch can later go on to make Yquem. 3.15ph. Jane Anson | 94 JAThe 2014 “Y” has 5 grams per liter of residual sugar and a pale lemon-yellow color. Citrus aromas of lime leaves, fresh grapefruit, and lemon zest shoot from the glass, followed by gentle wafts of crushed stones and coriander seed. The medium to full-bodied palate gives a very dry impression, with a laser-precise line of freshness cutting through the intense, youthful, citrus layers and with a silkiness to the texture, finishing with loads of zesty and mineral sparks. Impressive!The Wine Independent | 94 TWIThe 2018 Y de Yquem is a blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Sémillon bottled at the end of August. It offers light grass clipping and green apple scents on the nose, the Sauvignon Blanc defining the aromas. The palate is fresh on the entry, light and crisp with touches of pineapple and dried apricot, a hint of grilled walnut towards the finish. This actually improves with aeration, gaining some delightful praline and subtle white chocolate notes.Vinous Media | 91 VM

Musky apricot pit, peach and spicy vanillin oak on the nose. Densely packed but quite suave and fine-grained in spite of its saline thrust. A very sappy, refined midweight with lovely salinity and tactile length. Offers much more than just fruit: sexy oak, minerals, cyanic fruit pit. Fresh stone fruits continue to emerge as the wine opens with air. Finishes with a lovely spine of citrussy acidity and sneaky building length. No shortage of weight or palate presence here but very shapely and refined. This superb Washington Chardonnay held up brilliantly in the recorked bottle and should evolve positively over the next several years. (aged in French oak, 40% new; about 35% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation)Vinous Media | 93 VMAn impressive Chardonnay, the 2018 from Abeja offers lots of peach, apple, and lemon oil notes as well as a medium-bodied, rich yet also fresh style on the palate. I love its balance and it’s going to drink nicely for 2-3 years at a minimum.Jeb Dunnuck | 91 JDLively and expressive, the 2018 Chardonnay begins with aromas of toasted oak, white peach, baked apples and pears with a waft of lemon crème brûlée on the nose. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is rich with a round edge and energetic acidity and displays a balanced structure across the mid-palate. The wine shows delightful complexity on the lingering finish with lasting sensations of citrus blossom, Anjou pear and peach skin followed by a nuance of graham cracker crust. Nicely done.Robert Parker | 90+ RPBright and elegantly easygoing, with apple and citrus flavors that linger toward a delicately spicy finish. Drink now. 520 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WSA straightforward chardonnay with cooked-apple and lemon character. Some pie crust. Medium body. Easy to drink now.James Suckling | 90 JSThe aromas offer notes of toast, barrel char and stone fruit. The palate brings a ripe peach flavor that maintains a sleek profile out of the gate, filling out over time.Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE

This gorgeous white walks a fine line between being rich and mouthcoating on one side, and bright and graceful on the other. The result is a vivid, medium-bodied version, with hints of honeycomb and candied ginger accenting flavors of peach, papaya, elderflower and stony minerals. Drink now through 2028.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

Showing consistently to last year, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Vieilles Roussannes is a rich, powerful white that does everything right. Coming from a single parcel of very old Roussanne and aged in 50% new oak, it offers a stunning bouquet of honeyed pineapple and stone fruits as well as notes white flowers, green almonds, honeycomb, and a kiss of toasted bread. It’s rich yet also fresh, has flawless balance, and a great finish. It’s geared for the dinner table and should evolve for another decade or more. It’s stunning white and one of the finest examples of Roussanne out there.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDRipe and enticing, featuring creamed melon and yellow apple flavors, laced with nectarine, heather, ginger and warm brioche notes. The long and opulent finish sails through beautifully. A hedonist’s delight. Drink now through 2022. 28 cases imported. Wine Spectator | 95 WSSourced entirely from a single vineyard of limestone soil, this varietal Roussanne offers bold white melon and apple flavors swathed in honey, vanilla cream and spice. Fermented and matured en barrique (50% new), it’s an unctuous, waxy sip etched by lingering woody tones. Flamboyant in its youth, but it should gain elegance through the next decade and beyond.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Vieilles Roussanne is a not-so-subtle dark straw in hue, with obvious toast and honeyed aromas alongside hints of mocha and malt. All barrel-fermented and aged, it’s fleshed out on the full-bodied, velvety-textured palate by flavors of tangerine and pineapple, which show remarkable freshness and verve on the lingering finish. In one of my notes on this wine, I actually wrote the word "long" three times. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-96 RP

