France
The vast and diverse wine regions of France, each with its own unique terroirs, grape varieties, and winemaking techniques, are a treasure trove.
In Bordeaux, the birthplace of some of the world's most iconic wines, esteemed vineyards such as Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Latour, and Château Haut-Brion produce exceptional red wines, showcasing the art of blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. The region is also renowned for its exquisite white wines, with vineyards like Château d'Yquem and Domaine de Chevalier producing legendary sweet wines.
Moving to Burgundy, the vineyards of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy, and Domaine Armand Rousseau capture the essence of the region's revered terroir, crafting exquisite red wines from the Pinot Noir grape. Meanwhile, Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Coche-Dury are celebrated for their world-class white wines, predominantly made from Chardonnay.
The Champagne region, known for its sparkling wines, boasts illustrious houses such as Krug, Dom Pérignon, and Moët & Chandon, as well as grower-producers like Pierre Péters and Jacques Selosse. These vineyards create exceptional sparkling wines using the traditional method, offering a symphony of delicate bubbles, elegant flavors, and vibrant acidity.
In the Rhône Valley, iconic vineyards like Chapoutier, E. Guigal, and Château de Beaucastel produce remarkable red wines in the northern appellations of Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, and Cornas, showcasing the elegance and power of Syrah. Further south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is celebrated for its rich and full-bodied red blends, with Château Rayas and Clos des Papes leading the way.
In Alsace, vineyards such as Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and omaine Trimbach craft exquisite white wines, including Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris, expressing the region's unique terroir and varietal character.
These are just a few highlights among the diverse array of wines that France offers. From the Loire Valley's crisp whites and elegant reds to the Languedoc-Roussillon's bold and robust wines, each region presents its own vinous treasures.
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France
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(3x150cl) 2009Wine Advocate (91-94)
The 2009 Corton-Bressandes shows notable intensity in its layers of floral, mineral-laced fruit. The wine hovers on the palate with superb length and polish. (sold in a mixed case of 12 bottles at $6,600 per case) Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029.Inc. VAT£2,613.49 -
Wine Advocate (91-93)
The 2013 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru is much more flattering on the nose than the Cuvée de Bourdon at the moment, exuding liveliness and precision courtesy of bright red Morello cherries and wild raspberry fruit. The palate is well balanced, fresh and tense with palpable mineralité and tension, sporting great finesse on the finish. This is a sophisticated Corton-Bressandes in the making.Inc. VAT£1,066.69 -
Vinous (90-93)
(this fruit comes from the same source as the Cuvée du Bourdon): Good deep red. Sexy cherry and spice aromas complicated by alluring soil tones. Still a touch of reduction on the palate, but clearly a much sweeter and more generous wine than the Cuvée du Bourdon, with dense, well-delineated raspberry, spice and soil tones saturating the mouth and echoing on the finish. This firmly structured, sappy wine boasts notably ripe tannins and an attractive chewiness. Domaine Ponsot has made this wine since 1989.Inc. VAT£1,429.09 -
Vinous (88-90)
The 2017 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru offers straightforward brambly red berry aromas with subtle hints of tea leaf. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rustic tannin, missing just a touch of flesh in the middle, and a firm, quite strict saline finish. Not bad, although I think there is better to come in subsequent vintages.Inc. VAT£1,462.32 -
Inc. VAT£1,585.49 -
Vinous (92-94)
The 2021 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru has a generous bouquet with high-toned red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit, like its fellow Corton, evincing joie-de-vivre. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, more flesh and density here with lip-smacking sapidity in the short but effective finish. Very fine.Inc. VAT£689.20 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is excellent, opening in the glass with notes of golden orchard fruit, spring flowers, orange zest and hazelnut cream, gently framed by new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied with a glossy attack, superb concentration and an almost chewy sense of extract, its taut structural elements asserting themselves on the grippy finish. While this is marked by the warmth of the vintage it has the necessary energy and freshness to retain its balance.Inc. VAT£391.32 -
Vinous (92-94)
(bottled in December; a tiny crop from vines on Pernand's border with Aloxe): Pale yellow, a bit lighter than the Monts Luisants. Very pure aromas of citrus fruits, white peach and crushed stone. A very fresh, pristine style that's rather closed and backward following the bottling but not hard or austere. This wine fills the mouth without giving any impression of weightiness or overripeness. Most impressive today on the very long, rising, mineral-tinged finish, which leaves behind a salty character.Inc. VAT£1,464.04 -
