James Suckling (98)

This is extremely aromatic and perfumed with crushed-berry, flower, currant and orange-peel character. Full-bodied, very tight and focused with fabulous depth and density that brings you down through the wine. Deep and serious. Very classic wine that reminds me of top Haut-Brions of the mid-1980s. Try after 2025.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2018 Haut-Brion is composed of 49.4% Merlot, 38.7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11.9% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, the wine needs a lot of swirling before it begins to release a whole complex melody of notes, one at a time to begin: tilled earth, followed by pronounced licorice, then crushed rocks, then the preserved plums. Eventually, it all comes together into a fascinating crescendo of intense crème de cassis, rose oil, wild blueberries and kirsch notes, giving way to quiet, persistent leitmotif scents of cinnamon stick, truffles and redcurrant jelly. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers all this and more, revealing tightly wound black fruit, red berry and exotic spice layers within a solid, wonderfully plush frame and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and loads of earth and mineral sparks. This is a profound, highly intellectual, multilayered baby, which will require a good 7-8 years to begin to sing its incredible song, then should cellar a further 40 years at least. By way of reference, think 1989 with more restraint and even greater purity.

Burghound (93)

(Outstanding) Here there is enough post-bottling reduction to largely mask the nuances of the more floral-suffused aromas. As is typically the case, there is more refinement but less size, weight and power to the delicious and gorgeously textured medium-bodied flavors that display excellent length on the citrus-tinged finale. This youthfully austere effort will require at least a few years of patience, but it should be well worth the wait.

Decanter (94)

This hails from a mid-slope premier cru on the south side of Nuits and mixes clay and limestone soils within the Gouges' 3.7ha monopole. It’s an intense, aromatic and comparatively early-drinking style with some chalky freshness, medium-weight tannins and a hint of volatility.

Wine Advocate (97)

Notes of mint, sage and bay leaf accent bold aromas of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries on the nose of Hobbs's 2018 1905 Shiraz. Picked later than the Gregor but not dried prior to fermentation, it's a well-behaved 14.7% alcohol wine that would be at home on the table alongside a tomahawk ribeye, roast lamb or any long-cooked stew. Full-bodied and intense, it not only shows tremendous complexity—mixing red and dark berries with various herbal nuances and hints of licorice, coffee beans and seared meat—but also boasts a rich, velvety mouthfeel combined with notable drinkability. It's a terrific contrast in style with the Gregor, showing more elegance but not nearly as much power.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2018 Gregor Shiraz was partially dried prior to crushing and fermentation, so it packs considerable concentration and power, weighing in at 15.8% alcohol on the label. It's a blockbuster in every sense of the word, from its huge aromas of mint, blueberries and plums to the mind-bending intensity on the full-bodied palate. Although not as raisined or alcoholic as Dal Forno's Amarone, there are similarities in size and structure, with waves of velvety, super ripe fruit and dark chocolate bolstered by softly dusty tannins and mouthwatering acidity on a finish that must be tasted to be believed. Wow!

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.

Wine Enthusiast (95)

Underbrush, camphor and new leather aromas get together with grilled herbs. Full-bodied and structured, it also shows restraint, featuring dried black cherry, licorice and tobacco alongside firm, fine-grained tannins.

Vinous (97)

The 2017 Cepparello is another in a series of stunningly beautiful Cepparellos from Paolo de Marchi. Bright and beautifully focused in the glass, with tremendous depth, the 2017 is positively stellar from the very first taste. Succulent dark cherry, plum, licorice, spice, menthol and coffee all open up with a bit of air. Here, too, Paolo De Marchi has done a tremendous job in preserving freshness in the wine. Readers who can muster the patience will be rewarded with a spectacular wine.

Vinous (96)

Isole e Olena 2017 Syrah is powerful, dense and savory. Readers should not plan on opening a bottle anytime soon. Black cherry, plum, licorice, espresso, chocolate and leather build as this brooding Tuscan Syrah shows off its considerable character. The 2017 is a real powerhouse. Give it a few years in bottle.

Vinous (92-94)

The 2018 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées 1er Cru has a vivid bouquet of red cherries, cranberry and raspberry preserve enmeshed with crushed stone and light sous-bois scents, all very well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with a supple entry, offering crisp red berry fruit laced with white pepper and clove. This is so harmonious – not the most powerful Fuées I have encountered, but sleek and sensual.

Vinous (94)

Vivid ruby. A highly complex bouquet evokes ripe red/blue fruits, candied flowers and exotic spices, and a smoky mineral nuance builds as the wine opens up. Stains the palate with appealingly sweet black raspberry and cherry flavors that become livelier and spicier on the back half. Conveys an impressive blend of power and finesse and lingers with superb persistence on the finish, which features sneaky tannins and lingering florality.

