Vinous (97)

The 2007 Cristal Rosé opens with the most captivating, extraordinary bouquet imaginable. Sweet, exquisite and beautifully layered in the glass, the 2007 is intense yet weightless, with extraordinary overall balance and remarkable finesse. Today, the 2007 Cristal Rosé is a wine of pure seduction. There is little doubt the 2007 is a great Cristal Rosé in the making. This is the first vintage in which all of the fruit was farmed according to biodynamic principles. According to winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, biodynamic farming has brought increased aromatic presence in the fruit and also given the Pinot a bit more intensity than normal, so much so that in 2007 the blend is 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay as opposed to the 60/40 split that has been more typical over the years. In 2007, the fruit was picked in August, which is also unusual, but bud break got off to an early start, so the growing season turned out to be longer than the classic 100-day period that is typical from bud-break to harvest. All of that means the 2007 Cristal Rosé is a much more classic-feeling wine that one might have expected.

Vinous (97)

A wine of sublime delicacy and finesse, the 2009 Cristal Rosé is simply magnificent. The 2009 is surprisingly refined, silky and nuanced for a wine from a warm vintage. The red and floral-infused overtones are quite attractive, but it is the wine's exceptional balance that places it among the best new releases of the year. Over the years, I have had the chance to taste many vintages of Cristal Rosé, a Champagne that needs bottle age to be at its very best. I suspect that will be the case here as well. Don't miss it.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades.

Vinous (99)

Tasted from magnum, the 2013 Cristal Rosé is ravishing. Dense, creamy and powerful, the 2013 captures all the qualities of the vintage, specifically the interplay of rich fruit from the warm summer and cooler inflections from a year that started late and ended late with a rare October harvest. Today, the 2013 is deep and beautifully seamless, but it is also young – far too young to be at its best. Dosage is 6.5 grams per liter, a bit less than for the standard bottlings, a decision taken to balance longer aging on the lees and a bit more residual sugar that is always left in the magnums after fermentation. Readers who can find the 2013 in magnum will experience one of the greatest thrills in wine.

James Suckling (99)

Intense nose of preserved lemons, salted yellow plums, walnuts, toast, salted caramel, roasted chestnuts and dried pineapple. Beautiful and complex, from 15 years, 5 years en pointe, before disgorgement in 2018. Delicious, salty toffee character. Soft, silky bubbles. Long and powerful. Thought-provoking. Unique. Will be launched in September 2022. Drink on release or hold.

James Suckling (98)

The nose has such beautiful, autolysis character with brown-mushroom and toasted-almond aromas. The nose has still-fresh lemons and oyster shell, with . Very smooth, pastry-like texture on the palate with even layers and a core of fresh lemons and peaches. The striking thing here is the balance and melted-together complexity. In a very great place. This spent seven years sur latte, seven sur pointe and was disgorged in 2014. Drink now.

Wine Advocate (95)

Disgorged four years ago, with four grams per liter dosage, after a decade sur lattes and six years sur pointes, the 2000 Cristal Vinothèque bursts with notes of golden orchard fruit, mandarin, white flowers and iodine. Full-bodied, ample and powerful, with a deep and layered core, lively acids and a beautifully pearly mousse, it's a long, sapid Champagne that's showing very well today. As Lecaillon observes, the Vinothèque is the house's riposte to "everyone who says Cristal is released too young—with the Vinothèque releases, we've exaggerated the aging process to make Cristal more powerful and more dramatic." And this release is certainly a formidable effort in a vintage impacted by hail in the Montagne de Reims.

James Suckling (99)

An extraordinary champagne experience that you’ll never forget! Tons of white chocolate on the savory nose pulls you into this concentrated and chalky champagne with rich candied citrus and mirabelle fruit. So much oily umami complexity right through the huge breathtakingly vivid finish. Just 10% of each vintage of Cristal gets the extra years of aging for release as Vinotheque. Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (100)

The best way I can covey what it feels like to experience this truly extraordinary rosé champagne is to say that it tastes like a mature vintage Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru - a red Burgundy! - with very fine bubbles and an acidity that gives it a weightless delicacy, it’s impossible to resist. After a bit of aeration there’s also a note of teriyaki sauce which makes this even more special. Tasted from Jeroboam at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023. Drink or hold.

Vinous (94-96)

The 2011 Corton-Charlemagne is drop-dead gorgeous. Subtle, nuanced and very pretty, the 2011 is all about understatement and reserve. The aromas and flavors show off striking inner perfume and impeccable balance. This is a great showing from an utterly beautiful wine with a bright future, but it is also a wine that demand's the taster's full attention.

