Wines from the Week | 28th June - 4th July 2021
Truly a week full of wonderful offers and new releases, here are our top picks for wine investors, collectors and drinkers.
Our Recommendations
La Chapelle de la Mission Haut Brion 2020 | Outscoring most second wines from the First Growths yet available at a fraction of the cost. Our top recommendation of the week
The second wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, La Chapelle 2020 is yet another stellar EP release. Earning an impressive 92-94 points from the Wine Advocate and a highest-ever 94 points from Jane Anson, it could potentially be this cuvée’s greatest ever vintage. Anson admires the “confidence and sheer easy appeal” that oozes out of La Chapelle 2020, emphasising that the second wine “rivals plenty of first wines in this vintage”. Antonio Galloni (Vinous) cites the exceptional balance of La Chapelle 2020, finding that to be extremely impressive and calling it “an especially fine La Chappelle”.
Krug Grande Cuvée 169th Édition NV | This is no ordinary NV Champagne. Composed of 146 wines across 11 vintages, an uncommon score of 18.5/20 from Jancis Robinson MW should pique every buyer’s interest
Krug Grande Cuvée is no ordinary NV Champagne, with no other Maison blends as many wines, from as many years as Krug
Édition 169 is an astonishing blend of 146 wines across 11 years constituting the final wine, of which 2013 is the lead and 2000 the eldest. Hailed as “a Chardonnay year par excellence” by Michael Edwards (Decanter), Édition 169 reflects the exceptional harvest from 2013.
Expressing the fullness and elegance of 2013, Édition 169 is a “sleek and fresh and truly spring-like" Champagne, according to Jancis Robinson MW who awards the wine 18.5/20 points. Beguilingly complex as all the greatest Krug Champagnes are, 169 cannot help but “play the intellectual card” and gives drinkers reason to pause and contemplate.
Petrolo Galatrona 2016 | A worthy rival to the likes of Pétrus, Le Pin and Masseto, this is an iconic Merlot-based Super Tuscan representing some of the best value in Italy
Galatrona is the prestige cuvée from Petrolo. The undisputed king of these hills, this wine is sourced from a small vineyard of the same name. Planted in the 1980s with low-yielding Bordeaux clone Merlot vines, the vineyard’s soil is an archetypal composition of deeply rich clay with veins of schist, marl and sandstone imbuing stunning minerality to the effortlessly generous and elegant fruit. Inspired by the great producers of Pomerol, Galatrona has established itself as a worthy rival to the likes of Pétrus, Le Pin and Masseto.
In 2016, a legendary vintage for many regions, Petrolo produced a truly profound expression of Merlot in Galatrona. “A masterpiece to behold” in the words of Monica Larner (Wine Advocate), the 2016 unfurls with unfathomably layered and generous notes of gorgeous dark fruit, chocolate and hauntingly perfumed violets as well as wilted rose. As powerful and deceptively integrated as any world-class Merlot, Antonio Galloni (Vinous) was deeply impressed by the wine’s “serious fruit intensity and energy”, whilst providing collectors with the stern warning that patience should be exercised in respect for Galatrona’s structure, stating that “opening a bottle now is a crime”.