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.

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 (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.

Wine Advocate (93+)

Tasted from bottle, Drouhin's 2017 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc is showing very well, offering up aromas of fresh pear, Meyer lemon and grapefruit zest that are still quite youthfully marked by a generous application of buttery new oak that experience shows will integrate nicely with a little age. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, satiny and textural, with racy underlying acids, a fragrant core of fruit and a long, penetrating finish. This is a very elegant, aromatic rendition of this emblematic Drouhin cuvée.

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.

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.

Tim Atkin MW (98)

"Lighter and lighter" is the motto at Klein Constantia these days, according to Matt Day. The latest, world-class release of Vin de Constance certainly doesn’t lack sweetness at 165 grams or even concentration, but it has a freshness that's reminiscent of Vouvray or Barsac. Subtly wooded in 50% new barrels, it unfurls layers of citrus, toast and tarte tatin, with a drizzle of honey and vivid acidity and palate length. Bravo!

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

I am informed by the top man at Klein Constantia that the price will be the same as last year’s superb 2017 and all of the likely candidates in the UK are likely to hold stock. It will require a little effort on Google and you will see that a large number of wine merchants will list 2018 Vin de Constance and while the prices swing around like no other wine I know, at £60 or so, for a half litre, it certainly makes sense to me and when you consider the sheer quality of this vintage, it is a bargain for this celestial experience. Stock is likely to arrive in September 2021, but do feel free to register your interest with your preferred wine merchant now. Vintage reports suggest that the build-up to the 2018 harvest brought the highest summer rainfall of the last six years and, combined with some of the coldest night-time temperatures on record, the vines were granted a very long and very slow growing season. These conditions have imbued extreme delicacy of perfume and flavour and also staggering concentration and length in this wine. It also means that the 2018 vintage has otherworldly characteristics and I cannot remember a young vintage tasting so refined and demure. Light bunches and tiny Muscat de Frontignan berries underline just how unusual this vintage was and with a harvest that was a fortnight later than average and crops down by about 15% all of these facts make sense when you taste this ethereal wine. Aged for three years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small number of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres, this is both a sensual and also sensitive wine. For a start, the colour is incredibly pale – think a young Sancerre! But the viscosity is amazing when you pour a glass because the liquid moves ever so slightly slower and more deliberately into the glass. The lights come on and the brain fires up immediately and it takes you by surprise just how quickly your olfactory system senses that you are in the presence of greatness. I was in a state of heightened anticipation, long before I raised the glass to my lips and the reward is exquisite. The perfume and palate combine in an astral haze of delight with orange blossom, fig, lemon verbena, wild honey and acacia notes caressing your senses. The texture is super-smooth, incredibly long and unnervingly gentle. It certainly possesses the longest finish I can remember on a Vin de Constance and I have, very fortunately, a tasted huge number of vintages of this wine. If you have never tasted this wine before, please start with this vintage – it will blow your mind. If you have and you are a fan, this is a critical purchase for your collection. I cannot wait to add this wine to my cellar later in the year.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

The 2018 Estate Cuvee checks 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot brought up in 90% new French oak. Tasting like the straight Cab, yet with more sex appeal, it offers a huge nose of crème de cassis, white flowers, crushed stone, graphite, and crushed flowers. This carries to a full-bodied, gorgeously textured red with incredible balance, no hard edges, a thrilling mid-palate, and a great, great finish. It's going to benefit from 5-6 years of bottle age and keep for upwards of two decades or more. Hats off to winemaker Stephan Asseo on another incredible wine, as well as, I suspect the wine of the vintage.

Jeb Dunnuck (92+)

Brought up in 30% new French oak and based on an 80/20 split of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Château La Chenade has a classy, beautiful nose of crème de cassis, dried tobacco, lead pencil, and earth. This carries to a vibrant, medium-bodied Lalande de Pomerol with fine yet present tannins, a solid spine of acidity, and a great finish. It's another release from Denis Durantou that's going to benefit from just short-term cellaring and cruise for a decade.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (96)

The 2017 Lafleur-Petrus is elegant, polished and wonderfully refined from start to finish. Everything just falls into place effortlessly. Aromatic, sculpted fruit gives the 2017 its sense of regal beauty and total finesse. Beautifully lifted and precise, it is framed by gentle, silky tannins. Small red berries, mint, blood orange, spice and licorice develop in the glass, but it is the wine's cashmere-like softness that impresses most. In 2017 Lafleur-Petrus is a real standout.