A much more serious, focused effort, the 2018 Condrieu Clos Boucher has stunning notes of crushed citrus, liquid rock, white peach, spice, and flowers. Just straight-up Condrieu magic, it’s full-bodied and has a lush, opulent texture, beautiful purity, and a great finish. It has more acidity and cut than the Galopine, yet both show the ripe, upfront, plush style of the vintage. Drink this beauty any time over the coming 4-6 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDGreen-hued straw-gold. An expansive bouquet evokes ripe citrus and pit fruits, violet and honey, joined by emerging mineral and ginger flourishes. Juicy and deeply concentrated but energetic as well, offering pear nectar, Meyer lemon and floral flavors that show sharp definition. The mineral and floral notes carry emphatically through the strikingly long, penetrating finish, which leaves a suave floral note behind.Vinous Media | 95 VMWhile the 2018 Condrieu Clos Boucher isn’t the most dramatically perfumed Condrieu, it’s dramatic and opulent, loaded with honeyed apricot, peach and pineapple fruit. Full-bodied and rich, it nonetheless finishes with admirable energy, gingery spice and a lingering, crushed-stone note. Drink it over the next few years. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPRipe and showy, with nectarine, green plum and apricot flavors bouncing off each other, allied to a lush and creamy texture as they move through the anise-tinged finish. Wonderfully exotic.Wine Spectator | 94 WSWhiffs of spring blossoms and freshly laundered linen entice on the nose of this opulent but freshly balanced white. It’s a luscious, enveloping sip that floods the palate in swirls of sweet cream, honey and spice. The finish is a touch sappy in its youth but should meld out over the next decade. Enjoy now for its bold fruit and floral tones, or wait till 2028.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThis has a very attractive, fresh and smooth delivery of ripe apricots and peaches with a whiff of gingerbread. The palate has rich, smooth and fluid texture. Suave with plenty of ripe apricots. Drink now.James Suckling | 92 JS(Condrieu “Clos Boucher”- Delas Frères) The single vineyard Condrieu bottling of Clos Boucher from Delas hails from a south-facing vineyard that lies adjacent to Château Grillet. The wine is entirely barrel-fermented and only produced by Delas in vintages they deem exceptional. The 2018 Clos Boucher tips the scales also at an even fourteen percent alcohol and offers up a lovely, youthful bouquet of pear, passion fruit, a touch of tangerine, beautiful minerality, almond, acacia blossoms and a quite refined framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very elegant in profile, with a lovely core, fine soil signature and grip, fairly gentle acids (in the style of the vintage) and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is so well-balanced that it may end up keeping longer in bottle than I anticipate, but it has the fairly moderate acidity of 2018 and will probably drink at its finest in its relative youth. (Drink between 2021-2030)John Gilman | 92 JG

This is tightly coiled now, but the range of juicy tangerine, white peach and white ginger notes should unfurl soon enough, carried by a mouthwatering quinine note and ending with a light orange blossom hint on the finish. Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Drink now through 2026. 12,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WSTangy aromas and flavors of lemon zest, fresh green pear, yoghurt and hints of beeswax. It’s medium-to full-bodied with bright acidity. Flavorful and concentrated with a sleek, phenolic texture. Crushed stones on the finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSBeautiful white peach, honeysuckle, white flowers, and a touch of toasted almond emerge from the 2018 Lune d’Argent Blanc, and it’s medium-bodied, with a balanced, elegant texture, nicely integrated acidity, and plenty of fruit and depth. A blend of 70% Sémillon and 30% Sauvignon, it’s going to be even better with another year in bottle and keep for 7-8 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 91 JDThe 2018 Lune d’Argent has a perfumed nose of white flowers and honeysuckle, subtle frangipane scents patiently waiting in the background. The palate is well balanced with a slightly honeyed entry, plenty of tropical fruit (passion fruit and guava) and a concentrated, almost viscous finish that lingers in the mouth. Yes, it does come across as a bit heady, but it’s still thoroughly enjoyable.Vinous Media | 90 VM