Wine Advocate (94-96)
As good a rendition of this cuvée as I can remember tasting, the 2017 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is superb, unfurling in the glass with aromas of beeswax, white flowers, crisp yellow orchard fruit and wet stones, with nuances of nutmeg and fresh apricot emerging as it sits in the glass. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with a concentrated core, succulent acids and a wonderful sense of energy and tension that balances its comparatively broad shoulders. It's produced from two parcels in Aloxe-Corton, one warmer and the other cooler.Inc. VAT£2,766.04 -
Inc. VAT£1,604.29 -
Wine Advocate (90-93)
The 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvee de l’Abeille is striking for the purity of its fruit and its freshness. This is a totally refined wine graced with exquisite nuance, depth and definition. The Cuvee de l’Abeille is a hugely promising wine. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029.Inc. VAT£148.13 -
Inc. VAT£458.69 -
Vinous (86-88)
The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvée de l'Abbaye has a perfumed, Morello cherry and rose petal nose, hints of orange blossom and incense percolating through with time. The palate is well balanced with slightly chewy tannins, simple, partly because of the young vines (planted 2014), just miss a little concentration on the finish.Inc. VAT£252.74 -
(6x75cl) 2009Wine Advocate (91-94)
The 2009 Griotte-Chambertin is another big, super-ripe wine loaded with dark fruit. This is almost port-like in its intensity, with endless layers of blueberries, blackberries, spices and white flowers that build towards the substantial, textured finish. The Griotte is a totally seductive wine endowed with fabulous harmony and tons of personality. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2039.Inc. VAT£2,375.52 -
(6x75cl) 2010Inc. VAT£2,462.32 -
Inc. VAT£1,982.44 -
Wine Advocate (90)
Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Griotte Chambertin Grand Cru from Laurent Ponsot has a voluminous nose, though there is a stalky element that is not totally combined with the black and red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, quite linear in the mouth, structured but like the Griotte-Chambertin 2012 from Réné Leclerc, it seems to be lacking some flesh and charm towards the finish. That said, it does develop in the glass, offering hidden notes of blueberry and a hint of crème de cassis, so I would advise not broaching a bottle for two or three years.Inc. VAT£1,857.95 -
Wine Advocate (93-95)
The 2014 Griotte Chambertin Grand Cru is certainly not as immediate as that temptress, the 2014 Charmes-Chambertin. This insists upon more coaxing from the glass, more swirling to eke out those attractive scents of blackberry, raspberry preserve and rose petals, all very well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe, sappy red berry fruit. There is pleasant tang of sour cherry here, even a hint of licorice on the finish that has more density than the Charmes-Chambertin, if not quite the nascent Charmes. Give it 4-6 years in bottle and then I think you might have a serious Griotte on your hands.Inc. VAT£1,807.92 -
Burghound (92-95)
A wonderfully spicy, elegant and fresh nose blends notes of red and dark cherry with those of cassis, plum, violet and discreet earth nuances. The intense and tautly muscular middle weight plus flavors are even more refined if perhaps not quite as mineral-driven while delivering superb length on the balanced but markedly austere finish where a touch of cherry pit emerges. This is also very clearly built-to-age and I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle for at least 10 years and it should easily reward 20.Inc. VAT£2,059.55 -
Inc. VAT£4,199.87 -
Inc. VAT£2,150.93 -
Inc. VAT£325.07 -
Inc. VAT£1,173.86 -
Wine Advocate (94)
That site and cépage were well-adapted to this vintage is proven by the 2019 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos des Monts Luisants Blanc, a striking wine evocative of citrus zest, crisp Anjou pear, freshly baked bread and almond paste. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with a deep core of fruit and chalky structuring extract, it concludes with a long, saline finish.Inc. VAT£784.84 -
Inc. VAT£399.55 -
Wine Advocate (91)
From Ponsot's monopole Clos des Mont Luisants (virtually surrounded by grand crus, and which, he opines, represents as steep a slope as exists in the Cote de Nuits), the 2006 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru Cuvee des Alouettes exhibits a healthy, deep color; a nose of well-hung game, cassis, blackberry, and dark chocolate; a creamy richness rare in this vintage; and a low-toned finish in which the wine's abundance of tannins becomes evident as a fine, subtly-abrasive though relatively well fruit-covered spread. The more this opened to the air, though, the more game-like notes dominated, so one should probably treat that as an omen for the wine's future rather than a temporary manifestation of reduction which would in any case be rare at Ponsot where the wines are not sulfured.Inc. VAT£157.73 -
Burghound (91-94)
