Vinous (94)

The 2020 Chablis Valmur Grand Cru has a well-defined nose, citrus fruit mixed with pear, wet limestone and green apples, tight at first but responds to aeration. The palate is well balanced with a fine line of acidity, taut and fresh with a lovely, lip-smacking salinity that fires up the finish. Excellent.

Vinous (92+)

The 2020 Chablis Vaudésir Grand Cru has a backward bouquet that demands coaxing from the glass: wet pavement, pressed yellow flowers and a touch of flint. Very focused. Fresh and saline, the palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity; however, it remains quite strict and oddly like a 2021 towards the close. Give this three or four years in bottle.

Jeb Dunnuck (95-97)

For lovers of powerful, massive Côte Rôtie, the 2019 Côte Rôtie La Brocarde from Billon is going to punch that ticket. Decadent black fruits, scorched earth, roasted meats, and spicy nuances all define this beauty, and it's full-bodied, with a decadent, layered texture, one heck of a great mid-palate, and the density, structure, and balance to benefit from 7-8 years of bottle age and evolve for 20-30 years.

Immerse yourself in the exquisite experience offered by the Clandestin Les Semblables Austral Brut Nature 2019. Expertly crafted in southern Chile, this effervescent joy has a natural purity that reverberates with the pristine terroir. Its unique blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir bewitches with an entire symphony of vibrant citrus and subtle stone fruit flavours, heightened by the distinct toast and yeast accents.

This boutique winery employs state-of-the-art traditional techniques synergised with biodynamic practices for a meticulous, sustainable winescape. The grapes are handpicked under the experienced eye of winemaker Louis Antoine Luyt, who ensures only the finest fruit go into each bottle. The Clandestin Les Semblables Austral Brut Nature 2019 benefits from bottle fermentation, bestowing upon it its finely tuned balance of acidity and richness.

Rated highly by several global wine critics, this vintage promises an illuminating exploration of Chile's vinous prowess. Elevate your wine collection today with the Clandestin Les Semblables Austral Brut Nature 2019. A celebration of craft, depth, and finesse exquisitely encapsulated in a bottle.

Indulge in the exquisite charm of Clandestin Les Semblables Boreal Brut Nature 2020, a captivating offering from the renowned vineyards of Boreal. Crafted with supreme quality grape varietals of the 2020 vintage, this sparkling wine exudes unparalleled lure and sophistication. Its meticulously fermented in steel barrels before being aged on lees, a unique process bringing forth an impressive complexity in flavour and effervescence.

Expertly produced by Clandestin, a credited formulator of finest French wines, the Les Semblables Boreal Brut Nature 2020 is an epitome of intricate winemaking. This Brut nature style wine, known for its no added sugars, is opulent with refreshing aromas and a crisp, dry palate. Its subtle minerality and exquisite nuances of citrus and apple make it a sublime companion for fine dining experiences.

Every sip of Clandestin Les Semblables Boreal Brut Nature 2020 promises a luxurious journey, lavishly satisfying the palates of discerning wine connoisseurs across the globe.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (89)

The 2020 Bordeaux Blanc from Clarendelle is an attractive, aperitif-style dry white to drink now and over the next few years. Green apple, lemon peel, sage and mint linger on the bright, zesty finish. The blend is 43% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Sémillon and 27% Muscadelle.

Wine Advocate (93)

The 2016 Anjou Violette is deep, intense, very pure and elegant on the harmonious nose, with perfectly ripe dark and red berry aromas (blackcurrant) intertwined with floral aromas. Silky, finessed and fresh on the palate, this is a very delicate and charming blend of Cab Franc (two-thirds 45-year-old vines) and Cab Sauvignon (one-third 65-year-old vines) with perfectly ripe, concentrated but juicy fruit, a velvety and concentrated texture, very fine and crunchy tannins and enormous intensity, thanks to the low-yielding Cabernets. This is a beautifully finessed and silky-textured Anjou that reveals its concentration and depth only on the finish. The wine was aged in barrels for 18 months and then spent another six months in vat. Bottled in April 2017.