Wines from the Week | 28th June - 4th July 2021
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Tim Atkin MW (96)
Any list of the world's greatest Sauvignon Blancs would be incomplete without this wine. Wood smoke and blackcurrant leaf aromas are a prelude to a palate of remarkable complexity and salinity, with savoury oak, fresh herb and pink grapefruit flavours and a finish that lingers on the palate for a minuteHK$2,085.00 -
Vinous (95)
The 2019 Syrah Biodynamic is drop-dead gorgeous on the nose, offering blackberry, blueberry, crushed violet and light star anise aromas that blossom with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with velvety tannins and great depth and intensity, equaled by a finesse that leaves you wanting more on the finish. A sublime Syrah from Johan Reyneke.HK$1,095.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
Vinified in stück and doppelstück (1,200- and 2,400-liter barrels, respectively) and aged on the full lees until the end of July, the 2020 Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling Trocken shows a fascinating, deep, intense and generous as well as complex and aristocratic bouquet of ripe yellow fruits and crushed dark stones. The Turmberg is darker-toned and deeper than the Klosterberg, maybe also even more complex and provided with substantial but elegant fruit. Full-bodied, refined and elegant on the palate, this is a lush, intense and expressive, seriously structured, very long, complex and tensioned Turmberg with a spectacularly long, multilayered and persistently salty finish. Seriously, the Turmberg has never been better than in 2020. For the first time since its re-activation in 2005, the Turmberg premier cru is on grand cru level. Its aftertaste is incredibly dense and compact but also salivating and provided with the energy and expression of a great wine. A Must Buy of the vintage and a Best Buy as well! Magnums preferred. Tasted at the domain in August 2021.HK$1,545.00 -
James Suckling (93)
A very classic dry Rheingau riesling with plenty of mineral depth, packed in a rather sleek body. Delicate white-fruit aromas with some yellow-peach and floral notes. Long and precise, dry finish, the freshness of which pulls you back for more. Drink or hold. Screw cap.HK$1,795.00 -
Wine Advocate (94)
The Castello Romitorio 2017 Brunello di Montalcino comes from an estate that is quickly becoming a leader in a special niche of the Montalcino market. The wine is modern and soft, showing lots of contained ripeness and creaminess, yet it successfully embraces the fundamentals of the appellation and Sangiovese, thanks to its bright acidity and finely tuned structure. Few wines reach this level of precision, especially in a challenging vintage such as this.HK$1,885.00 -
Wine Enthusiast (95)
This enticing red offers alluring aromas of fragrant purple flowers, dark-skinned berries and crushed mint. The elegantly structured palate doles out succulent blackberry, orange zest, licorice and saline notes set against taut, refined tannins. It's nicely balanced by fresh acidity. Drink 2022–2029HK$3,415.00 -
James Suckling (98)
The purity and polish here shows wonderfully the moment you stick your nose in the glass, with complex aromas of plums, berries, cedar and violets. It’s full-bodied and ever so refined with elegant and intense tannins that take you deep into the wine. This is a thoughtful and finely crafted Brunello that needs time to show you its greatness. From organically grown grapes. Try after 2024.HK$4,050.00 -
Burghound (89-92)
An intricately layered nose freely offers up its combination of ripe white and yellow orchard fruit, especially peach, and less floral but spicier aromas. The rich, textured and vibrant flavors possess very fine mid-palate density that brims with dry extract on the sappy finish that is supported by lemon-tinged acidity. This is a big and powerful St. Véran that isn't elegant but offers much to like. 2024+ Sweet Spot OutstandingHK$3,000.00 -
Halliday Wine Companion (98)
Sourced from 3 vineyards in Piccadilly, Lobethal and the estate’s high-elevation Lenswood block. Whole-bunch pressed, fermented and matured on lees in French barriques and puncheons. The first thing that strikes you is an elegance that is so fundamental to the style and respectful to the elite fruit within. The faintest of oak lifts adds a complexity to start, but the energy and concentration of the fruit become the prime focus on the palate. It's all about chardonnay's finest flavours and a vibrant acidity to drive it long into the future.HK$1,955.00 -
Scoring 98 points from the Wine Advocate's Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 97 points from Decanter's Jane Anson and 18.5/20 from Jancis Robinson MW, this 2009 "remains the benchmark Suduiraut of recent years".
Still taking a while to open up fully, indicting a very long life ahead, it has a "divine bouquet... building layer upon layer" (NM) that "seductively unfurls" (WA) with gorgeous notes of honey, dried pineapple, chamomile tea, yellow flowers and nectarine. The rich, viscous and satiny texture of the palate is "effortlessly" countered by a "beautiful razor-sharp line of acidity" (NM) that gives this Sauternes bags of freshness. With "epic length and depth" (WA) on the finish, this is a wine that will span generations with Neal Martin giving it a drinking window up to 2070.
