Vinous - Antonio Galloni (100)

The 2020 Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a total stunner. For the first time I can remember, Les Carmes Haut-Brion marries all of its elements so well that nothing stands out. In the past, the high percentage of Franc and/or the whole clusters were evident. The 2020 is the first modern vintage in which all the elements are so well balanced. Dark red/purplish fruit, rose petal, mint, lavender, dried herbs and incense all build in a ravishing Pessac-Léognan that will take your breath away.

Decanter (94)

Stands out from La Chenade in the vintage, with its velvet texture and a more serious sculpted feel overall. Tobacco and liquorice notes besides black cherry and raspberry fruits, good tension, serious but with Lalande-de-Pomerol unfussy appeal. 3.72pH. A yield of 38hl/ha.

Wine Advocate (93-95)

Made from 100% Merlot, the 2020 Les Gravieres has a deep purple-black color, rolling out of the glass with ready-for-business scents of plum preserves, baked black cherries and blueberry pie, plus hints of violets, clove oil and camphor, with a waft of tree bark. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers velvety tannins and a lively backbone to support the generous black and blue fruits, finishing long and spicy.

Fulfilling even the refined palate of the most insatiable vinophile, the Les Horees Bourgogne Aligote En Couzelain 2020 is a superbly crafted, spirited, and eloquent expression of the hallowed terroirs of Bourgogne (Burgundy). It is cultivated by Les Horees, a remarkable vineyard revered for its commitment to organic and biodynamic practices, and respect for the environment.

The wine is harvested from the tiny En Couzelain vineyard plot, a place of pure calcareous soil blessings that give this Aligote its indomitable character. Aged 'sur lie' to augment richness, this hand-harvested varietal undergoes stringent sorting to ensure optimal purity and natural fermentation.

The Les Horees Bourgogne Aligote En Couzelain 2020 reveals a generous bouquet of citrus and white flowers, leading to a concentrated palate that resonates with delightful freshness, minerality, and an admirable, lingering finish. This is a limited-production wine, making each sip an indulgence in exclusivity and grace.

Jeb Dunnuck (98)

Sourced from 39 plots, the 2014 Champagne Cristal is 60% Pinot Noir and the remainder Chardonnay, with 32% aged in oak, and it has 7 grams per liter dosage. It is highly expressive of classic elegance and purity, revealing aromas of crushed rock, almond croissant, and perfume of citrus blossoms. The palate is hyper-refined in its mousse, with pinpoint bubbles, a subtly rounded mid-palate, an irresistible chalky texture, and energy throughout its long and floral finish. Everything about this feels perfectly tailored. Drink 2024-2044.

James Suckling (95)

Round and creamy, yet bright and tangy, with delicious pie crust, walnuts, lemons, sourdough, white peaches and apricot stones. More gourmand, with a creamy mousse. Lingering praline and pastry notes. Pinot noir and chardonnay. Drink or hold.

A connoisseur's delight, the Love Over Gold Menglers Hill Love Over Gold Shiraz 2014 is the epitome of opulence. This handcrafted, single-vineyard wine hails from the prestigious Menglers Hill, situated within the acclaimed South Australian wine region, Barossa Valley. It is the creation of the renaissance winemaker, Warrick Duthy, the impassioned force behind the boutique wine label, Love Over Gold.

The 2014 vintage encapsulates the vineyard's story with its exceptional purity and intensity. The grapes endured a growing season of dry, warm days and cool evenings, producing a wine enrobed in powerful dark fruit flavours, tempered with refined acidity and structured tannins. Nineteen months in French oak barrels imbued the Shiraz with complex layers of chocolate, vanilla, and spice, making each sip a revelation. The Love Over Gold Menglers Hill Love Over Gold Shiraz 2014 is undeniably an unforgettable imprint of time and place, a testament to the art of winemaking.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

Wine of the Year 2022 Inky plum in colour, you can see this is rich and textured even before going anywhere near the nose, which then displays ripe fruit. Gorgeous quality, a wine that is packed full of graphite, pencil lead, waves of violet, cassis, liqourice, and chewy but well defined tannins. Leaps out of the glass and is clear proof that, when it gets it right, the 2014 vintage equals the 2015 in this northern sector of the Médoc. Good value also compared to the 2015 and 2016 - a must buy for me. 70% new oak, Eric Boissenot consultant.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (94+)

The 2014 Malartic-Lagravière is a gorgeous wine, but it is also flamboyant and exotic, especially in its flavor profile. Super-ripe red cherry and plum make a strong first impression. Sweet floral and spice notes, along with ripe, silky tannins, add to the wine's sensuality. A rich, powerful wine with soft contours and striking depth, the 2014 is a real beauty. It will be even more compelling once the new oak tannins soften a bit further. The blend is 52 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 % Merlot, 5 % Cabernet Franc and 3 % Petit Verdot. Tasted two times.

