Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98-100)

This hits you right off the first nose, driven by slate and crushed rocks, setting the tone and the architecture, guiding the fruit through the palate. Cassis, bilberry, tobacco leaf, graphite, crushed mint, finessed and sculpted, this is a gorgeous Lafite, with fine tannins and the squid ink character that seems to be present in all of this stable of wines except Moulin de Duhart. Hidden power, where nothing is too much and yet everything is concentrated, once again proving that the terroir at this particular spot has its own personality that stands out every year. High Cabernet as ever, combined with around 15% press wine. Not the concentration of 2022, but in many ways showcasing the essence of Lafite more squarely, and this will delight anyone lucky enough to own it in future years. 45hl/h yield, highest since 2015, harvest September 7 to 29. 100% new oak. New cellar underway, due for completion in 2027. I am giving it 10 years to begin entering its opening window, a little less than usual but it will make no difference to how long you can cellar it.

Vinous (98)

The 2017 Petresco is a stunning, utterly captivating wine. In a vintage that produced so many rich, opulent reds, Petresco is vertical in build and endowed with tremendous energy. Black cherry, spice, leather, tobacco, licorice and dried flowers open with a bit of coaxing. All the elements are so well balanced. The purity of the fruit is breathtaking. What a wine!

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?

James Suckling (98)

The purity here is really something. Blackberries and blackcurrants with sandalwood, mint and other classic herbs. Full-bodied and dense with ultra-fine tannins. Silky in all ways. Goes on for a long, long time. A blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 11% cabernet franc and 10% merlot. Joyous and serious wine for the vintage. And comparable to 2014 and 2015. Try after 2023.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96+)

The Grand Vin 2021 Château Lynch-Bages ratchets up everything, offering a rich, powerful, almost full-bodied style as well as gorgeous notes of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, spice, and hints of cassis. It might be the biggest, richest wine in the vintage and has a great mid-palate, impressive density, building tannins, and a great, great finish.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2019 Burnside Vineyard Chardonnay is flinty, spicy and lean, with curry leaf, a hint of Champion Ruby (rolling tobacco in Australia—think Golden Virginia) and a bit of saltbush (local flora). It is very smart. The cooler year is moderated by the close proximity to the beach here—it is briny and so good. I could drink a lot of this. It has a beautiful clean finish. Excellent.

Introducing the remarkable Monte Faustino Fornaser Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2017. Born from Veneto's fabled Valpolicella region in Italy, this wine is a testament to meticulous viticulture and winemaking practices. Monte Faustino, a bespoke winery where the Fornaser family exudes passion and respects deep-rooted Italian traditions, is renowned for its singularly stunning wines.

The 2017 vintage involves hand-picked Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes, partially dried on 'arele' trays, enhancing intensity and concentrating aromas. The fermentation process, followed by a 30-month maturing period in Slavonian oak barrels, yields a beautifully balanced wine that defies comparison.

Endowed with a rich ruby red hue, the Monte Faustino Fornaser Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2017 offers multifaceted sensory notes, a delightful spectrum spanning spiced fruit, tobacco to chocolate. Nuanced acidity complements embracing tannins, elegantly harmonising in a persistent finish. This fine wine is an epitome of quality, mastery, and timeless Italian character.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98-100)

High Cabernet, and the grape is dominant not just in blend but character, totally delicious, with tension, flesh, and confidence, building layers of black fruits, graphite, cocoa bean, espresso, pomegranate and smoked earth throughout the palate. When Cabernet works at Mouton, it is hard to beat, and it's on full display in 2023. One of my clear wines of the vintage. Of any vintage. 100% new oak for ageing. 40% grand vin, harvest September 7 to 30.

James Suckling (99)

The purity of fruit is really something else here, with currants and fresh flowers, such as violets and roses. Flower stems as well. Fantastic length and structure to the wine, with tightness and focus. Wonderful fruit. Graceful. A blend of 78% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 7% petit verdot, 6% cabernet franc and 1% malbec. Try after 2028.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2018 St Henri Shiraz is a terrific effort, perhaps rivaling the top-flight wines under this label in 1976 and 1986. Remarkably fine and silky in texture yet simultaneously dense and concentrated, it showcases the amazing fruit harvested in 2018. Boysenberry, mulberry and mocha shadings all swirl together effortlessly in a whorl of full-bodied elegance, finishing long and effortless. Mainly Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, it includes smaller amounts of fruit from Port Lincoln, Robe, Padthaway, Clare Valley and the Adelaide Hills, all aged 12 months in large old wooden vats.