Immerse yourself in the opulence of Claude Dugat La Gibryotte Gevrey-Chambertin 2018, an exquisite wine hailing from the prestigious Burgundy region of France. This luxurious wine is crafted meticulously from Pinot Noir grapes grown in the famous Gevrey-Chambertin vineyards. Renowned vintner Claude Dugat, the mastermind behind this ambrosial nectar, adheres to time-honoured traditional winemaking techniques, ensuring perfect harmony and balance.

The alluring ruby red Claude Dugat La Gibryotte Gevrey-Chambertin 2018 possesses a beguiling bouquet of dark berries, earth and spice. Its palate teases with striking red fruit flavours amalgamated with delicate oak nuances. A vibrant acidity provides marvelous longevity, guaranteeing an exquisite sensory experience.

The 2018 vintage of Claude Dugat La Gibryotte Gevrey-Chambertin, lauded by connoisseurs and critics alike, promises a compelling encounter for the discerning palate. With its unparalleled elegance and profound depth, it establishes its place as an icon of French viniculture.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

Enticing inky depths to the colour, slate tannins that are fully in control, adding precision and power to the cassis fruits. As it opens, the austerity recedes and sweet blackberry and loganberry fruit appear, along with a seamless delivery of cocoa bean, sage, cedar, cigar box, eucalyptus leaf. Once again you are aware that it has retained the character of Clerc Milon's early days, coming friom the natural concentration of the soils, but everything has been magnified and heightened. A profound wine that shows the possibilities contained within this site. Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy technical director, 50% new oak.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2019 Clerc Milon is a real success. At more than 70%, this blend contains one of the highest proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon in the property's recent history, and the result is a wine of real nobility. Offering up aromas of violets, wild berries, licorice, loamy soil and cigar wrapper, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with notable depth at the core, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins that assert themselves on the finish. From clay-limestone soils rather than the sandy gravels that characterize d'Armailhac, this is by some margin the more structured and serious of Mouton-Rothschild's two Pauillac stablemates.

The Clerget Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Charmes 2021 is a spellbinding red wine originating from the esteemed vineyards of Burgundy, France. Meticulously crafted by the esteemed Thibaud Clerget, this vintage offers a rich bouquet of fresh red cherries and raspberries harmonising with an undercurrent of flowers and earthy undertones. Produced with 100% Pinot Noir grapes, this wine exhibits the definitive grandeur of its premier cru status. Domaine Y. Clerget, steeped in viticultural lore since the 16th century, cultivates a limited yield, fostering the impeccable quality of this revered Burgundian classic. The wine matured for an extended period in French oak barrels, adding distinct subtleties to its captivatingly complex profile. The Clerget Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Charmes 2021 indisputably embodies an elegant intensity that graces the palate with a strikingly persistent finish. Open a bottle to celebrate a special occasion or to savour its unrivalled legend.

Wine Advocate (92+)

The 2016 Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens is also quite reserved, offering up aromas of sweet red berries, dark soil tones and spicy new oak. On the palate, the wine is quite medium to full-bodied, chalky and firm, with broad shoulders and good concentration at the core. It's a promising Rugiens in the making but it will demand some patience.

Vinous (92)

The 2017 Volnay En Carelle Sous La Chapelle 1er Cru has a slightly disjointed bouquet that requires only a couple of minutes to gain focus and delineation, though the aromatics lack the vibrancy and purity of the succeeding vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with pretty red cherry and red plum fruit, coming across a little conservative toward the finish, but boy, does this meliorate with aeration! After a couple of hours it suddenly goes up through the gears, developing more precision and harmony than it had immediately after opening. My score reflects this Volnay in full flight.

Wine Enthusiast (98)

97-99 Barrel sample. A tasting from several barrels, because the chateau has not made the final blend, so the rating is provisional. But the wine is so rich, with an almost perfect balance of acidity and ripeness, allied to a complete purity of honeyed botrytis. However the final wine turns out, it will be magnificent.