The 2018 Chablis Vauprin comes from 1.7ha of 25-year-old vines and is raised for 12 months in 50% oak barrels and 50% stainless steel. It has a very harmonious bouquet of yellow flowers, mirabelle, crushed rocks and light hazelnut aromas that attain impressive intensity with aeration. The palate is very well balanced with a fine bead of acidity; there is real tension and race here. The finish fans out wonderfully and its persistence deserves applause considering the relatively unknown location of this vineyard. Highly recommended.Vinous Media | 93 VMResonant notes of roasted hazelnut on the nose of this wine sit well with the lemon brightness. The palate carries the same nuttiness but puts lemon freshness center stage. This slightly smoky combination is bedded on a smooth but cooling, yeasty texture, with beautiful length. Wine Enthusiast | 92 WE

(Guigal Hermitage Blanc) Plenty of quince, crushed stone, and white flower notes emerge from the 2018 Hermitage Blanc, a rich, medium to full-bodied white Hermitage. It has a kiss of toasty, nutty notes, but otherwise has completely absorbed its time spent in barrel. Beautifully done, this textured, layered white is going to evolve for two decades or more. (Drink between 2020-2042)Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JD(E Guigal, Hermitage, Rhône, France, White) Extremely full-bodied, possessing touches of dried pear, almond and an inner sweetness to the fruit. Delicious salinity and pleasing acidity, it does finish quite robust and oaky, but it’s not overly powerful and works well. 18 to 24 months in second-fill barrel. (Drink between 2021-2029)Decanter | 94 DEC(Hermitage Blanc- E. Guigal) The Guigal family’s bottling of Hermitage Blanc is almost entirely composed of marsanne, with ninety-five percent of the blend being this grape variety and the other five percent being roussanne, with the vines ranging from thirty to fully ninety years of age! The wine is raised for two years entirely in oak barrels, with the casks all “one wine barrels”. The 2018 version is a lovely young wine, coming in at fourteen percent alcohol and offering up a youthful bouquet of nectarine, pear, a superb base of soil tones, a touch of raw almond, white lilies and just a whisper of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and rally has excellent structure for a 2018 white wine, with a rock solid core, excellent soil undertow and grip, very good acids for the vintage and a long, complex and very well balanced finish. This is excellent juice. (Drink between 2021-2040)John Gilman | 93 JGFull-bodied and expansive on the palate, Guigal’s 2018 Hermitage Blanc exhibits scents of toasted marshmallow, grilled pear, candied citrus and fennel fronds. Round and mouthfilling, it may be drunk now with considerable pleasure for its weight and sheer lusciousness, but lovers of aged Rhône whites will want to set aside a bottle or two for 10 years or so.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPFresh and rounded in feel, with melon, pear and heather honey notes backed by a lemon curd hint on the finish. Bring on the langoustines and saffron aïoli. Drink now. 100 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

The 2018 Extra Brut Rosé de Saignée, 100% Meunier, is tremendous. A deep core of red-toned fruit, blood orange, cinnamon and dried rose petal sweeps across the palate. Still very young, the 2018 is impressive in every way. There is just a touch of reduction that needs time to blow off. There’s a lot of wine here. Dosage is 3 grams per liter.Vinous Media | 95 VMThe 2018 vintage of Delphine Boulard’s Rosé de Saignée is an excellent wine. It is made entirely of pinot meunier, with the juice given a half day of skin contact to provide the wine with its lovely, deep salmon color. The vins clairs are barrel-fermented and aged in cask until the June following the harvest and then bottled up for secondary fermentation and aged sur latte for just under five years prior to its disgorgement in March of 2024. Finishing dosage this year was three grams per liter. The wine is beautifully expressive on the nose, offering up scents of rhubarb, cherries, rye bread, chalky soil tones, dried roses, a touch of clove and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, zesty and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, elegant mousse and a long, beautifully balanced and gently vinous finish. This is excellent juice! (Drink between 2025 - 2055)John Gilman | 93 JG