A very pretty nose of discreet spice notes, red currants and damp earth nuances that continue onto the rich, powerful and impressively concentrated medium-bodied flavors blessed with an abundance of dry extract that buffers the notably firm, mineral-driven and wonderfully complex finish that seems to go on and on. This is terrific and one of the best vintages that I have ever seen for this wine.Inc. VAT£217.46 -
(3x150cl) 2010Inc. VAT£1,155.89 -
Burghound (89-92)
This offers more aromatic complexity if not quite the same elegance with its ripe nose of plum, cassis, violets and earth nuances. There is good volume to the supple, round and wonderfully seductive flavors that possess a gorgeous mouth feel before terminating in a long balanced and equally complex finish. This is excellent and very stylish as well.Inc. VAT£560.44 -
Wine Advocate (90-92)
The 2012 Morey-Saint-Denis Cuvee des Allouettes, which comes from within the Mont Luisants vineyard, has a quite precocious bouquet with blackcurrant, boysenberry and light Hoi Sin scents that unfold nicely in the glass. The palate is solid and dense with firm, quite grippy tannins. There is plenty of energy and tension here with touches of spice and soy lining the ebullient finish. Excellent.Inc. VAT£643.18
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(3x150cl) 2009
Wine Advocate (91-94)
The 2009 Corton-Bressandes shows notable intensity in its layers of floral, mineral-laced fruit. The wine hovers on the palate with superb length and polish. (sold in a mixed case of 12 bottles at $6,600 per case) Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029.In Bond£2,160.00 -
Wine Advocate (91-93)
The 2013 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru is much more flattering on the nose than the Cuvée de Bourdon at the moment, exuding liveliness and precision courtesy of bright red Morello cherries and wild raspberry fruit. The palate is well balanced, fresh and tense with palpable mineralité and tension, sporting great finesse on the finish. This is a sophisticated Corton-Bressandes in the making.In Bond£871.00 -
Vinous (90-93)
(this fruit comes from the same source as the Cuvée du Bourdon): Good deep red. Sexy cherry and spice aromas complicated by alluring soil tones. Still a touch of reduction on the palate, but clearly a much sweeter and more generous wine than the Cuvée du Bourdon, with dense, well-delineated raspberry, spice and soil tones saturating the mouth and echoing on the finish. This firmly structured, sappy wine boasts notably ripe tannins and an attractive chewiness. Domaine Ponsot has made this wine since 1989.In Bond£1,173.00 -
Vinous (88-90)
The 2017 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru offers straightforward brambly red berry aromas with subtle hints of tea leaf. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rustic tannin, missing just a touch of flesh in the middle, and a firm, quite strict saline finish. Not bad, although I think there is better to come in subsequent vintages.In Bond£1,200.00 -
In Bond£1,302.00
-
Vinous (92-94)
The 2021 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru has a generous bouquet with high-toned red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit, like its fellow Corton, evincing joie-de-vivre. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, more flesh and density here with lip-smacking sapidity in the short but effective finish. Very fine.In Bond£564.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is excellent, opening in the glass with notes of golden orchard fruit, spring flowers, orange zest and hazelnut cream, gently framed by new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied with a glossy attack, superb concentration and an almost chewy sense of extract, its taut structural elements asserting themselves on the grippy finish. While this is marked by the warmth of the vintage it has the necessary energy and freshness to retain its balance.In Bond£323.00 -
Vinous (92-94)
(bottled in December; a tiny crop from vines on Pernand's border with Aloxe): Pale yellow, a bit lighter than the Monts Luisants. Very pure aromas of citrus fruits, white peach and crushed stone. A very fresh, pristine style that's rather closed and backward following the bottling but not hard or austere. This wine fills the mouth without giving any impression of weightiness or overripeness. Most impressive today on the very long, rising, mineral-tinged finish, which leaves behind a salty character.In Bond£1,204.00 -
Wine Advocate (94-96)
As good a rendition of this cuvée as I can remember tasting, the 2017 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is superb, unfurling in the glass with aromas of beeswax, white flowers, crisp yellow orchard fruit and wet stones, with nuances of nutmeg and fresh apricot emerging as it sits in the glass. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with a concentrated core, succulent acids and a wonderful sense of energy and tension that balances its comparatively broad shoulders. It's produced from two parcels in Aloxe-Corton, one warmer and the other cooler.In Bond£2,289.00 -
In Bond£1,319.00
-
Wine Advocate (90-93)
The 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvee de l’Abeille is striking for the purity of its fruit and its freshness. This is a totally refined wine graced with exquisite nuance, depth and definition. The Cuvee de l’Abeille is a hugely promising wine. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029.In Bond£120.00 -
In Bond£363.00
-
Vinous (86-88)
