Vinous (91)

The 2017 Puligny-Montrachet Champ Canet 1er Cru offers fine intensity on the nose of orchard fruit, touches of orange blossom and crushed stone scents, all quite intense while maintaining delineation. The palate is well defined with a fine line of acidity, and maybe just a little oaky at the moment, although that should be absorbed with time. It just feels conservative on the finish. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune.

Vinous (93)

The 2019 Puligny-Montrachet Champ Canet 1er Cru has a very attractive nose with enticing scents of nectarine, tinned white peaches, Braeburn apples and a light chalky note. The palate is well balanced with orange pith, apricot and lychee notes on the entry. This Champ Canet has fine depth and good tension, the mouth tingling with spicy residues after it has departed. Excellent.

Exuding the epitome of Burgundian excellence, Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets 2013 is considered a gem in the world of fine wines. Hailing from the revered Caillerets vineyard in Volnay, an acclaimed sub-region of Burgundy, this Pinot Noir exhibits distinct complexities. Jean-Marc Bouley, a respected third-generation vigneron, meticulously oversees the winemaking process, yielding this luxurious vintage.

Touted for the strict non-interventionist methodology deployed through the vinification process, the Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets 2013 features hand-harvested grapes, ensuring impeccable quality. A 15-month sojourn in French oak barrels amplifies depth to the wine's aromatics and enriches the palate. The resulting taste profile is redolent with cherry, redcurrant undertones and a remarkable mineral-driven finish.

Demonstrating admirable age-worthiness, this vintage whispers narratives of its prestigious lineage with every sip. The Jean-Marc Bouley Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets 2013 promises an indulgent Burgundy experience for devoted connoisseurs and discerning collectors alike.

Indulge your senses with the Jerome Prevost Grand Cru NV, an emblematic reflection of the terroir of La Closerie, Reims. Jerome Prevost, highly admired within Champagne circles, is revered for his meticulous practice and devotion to the craft. This impeccable Grand Cru NV, predominantly made from Pinot Meunier, captures the quintessence of his artisanal approach, encapsulated in a single vineyard plot.

Bottled without fining or filtration, and fermented solely from natural yeasts, the wine exemplifies an unadulterated expression of Prevost's philosophy. The decades-old vines, deeply entrenched in calcareous soils, yield a wine of profound depth and complexity. Bright acidic backbone, entwined with nuances of chalky minerality and rich pear notes, the Jerome Prevost Grand Cru NV is a touchstone for boutique Champagne production.

Appreciated by wine purists, this beguiling wine faithfully represents the work of an innovative winemaker dedicated to precision and purity, and the eternal appeal of the Grand Cru designation.

Wine Advocate (94)

A new bottle from Prévost, the NV Extra Brut & (LC18) is a blend that marries 20% Les Béguines with the balance deriving from other sites in Gueux that share the same sandy soils. It's based on the 2018 vintage, with some 20% reserve wines from 2017. The label is easy to distinguish thanks to the large red ampersand. Offering up aromas of pear, red apple, walnuts, fresh bread and mandarin, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and vinous, with a fleshy core of fruit and a saline finish. While it's produced from purchased grapes, Prévost farms some of the sites and determines the date of harvest and sorting, though he told me that the average yield is naturally a touch higher than in his own vineyards.

Wine Advocate (98+)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2012 Shiraz The Armagh offers a gorgeous perfume of baking spices, violets, Sichuan pepper and fragrant earth. More earthy and savory in the mouth than on the nose, the palate is superbly structured and taut—built for the long-haul—with a long, complex finish. Still very youthfully, forget this wine for 3-5 more years and consider drinking it over the next 20+.

Wine Advocate (97+)

The Barry brothers sent me a second bottle of the 2022 The Florita Riesling, which I am tasting here today, because they felt that it wasn't showing as well as it could the first time when I tasted it in October (it had only been bottled four weeks prior). In truth, I think it was showing just as well then as it is now, and it is a superstar. 2022 seemed to harness the fruit from the vineyard and boost it: more power, more concentration, more acid, more vivid ... just such exceptional wines. I've said this before, but 2022 could easily be the best vintage in the last 20 years, and for those who know, that takes us back to the great, the age-worthy, the revered 2002 vintage. This is a collector's year. Do not waste the opportunity, because the vintage, coupled with the screw-cap closure, will allow the wine to age for a long time.