Pale, shimmering yellow. Fresh pear, honeydew, tangerine and pungent flowers on the mineral-inflected nose. Offers lively, sharply focused orchard and citrus fruit flavors that are complemented by emerging ginger and white pepper notes adding back-end lift and cut. Silky and impressively lithe, delivering solid mineral thrust and repeating florality on the long, incisive finish.Vinous Media | 93 VM

From vines just next to the Coteau Vernon, the Condrieu Les Chaillées de L’Enfer is year-in, year-out one of the top examples from this appellation. The 2018 Condrieu Les Chaillées De L’Enfer reveals a light gold color as well as a gorgeous bouquet of ripe stone fruits, honeyed nectarines, and apricots intermixed with notions of white flowers, white chocolate, and truffly earth. Possessing an incredible sense of salty minerality, medium to full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and a great finish, it strikes a beautiful balance between richness and freshness and stays light on its feet and elegant. I’d drink bottles over the coming 4-6 years, but it will evolve for longer.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDBright and nicely detailed, with a mix of green almond, white peach, honeysuckle and mango notes, backed by a subtle bitter orange thread on the finish. The rich and showy side of this white is balanced by its inner purity. Drink now through 2024. 650 cases made, 35 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WSPale straw-yellow. Powerful, mineral-accented orchard and pit fruits on the nose; a suave floral nuance builds as the wine stretches out. Sappy, penetrating and seamless in texture, offering vibrant tangerine, Anjou pear and white peach flavors and a sneaky hint of honeysuckle. Shows excellent focus and emphatic mineral cut on the finish, which lingers with outstanding tenacity.Vinous Media | 94 VM

Tasted out of bottle, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Prestige Blanc offers a more Burgundian, chiseled, mineral-laced style to go with beautiful notes of caramelized peach, white flowers, crushed stone, and charcoal. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, and elegant on the palate, it still packs plenty of oomph and has incredible length on the finish. Give bottles 2-3 years and enjoy over the following two decades or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDA rich, alluring style, with a brioche note leading the way for creamed yellow apple, candied lemon peel, white ginger and quince notes. An accent of acacia honey lines the finish, where the brioche edge takes an encore. Showy and delicious. Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Clairette. Drink now through 2023. 56 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WSThis is outrageously flamboyant but hard not to like. There’s great concentration and it’s highly expressive already showing some complexity. It has a nutty macadamia note and a subtle flinty reduction with rich pear fruits that shoot through with oak spice, but it’s the fruit that has the upper hand. It’s very full-bodied but has enough pep and acidity to keep things upright and rolling. A cuvée that can be overly marked by malolactic fermentation, but not this year. Grown on sandy soils, 80% fermented in concrete, 20% in new barriques. It’s matured for 14 months in old barriques, concrete and 20% new barriques. Drinking Window 2019 - 2024.Decanter | 95 DECThe brassy-hued 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Prestige shows ample oak on the nose and palate, allied to ripe, luscious fruit. Predominantly Roussanne, fermented and aged in one-year-old demi-muids, it has developed hints of sweet corn and notes of grilled pineapple during its elevage. Opulent and lush, it’s enormously seductive now, although I suspect it will drink well for at least 4-5 years based on its impressive concentration and length.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

This was the last wine I tasted on my three-week Burgundy tour and it was a great way to finish. Sourced from a 0.33ha block of 60-year-old vines on the Chassagne side of the Grand Cru, it’s consistently the most patrician wine in Caroline Lestimé’s range. Spicy, structured and stylishy oaked in 60% new barrels, it’s powerful yet fresh with wonderful energy. Drinking Window 2023 - 2035.Decanter | 96 DEC(Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru White) : A notably ripe and ever-so-mildly exotic but not really surmature nose consists primarily of spicy white orchard fruit along with hints of wood, white flowers and viognier. The rich, opulent and vibrant broad-shouldered flavors possess lovely complexity while delivering excellent length on the powerful and focused if somewhat linear finish. This will almost certainly add body with age, and it appears to be structured for mid to even longer-term cellaring. (Drink starting 2030)Burghound | 93 BH