HK$3,200.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
Very few recent South African releases have been as eagerly awaited as this 2018 red from the old Cordoba property on the flank of the Helderberg. And it doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Cabernet Franc-centred, with 24% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, the new crescendo is a beautifully refined, detailed red from 21-year-old vines. Violet and cut grass aromas lead into a palate that is fresh, bright and comparatively low in alcohol with filigree tannins, subtle wood, fine tension and the focus and balance to age. What a début!HK$1,480.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (98)
Overall Red Wine of the Year - Chile 2022 Special Report. Well, well, well. Who would have anticipated this? My best Chilean red wine of the year is a Malbec - and not just any Malbec. Roca Madre is an incredible, world-class red from the volcanic soils of the Río Hurtado vineyard, located at 1,600 metres in the remote Limarí Andes. Racy, tangy, grippy and intensely perfumed, it's an incredible expression of the variety, with violet, plum and black cherry concentration, fine-grained tannins and a pithy, energetic, mineral-etched core.HK$1,780.00 -
Matthew Jukes (19.5++)
By contrast to the Bollinger, Comte is not a one-off, nor anything out of the ordinary. It is a label that all committed Champagne lovers adore. Predictable perhaps. But, of course, one thing does vary, and that is the vintage. The ‘worst’ Comte I ever tasted was rather lovely. The ‘best’, and there have been many (1959, 1966, 1996, 2002, 2006) are all sublime and you can now add 2011 to this list. Taittinger always seems to shun the spotlight, unlike Dom Perignon and other more attention-seeking brands and this modesty rather suits this House. I did something that I never do after first tasting my sample bottle. I was so shocked with the sheer class that I sealed the bottle with a simple Champagne stopper and then tasted it again and again over two days. The stress-testing sorts the wheat from the chaff. It is unlikely that anyone who bought a bottle would do this. Still, I like to see how a potentially great wine evolves, opens up, sometimes falls over, and sometimes blossoms over a few days because it gives me an indication of its potential and its true baseline of quality. The fruit is so tense, grand and layered it is remarkable. The flavour, the fizz, the length, the momentum and the overall halo of greatness did not change one iota over nearly 60 hours of being open with no preservation whatsoever. This is a genius, B de B and while it tastes scintillating now, I am confident that it will amaze Comte fans for decades to come.HK$5,555.00 -
James Suckling (99)
The light rust and amber color is enticing. Aromas of dried rose petals, cinnamon and nutmeg. Hints of dried meat, smoke and sage. Full body and compact, creamy texture. So fine and delicious. Great, subtle and complex flavors. More like a lightly aged, premier cru Volnay, but with the magic of Champagne. Drink now.HK$6,855.00 -
Vinous (93)
The bouquet on the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is to die for, offering cloves and balsamic spices that give way to crushed cherries, sage and fresh mint. It’s elegant yet lifted in feel, with silky textures carrying the ripe wild berry fruits effortlessly across the palate. Saline-minerals combine with grippy tannins toward the close, slowing the 2017’s momentum ever so slightly, yet still permitting the most beautiful display of hard red candies and violet florals to linger incredibly long. What a gorgeous 2017, and with short-term cellaring potential as well. Of note is that Talenti’s production was down by 25% due to the conditions of the vintage, and there will not be a Riserva, as all of the juice went to the Brunello.HK$1,808.00 -
Wine Orbit (100)
Destined for a long life, this majestic offering shows cassis, dark plum, hint of tobacco, cedar and floral aromas on the nose. The palate is packed with rich fruit intensity combined with layers of silky texture and complex flavours, wonderfully supported by perfectly pitched chalky tannins, making it sturdy and structured with a seemingly endless finish. Flawless and spellbinding. A blend of 59 cabernet sauvignon, 37% merlot & 4% cabernet franc. At its best: 2029 to 2049.HK$3,540.00 -
Decanter (99)
The must-try wine Tightly wound yet with cashmere tannins, soft kid-glove oak and cut-finger minerality. The anise, clove and cinnamon-edged palate is unbelievably svelte, like melted chocolate. On day two, succulent, spicy cherry fruit emerges, with blackberry liqueur, roses and violets. Savoury cep undertones, graphite and cedar follow through on an endless finish. A stunning blend of six old vineyards, one planted in the 1850s.HK$8,560.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
One more single-harvest, old sweet wine, the 1955 Don PX Convento Selección was bottled in September 2014 and it had been aged slowly in very old American oak barrels and getting thick and concentrated through evaporation. It's 320 grams of sugar are (partially) compensated by 6.5 grams of acidity. It has a nose and palate of chocolate-covered candied orange, spices, molasses. I'd say the dominant aromas in the nose are dark chocolate. It's very dense, developing notes of very concentrated licorice and balsamic, mint, camphor and evolving notes of petrol with time. Complex, rare and unique. 8,400 bottles.HK$2,835.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (97)
A flat-out gorgeous wine in the vintage is the 2012 Troplong Mondot, which sports an inky ruby/purple color to go with heavenly notes of black currants, smoked earth, plums, licorice and graphite. Full-bodied, seamless, ultra-pure and impressively concentrated, this blockbuster effort needs 3-4 years in the cellar to let the tannins integrate, and it will knock your socks off over the following two decades.HK$4,755.00 -