Vinous - Neal Martin (97)

The 2015 Climens is notoriously difficult to taste in its youth, the aromatics often shutting down for the first few years and consequently showing poorly in blind tastings. Indeed, this transpires during the blind tasting of 2015 Sauternes so I retrieved another bottle and allowed it 48 hours to open. This is where this note comes from. It has a bashful bouquet compared to its peers with notes of beeswax and honeycomb, just a touch of jasmine developing in the glass. The palate is well balanced with a lightly spiced opening, notes of stem ginger and rhubarb with a vivacious and quite persistent finish that bodes well for the future. It is a great Climens in the making, but it will need a decade in bottle. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (90-93)

The 2013 Clinet is terrific. Dark red and blue fruits, new leather, violets, menthol and sweet spices meld together in a wine of rare distinction for the year. This is one of the more pliant, expressive 2013s readers will come across. The finish is long, silky and polished. The oak needs time to fully integrated, but I don't think that is going to be a problem. This is a terrific showing.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Tasted on four separate occasions, the 2016 Château Clinet is another brilliant wine from this estate. Showing slightly more freshness and purity than the 2015, its saturated purple color is followed by a thrilling array of crème de cassis, graphite, ground herbs, and a terrific sense of minerality. Deep, full-bodied, with building tannins, and a magical sense of purity and elegance paired with real density and depth, it needs short term cellaring and will keep for three decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (93-95)

Reminding me of the 2014, the 2017 Château Clinet is a beautiful, dense, concentrated wine that has terrific notes of blueberries, spring flowers, and chocolaty oak. It’s very much in the style of the vintage with its cool, perfumed aromatics and sensational purity of fruit, yet it also has richness and weight. It’s a brilliant Pomerol.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Including slightly more Cabernet Sauvignon than usual, the 2018 Château Clinet is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon that was brought up in 75% new French oak. One of the superstars of the vintage, it has incredible elegance and finesse as well as gorgeous richness and depth. Notes of cassis and truffly dark fruits as well as tobacco, damp earth, chocolate, and lead pencil shavings emerge from the glass, and it's full-bodied, with a seamless, multi-dimensional texture, gorgeous tannins, and a great, great finish. It already offers incredible pleasure, but it won't hit maturity for another 5-7 years and should evolve for 30 years or more. This magical wine is in the same league as the 2015 and 2016, and drinking these beauties over the coming decades will be an incredible treat.

Vinous - Neal Martin (98)

The 2019 Clinet has maintained the stunning delineation that I discerned from the barrel sample. Pure black cherries, hints of cassis and wilted violet scents unfold in the glass with effortless ease, and the oak (75% new, 25% used for 18 months) is neatly integrated. The poised palate is medium-bodied, taut and fresh, with fine-grained tannins and disarming mineralité, particularly toward the finish, which delivers tremendous length and saliva-inducing salinity on the aftertaste. There is a pleasing strictness to this Clinet that is apposite to the flamboyant and decadent wines of the Nineties. This Clinet is one of Ronan Laborde's great achievements.

Vinous - Neal Martin (98)

The 2019 Clinet has maintained the stunning delineation that I discerned from the barrel sample. Pure black cherries, hints of cassis and wilted violet scents unfold in the glass with effortless ease, and the oak (75% new, 25% used for 18 months) is neatly integrated. The poised palate is medium-bodied, taut and fresh, with fine-grained tannins and disarming mineralité, particularly toward the finish, which delivers tremendous length and saliva-inducing salinity on the aftertaste. There is a pleasing strictness to this Clinet that is apposite to the flamboyant and decadent wines of the Nineties. This Clinet is one of Ronan Laborde's great achievements.

Jeb Dunnuck (96-98+)

I continue to love the wines from this estate, and the 2020 Château Clinet is no exception. Straight-up sensational notes of blueberries, cassis, violets, tobacco, and earth all emerge from the glass, and this beauty is full-bodied, with a rich, concentrated mid-palate, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the tighter, fresher, more focused style of the vintage, yet it still brings plenty of mid-palate depth as well as an expansive texture. It has enough oak to warrant short-term bottle age but will have 25-30 years of overall longevity. This is a gorgeous wine.

