Decanter (98)

What a magnificent bouquet for this Dom Pérignon 2012! Pastry, a hint of smoke and autolytic notes provide a compelling counterpart to eager yet elegant aromas of citrus (lime, tangerine and kumquat) joined by those of fresh fruit, herbs, liquorice, and menthol. There is even a refreshing note of ivy. The palate is tense, vibrant, and very fresh despite its impressive density, which meets its match with an unending finish. This 2012 incarnates the very essence of Dom Pérignon with such a concentrated degree of intensity, along with a capacity for ageing, that it is surely destined for a second life in a P2 edition.

Vinous (98)

The 2008 Dom Pérignon is a huge, powerful Champagne and also clearly one of the wines of the vintage. This is one of the most reticent bottles I have tasted. So much so that I am thinking about holding off opening any more bottles! The 2008 has always offered a striking interplay of fruit and structure. Today, the richness of the fruit is especially evident. Readers who own the 2008 should be thrilled, but patience is a must.

Decanter (99)

And so from P1 methuselah to P2, which for Geoffroy ‘goes beyond Champagne’. P2, he continues, must be ‘deeper, richer, longer…better than P1' - otherwise why release it? Well, they haven't yet, although it's pencilled in for later in 2019. Here we have drive, vinosity and incredible length. The sweet and savoury balance indulges with a seductive embrace. Gustav Klimt in a glass maybe. Outstanding.

Jancis Robinson (20)

Magnum. Pungent and composed with massive energy. Lovely edge of freshness. Long and nuanced. So clean and pure. Long and lovely!

Decanter (98)

The Dom Perignon Rosé 2006 is simply amazing. Notes of raspberry, spices and mint jump from the glass in a seductive combination. The texture in the mouth is of precise, crystalline, laser-like tannins in an opulent style. A very great success in a vintage that was not always easy in Champagne.

Decanter (98)

The Dom Perignon Rosé 2006 is simply amazing. Notes of raspberry, spices and mint jump from the glass in a seductive combination. The texture in the mouth is of precise, crystalline, laser-like tannins in an opulent style. A very great success in a vintage that was not always easy in Champagne.

James Suckling (99)

This shows incredible depth of fruit with strawberry, cherry and phenolics. Full-bodied and layered with an incredible, three-dimensional element to the wine. This is so transparent and dynamic with dark fruit, yet it remains vivid and bright. Refined and precise, it goes on and on. Really savory, fresh and incredibly pinot-noir-like. What a wine. 13 years of maturation in the bottle. So drinkable now, but it will age for many years ahead.

James Suckling (98)

This is a very thick, dense DP with layers of ripe fruit. Dried apple, pineapple and pie crust with some nougat undertones. Dense and layered with chewy tannins and a juicy finish. Umami undertone. This has the highest percentage of pinot noir ever. 15 years on the lees in bottle. 62% pinot noir and 38% chardonnay. Drink or hold.

Vinous (97+)

The 2006 Dom Pérignon Rosé is every bit as captivating as it was last year, maybe even more so. At times powerful, but in other moments finessed, the 2006 constantly changes in the glass, revealing a different shade of its personality with every taste. Perhaps most importantly, the 2006 seems to have gained a level of precision and pure sophistication it did not show last year, when it was quite a bit less put together. Back then, the 2006 was a wine of tremendous potential; today that potential is starting to be realized. Quite simply, the 2006 Dom Pérignon Rosé is a magical Champagne. Don’t miss it.

James Suckling (98)

This is a red with extremely creamy tannins that are fine and polished, giving length and definition to the wine. Full-bodied, yet tight and compact with plenty of currants and fresh herbs. Extremely long and flavorful. Drinking beautifully now.

James Suckling (99)

Fantastic aromas of blackcurrants and other dark fruit with crushed stone, iron and oysters, following through to a full body that shows incredible energy and depth, offering ripe yet fresh fruit, together with bright herbs and earth. Precision and balance of the intensity of the vintage. Layered. Perhaps the greatest Don Melchor ever made. Try after 2022.

James Suckling (100)

This is amazing. The vibrancy and energy in this wine is stunning. The complexity of aromas are breathtaking with flowers, blackcurrants, raspberries and peaches. Full-bodied, yet ever so refined and polished with impeccable texture and beauty. The length is marvelous. This is a testimony to balance, harmony and transparency in a great red. Drink after 2023.

James Suckling (98)

Very perfumed and aromatic with blackcurrant, sweet-tobacco and Spanish-cedar character. Full-bodied with ultra fine tannins that build on the palate and take the fruit and other flavors to an endless finish. More refined than the perfect 2018 and almost as compelling. Drink in 2023 or after.

James Suckling (97)

Deep and serious with black olives, blackberries, blueberries, tobacco leaf, sweet red capsicum, ash, dried meat and a hint of black chocolate. This is a more direct, full-bodied Don Melchor, filled with solid blackberries and wrapped by tight, fine-grained tannins. Long and deep. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 1% merlot and 1% petit verdot. Better after 2024.

Revel in the opulent luxury of the Duval Leroy Femme de Champagne Grand Cru 1996, an exquisite vintage meticulously crafted to perfection. The heart of the Champagne region bares this exceptional Grand Cru, a testament to Duval Leroy's outstanding savoir-faire, widely acknowledged for their uncompromising dedication to quality. This vintage employs 100% Chardonnay grapes, harvested from the finest vineyards, encapsulating the terroir's quintessence. Duval Leroy's painstaking viticulture and traditional métodos champenoises see this cuvée age for more than twenty years in their cellar, imparting unparalleled complexity.

The Duval Leroy Femme de Champagne Grand Cru 1996 emanates elegance, offering a majestic bouquet of fresh orchard blossoms and honeyed brioche. This medium-to-full bodied Champagne boasts a rich, refined palate; fresh citrus notes adorned with hints of toast and truffle. Its shine doesn't fade with a lingering, mineral-laced finish. A coveted gem amongst aficionados, the Duval Leroy Femme de Champagne Grand Cru 1996 is a sublime testament to Champagne's grandeur.

Wine Advocate (98+)

A blend of the 2015 and 2014 vintages, Egly's emblematic NV Brut Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Les Crayères was disgorged this year with only one gram per liter dosage. Bursting with aromas of mirabelle plum, Anjou pear and green apple mingled with notions of freshly baked bread, honeycomb and praline, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, its satiny attack segueing into a deep, layered mid-palate of striking texture and concentration. Concluding with a long, intensely saline finish, it's another brilliant wine from a great producer at the top of his form.

Jancis Robinson (17)

A bit of apple peel. Very ‘natural’. Very pure and unadorned. All top Montagne de Reims villages. Extreme champagne. Very dry finish. Lots of potential.

Vinous (96)

The NV Extra Brut V.P. Grand Cru (Vieillissement Prolongé) is a rich, textured Champagne that expresses all of the natural intensity gained after having spent eight years on its lees. Baked apple tart, pastry, spice, chamomile and lightly honeyed notes infuse the V.P. with tremendous flavor complexity to fill out its broad, expansive frame. It is a wine of remarkable depth and vinous intensity. In a word: superb. Disgorged: July, 2020.

James Suckling (98)

This shows superb finesse and balance with wonderful, harmonious fruit and tannin tones that give the wine purity and focus. Dried spices, blackberries, walnuts and tile. Deep, contained structure with pure, fine tannins. The finish is incredible and goes on for minutes. A blend of 56% syrah, 31% carmenere, and 13% cabernet sauvignon. From biodynamically grown grapes. One for the cellar. Better after 2022, but already fantastic.

James Suckling (98)

A complex nose of blackberry, plum, mocha, cigar box, graphite and spice. It’s full-bodied with fine tannins. Creamy-textured and structured with a juicy core. Pure with a velvety texture on the palate, which is layered and balanced and leads to a flavorful finish that lasts over and over. Spicy on the finish with cloves and black pepper. Grilled meat, too. A blend of 52% syrah, 34% carmenere and 14% cabernet sauvignon. From biodynamically grown grapes. Vegan. Try in 2023.

Wine Advocate (99)

After 20 harvests comes their first Cru, the 2018 Cru Truquilemu, which they describe as "Truqui with more stuffing." It comes from a small triangular section with a lower natural yield, with greater concentration and a darker, more brooding personality. It was fermented with more stems than the other Truquilemu and with a bit of Syrah, which adds weight, depth and texture. After fermenting pieces of the vineyard separately over many years, two distinct personalities emerged, and they have bottled them separately since 2018. Truquilemu has become more ethereal after the separation, and this is sturdier, with extra stuffing but more tension. The wine has less alcohol (12.8%, and 12.5% in 2019!!) higher acidity (7.43 grams measured in tartaric acid) and an incredible pH of 3.18, amazing parameters of freshness and restraint. This is not heavier, it just seems to have the same personality but with more layers. It was produced in a very simple and slow way, fermenting in open-top lagars with some full clusters and adding lignified stems to avoid carbonic maceration, with indigenous yeasts; malolactic took 11 months (!), and the aging in used and neutral barrel was extended over two winters. For the 2018 vintage, they filled 3,449 bottles in January 2020.