Wine Orbit (96)
Gorgeously fruited and splendidly styled, showing sweet plum, thyme, roasted nut and warm mushroom aromas, the wine exhibits awesome concentration and richness, while remaining elegant and refined. Plush and persistent with fine grainy tannins, finishing superbly long and satisfying. Certified organic. At its best: now to 2032.HK$1,950.00 -
Halliday Wine Companion (97)
Hand-picked in the early morning, lightly pressed before relatively cool fermentation. This is still in its infancy but is gloriously well balanced, which guarantees youth at 10yo, maturity at 20, and age yet further down the track. When to drink? Your choice.HK$2,315.00 -
Decanter (98)
Ripe dark fruits, notes of cherry, dried fig and boysenberry along with sage, black liquorice, potpourri, light rose petal and violet floral notes. Very fine tannins on the palate with a powdery aspect to the wine overall, lengthy acidity leading to a crisp finish. Very open note, but still developing. Certified as 'velles vinyes'.HK$13,395.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (98)
The latest in a superb run of Único releases, the 2012 is a finely judged cuvée of Tinto Fino and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards on the south side of the Duero river with a northerly aspect. There's no sign of the heat of the vintage here on a wine that is poised, complex and self-assured. Floral, mature and nicely evolved, with fine French and American oak, graceful tannins and a hint of graphite. One of Spain's greatest reds.HK$8,485.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
To be released in 2020, the NV Único Reserva Especial 2020 Release is a non-vintage blend of 59 barrels from 2008, 2009 and 2010, mostly Tempranillo with some Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine has been getting closer to the style of the Único, and the blend is from vintages very close to the current release of Único, but somehow this year I think the blend has added some complexity to the bottled wine, which has the heart and soul of the 2010 vintage. In fact, they told me they are keeping more wine to have some older vintages to blend for this Reserva Especial, because in the last few years, the wine has been a little too young for the style that it used to have in the past. This has finesse and some of the Burgundian style of the blends of yesteryear. 17,071 bottles and 214 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2016.HK$10,737.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
2017 was marked by the frost of the night between April 27 and 28 that Vega Sicilia fought with their anti-frost towers. The end of the season was warm, and the overall rain was low, 235 liters. The 2017 Valbuena is marked by these circumstances, produced with 94% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 6% Merlot, with good ripeness (14.5% alcohol) and mellow acidity (4.65 grams of tartaric acid and a pH of 3.85). The grapes were cooled down and took three to four days of maceration to start fermenting with indigenous yeasts. The wine matured in a combination of new and used French and American 225-liter oak barrels and 21,000-liter oak vats for almost three years. The result, for whatever reason, was nothing short of spectacular. The wine is perfumed, floral, expressive and balsamic like few vintages before. It doesn't feel like a 2017 at all; it is harmonious, and the tannins were fine. It's an amazing Valbuena that clearly transcends the character of the vintage. What I see here is that since 2010, the wine has a very high consistency. And in 2017 it excels. 170,071 bottles, 5,516 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2020.HK$3,350.00 -
James Suckling (98)
The purity and complexity is so mesmerizing for 2017. Raspberries and black fruit with sweet-tobacco and blood-orange undertones. Medium to full body. The tannins are so polished and pure and push out the edges on the wine. Fresh and pretty. Deep. Needs two or three years to perfect it. Try after 2023.HK$8,680.00 -
Vinous (92)
The NV Brut Grand Cellier is bright, effusive and wonderfully charming. White flowers, chalk, mint and lemon confit give this mid-weight, nervy Champagne tons of energy. All the elements are so nicely put together. I especially like the energy and crystalline purity here. There are a lot of terrific wines in this range, but the Grand Cellier is quintessentially Vilmart. This release is based on 2019, with the addition of reserve wines from 2018. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: May 2022.HK$2,600.00 -
James Suckling (97)
Intense aromas of cooked apple, pie crust, butterscotch and salted caramel follow through to a full, intense and deep palate with layers of fruit, light phenolics and savoriness. It’s a plush, rich white. Drink or hold.HK$2,245.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
What a début! Even given the distinguished track record of consultant Jean-Claude Berrouet, this is a remarkable wine. Elegant and refreshing, it has very fine tannins, floral top notes, subtle oak and just a hint of leafiness from 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.HK$3,215.00 -
James Suckling (96)
A very youthful vintage, this is taut and will age very well. Aromas of blackcurrants, tar, blackberries and baking spices lead to a palate that has such an intense, gently smoky thread with a succulent, juicy red-plum, berry and spice finish. Light espresso. Super long-aging Signature here. A blend of Barossa cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. Try from 2024.HK$2,285.00
