Vinous (89-91)

The 2019 Chambolle-Musigny Village, which contains 40% whole bunch, takes a few swirls of the glass to meld together, finally delivering airy blackberry and bilberry scents, perhaps more Morey in style than the titular village. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy black fruit, a granular texture and a salty, slightly brusque but fresh finish. Fine, but it will need some bottle age to smooth its edges. A second cuvée without the stems is perhaps just a little less interesting on the nose. Thomas Collardot is not sure what the final blend will constitute but I suspect there will be a few stems in there.

Vinous (96-98)

The 2020 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has a powerful yet beguiling, elegant bouquet that offers layers of red cherry and blackberry fruit, the oak here seamless integrated, likewise the whole bunch. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, saturated tannins, the fleshy/puppy fat almost disguising the backbone present here. Very persistent on the finish, this is an excellent, luxurious and yet sophisticated Clos de la Roche.

Wine Advocate (89-91)

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée Village comes from three vineyards covering 1.5 hectares and sees one-third new oak. It has a fragrant bouquet with ebullient strawberry and raspberry fruit entwined with cold stone aromas and discrete sous-bois aromas. The palate has a little more substance than its fellow village crus even if it does not quite deliver the same finesse as the Morey-Saint-Denis or the Gevrey-Chambertin. Still, I appreciate the deft spicy note that sustains the finish.

Vinous (90-92)

The 2019 Vosne-Romanée Village contains 20% whole bunch from the La Violette lieu-dit and destemmed fruit from the Quartiers de Nuits and Basses-Maizière lieux-dits. Aged in 30% new oak, it is quite backward and surly on the nose at first, but opens to reveal white pepper and clove aromas tincturing the tightly wound black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy black fruit, and quite sweet at its core, with that white pepper leitmotif and a touch of graphite toward the crunchy finish.

Vinous (92-94)

Bright ruby-red. Deep, ripe aromas of black cherry and chocolatey oak, plus a high-toned whiff of sherry. Then large-scaled and aromatic in the mouth, conveying stronger terroir personality than the foregoing wines. Complex and fine-grained, with a positive trace of bracing bitterness. Chewy, chocolatey, well-integrated tannins take over the entire mouth on the back end. This nuanced, fine-grained wine finishes with a trace of dried herbs and has the structure to age. The yield here was just eight hectoliters per hectare, according to estate manager Yves Confuron.

Wine Advocate (100)

It's an historical wine, a one-off, semi-sweet white produced at the end of the Spanish Civil War, a wine impossible to replicate, fruit of impossible circumstances, a wine I've had the luck to drink and share with many people on a number of occasions and which never fails to impress everyone. The perfect 1939 CVNE Rioja Blanco Semi Dulce Corona is a mythical wine! 1939 saw the end of Spain's Civil War, and the country was upside down. There were some major battles fought in Rioja, and by the time they had to harvest the grapes, there were not enough men in the village. They must have focused on the best parcels, surely giving priority to red grapes. Some vineyards were overlooked, as happened with the whites that eventually produced this wine. These grapes were harvested extremely late, into November, close to December and their health was not optimal, they had developed some botrytis and were clearly rotten. The people in charge of making the wine surely didn't know about botrytis cynerea, or noble rot, and were surely afraid their grapes were rotten and they would not be able to produce any decent white. So they did the best they could, but the fermentation never finished completely and there was some residual sugar in the wine. So, as they did with all their wines, they put it in oak barrels to mature and kind of put it in a corner hoping nobody would notice its shortcomings. We have to realize that CVNE was already producing quite a lot of wine at the time, so it's not unusual to have a few stray barrels here or there that nobody pays attention to. What is not that normal is that the wine was REALLY forgotten and was "found" during a stock take for an audit in 1970! So the wine aged slowly in barrel for some 30 years! Once found, nobody saw any reason to keep the wine in barrel any longer, so they decided to bottle it. Not knowing quite what to do with it, the bottles were stacked somewhere and the same story was repeated, as the stash was forgotten and basically untouched until thirty something years later: thanks to the daughter of one of the family owners (the winery is still in the hand of the same family that created it back in 1879). The proud father had a vague idea about a somewhat sweet wine that could be served at his daughter's wedding and asked to get some bottles to taste. They uncorked it, tasted it and found a complex, subtle white with great balance between alcohol, acidity and a little bit of residual sugar (around 20 grams), which took the edge off the acidity and made the wine rounder, as old Viura can be too austere. The slow aging, first in an oxidative way during the years in oak provided some nuttiness, and spicy aromas, while the botrytis added some of those dry apricot, beeswax and pollen notes, hinting on honey, but also the long reductive period in bottle made it very elegant and polished, with infinite nuances of white pepper, quince, faint smoke, walnuts, petrol...This redefines complexity, elegance and slow aging. The palate is prodigious, with a gobsmacking (literally!) balance, pungent flavors, freshness, acidity, very faint sweetness and length like only something which has slowly evolved over 70 years can be. The aftertaste should not be measured in seconds, but in minutes, and the empty glass keeps changing and giving different tones for hours. If you leave a little bit in the bottle for the day after (yes, it's difficult, I know!) the wine is even better on the second day. There is no reason to believe that if the wine is as good as it is today it is not going to reach its one-hundredth birthday. The wine is mainly Viura, but there might have been a little bit of the white Garnacha Blanca in the blend. At this stage nobody really knows (or cares). This is simply otherworldly, superb, perfect wine, whose only improvement would come if they had bottled some magnums! A dream. A unique, historical wine. If there is a perfect white Rioja, this is surely it. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2039.