Jeb Dunnuck (98+)

One of the finest vintages I've ever tasted from this address, the 2018 Château Lynch-Bages has everything you look for in a great wine: incredible aromatics, richness without weight, perfect balance, and a purity of fruit that's just about off the charts. Dense purple, it reveals a glorious perfume of blackcurrants and blackberry fruits, a deep, unctuous mouthfeel, building tannins, and a complex array of cedar pencil, tobacco, wood smoke, and chocolate. A true blockbuster in every sense, with masses of fruit and tannins as well as moderate acidity, it will probably merit a triple-digit score in a decade and is a 50+-year wine from this team.

James Suckling (98-99)

Blackcurrants, orange peel, flowers and tar with hints of graphite. Full-bodied with a creamy texture of exquisitely polished tannins. It goes on and on. Intense flavors at the end, too, with lead pencil and lots of blackberry. Very classic and precise.

Vinous - Stephen Tanzer (91)

Bright ruby-red. Brooding, pure aromas of blackberry, dark cherry, bitter chocolate, mocha, menthol and minerals. Then almost surprisingly opulent and sweet, with very rich and fully ripe dark fruit and bitter chocolate flavors spreading out to saturate the palate. This is very sexy right now but has the stuffing and fine-grained, toothcoating tannins to support a decade-plus of life in bottle. In fact, some time in the cellar may bring additional complexity.

Wine Advocate (95)

Dense purple, with notes of blackberry, white chocolate, mulberry and toasty oak, this is a full-bodied, massive, rich, thick and unctuously textured wine with outstanding purity, richness and headiness. Of course, there’s always criticism that wines like this don’t age, but I own the 2000, and it is still an infant at 13 years of age, so I don’t think that’s an issue. This wine needs a good 5-6 years of cellaring and should keep for 20-25 years at the minimum.

Wine Advocate (96)

A flowery nose of ripe plums, blueberries, truffles and roasted meats jumps from the glass of this inky/purple-colored 2011. Made from a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, it reveals super-richness, velvety tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate, and not a hard edge to be found. It is another remarkable effort in this challenging vintage. Its 14.5% natural alcohol is incredible given the growing conditions. This gorgeous boutique St.-Emilion, one of the stars of the vintage, will evolve effortlessly for 15-20 years. By the way, I recently had the 2000 Magrez-Fombrauge (which I believe is the first vintage), and at age 14 it was outstanding.

Unearth a gem of the French viticulture heritage with Maison Cassagne et Vitailles Clas Mani 2018. A splendid expression of consummate craftsmanship from the heart of Gascogne, this wine encapsulates the passionate, time-honoured practices of Maison Cassagne et Vitailles. Adhering to organic principles and minimal intervention, their winemaking exploits the full potential of Ugni Blanc and Colombard grapes.

Grown in clay-limestone soils, these grapes gain unrivalled complexity and unique aromatic profiles. The Clas Mani 2018 imparts a lively mouthfeel, brimming with citrus, white fruit notes, and an intriguing mineral undercurrent. It culminates in a vibrant, moderately long finish, characteristic of its homeland.

This elegant, crisp white wine admirably depicts Maison Cassagne et Vitailles' dedication to preserving regional authenticity and embracing a holistic ethos in cultivation. Savour the Maison Cassagne et Vitailles Clas Mani 2018 for its essence of Gascogne, borne from tradition, superior soil, and impeccable craftsmanship.

James Suckling (97-98)

Solid red with blackberry, blueberry, chocolate and spice. Lots of hazelnut, too. It’s full-bodied with chewy, polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Best of the trilogy vintages?

Vinous (94)

Bright ruby. Vibrant, spice-accented aromas of raspberry and cherry liqueur, incense and pungent flowers are accompanied by a smoky mineral nuance that builds in the glass. Deep-pitched yet impressively lively as well, offering intense red and dark berry liqueur and floral pastille flavors that stain the palate and show superb clarity and minerally lift. Closes extremely long, focused and lively, with silky tannins framing the wine’s sweet fruit. This is about as good as a "basic" Châteauneuf gets.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Château Margaux is really beginning to hit its stride at age 31, soaring from the glass with aromas of blackberries and cassis mingled with notions of licorice, cedar and violets, framed by subtle hints of vanilla and spice. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's seamless and complete, its velvety tannins and ripe acids entirely cloaked in a lavish but vibrant core of fruit. This is an especially dramatic, fleshy rendition of Margaux, yet it remains impeccably balanced and has decades of longevity ahead of it.

