James Suckling (99-100)

This shows the purity of Angelus. I have never tasted a wine from here with such incredible clarity. Full body, full fruit and full beauty. Super silky tannins. A joy to taste. Makes you want to drink it. 62% merlot and 38% cabernet franc.

Wine Enthusiast (100)

This is a rich, perfumed wine, with dense tannins and intense layers of black plum and spice. The palate is firmly built yet broadened out by plump dark-fruit tones and honed by a solid, dry core. Drink from 2025.

Wine Advocate (92+)

A beautiful wine, Ente's 2018 Meursault Clos des Ambres unwinds to reveal aromas of pear, orange oil, wheat toast, chamomile and subtle hints of praline. Medium to full-bodied, bright and incisive, with lively acids and chalky structuring extract, it's an elegant, nicely concentrated rendition of a cuvée that I've always particularly enjoyed chez Ente. I suspect it will develop very nicely with some time in bottle.

Expertly crafted by the esteemed Barons de Rothschild, the Reserve Pauillac Speciale 2019 is a sublime testament to the excellence of Pauillac terroir. Sumptuously blended from the finest Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes, meticulously handpicked from the heart of Bordeaux, the Barons de Rothschild Reserve Pauillac Speciale 2019 showcases the signature depth and complexity associated with Rothschild wines. Extensively matured in French oak barrels, this masterpiece accentuates a profound, velvety palate bursting with decadent notes of dark fruit, truffle, and spices.

Committed to sustainability, Barons de Rothschild meticulously adopts Low Environmental Impact Viticulture, preserving the land for future generations. Embodying over two centuries of winemaking heritage, this extraordinary cuvée continues to uphold the Rothschild family's enduring commitment to quality. The Barons de Rothschild Reserve Pauillac Speciale 2019 is truly a rendezvous of opulence, elegance, and sophistication. Esteemed among aficionados and critics alike, this gem is an absolute must-have in any fine wine collection.

James Suckling (96)

Shows beautiful, ripe cabernet aromas with currants, plums, meat and smoke. Flowers, too. Full body, deep and ripe fruit and exquisite, ripe tannins. Flavorful finish. Tight right now, but shows excellent potential. Best ever. Try after 2024.

Decanter (97)

Vibrant and intense colour in the glass, richly scented, floral and perfumed, open and inviting. Intense and concentrated, the fruit is dark and ripe but there’s no hint of over ripeness here and instead you get cool blue fruits, chalky tannins and minty freshness with accents of liquorice, coffee, tobacco, cedar spice and clove. Tannins are clearly at the fore, giving the structure and the frame while the juicy acidity gives the energy and life. Still on the serious side, not tense so much as there’s good persistence, it’s lean and streamlined, but refined in a spiced and mineral way. Gorgeous terroir markers, lovely detail and precision, you can feel they haven't worked too much or tried too hard. It carries the signature of the estate in the serious structure, it’s a big wine, there’s such power here but so well controlled and delivered. Razor sharp, focussed and persistent. A gorgeous 2022, well executed and will be a clear success.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (97)

The 2020 Beau-Sejour Becot is a dense, powerful wine. A rush of black cherry, plum, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spice and sweet oak builds as this towering, vertically explosive Saint-Émilion opens in the glass. This is an especially broad, expansive Saint-Émilion, much of that attributable to the clay in these soils. The 2020 is magnificent in its intensity and overall volume. Superb.

Wine Advocate (95+)

An extraordinary effort in this vintage, this 2008 was made from lower yields than the 2010 (the 2008's equaled 20 hectoliters per hectare) and is a blend of 90% Merlot and equal parts Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon that came in at 14% natural alcohol. Michel Rolland has been the consultant for all the Perse estates since their acquisition, and the 2008's fruit was harvested very late, October 20. The result is a backward, dense purple-colored wine revealing a crushed rock-like liqueur along with highly extracted, massive flavors of black currants, sweet cherries, licorice and toast. This full-bodied effort requires 5-6 years of bottle age and should last for 25-30 years.

Decanter (97)

One of the standouts of the vintage that impressed equally on three different occasions. Fragrant and expressive on the nose, lovely scents and dark fruits. Smooth and crisp, silky but concentrated, such precision and detail straight away with succulent and juicy acidity. There’s concentration no doubt, it’s ripe and intense, the dark perfumed blackcurrants and black cherries give a serious backbone and tension to the wine, while the minty, stony freshness carries the flavour and gives the energy and definition. Excellently weighted on the palate, with structure and a mouthwatering sensation that comes in once the weight settles. So well constructed with a beautiful texture and overall integration of all the elements. Exceptional quality and drinkability on offer with a delicious salty, graphite and flint finish that puts you at the estate. Overlook this at your peril. 2.5% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 3.65pH. Harvest 12 - 24 September. 60% grand vin production. A yield of 34hl/ha. Tasted three times. This vintage was the first to be made 100% in the new cellar with double the number of vats than were available in 2020 for more precise fermentations. HVE3 certified. Harvest 12 September - 24 September.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (94-96)

The first sample was from a 2018 barrel which marked the wine a little too much. Mid purple. Riper on the nose and has taken the oak a bit more. Try another one. Much better. A sublime weight of perfectly ripe fruit whereas the other seemed over ripe. Excellent. Drink from 2030-2037.

Vinous (93-95)

The 2022 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru has a very delineated, focused bouquet, well controlled with citrus fruit, lemon verbena, and light orange pith scents. The palate is poised, quite intense and certainly has superb tension. There are Golden Delicious and light marzipan notes on the persistent finish, completing a very promising Corton Charlemagne.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95-97)

Glowing purple. The bouquet is absolutely regal. What else to say? The palate offers a fantastic complexity varying from the sweetness of perfect ripeness through to a more savoury character from the terroir. The length of flavour transcends anything else. Gracefulness personified. Drink from 2032-2040.

Jeb Dunnuck (96-98+)

I continue to love the wines from this estate, and the 2020 Château Clinet is no exception. Straight-up sensational notes of blueberries, cassis, violets, tobacco, and earth all emerge from the glass, and this beauty is full-bodied, with a rich, concentrated mid-palate, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the tighter, fresher, more focused style of the vintage, yet it still brings plenty of mid-palate depth as well as an expansive texture. It has enough oak to warrant short-term bottle age but will have 25-30 years of overall longevity. This is a gorgeous wine.

Jancis Robinson (18.5)

Cask sample. Quite a price! Transparent crimson. Very dense nose with more layers than most of the 2018 red burgundies I have tasted so far. Pretty rich with grand cru density. Very well done. Actually the best Clos des Epeneaux I remember tasting en primeur. Long, rich, opulent but all in a convincing structure. Very long in fact.

The Wine Independent (100)

Deep garnet in color, the 2016 Cos d'Estournel is quite closed to start, requiring a lot of coaxing to bring out profound notions of creme de cassis, wild blueberries, black cherry compote, and rose oil, leading to suggestions of Indian spices, crushed rocks, and dried lavender. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is both opulent and energetic, revealing loads of perfumed black fruit layers and a plush, polished texture, finishing with epic length and depth.

Wine Advocate (98+)

Composed of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, yields for the grand vin in 2017 were 43 hectoliters per hectare, and it was aged in 60% new oak. It came in at an alcohol of 13% and an IPT of 68. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cos d'Estournel needs a little coaxing to unfurl, revealing beautiful expressions of preserved plums, boysenberries, blackcurrant pastilles and wild blueberries with hints of Indian spices, menthol, lilacs and mossy tree bark plus a compelling suggestion of iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a solid backbone of firm, grainy tannins and well-knit freshness supporting the tightly wound blue and black fruits layers, finishing long and fragrant. This wine will need a good 5-7 years in bottle before it begins to blossom and should go on for at least another 40 years. I expect this wine to be a blockbuster of a head-turner when I come back and taste it at 10 years of age!

James Suckling (96-97)

A dense, creamy DC white with lots of rich cooked-apple, mineral, cream and praline character. It’s full and very layered with chewy intensity and a long, bitter-lemon and almost honey finish. Pretty phenolic tension, too.

Decanter (100)

Medium-full weight. Very lovely, almost Musigny-like fruit here. Complex, concentrated and intense. Marvelous harmony. Very, very long and multi-dimensional. This is very special.

Vinous (94)

The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet La Boudriotte 1er Cru is very floral on the nose with pressed white flowers, honeysuckle and broom, touches of chalk and apricot. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, more density than the La Grande Montagne, impressive weight and salinity that gets the saliva flowing on the finish. Excellent.

Vinous (89-91)

The 2022 Bourgogne Rouge Les Bons Batons is the Domaine's largest cuvée from 1.8 hectares of vines. It has a well-defined bouquet with bright red fruit. The medium-bodied palate has vivid red fruit and fine structure with gentle grip on the finish. Village quality here.

James Suckling (93)

Deep, dark and rich fruit, from plums to berries. Full bodied, layered, dense and very rich. Best after 2022.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 2019 Grand-Puy-Lacoste exhibits notions of minty cassis, plums, loamy soil, burning embers and cigar wrapper, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and velvety palate that’s deep and concentrated, its generous core of lively fruit concealing an elegantly muscular chassis of ripe, powdery tannin. Consisting of fully 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, this is another true classic from the Borie family.

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 (91-93)

The 2019 Marsannay Le Chapitre comprises a blend of 15- and 75-year-old vines. Interestingly, Laurent Fournier remarks that the younger vines performed better due to the superior rootstock. It has a gorgeous bouquet with dark cherries, blackcurrant and light violet aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, very velvety in texture with an almost crystalline finish. Just a wonderful Marsannay from Fournier this year.

Vinous (86-88)

The 2018 Bourgogne Rouge has a fragrant bouquet of dark cherries and raspberry scents, quite gentle in style. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red fruit and fine acidity. The 20% new oak lends a little weight toward the finish. This is definitely one of the superior generic red Burgundy wines you will find this year.

Vinous (91-93)

The 2019 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Charmois has slightly more red fruit than the Aux Lavières, hints of potpourri and lavender complementing the cranberry jus and red currants; more cassis aromas develop later. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, very sensual and harmonious. The sorbet-fresh finish delivers black cherry fruit laced with citrus fruits. Very fine.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

You just know that this estate is well placed to succeed in the vintage, and this really does walk the line of ripeness and salinity, such gorgeous definition and vivid energetic fruit. Stretches out through the palate also, has a relaxed confidece to it that is quite unusual in such a full--on vintage. Really impressive, Beaumartin family, David Suire director.

James Suckling (95-96)

This is a tighter and more compact Petit Mouton with a full-bodied, compact palate that is framed nicely by the tannins. Savory and juicy. Structured. Contained. 79% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 7% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot. Better than 2022?

Vinous - Neal Martin (95)

The 2014 Léoville Poyferré has a very complex bouquet with blackberry, bilberry, crushed stone, cedar and hints of violet. It is extremely focused, intense rather than overtly powerful. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp and generous, conveying much more tension and precision than the Léoville Las-Cases. It gradually fans out in the second half with real mineralité, quite profound in the context of the vintage. Outstanding. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Tim Atkin MW (95)

Beautifully concentrated, this even has a bit of baby fat on it now. That's just fine as that provides a landing pad for the tangy tannins and racy acidity in this cuv e. The vines sit in iron-rich soils which give a slightly burly edge to the mouthfeel, despite the lush ripeness. For those preferring richer Pinot styles, this will show well now. For those seeking more finesse and multi-dimensional aromatic development, give this five years or so. 2023-38