Aromas of guava, dried lemon zest and pear skin with hints of cedar and crushed flint. It’s medium-to full-bodied with tangy acidity. Flavorful and concentrated with a smooth, waxy texture. Mineral finish. Second wine. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JS

This is a dense and lively La Mission white with lemon, lime and cream character and a light mineral and salty undertone. White pepper and salt at the finish.James Suckling | 97-98 JSThe La Mission Haut-Brion 2018 Blanc is a blend of 57.4% Sauvignon Blanc and 42.6% Sémillon. It sashays out of the glass with gregarious notes of white peaches, fresh pears and pineapple with nuances of lime blossoms, crushed rocks and sea spray, plus a waft of beeswax. The racy, medium to full-bodied palate is charged with energy, delivering vibrant citrus and tropical fruit layers with a satiny texture and fantastic length. Completely exceeding my barrel tasting expectations, this promises to be an earlier drinking style, albeit multilayered, dripping with class and, yes, it’s downright sexy. Give it just a few more months in bottle and then it should offer decadent drinking for the next 15+ years.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RPSeriously dark and winey, showing a deep core of black currant preserve, warmed fig paste and plum reduction flavors inlaid with racy graphite, mouthwatering tobacco and enticing singed alder, bay leaf and freshly plowed humus. Delivers density, grip and definition on the long finish. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2040. 2,880 cases made, 262 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 96 WSA richer, more textured wine than the Haut-Brion Blanc, no doubt due to its larger Sémillon content, the 2018 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc reveals a medium gold hue as well as beautiful pineapple, honeyed lime, star fruit, and floral aromas and flavors. Nicely concentrated on the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied and offers beautiful acidity, plenty of depth and richness, and a great finish. A slightly softer wine, it doesn’t have the precision of its counter mate yet brings more texture and opulence. It’s another brilliant white that will benefit from short-term cellaring and evolve for 15+ years or so.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDThe white 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion explodes with notes of guava, pineapple, and ripe peaches, plus touches of honeyed toast and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is taut and layered, with lovely zesty sparks and a long, spicy finish.The Wine Independent | 95 TWIA serious wine that is just beginning to show its white flower and honeysuckle notes. A vintage that shows its warmth in a slightly lower acidity, but it is still an impressive textured white. 3.27pHDecanter | 94 DECThere is a light herbal touch to this wine that comes from the Sauvignon Blanc. However, it also has concentration and weight, offering a texture that brings freshness to balance the ripe fruits. The wine will age well. Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc has really come together nicely since I last tasted it. Bright and finely cut, with terrific creaminess, the 2018 is already very easy to taste, and, I imagine, drink. Lime, lemon peel, mint, white pepper and jasmine give the 2018 striking effusiveness.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Vibrant straw-green. Liquid minerals, jasmine, green apple and thyme on the enticing nose. Then rich and multilayered but also bright and fresh on the zingy mouthfeel. This outstanding, nuanced Müller-Thurgau finishes long, clean and mineral. Not likely to be the longest-lived Sass Rigais made by this estate, but will provide wonderful drinking over the next five years or so.Vinous Media | 94 VM

Light, bright yellow. Heady, mineral- and spice-accented aromas of ripe citrus and pit fruits and pungent flowers are complemented by a suave, building floral element. Silky and penetrating, offering intense white peach, tangerine and pear flavors that fan out through the mid-palate. Shows impressive energy and spicy cut on a long, smooth finish that echoes the floral note emphatically.Vinous Media | 94 VMSpicy gingerbread tones and bright, luminous white peach and tangerine extend from nose to finish in this glossy, concentrated Condrieu. True to form, it’s a classically zaftig sip packed densely with honeyed tropical fruit flavors and silken skeins of cream. Stunning in youth but structured enough to age beautifully through 2035 and likely further.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2018 Condrieu Chery from Niero is a solid effort that leans toward the more fresh, racy side of the spectrum while still holding onto plenty of fruit. Spiced citrus, honeyed limes, spice, and a touch of sappy floral notes all flow to a medium-bodied, mineral-laced Condrieu that stays tight and compact on the palate. It’s going to benefit from a year in bottle and keep for 2-3 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 91+ JD