The Wine Cellar Insider (100)

Intoxicating scents of caramel, violets, smoke, licorice, plum and maraschino cherries take almost no time to find. Pure silk and velvet on the palate, the wine is seriously concentrated with an elegant, refined, fresh, tannic, rich, well defined, profile that has a lot more to say than it lets on for the moment. If I had to sum the wine up in a single word, compelling wold not do it justice. 5-10 years will add a lot to this already sublime wine.

The Wine Cellar Insider (100)

Deep, shiny, dark ruby in color, this rocks as soon as the wine is out of the gate, or should I say out of the bottle and into your glass. Cherry blossoms and lilacs make it seem as though you are in a flower shop. On the palate, the wine is rich, full bodied and concentrated, yet the wine is light on its feet. There is a purity in the fruit that is off the hook. There is a sensuous, textural quality that makes it so you cannot help but take another sip, to make sure the experience is real, and because it is so good! The wine is a testament to Paul Pontallier, as this is in some ways, a culmination of his life's work.

The Wine Independent (100)

A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2016 Chateau Margaux is deep garnet-purple in color. It is a real struggle to shake loose the aromas, this is so shut down at the moment. Eventually, notes of crème de cassis, blackberry pie, and blueberry compote begin to emerge, followed by licorice, dark chocolate, cumin seed, truffles, and iron ore suggestions. Full-bodied and full-on rich and seductive, the palate is absolutely crammed with bright, crunchy black fruit layers, framed by astonishingly ripe, finely grained tannins and amazing tension, finishing with a firework display of minerals, flowers, and exotic spices. Sell your car and get a few cases of this - you won't regret it!

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Another utterly heavenly wine from this estate is the 2019 Château Margaux, a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot coming from a selection of just 37% of the total production. Deep purple, with an incredible array of ripe currants, blueberries, sweet tobacco, sandalwood, and toasted spices, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a seamless, powerful, yet incredibly sexy mouthfeel, polished tannins, and a great, great finish. As I wrote in the barrel review, it reminds me slightly of the 2016, but has a touch more sun-kissed profile. It already offers incredible pleasure yet deserves 4-6 years of bottle age and will blow you away any time over the coming 40+ years.

Unleashing an unrivalled expression of Champagne's terroir, the Marie Noelle Ledru Brut Grand Cru Millesime 2006 is a revelation. Masterfully crafted by seasoned viticulturist, Marie Noelle Ledru, its composition is 100% Pinot Noir harvested from the prestigious Grand Cru village of Ambonnay. Hand-picked in the eponymous year 2006, every step from vine to bottle is veered by Ledru's careful and passionate hands.

This wine showcases the quintessence of a single, exceptional vintage, yielding exuberant aromas of ripe fruit, honeyed almonds, and subtle spice. The palate dazzles with precise minerality, suave complexity, and exceptional length, interlaced with delicate bubbles. Respectful renditions of organic viticulture principles are evident in every sip.

As a poignant homage to Champagne's unique character and tradition, the Marie Noelle Ledru Brut Grand Cru Millesime 2006 is an exquisite find for the discerning palate. Invest in a bottle, and savour the vintage magic in your glass.

Vinous (93-95)

The 2021 Volnay Les Champans 1er Cru belts out of the glass with blackberry, raspberry and crushed stone aromas, the most vigorous of the Premier Crus at this juncture. Wonderful definition. The palate is harmonious, poised, and demonstrates more substance than the other crus with a slightly confit finish that lingers seductively. This could age magnificently - a victory in a challenging growing season that deserves a hearty applause.

Vinous (93)

Good medium red. Lovely perfume of raspberry and flowers complicated by subtle soil tones. Seamless, balanced and moderately rich, offering nuanced flavors of red fruits, flowers, earth, herbs and spices and no rough edges. This seems fully mature but has the spine and energy to last. Finishes with refined tannins, subtle sweetness and lovely slow-building savory length. Incidentally, the last time I tried this wine--in 2017 at the estate--it was silky and sweet but a bit more decadent and seemed to be evolving quickly. But, judging from the wine's low pH, this bottle may well be more representative. It was certainly firmer and more delineated. (13.15% alcohol; September 26 harvest; 35 h/h; 3.25 pH)