Wine Advocate (90)

The 2021 Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett offers a clear, bright and coolish, intense and mineral nose with notes of crushed stones and lime and lemon zest. Lush and saline on the palate, this is a very elegant, fresh and juicy Kabinett with well-integrated acidity and beautiful purity on the finish. 8% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in May 2023.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2019 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese is clear, fresh and spicy on the deep, concentrated, very fine and flinty as well as vegetal and floral nose. Round and intense on the palate, this is a complex, tight and sustainably salty and refreshing Auslese in the digestible, food-friendly style. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2020 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese is intense and complex on the still introverted but complex nose that shows clear, bright fruit aromas (baby pineapple) intermingled with fine, flinty slate notes. What an aristocratic appearance! Round, crystalline and saline on the palate, this 2020 Auslese is much more openhearted and fruity as well as frisky and frivolous than it pretends to be on the nose. This is a really Catholic Riesling or a picture-book Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese. Its finish, however, is Protestant: rigorously linear, straight and with serious structure and grip. All in all, this is the world's most ecumenical Sonnenuhr. Pure fascination. 7% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 38 21 in July 2022.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

There are two special cuvées from this estate. Looking first at the 2018 Cornas Cuvée Jana, it tastes like the essence of Cornas with its meaty, bloody aromas and flavors of scorched earth, ground pepper, rare steak, iron, cedar, and dark, almost blue fruits. Tight, tannic, and concentrated on the palate, this full-bodied effort packs incredible intensity and power yet stays lively, elegant, and weightless. It's a brilliant, brilliant Cornas, yet certainly not for those seeking instant gratification. It actually reminds me slightly of the incredibly age-worthy wines from Domaine Clape, and I suspect it will have a similar evolution. Hide bottles for 7-8 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

Made from centenarian vines in Light Pass, matured for 15 months in used French oak. This is a glorious manifestation of the '17 vintage, its cool conditions retaining freshness of fruit at a very modest alcohol level. A sheer pleasure to drink.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

Eligo is made from the best parcels of the vintage, fermented with submerged caps in small open fermenters, matured for 20 months in French hogsheads (50% new). The tannins and oak are built into the wine like an inlaid checkerboard table created by a master craftsman with decades of experience. Like John Duval.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

John Duval is a master blender. This is all about the best of the vintage, fruit from various sites across the and Eden Barossa Valleys, to morph into the mighty Eligo. A powerhouse of flavour yet never loses focus. Dark plums infused with star anise, cinnamon, Dutch licorice and soy sauce. Full-bodied with velvety rich tannins. It gets the most oak - French hogsheads 54% new, aged 18 months, and needs time to settle in. It will.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

Fermentation with submerged cap; up to two weeks on skins, then matured for 18 months in French hogsheads (55% new). Opaque purple; incredible depths to the velvety black fruits that run on oiled stainless steel rails, making it impossible to deny

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

From old vines in five districts, fermented with submerged cap, matured in French hogsheads (32% new) for 15 months. Complex and rich from the first whiff through to the aftertaste, not wasting a single berry in this great vintage. So much power, such elegance.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

A full-bodied wine of ultimate coherence and quality, the bouquet setting the signal for the palate to follow. Attention to detail is obvious, especially the handling of tannins and oak. The integration of these components with the blackcurrant fruit is faultless.

The Vintage Journal (98)

Deep crimson. Complex blackcurrant, blackberry, praline, roasted chestnut mocha, marzipan notes. Richly flavoured, round and smooth with beautiful pure blackcurrant, blackberry mocha espresso flavours, fine loose-knit grainy tannins and underlying roasted chestnut, toffee notes. Finishes chocolaty and long with a long life ahead.

Vinous (93)

The 2017 Meursault Charmes 1er Cru had been bottled in August 2018. It has a well-defined bouquet, hints of white chocolate infusing the citrus fruit, and just a touch of honey giving away the warmth of the growing season. The palate is well-balanced with a discreet spicy opening that dovetails into a pure, quite tensile midpalate. There is a sense of fullness to this Meursault, which displays impressive amplitude toward the persistent finish. This comes highly recommended.

Jancis Robinson (17)

Cask sample. Gorgeously intense purple fruit on the nose. Sweet ripe cherries. More damson on the palate, very ripe, just fresh enough, almost a little jammy but rich and generous.