A smooth, gently round and nicely balanced Champagne dominant in pinot meunier, pinot noir and chardonnay to boot. It has attractive lemon citrus flavors and is really punchy, refined and gently nutty. A smooth, pastry-like texture comes to the fore on the finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 92 JSThis tastes of pure, pale white limestone transformed into crisp yellow apple. It’s appetite inducing in its zesty freshness, bright white floral notes and clean, lively length of flavor, especially if there are oysters nearby. The Aubry brothers maintain a reserve wine blend composed of vintages going back to 1998; that blend provides 50 percent of this Brut, with the other half from 2013. The varietal composition is also distinctive: pinot meunier makes up 45 percent, with chardonnay and pinot noir each providing 25 percent and the remaining five percent made up of traditional local varieties including arbanne, petit meslier and fromenteau.Wine & Spirits | 92 W&SA creamy viscosity complements the texture of this harmonious version. An accessible crowd-pleaser, with lightly juicy acidity and delicate flavors of chopped almond, baked pear, saline and citrus. Disgorged January 2019. Drink now through 2022.Wine Spectator | 91 WSThe NV Brut from Aubry is such a pretty wine. Medium in body and understated, the Brut captures all the sophistication that is typical of these Champagnes. Hints of orchard fruit, spice, chamomile, tangerine oil and almond develop over time, but it is the wine’s balance that comes through. The heavy presence of red grapes is felt in both the flavor profile and overall weight. Best of all, the Brut is a fabulous value. Disgorged: November, 2019.Vinous Media | 90 VM

A fine straw-gold colour with great finesse of bubble flow and mousse. Joyful aromas of apple blossom and ripe pear. A full, defined palate demonstrates richness that will help to give this a long life in the cellar.Decanter | 95 DEC(NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve NV (2008 Release)) This particular bottle of Brut Réserve had been in my cellar since 2008, and it has aged beautifully and was drinking very well when opened this past spring. The excellent nose wafts from the glass in a mélange of apple, peach, warm bread, a touch of ginger, a lovely base of soil and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bdoied, complex and still rock solid at the core, with fine mousse, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the wide open, complex and classy finish. This particular release of Brut Réserve had been particularly steely out of the blocks, which is why I tucked some away to see how it evolved with bottle age. Yet again, a pretty strong argument for treating non-vintage Brut bottlings like other fine wines and cellar them for some time before starting to drink them! (Drink between 2014-2025).John Gilman | 92 JGA harmonious Champagne that’s satiny in texture, framing flavors of Asian pear, star fruit, pastry and honey with mouthwatering acidity. Offers a fine and creamy finish. Drink now through 2021.Wine Spectator | 91 WSPlenty of ripe strawberries and wild raspberries on the nose here. Really attractive and vibrant in the mouth with fresh wild strawberries. It also shows a fleshy, fresh-fruit texture. Drink now.James Suckling | 91 JSBased on the 2015 vintage and disgorged with nine grams per liter dosage, the latest release of Billecart’s NV Brut Réserve contains fully 55% reserve wines and is showing very well, offering up complex aromas of warm bread, crisp green orchard fruit and citrus oil. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied and charming but lively, with an elegantly textural attack, a fleshy core of fruit and lively balancing acids.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RP(40% pinot meunier, 30% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay; L200352): Light, bright gold. Fresh red berries, orange zest and white flowers on the perfumed nose. Juicy and precise, offering energetic redcurrant and blood orange flavors that show good concentration and a supple texture. A mineral nuance adds bite to the finish, with the floral note echoing.Vinous Media | 90 VMThis producer’s nonvintage cuvée showcases a blend of grapes from all the regions of Champagne. Rich with white stone fruit, it balances ripe acidity and a taut texture. This complex wine is ready to drink.Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE