Wine Spectator (98)

Shows the ultraripe, exotic notes characteristic of the vintage, with roasted plum, tobacco and spicy flavors. It's beginning to evolve, but needs until 2000 to really come together.--Latour vertical.

The Latour a Pomerol 1988 is a prime example of viticultural excellence. Crafted in the esteemed Pomerol appellation on the Right Bank of the Bordeaux wine region, it truly embodies the terroir's distinctive character. This Merlot-dominated blend is richly complex and mature, boasting concentrated flavours of perfectly ripened dark fruits, truffle essence, and well-integrated oak.

The producer, Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, is renowned for meticulously harnessing the potential of each vineyard parcel during fermentation. Using traditional open-top oak vats, a careful assemblage of the separate lots ensures an ultimate expression of the vine's unique characteristics in the final blend.

The Latour a Pomerol 1988 delivers a formidable ageing potential that adds depth and nuance as the years go by, offering a captivating sipping experience for the discerning wine aficionado. This bottle truly symbolises the distinguished reputation of Pomerol wines.

Wine Spectator (98)

A river of ganache-coated raspberry pâte de fruit flavors courses through this version, flecked liberally with anise notes and underscored by warm earth accents. Shows terrific concentration for the vintage, brimming with energy as the fruit cascades through a sweet, tobacco-accented finish that is ridiculously long. This transcends the general vintage profile, delivering extra depth and drive to the fruit. A tannic spine matches the fresh acidity.

Wine Advocate (87)

The 1961 is very good but not in the top class of wines from this vintage. Certainly rich, flavorful, and concentrated with fruit, this wine represents a rather rare phenomenon for Poyferre during a period of mediocrity. Dark ruby, with an attractive cedary, spicy, mature bouquet, on the palate, the 1961 Leoville-Poyferre is deep, supple, ripe, and long, but fully mature. Anticipated maturity: Now. Last tasted, 3/80.

Discover Liber Pater 2010, a one-of-a-kind expression of Bordeaux's finest grapes. Liber Pater, Latin for 'Free Father', is a nod to the ancient Roman god of wine. Established in 2005 in Graves, a revered sub-region of Bordeaux, this elite winery produces wines that embody the authentic character of ungrafted varietals. The unique 2010 vintage is crafted using age-old vine training and vinification techniques and is produced entirely from pre-phylloxera vines, offering a genuine taste of terroir.

On tasting, the Liber Pater 2010 captivates with a mesmerising bouquet of ripe fruit, exotic spice, and earthy undertones. The palate commands attention with velvety tannins and an intriguing blend of blackberry, licorice and graphite nuances, leading to an unforgettable finish. This experience is encapsulated in the meticulous work of wine visionary, Loic Pasquet. Purchase Liber Pater 2010 and indulge in an unparalleled Bordeaux wine experience.

Vinous (94-96)

The 2017 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru stays with Domaine Marc Colin as it as owned by Damien's godfather and he wished for it to remain with him, therefore a fermage agreement remains in place. It has a clean and precise bouquet, a little more expressive than some of its peers with crushed stone, sea spray and light citrus peel scents. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, the oak neatly integrated (one out of two barrels new) with a precise tangy orange rind finish. Sophisticated and compelling. (DIAM closure)

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95-97)

2 barrels of one year old wood, chosen from the best of the previous year. Deep full yellow, in comparison to its stable mates, but in fact still light. This is taking time to wake up on the nose. There is a good backing from the oak, a slight youthful bitterness. A very substantial weight. Good acidity too just makes its appearance right at the back. This will need time. Tasted: October 2021

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2015 Côte Rôtie Belle Helene is up there with the handful of greatest young Syrahs I've ever been lucky enough to taste. Coming all from the Côte Rozier lieu-dit in the northern portion of the appellation, just above Guigal's la Landonne lieu-dit, this majestic wine offers incredible blue fruits, liquid violets, olive tapenade, and aged meats. Full-bodied, ultra-fine, deep, concentrated, and as seamless and pure as it gets. It's already approachable (which is rare for this cuvée) due to its perfectly ripe tannin, yet will need 7-8 years of bottle age and keep for 2-3 decades.