Vinous (92-94)

The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet Virondot 1er Cru, which unlike the other Premier Crus was taken from barrel, has a lovely bouquet with hazelnut, orange rind, wet granite and just a touch of praline. The palate is very well balanced with an irresistible peachy entry that segues into a gorgeous quince-tinged finish. Often one of the Domaine best offerings, this Virondot is another to add in a succession of great wines from this climat.

Wine Advocate (97+)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (Golden Capsule) is precise and clear on the concentrated, remarkably fresh, lemon-scented and zesty nose. Precise and fresh on the palate, this is a savory, enormously salty and zesty Auslese with great definition and a salivating character yet (still?) not the pristine and noble elegance of the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese ***. The finish is stimulating due to its freshness and grapefruit bitterness. A promising Sonnenuhr that is still on its way. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 49 22 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (97+)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Capsule) is deep, super intense and aromatic in its precise and elegant fruit but also refined and nuanced, with slate and chamomile flowers highlighting this utterly complex yet pure and "classic," fruity bouquet. Pure and fresh on the palate, this is a precise, crystalline and saline, very elegant and salivating Sonnenuhr that will need some years on the bottle to refine. The finish is very intense, aromatic and precise, revealing a crunchy slate character and mouth-watering salinity. A great dry Sonnenuhr from Wehlen and incomparable with any WSU I know. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 52 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (93)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Golden Capsule) offers an intense, pure, deep and finely flinty nose that is still discreet and but very fine. Lush and savory on the palate, this is a sweet, fresh and zesty WSU with precise and linear mineral acidity and a salivating finish that indicates excellent aging potential. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted from AP 30 21 at the domaine in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (94)

The 2020 Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese (Golden Capsule) started pretty reductive and timid on the nose when I first tasted it straight from the bottle, but it became beautifully pure and refined after three days of aeration. Lush and voluptuous on the palate, this is an intense and sweet yet also very fine, balanced and elegant, subtly concentrated and finely tensioned Spätlese with good mineral length and fine salinity on the finish. The 2020 drinks very beautifully today (if you like it sweet and refined), but it will still taste fine in 10 to 15 years and be more complex. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 18 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (98)

The dry 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Capsule) shows great purity paired with intensity, depth and noblesse, exhibiting ripe and concentrated but savory Riesling fruit intertwined with flinty notes of finely weathered blue slate and lush peach aromas. Rich and intense but highly refined and elegant on the palate, this is a crystalline, very delicate and saline-finishing ZSU with great terroir expression and balance. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 30 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (99)

The 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (Golden Capsule) opens with a highly delicate and filigreed bouquet with beautifully clear nuances of apricot and very fine slate on the deep and complex, beautifully refined and precise nose. On the palate, this is a tender, highly finessed and saline Auslese with a concentrated but balanced and seamless texture. Quite sweet still but utterly refined and noble, this delicate, saline and crystalline Auslese doesn't show anything like power or confiture but celebrates its elegance, finesse and definition. A fabulous, pristine Auslese. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 28 22 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2020 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Golden Capsule) opens with a deep, pure and complex bouquet with concentrated fruit and lemon aromas intermingled with delicate and coolish slate aromas. Full-bodied, crystalline and fresh on the palate, this is a pure, saline and terribly fresh but mouth-watering ZSU Kabinett with fine and precise acidity and a tight and tensioned finish that needs some years to refine. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine from AP 33 21 in July 2022.

Wine Advocate (95)

The Masseto 2020 Massetino (Merlot with a touch of Cabernet Franc) is extremely generous and rich. This wine puts it all out there in full view with a bouquet that is stitched together with ripe blackberry and black cherry preserves, black stone or pencil shaving, sweet spice, cigar, smoke and tar. This was a warm and sunny vintage, and you feel the power of those sunbeams locked within the dark, opulent and concentrated fruit on display here. This is a special treat, and the 2020 edition offers a clear identity for Massetino. This vintage comes close to out-powering the bouquet of the 2019 Masseto also hitting the market now.