Jeb Dunnuck (96-98+)

I continue to love the wines from this estate, and the 2020 Château Clinet is no exception. Straight-up sensational notes of blueberries, cassis, violets, tobacco, and earth all emerge from the glass, and this beauty is full-bodied, with a rich, concentrated mid-palate, flawless balance, and a great finish. It shows the tighter, fresher, more focused style of the vintage, yet it still brings plenty of mid-palate depth as well as an expansive texture. It has enough oak to warrant short-term bottle age but will have 25-30 years of overall longevity. This is a gorgeous wine.

Decanter (95)

An exceptional Clinet in 2021. Richly scented, dark and roguish, a touch of sour cherry and perfume to the nose. Round, supple, generous and vibrant on the palate - this has a lifeforce to it with nuance of red berry flavour and real persistency as well as juicy acidity. I love the upfront nature of this and the really quite vivid and expressive red fruits while the background gives the savoury, menthol, liquorice notes offering depth and wideness - lots of terroir and grape markers in the glass - particularly the high percentage (25%) of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Tannins are firm and supportive with the overall freshness lifting the frame, delivering a full mouthfeel with a density of tannins and black fruit that doesn't dip. Well worked and presented. A touch of wood on the finish but subtle and supportive. You also get the florality all the way through which is just so appealing. Supremely well worked, charming but also confident - I absolutely love it and it clearly stood out every time tasting it - four times in total. 45,000 bottles made, same production as 2020.

Wine Advocate (95)

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2016 Clos de Sarpe (composed of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc) is a little closed to begin, opening out to reveal provocative Black Forest cake, Chinese five spice and cigar box notes with nuances of sandalwood, kirsch, rose hip tea and pencil shavings. Full-bodied, rich and opulent in the mouth, the palate is oh-so-seductive with a beautiful velvety texture and tons of freshness lifting the decadent fruit to a long spicy finish.

Wine Advocate (97)

Tasted at the pre-dinner vertical to mark Sylvain Pitiot's retirement from the domaine, the 2012 Clos de Tart Grand Cru has just a wonderful nose with more fruit intensity than the 2013, so pure and feminine with ebullient raspberry preserve and strawberry notes, sheer pinoté! The palate is beautifully structured with fine tannin, tensile, refined and aristocratic. There is a brilliant focus here and an extraordinary sustained finish that leaves you desperate for the next sip. What it shares in common with the 2008 Clos de Tart Grand Cru is that it is predestined to be overshadowed by the 2009 and 2010. That should not be the case - it is a quite brilliant articulation of the Clos. Bon vin!

Vinous (98)

The 2018 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was wonderful from barrel but now it seems to have gone up another level. It has an exquisite bouquet with wonderful mineralité infusing the brambly red fruit. Wonderful focus and quite profound complexity. You could nose this forever. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins married with a killer line of natural acidity. Everything is perfectly proportioned in this wine, very persistent with layers of dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and tea leaf on the finish. Immense. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.

Vinous (98)

The 2018 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was wonderful from barrel but now it seems to have gone up another level. It has an exquisite bouquet with wonderful mineralité infusing the brambly red fruit. Wonderful focus and quite profound complexity. You could nose this forever. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins married with a killer line of natural acidity. Everything is perfectly proportioned in this wine, very persistent with layers of dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and tea leaf on the finish. Immense. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.

Wine Spectator (96)

Lots of taut sinew here supporting the beam of black cherry, plum, tar and mineral flavors, with sweet earth, tobacco and cocoa powder on the finish. This wine has gotten progressively bigger over time and still seems in its ascendancy. Terrific focus and purity.--1995 Châteauneuf-du-Pape retrospective. Drink now through 2020. 8,330 cases made. -JM

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Another perfect wine from this brilliant estate is the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which matches the otherworldly 2007. A classic blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah brought up all in old foudre, this beauty's deep purple color is followed by a mammoth bouquet of kirsch liqueur, black currants, blueberries, Asian spices, and garrigue. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it nevertheless is as graceful as a ballerina on the palate and has ultra-fine tannins, a silky, seamless texture, and a finish that just won't quit. Hats off to vigneron Paul-Vincent Avril!