Wine Advocate (98)

In 2018, they bottled three Cariñena-based wines from Truquilemu in Empedrado (now a DO) in Maule. The 2018 Truquilemu Vineyard, they reckon, is more focused, sultry and ethereal than ever. It comes from 1.3 hectares and fermented with more full clusters and with a dash of Syrah (around 4%) in the field blend. By taking away the part bottled as Cru Truquilemu, this has become more ethereal. The 2018, an extraordinary vintage, has less alcohol (12.8%), more flavor and, most of all, greater depth with more layers that open up with time in the glass. These wines are as much abut texture and mouthfeel as aromas and flavors, incredibly fine-grained and titillating with lots of light and energy. This is the evolution of a wine produced in the past with slightly different names, with lots 77, 67, 57 and 47. 10,127 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2020 and marked with lot #97.

Wine Advocate (99)

There are three Carignan/Cariñena wines from the same vineyard in Truquilemu in 2018, and the 2018 Vigno comes from a section further down along the creek where there's terrific drainage and thus low yield and concentration. It's Carignan with smidgens of País and Monastrell in the field blend, the grapes grown by a mall farmer by hand and horse with traditional methods of dry-farming, uncertified organic for 75+ years. Like all the rest, it fermented in open-top vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels over two winters. None of these wines are about the process, they are about the place and the year. In 2018, the wine finished with 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.2 and seven grams of acidity, parameters that talk about a wine with moderate ripeness and vibrant freshness, from a cooler year in a cool part of Maule. 3,336 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2020.

Decanter (93)

Gosset is the oldest house in Champagne, and is a favourite among wine trade insiders. This non-vintage cuvée is redolent with the aromas of mellow red apple fruit. It has beautifully subtle autolysis on the palate, with creamy apple and plum flavours, and a great precision at the same time.

Vinous (97)

The MV 16 is bright, fresh and airy and yet has the natural richness of Aÿ that Giraud fans have come to expect. Apricot, tangerine oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, chamomile and dried flowers all meld together in a creamy, ample Champagne that hits all the right notes. A Champagne of towering presence, the MV 16 is classy, understated and undeniably alluring. It is also one of the most impressive Champagnes I have ever tasted from Claude Giraud. Even in the early going, the 70% new oak is so well-integrated. This set of new releases is full of highlights, but the MV 16 is especially fine. Don't miss it! Dosage is 6 grams per liter. Disgorged: December 11, 2020.

James Suckling (96)

A vinous Champagne with so much depth and soft power. Hazelnuts, apricots, peach pits, lemons, pomelos and seashells. Round, creamy bubbles. Complex, but with wonderful drinkability. Converges with precision at the end. Very deep. 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. Blend of 2 solera systems of perpetual reserve, started in 1990. Drink or hold.

Emanating from France's Champagne region, J. de Telmont Heritage Brut Vintage 1975 1975 is an exceptional wine steeped in tradition and exclusivity. Assembled by leading producer J. de Telmont, this vintage Brut is a lavish expression of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, harvested from the producer's oldest vineyards. Distinguished by a meticulous vinification process that includes manual harvesting and gentle pressing, each bottle encapsulates the skill and patience of its creators. The 1975 vintage boasts a rich, golden hue, enlivened by delicate bubbles and a complex bouquet.

The exceptional maturity of J. de Telmont Heritage Brut Vintage 1975 reveals deep, layered flavours, underscored by smooth effervescence and lingering hints of honey and dried fruit. With its rarity and supreme quality, it is an unmissable jewel in the crown of any serious collector or fine wine connoisseur. J. de Telmont's dedication to artistry and excellence shines through each sip of this remarkable champagne.

Wine Advocate (92)

Based on the 2020 vintage and disgorged in December 2022, the latest rendition of Sélèque's NV Extra Brut Solessence reveals aromas of white flowers, ripe citrus fruit, peach and almond paste. Medium-bodied, ample and pillowy, it's chalky and precise, with a bright spine of acidity and a pure, mineral finish. It's a terrific introduction to the domaine's range.