Wine Spectator (96)

Deep garnet; fragrant tar and black truffle nose; extremely concentrated; big and mouth-filling, with very dense cassis flavor; enormous, generous fruit; a voluptuous claret. -

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Petrus remains incredibly young, one of the least evolved wines of the vintage (along with Montrose and Beausejour-Duffau). This dense ruby/purple-colored effort is beginning to hint at the massive richness and full-bodied intensity lurking beneath its wall of tannin. The vintage’s sweetness, low acidity, and velvety tannins are present in abundance, and the wine is massive in the mouth as well as incredibly pure and well-delineated. I thought it would be drinkable by now, but it appears another 5-10 years will pass before it begins to reach its plateau of maturity. This wine is capable of lasting at least four more decades. An incredible achievement! Release price: ($5000.00/case)

The Wine Cellar Insider (100)

Deep ruby in color, here you find truffle, dark chocolate, coffee bean, cigar box, black cherry and dark plums. Full bodied, elegant, velvety, opulent, sweet and fresh, the presence on the palate is silk and velvet in the texture with purity and sweetness to the fruits. The wine is hedonistic as well as intellectual, and a little bit firm. There is serious aging potential. The wine really sticks with you, for over 60 seconds in the finish. Give this at least 15 or more years in the cellar to develop before popping a cork.

The Wine Cellar Insider (99)

Truffle, Cuban cigar wrapper, exotic spice, licorice and lilacs create the complex set of aromatics. Powerful yet poised, rich and fresh, dense and velvety, the finish remains with you for close to 60 seconds. The end notes deliver spicy, silky, creamy tannins, ripe, dark plums and darker red fruits that fill the palate. The wine is structured with all the right stuff to age for decades. Produced from 100% Merlot, the harvest started September 8, finishing September 28. The wine reached 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.6 . This is the wine of the vintage

The Wine Independent (100)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Petrus unfurls very slowly to offer glimpses at licorice, fragrant earth, crushed rocks, and cinnamon toast hints over a core of juicy blackberries, black raspberries, and crushed violets with a subtle waft of dusty earth. Full-bodied, rich, decant and unashamedly flamboyant, the palate has super firm, super velvety tannins and amazing tension, delivering slow releasing exotic spice and black fruit layers, finishing very long, opulent and incredibly impactful. Tuck it away for another 6-8 years, at least, and then count on it transforming magnificently over the following 50-years+.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2009 Extra Brut Blanc de Noirs Les Cintres hails from lieux-dits Les Grands Cintres and Les Petits Cintres in the steep, south-facing part of the Clos des Goisses which is characterized by the thinnest, reddest soils in the vineyard and where the house's oldest vines are planted. Amazingly, the 2009 attained 13.5% alcohol, the highest numbers recorded chez Philipponnat since 1959. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of warm bread, fresh peach, mango and yeast extract, it's full-bodied, thickly textural and vinous, with lively acids—Philipponnat opting to block malolactic fermentation—and a deep, multidimensional core, concluding with a long and powerful finish. This is a broad-shouldered, authoritative wine that may disconcert by virtue of its sheer scale, but it is a potential legend in the making.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

I've been lucky enough to have had the 1982 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande a half dozen times over the past few years and it continues to show magically. Tasted out of a magnum, it has a still lively plum/ruby hue as well as gorgeous Pauillac notes of blackcurrants, smoked earth, cedarwood, pencil lead, and forest floor. It's unquestionably fully mature and in that sweet spot where it has incredible aromatics, beautiful, sweet fruit, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. I don't see it falling off a cliff any time soon, yet there's no need to delay gratification either. This is a magical, heavenly Bordeaux I wish every reader could taste.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

There's a single barrel of the 2016 Châteauneuf Du Pape Not For You, which is 100% Grenache from the Les Serres lieu-dit from the oldest vines of the estate. It wasn’t destemmed and spent two years in a neutral barrel. It offers an incredible bouquet of kirsch, blackberries, incense, white flowers, garrigue and spice that develops beautifully with time in the glass. Rich, powerful, full-bodied, and concentrated, it nevertheless glides over the palate with no weight, ultra-fine tannins, and a singular, exotic, lengthy style.