Decanter (96)

Plenty of capsicum and pepper notes on the nose, tomato leaf and ripe plums. Delicious sweet core of ripe red and black cherry fruit on the palate with very complex savoury notes. Great juicy fruits and long complex finish.

Falstaff (99)

Bright, flint garnet red. Seductive nose with pronounced notes of wild raspberry, some strawberry, underlaid with liquorice tones. On the palate extremely juicy and clear, many churches, in addition pomegranate and some blood orange, much tension, very long finish.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98-100)

A wine to convince you of the quality and ripeness of Cabernet Sauvignon in Pauillac in this 2023 vintage, showcasing superbly supple tannins, great balance, depth and savoury blue and black fruit character, bitter cocoa bean, freshly cut herbs, black tea, fennel, all vivid and with purity of character. There is density here but it is not overt, with heightened raspberry leaf, peony and violet aromatics. Vinified in the newly-completed section of the cellars, in egg-shaped wooden vats and sunken qveri-style clay vats. 50% new oak for ageing, with 35% amphora and 15% one year old barrels. One of the wines of the vintage. New lighter bottle as of the 2022 around 490g, down from 815g in the past, 30 tonnes of CO2 saved just in terms of production. Harvest September 7, one day earlier than 2022, then slow picking through to October 10, later than many in Pauillac - and normal yields of around 40hl/h.

Vinous (94)

The 2016 Red contains Carignan for the first time, though Syrah still comprises 80% of the blend, along with Cinsault and Grenache. It has a very detailed bouquet with scents of black plum, blackberry, a touch of gravel and the 100% whole bunch lending a slightly earthy tincture. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, quite firm in the mouth and maybe more masculine compared to other Syrah-dominated Rhône blends, yet there is wonderful freshness and delineation here. It exerts a gentle grip on the midpalate and those schistous soils impart a wonderful mineralité on the finish. Outstanding.

Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)

Also showing considerable elegance, the 2019 Gigondas Les Souteyrades sports a ruby/purple hue to go with beautiful and exotic notes of black raspberries, kirsch, candied orange, violets, and peppery garrigue. Beautifully balanced, medium to full-bodied, and downright silky on the palate, this heavenly Grenache should be snatched up by readers. It's going to keep for 15 years.

Vinous - Neal Martin (93)

The 2018 Sergant, which impressed from barrel, has a captivating bouquet of precise black cherry, wild strawberry and rose petal aromas that waft from the glass. The palate is well balanced with fine-grained tannins, a silky-smooth texture and beautifully integrated oak toward the finish. This is a top-quality Lalande de Pomerol, a bit of a hidden gem. Go seek!

Scoring 98 points from the Wine Advocate's Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 97 points from Decanter's Jane Anson and 18.5/20 from Jancis Robinson MW, this 2009 "remains the benchmark Suduiraut of recent years".

 

Still taking a while to open up fully, indicting a very long life ahead, it has a "divine bouquet... building layer upon layer" (NM) that "seductively unfurls" (WA) with gorgeous notes of honey, dried pineapple, chamomile tea, yellow flowers and nectarine. The rich, viscous and satiny texture of the palate is "effortlessly" countered by a "beautiful razor-sharp line of acidity" (NM) that gives this Sauternes bags of freshness. With "epic length and depth" (WA) on the finish, this is a wine that will span generations with Neal Martin giving it a drinking window up to 2070.

James Suckling (97)

A super-polished wine that has a broad array of fruits: raspberry, blackberry and cassis, with white pepper, graphite and a clear whole-bunch lift. The palate has a powerful, focused core of concentrated dark plum and cassis, boldly spicy, then dark chocolate to close. Best from 2019.

Raymond Chan (100)

Full, dark, deep ruby-red colour with purple-black hues, near impenetrable. The nose has incredibly intense and penetrating aromas of ripe blackberry fruit with subtle dark raspberry and blue fruit notes, lifted by an array of red, violet and black florals, melded with fine spice elements and a suggestion of black pepper. The aromatic components are seamlessly interwoven and harmonious in presentation. Medium-full bodied, the palate is richly sweet and succulent with ripe, vibrant and lively fruit flavours of blackberries entwined with dark-red and blue fruit notes, along with dark-red, violet and black florals, melded with notes of liquorice, spice and black pepper forming a complex amalgam. The fruit is fine and beautifully concentrated with intensity and depth, the lusciousness balanced by considerable extraction, the tannins very fine-grained and flowery in texture. The acidity is ripe, and softly integrated, and the wine carries with great linearity and drive to a long and sustained finish of black fruits, florals and spices. This Syrah has a remarkably intense and perfumed nose with a beautiful array of floral aromatics, on a rich, succulently sweet black, red and blue fruited palate with considerable, but refined extraction.