Wine Advocate (98)

The amazing, pedal to the metal/full throttle/balls to the wall, sweet 1910 Pedro Ximenez Solera is a dark amber-colored, full-bodied, unctuously-textured beauty that should be sipped and savored slowly and carefully at the end of a meal with a plate of cashews. It is remarkable stuff. The price is not high for what it represents.

James Suckling (98)

Stare into the abyss and it will stare back at you! This has such an incredible depth of dried-flower and fresh-herb notes that you could get lost in the bouquet, before reaching the sleek and enormously mineral palate. So pristine and dazzling at the super long finish. Drink or hold.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

Only the most subtle notions of wet oakmoss, citrus peel and yeast escape on the shy nose. This is absolutely honed and taut, but time in the glass allows salty miso and crushed fennel aromas to shine through. A glint of ripe pear joins in but the utter, precise, stony freshness will take a while to unravel. This is indeed a wine to be treasured for decades. Drink 2025–2050.

The case contains one bottle each of: Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Axpoint 2017 (90 Points, Wine Advocate) Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Achleiten 2017 (95 Points, Wine Enthusiast) Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kellerberg 2017 (95 Points, Wine Enthusiast) Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kirnberg 2017 Riesling Smaragd Ried Achleiten 2017 (96 Points, Wine Enthusiast) Riesling Smaragd Ried Kellerberg 2017 (91 Points, Wine Advocate) Riesling Smaragd Ried Loibenberg 2017 (92 Points, Wine Enthusiast) Riesling Smaragd Ried Singerriedel 2017 (94 Points, Wine Advocate) Roter Traminer Reserve Ried Setzberg 2017 ABV's: - Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Axpoint 2017 - 13.5% - Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Achleiten 2017 - 14.5% - Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kellerberg 2017 - 14.0% - Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kirnberg 2017- 13.5% - Riesling Smaragd Ried Singerriedel 2017- 13.5% - Riesling Smaragd Ried Achleiten 2017 - 14.0% - Riesling Smaragd Ried Kellerberg 2017 - 14.0% - Riesling Smaragd Ried Loibenberg 2017 - 13.5% - Roter Traminer Reserve Ried Setzberg 2017- 13.0%

Wine Enthusiast (98)

A gentle hint of ripe tangerine peel immediately hits the nose. With more air, this unfolds to include notions of ripe blood orange and Mandarin, too. The palate comes in with steely concentration that speaks as much of absolute freshness as of glorious ripeness. The flavors are pristine, contoured by immense raciness. There is something steely and stony at the very core that radiates utter freshness. Drink by 2050.

James Suckling (98)

This comes very close to realizing my dream of gruner veltliner! An entire microcosm of herbal, peppery and sweet vegetal (think snow peas) aromas, then a stunning mouth feel on the concentrated palate that’s at once creamy yet invigorating with a ton of mineral freshness pushing the finish out in the direction of infinity. And only 13% alcohol. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

James Suckling (98)

The super deep, herbal nose pulls you inexorably into this very suave and complex gruner that’s first succulent, then profoundly mineral, retaining a wonderful lightness of touch through the extremely long, subtle finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Wine Spectator (95)

From green clay and pebbly silex soils, the 2018 Vouvray Le Mont Demi-Sec offers a clear, intense but elegant and sublime nose that intermixes ripe fruit and ginger aromas with spicy-flinty notes. Very well articulated and precise on the nose, it is lush and intense on the palate, with a good structure and complex finish. This is a highly promising Vouvray whose combination of 14% alcohol and unfermented sugar asks for a couple of years of cellar aging. The finish is salty, pure, tight and vibrantly fresh. A gorgeous, highly energetic wine. Tasted in May 2019.

Matthew Jukes (20)

I tasted this wine for the very first time on the 31st of January and it moved me so much that I wanted to write it up on the spot. It was clear to me that this bottle was a once in a lifetime Sauvignon Blanc experience. I was told I couldn’t review it because it was a preview sample and it was not due into the UK until later in the year. Since first tasting this wine I have been playing a game of trying to think of a finer wine made from this oft-derided and seemingly out-of-fashion-with-the-cognoscenti grape. From the hundreds of labels made by the acknowledged Sauvignon Blanc masters of the universe, I cannot think of a single wine which combines all of the epic SB attributes in one single wine. Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux, Haut Brion Blanc (ok, this has Semillon on board), Gembrook Hill, early Cloudy Bays, countless Chavignols from Cotat, Redde’s own wines, Cantine Terlano, Colterenzio, Reverdy, Spottswoode, Casa Marín, Dagueneau, Dog Point, Jackson Estate, The Berrio, Iona, Viña Leyda, Dry Creek Vineyards, Larry Cherubino’s epic 2017, The Lane Vineyard’s Gathering (again with Semillon loitering with intent), Shaw Smith, Cape Point Vineyards, Duckhorn, Greywacke, Boulay, Pellé and on and on, are all fantastic Sauvignons, but they are not as complete nor as enchanting at 2017 Barre à Mine. We can all circumnavigate the globe and pick any one of a hundred talented Sauvignon Blanc wizards’ creations and while their wines are undoubtedly delicious, impactful and worthy of admiration, I cannot remember a bottle which has the cosmic balance or the inescapable magic that this one does. I tasted it again last night and came to the conclusion that this is a wine which cannot be improved so, while I never thought that this day would come, I am overjoyed to give a Sauvignon Blanc a perfect 20/20 in my tasting notes. Barre à Mine translates as ‘Crowbar’. Never has such a blunt instrument inspired such an exquisite flavour.

Vinous (93)

Produced from a flint site that needed to be blown up to make the terroir and made from relatively young vines, this is initially a tender and supple style with a whiff of gunsmoke/flint, a taut line of precision that runs through its core, a mere hint of green herbs reminding you that Pouilly is a Sauvignon producer and even a hint of white pepper. It's a powerful style that has an attractive sense of bitterness holding it together. At just 13%, this is wonderfully balanced, aromatic and driven in this vintage. You may even feel this sense of spice that warms the palate, almost like you've had a warming Indian curry - it's not the alcohol but something else - maybe it's the lint. Unique and intriguing.

Wine Enthusiast (91)

Named after the producer's winery, this wine is a blend of fruit from different parts of the appellation. A little age has rounded out the wine, giving richness as well as a bite of acidity at the end. Although ready to drink, the wine will be even better from 2021.

Vinous (95)

Starting to take on a deep golden hue, the 1997 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon is a sensuous sweet wine (92g/L of residual sugar) that offers ripe and concentrated flavors of apricot jam, cooked oranges botrytis-derived spices (60% of the fruit was affected by botrytis, a high proportion for this wine). It is intense, rich and honeyed, coating the palate with its sucrosity. There's just enough acidity here to keep things going but it does not have the vivacious refreshment of cooler years, providing a weightier, fully charged expression. The finish is lengthy and fragrant.

Jancis Robinson (18)

Complete, warm, complex nose and then amazing grip on the finish. Such vice-like grip! Yet with wonderful freshness and life. This has so much to offer. It's like essence of Riesling. The finish is crawling with (good) micro-organisms somehow. A rich panoply of wild-flower flavours without being at all heavy.

Wine Enthusiast (98)

Stony savor swings as a vestige alongside the zesty citrus on the wine's closed nose. The palate starts off tight and taut, right now it is all sleek and stony. Time in the glass allows glimpses of what still lies deeply buried: a rich, profound yeastiness reverberating with peppery, salty depth. This is an astonishingly concentrated package that, may just be a time capsule that survives us. Drink 2030–2050.