Vinous (93-95)

Bright medium red. Discreet, pristine scents of dark cherry, flowers and crushed rock. Wonderfully rich and fine-grained, offering outstanding inner-mouth tension to its medicinal red cherry and licorice flavors complicated by minerals, spices and flowers. Less accessible today than the Cailles (Chevillon noted that in November it was the other way around) but this wine really dances on the palate and rises inexorably on the sappy, mouthcoating finish.

Vinous (96-98)

The 2020 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru comes from 80-year old vines: 100% whole bunch with one-third new oak. This takes time to unfold on the nose when often this cuvée is quite medium. The aromatics say: Hold your horses. Then it unfurls to reveal slightly tertiary black fruit, tobacco and crushed limestone, almost flinty aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins. Silky texture, poised acidity, this might be the most elegant and refined Bonnes-Mares that Nicolas Groffier has produced. I confess, I could not resist swallowing my tasting measure. This is one of Nicolas Groffier's finest achievements to date.

James Suckling (100)

A gently spicy thread here with all manner of fresh fruit that’s just so ripe. This offers very intense mangoes and apricots with peach essence and gentle candied kumquat. The palate is like a perfect sphere of flavor, completely seamless. This is melded together by an extraordinary vintage and delivered to the greatest heights of sweetness and balance. Really a perfect wine. Drink over decades.

James Suckling (99)

Ripe and golden with a subtle hint of oak in the nose, plus some delicate spice. Super concentrated and super elegant with fabulous minerality at the powerful finish, this astonishing dry riesling is only just beginning to come into its own. The first vintage from this sub-site of the Gräfenberg that the Weil family always called by this Italian name. Drink of hold.

James Suckling (99)

This starts as discreetly as Ravel’s Bolero, the peachy aromas of the Rheingau now just beginning to emerge from behind their veil of yeast from the long maturation in barrel. Then this wine, like Bolero, steadily climbs to a very exciting and expressive conclusion. Then you experience the mineral side of this grape and region in great purity. Drinkable now, but best from 2023.

Wine Enthusiast (99)

This legendary Champagne, only produced in exceptional years, comes from the village of Le Mesnil in the Côte des Blancs. It is made from 100% Chardonnay and aged for many years before release. Its minerality, concentration and beautiful fruit are still astonishingly young and deserve further aging. Drink from 2020.

Wine Enthusiast (99)

As always, this exceptional Champagne, only released in top vintages, shows its rare qualities. Its poise between texture, acidity, intense aging ability and minerality are so right. It is ready to drink, but that would be a shame, because this wine will age so well. Drink from 2025.

The ageing of Riesling in large, old oak casks for several years, was a style with a great tradition at Schloss Johannisberg hundreds of years ago. It was revived in 2017 and this now stands as the absolute pinnacle of Trocken wines produced. Made in tiny quantities and only in outstanding vintages, no scores or reviews yet available for the 2018 – what is sure is that these bottles will be long gone by the time the critics get to review them.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

The balance between ripeness and acidity that is the hallmark of this fine vintage is expressed well in this impressive wine. Tangy, with a strong streak of minerality, it is crisp and rich at the same time. For its fruitiness, it is ready to drink; for more maturity, it will need to age until 2018.

Vinous (96)

The 2009 Blanc de Blancs Les Blanches Voies is every bit as stunning as it was last year. The combination of the warm year and the natural richness conferred by these 70+- year-old vines yields a powerful, vinous Champagne with tremendous character, depth and the pedigree to drink well for many years. Laurent Champs gave the Blanc de Blancs 7 years on the cork, as opposed to the 6 that are customary for the Coeur de Cuvée. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: March, 2017.

Vinous (95)

The 2012 Extra-Brut Les Blanc de Blancs Blanches Voies is stellar. It offers tons of brilliance and energy, especially for a year in which most wines are quite a bit more radiant. It's a style that works quite well here, though. Crushed rocks, white pepper, mint and lemon peel all build as the 2012 shows off its alluring, saline-infused personality. This is an especially chiseled, finely cut 2012. I loved it. Disgorged: June, 2020.