Vinous (98.5)

The 2014 Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda is a stunning wine. Sweet, perfumed and deep, the 2014 is off-the-charts great. Dark red and purplish berry fruit, mint, lavender, spice and hard candy infuse the 2014 with striking layers of nuance. But what really impresses about the 2014 is its depth and huge vertical build. All the elements fall into place in a sumptuous, deep Barolo that screams with character. Beams of tannin punctuate the finish. Massolino's 2014 is one of the greatest Vigna Riondas I have ever tasted.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

Distinctly varietal nose of vibrant blackberry and dark chocolate fruits, supported by judicious use of classy French oak. The Palate is classically structured , full bodied Cabernet, with silky cassis and dark chocolate fruit finishing with fine dry chamois tannins of tremendous length.

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 Advocate (95)

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve To Kalon is a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. Deep ruby/purple-colored, notes of sweet crème de cassis, blackberry, charcoal and toast are present in the subtle but intense aromatics. The wine is full-bodied and classically crafted, building incrementally on the palate and displaying full-bodied richness, sweet tannin, and a potential to age for 25-30 + years. This is a beauty.

Decanter (94)

So full of deeply-drawn berry fruit, fresh and juicy with touches of liquorice bud and rosemary, thirst quenching and yet thirst inducing in that amazing way that limestone can both refresh and make you thirst for more at the same time. An excellent Moulin St Georges, and such a step up from the more sandy soils that you find at Fonbel and the two Simard estates in this year's range of Vauthier-owned wines that this alone can help you understand how to navigate 2020.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

'Arguably, one of the greatest red vintages in living memory', says Mount Pleasant. The flagship wine. Destemmed and crushed, short cold soak, open-fermented, matured in large format French oak (30% new) for 18 months. Has the gently throbbing power of a Rolls Royce; superb, deep crimson-purple hue, itself rare in the Hunter Valley. Countless layers of black fruits have absorbed the oak and put the undoubted tannins into limbo land. O'Shea would have died a happy man had this been his last wine. Dissecting it now is an academic exercise at best, so great is its future. This is as close to a 100-year potential as you are ever likely to find.

Greg Sherwood MW (95)

Bottled after 12 months, this is a very, very pretty vintage with lower yields but also beautiful fruit purity, precision and a wonderful fruit – acid balance. The aromatics are ripe, succulent and opulent showing honeysuckle, white blossom, lemon cordial, dried herbs and lovely white peach and pineapple pastille notes. Nevertheless, the stand out feature on the palate is undoubtedly the textural sophistication, harmony and chalky minerality combined with super tangy acids bursting with lemon rock candy, white peach and crystalline citrus flavours. Simply an incredible intensity with a harmoniously weightless balance combined with a long, piercing finish. This is definitely a noticeable step up on previous vintages and an incredible achievement for the Mullineuxs! Drink now to 2034+.

Matthew Jukes (20+)

An long-forgotten image flashed into my mind when I first tasted this wine. It took me back to a visit, as a child, to a stately home. Goodness knows where this place was, but I remember walking down a long corridor when a huge door opened to my left. As I walked past, I caught a glimpse of the most glamorous and beautifully decorated room beyond the person holding the door ajar. The door closed, and I passed by, but this image has stuck with me ever since. This momentary glimpse of incredible splendour is echoed in this magnificent wine. It starts midnight black in the glass, then as one focuses on the surface, can one see stars? Interestingly, it finishes black, too, in the form of ultra-fine sooty tannins that caress the taste buds as the flavour senesces. Between these two moments of perfect calm, there is layer upon layer of splendour and magnificence. The keyword for this vintage is ‘proportion’, as I found out half an hour through the presentation. It is an inspired choice because every element of 2020 Ornellaia is in scintillating proportion. 2020 Ornellaia represents more than harmony or balance and more than composure and equilibrium – it is truly in perfect proportion. In fact, I have never tasted a vintage of Ornellaia like it. There is a sense of greatness here, both in the intensity of the fruit and also its freshness and lift on the nose and palate – it is astonishing. The Cabernet theme (the blend is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot) is dominant both in the primary fruit notes but also in the signature flavours. Merlot adds glossiness and also traction, while Cabernet Franc appears to add grace and also crispness and aromatic flourishes. Petit Verdot acts as the invisible welds that pin this magnificent structure together – a complete three-dimensional flavour with no apparent flaws whatsoever. This wine will undoubtedly drink early in its life, given the silkiness and generosity on display, but it will not genuinely get into its stride for a decade, and I feel it will take another decade for it to blossom fully. My childlike fascination with today’s glimpse into the glass will no doubt grow into a full-blown stroll around this wine with the door flung open wide in years to come. This wine will prove to those with the good fortune to own it that its best is yet to come, so be patient in spite of its early allure. Until then, I do not doubt that it is a work of perfect proportion, so I am delighted to award it my first-ever perfect score for Ornellaia.