Wine Advocate (93+)

The 2007 Imperial Gran Reserva is again a great wine in the making. Red fruit and plenty of spices (nutmeg), the palate shows great acidity and abundant tannins that need resolving with time in bottle. Great tension and nerve. I think it will take some time to be released, which is good as it will require some patience. Drink 2016-2021.

Vinous (94)

Deep, bright ruby. Highly complex, expansive scents of ripe dark berries, cherry pie, mocha, pipe tobacco and vanilla, with a smoky overtone. Sweet, deep blackberry and floral pastille flavors are complicated by notes of spicecake and bitter chocolate, showing unlikely vivacity on the back half. This ripe and rich but elegant Rioja combines finishes supple, smoky and very long, with velvety tannins making a late appearance to add grip.

Tim Atkin MW (97)

This comes from vineyards in Villalba, Briones and Torremontalbo and is another brilliant release from María Larrea. Savoury, sweet and well balanced, with 15% Graciano adding extra backbone and the zest that you expect from this special red

James Suckling (97)

This is very ripe with blackberries, dried fruit, toasted oak and black licorice on the nose. Full-bodied with ultra-fine, linear tannins and a racy, refined finish. This has fantastic structure and length. It goes on for minutes. It needs time to open and refine even more. One of the best Imperiale Gran Reservas in a very long time. Drink after 2023.

James Suckling (97)

This is very ripe with blackberries, dried fruit, toasted oak and black licorice on the nose. Full-bodied with ultra-fine, linear tannins and a racy, refined finish. This has fantastic structure and length. It goes on for minutes. It needs time to open and refine even more. One of the best Imperiale Gran Reservas in a very long time. Drink after 2023.

James Suckling (98)

Polished and structured with firm, very fine tannins. Lots going on here, with layers of black fruit, dried spices, graphite, coconut and cracked pepper. Full-bodied and so intense. Keeps going. Long. The tannins are so fine and so numerous. One of the greatest modern gran reservas. 85% tempranillo, 10% graciano and 5% mazuelo. Try in 2025.

Burghound (93)

Outstanding. Pungent aromas of wood and reduction clearly need aeration so be sure to do that if you choose to crack a bottle young. By contrast there is fine density and verve to the utterly delicious middleweight flavors that possess a more refined and more mineral-driven texture before culminating in a clean, very dry and sneaky long finish. Assuming this cleans up appropriately it should ultimately offer very fine quality over a mid-term aging curve.

Wine Advocate (93)

Notes of citrus zest, white flowers and almond paste introduce the 2016 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Crays Vieilles Vignes, a medium to full-bodied, elegantly textural wine with lovely tension and vertical line, along with all the depth and concentration that Barraud's wines so routinely attain. It isn't as rich and full-bodied as La Verchère, but it's finer-boned and more precise.

Wine Advocate (92)

Bottled in February 2021 (no, that isn't a typo), Defaix's 2009 Chablis 1er Cru Côte de Léchet wafts from the glass with aromas of honeycomb, golden orchard fruit, apricot, spices and dried white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, broad and satiny, it's a lively, saline wine that concludes with a delicately nutty finish.

David Duband Gevrey-Chambertin 2019 is an elegant offering from an acclaimed Burgundy producer. Based in the heart of the Côte d'Or, Duband's profound understanding of terroir is evident in this Pinot Noir's remarkable complexity. Harvested from 60-year-old vines, this vintage exudes cherry and blackberry aromas woven with delicate earthy undertones.