James Suckling (95)

Very aromatic with blueberries and blackcurrants, as well as red licorice. Floral, too. Medium-to full-bodied, firm and lightly chewy. Lovely depth of fruit here. Rich and flavorful. Extremely well done for the vintage. Shows more finesse and tightness than 2016. Very classic. One-third of the production. Try it. Drink after 2022, but already delicious.

Wine Advocate (98+)

The 2013 Insignia (their 40th vintage) is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot, and the rest Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. This wine is aged 24 months in 100% new French oak barrels, and the production can vary from just over 10,000 cases to nearly 20,000 cases in a very abundant vintage. There were 12,300 cases produced in 2013, and this vintage of Insignia is certainly going to turn out to be one of the great ones. The wine offers a stunning inky blue/purple color, a gorgeous nose of blueberry and blackberry liqueur, pen ink, graphite, new saddle leather and barrique. The wine has fabulous concentration, a full-bodied, multi-layered mouthfeel, and tremendous finish with moderate tannin. It’s interesting to note that the Phelps winemaking staff had been gradually reducing the amount of Merlot in this wine over recent vintages. The 2013 should hit its peak in 5-7 years and last for 35-50.

Wine Advocate (95+)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2013 Alte Reben Shiraz is opening out into a bold, pure, pepper and licorice-laced nose over a core of black cherries and crushed blueberries with a touch of dried herbs. Full, rich and yet with plenty of freshness, this is a wine with great concentration, nice ripe tannins and a tantalizing finish. Yum!

Wine Advocate (95)

Kaesler’s icon cuvee is their Shiraz Old Bastard, produced from a single vineyard planted in 1896, and aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. The 2004 is a big yet remarkably elegant, deep purple-colored Shiraz offering notes of blueberries, black raspberries, and toasty oak, a superb texture, admirable richness, and a long, heady finish. There is plenty of tannin lurking beneath the cascade of fruit, glycerin, and extract. While accessible, it is too young to drink at present, and is meant to keep for 2-3 decades. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025+.

Vinous (96)

Dark purple. Powerful, smoke- and spice-accented aromas of dark fruit preserves, vanilla, incense and violet. Alluringly sweet and broad on the palate, offering deeply concentrated blueberry, cassis, floral pastille and vanilla flavors plus suggestions of five-spice powder and cola. The floral quality repeats emphatically on an impressively long, velvety finish that"s framed by smooth, harmonious tannins.

Greg Sherwood MW (96)

This certainly is a deep, broody exotic expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that is more reminiscent of a cool vintage Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon than anything from Bordeaux or the Cape. Opened and tasted over 4 to 5 hours, the wine hits its stride surprisingly quickly with plenty of perfumed purple flowers, violets, bruleed black berries, baked blueberry crumble, crème de cassis and a pleasing note of mocha and vanilla pod spice. Initial notes of kelp and maritime seashore salinity quickly give way to a more weighty, sensual melange of black berry compote nuances and hints of cherry kirsch liquor. While this wine certainly shows all the deft elegance and finesse we associate with the 2017 vintage, it also displays a certain extra gravitas, power and weight of fruit concentration combined with great poise, density and a seamlessly textured mineral graphite finish. This is a dark horse that will drink well on release and age deceptively well for 20+ years.

Decanter (96)

Edi Kante is a pioneer when it comes to the indigenous grape Vitovska, which is grown just across the border in Slovenia. The soil here in the Carso is ferrous-rich and chalky. 2016 was a balanced vintage for these 20-year-old vines, and the wine was fermented and aged in oak for 12 months to create a delicate and silky wine with lime, lemon juice and gypsum powder on the nose and a light and super- refreshing acidity in the mouth.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2005 Shiraz “Attunga 1865” is sourced from ungrafted vines planted in the Clare Valley in 1865. It spent 25 months in 100% new French oak hogsheads and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Opaque purple/black, it reveals an ethereal bouquet of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, espresso, mocha, black cherry, and blackberry. This leads to a powerful, intense, yet elegant wine with a very long, seamless finish. This beautifully balanced effort will excite tasters over the next 25 years. Kilikanoon’s winemaker is the talented Kevin Mitchell. The house specialty is Shiraz but Mitchell does equally well with Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Grenache.