The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvée de l'Abbaye has a perfumed, Morello cherry and rose petal nose, hints of orange blossom and incense percolating through with time. The palate is well balanced with slightly chewy tannins, simple, partly because of the young vines (planted 2014), just miss a little concentration on the finish.In Bond£201.00 -
(6x75cl) 2009
Wine Advocate (91-94)
The 2009 Griotte-Chambertin is another big, super-ripe wine loaded with dark fruit. This is almost port-like in its intensity, with endless layers of blueberries, blackberries, spices and white flowers that build towards the substantial, textured finish. The Griotte is a totally seductive wine endowed with fabulous harmony and tons of personality. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2039.In Bond£1,961.00 -
(6x75cl) 2010In Bond£2,034.02
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In Bond£1,636.00
-
Wine Advocate (90)
Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Griotte Chambertin Grand Cru from Laurent Ponsot has a voluminous nose, though there is a stalky element that is not totally combined with the black and red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, quite linear in the mouth, structured but like the Griotte-Chambertin 2012 from Réné Leclerc, it seems to be lacking some flesh and charm towards the finish. That said, it does develop in the glass, offering hidden notes of blueberry and a hint of crème de cassis, so I would advise not broaching a bottle for two or three years.In Bond£1,529.00 -
Wine Advocate (93-95)
The 2014 Griotte Chambertin Grand Cru is certainly not as immediate as that temptress, the 2014 Charmes-Chambertin. This insists upon more coaxing from the glass, more swirling to eke out those attractive scents of blackberry, raspberry preserve and rose petals, all very well defined. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe, sappy red berry fruit. There is pleasant tang of sour cherry here, even a hint of licorice on the finish that has more density than the Charmes-Chambertin, if not quite the nascent Charmes. Give it 4-6 years in bottle and then I think you might have a serious Griotte on your hands.In Bond£1,488.00 -
Burghound (92-95)
A wonderfully spicy, elegant and fresh nose blends notes of red and dark cherry with those of cassis, plum, violet and discreet earth nuances. The intense and tautly muscular middle weight plus flavors are even more refined if perhaps not quite as mineral-driven while delivering superb length on the balanced but markedly austere finish where a touch of cherry pit emerges. This is also very clearly built-to-age and I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle for at least 10 years and it should easily reward 20.In Bond£1,697.00 -
In Bond£3,493.00
-
In Bond£1,789.00
-
In Bond£264.00
-
In Bond£961.00
-
Wine Advocate (94)
That site and cépage were well-adapted to this vintage is proven by the 2019 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos des Monts Luisants Blanc, a striking wine evocative of citrus zest, crisp Anjou pear, freshly baked bread and almond paste. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with a deep core of fruit and chalky structuring extract, it concludes with a long, saline finish.In Bond£638.00 -
In Bond£324.00
-
Wine Advocate (91)
From Ponsot's monopole Clos des Mont Luisants (virtually surrounded by grand crus, and which, he opines, represents as steep a slope as exists in the Cote de Nuits), the 2006 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru Cuvee des Alouettes exhibits a healthy, deep color; a nose of well-hung game, cassis, blackberry, and dark chocolate; a creamy richness rare in this vintage; and a low-toned finish in which the wine's abundance of tannins becomes evident as a fine, subtly-abrasive though relatively well fruit-covered spread. The more this opened to the air, though, the more game-like notes dominated, so one should probably treat that as an omen for the wine's future rather than a temporary manifestation of reduction which would in any case be rare at Ponsot where the wines are not sulfured.In Bond£128.00 -
Burghound (91-94)
A very pretty nose of discreet spice notes, red currants and damp earth nuances that continue onto the rich, powerful and impressively concentrated medium-bodied flavors blessed with an abundance of dry extract that buffers the notably firm, mineral-driven and wonderfully complex finish that seems to go on and on. This is terrific and one of the best vintages that I have ever seen for this wine.In Bond£178.00 -
(3x150cl) 2010In Bond£944.00
-
Burghound (89-92)
This offers more aromatic complexity if not quite the same elegance with its ripe nose of plum, cassis, violets and earth nuances. There is good volume to the supple, round and wonderfully seductive flavors that possess a gorgeous mouth feel before terminating in a long balanced and equally complex finish. This is excellent and very stylish as well.In Bond£451.00 -
Wine Advocate (90-92)
The 2012 Morey-Saint-Denis Cuvee des Allouettes, which comes from within the Mont Luisants vineyard, has a quite precocious bouquet with blackcurrant, boysenberry and light Hoi Sin scents that unfold nicely in the glass. The palate is solid and dense with firm, quite grippy tannins. There is plenty of energy and tension here with touches of spice and soy lining the ebullient finish. Excellent.In Bond£516.00