Significant to this expression is the philosophy of natural winemaking, with minimal intervention allowing the grapes' true character to shine. As a result, the David Duband Gevrey-Chambertin 2019 boasts excellent vintage typicity. Subtle oak nuances supplement the fruit-forward palate, while stylish tannins underpin the refined structure.

Vinified using indigenous yeasts and aged for 14 months in French oak, this wine exhibits both finesse and balance. Often enjoyed at the peak of its maturity, David Duband Gevrey-Chambertin 2019 will continue to evolve gracefully in the bottle, further enhancing its attractive profile.

Wine Advocate (90-92)

The 2015 Volnay 1er Cru les Taillepieds has a slightly deeper color than the Les Pitures, more Volnaysian in comparison perhaps. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, well-judged acidity with plenty of cranberry and raspberry fruit, leading to a refreshingly structured finish that has just the right amount of salinity. There is astute winemaking on display here and it could well turn out to be the domaine's finest offering in the 2015 vintage.

Vinous (89-91)

The 2020 Morey-Saint-Denis Village, which was taken from tank, has a vivid blackberry and bilberry-scented bouquet with a light marine influence emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a fine-boned Morey with an appealing strictness towards the finish. Enjoy this over the next decade.

Vinous (87-89)

The 2018 Morey-Saint-Denis Village features bold blackberry and bilberry aromas that convey an attractive sense of energy. The palate has a pastille-like purity on the entry, fine acidity and a nicely structured, slightly ferrous finish. Enjoy over the next four or five years.

Decanter (97)

This dark, relatively tight-knit Rioja proves that the Gran Reserva category doesn't just indicate the supremely well-aged, relaxed and reposeful style of Rioja, but can also serve to draw drinkers' attention to outstanding wines of density and tenacity which still have a way to run along their potential ageing trajectories. Look out for dark, urgent fruits here sweetened and back-lit by cunningly angled oak, with intense, deep, fresh and searching flavours in which the 10% of Graciano seems to be working overtime. A Rioja of innate drama.

Vinous (95)

(25 hectoliters per hectare): Full, dark red. Tight, primary, slightly reduced aromas of blackberry, blueberry, licorice and minerals. Densely packed, rich and broad; a distinctly horizontal, pliant style of Clos Vougeot, no doubt a function of the very warm, sunny vintage. Today this is sweeter and more open-knit than the Grands-Echézeaux but both of these wines should easily age for two decades or more. (Mallard noted that on some days this wine comes across as stricter, more Cistercian.) Finishes with spicy, ripe tannins and terrific energy and length.

Vinous (94)

The 2017 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru is well defined and precise, with cranberry, raspberry and vibrant red cherry scents that soar from the glass. The oak here is very well assimilated. The well-balanced palate offers fine but firm tannins that frame the black cherry and raspberry fruit. Lovely tension and mineralité on the finish, which delivers just the right amount of spice and length. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2017 tasting.

Wine Advocate (92-94+)

The 2017 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru is a great success, unfurling in the glass with aromas of blackberries, wild berries, rich soil tones and espresso roast, framed by a lavish but nicely integrated touch of toasty new oak. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and layered, with a generous core of ripe but juicy fruit, concluding with an expansive, saline finish. While this is quite giving and charming by the standards of the appellation, it's the most concentrated wine in the Eugénie portfolio this year, and will likely prove the longest lived.

Wine Advocate (93-95)

The king of the cellar chez Coche this year is the 2017 Meursault 1er Cru Charmes, a beautiful wine that unfurls in the glass with scents of white peach, oatmeal, spring flowers and subtle spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and satiny, with a deep, concentrated core, lovely purity and a bright, precise finish. This is a classic in the making that will reward cellaring.

Decanter (95)

Lots of oak here, but so well integrated with the exceptional fruit, it’s very moreish. On the palate there’s cream, leather, toast and coffee alongside succulent red fruits including raspberry and strawberry which carries the wine beautifully. It has ripe, generous tannins offset by fine acidity with a savoury tobacco pouch finish. It’s just starting to hit its stride but has a long way to go.

Wine Enthusiast (93)

Classic Rioja aromas of vanilla, spice, tobacco and dried berry fruits carry this wine. On the palate, this warm-vintage gran reserva has energy from well-stored acidity, while the flavors include cherry, plum, mocha and a plethora of spices. Chocolate and tobacco flavors along with general warmth crowd the finish. Drink through 2030.

James Suckling (94)

Very complex aromas of ripe berries, sultanas, cedar and hints of chocolate. Full-bodied with round, ripe tannins that are layered and fresh. A delicious combination of mature fruit and mahogany add to the complexity of the wine. Holding on really nicely. Drink or hold.