Vinous (92-94)

The 2020 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées 1er Cru had a very tardy malo and consequently had been dosed with SO2 just 10 days earlier. Containing 60% whole bunch, this has a generous red cherry and cranberry fruit, pressed flowers and brown spices. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, a crisp line of acidity, grippy in the mouth but with ample freshness on the finish. Excellent, though cut from a different cloth due to its more clayey soils.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (90-92)

50% whole bunch vinification. Deep rich purple. An immediately blossoming nose, enlivened by the whole bunch. This is power packed and there is a sweetness of ripe fruit and oak which in fact balances very well. Structured but sensual with a crunchy finish. Tasted: December 2021

Vinous (87-89)

The 2020 Nuits Saint-Georges Village, which contains 60% whole bunch, perhaps does not quite display the cohesion of the Vosne-Romanée at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with quite a high-toned floral entry, exuberant and quite showy, though without the same breeding as the aforementioned.

Wine Advocate (96)

Made with a special selection of Sangiovese, the 2020 Fontalloro is generous and rich, and the wine sports medium-dark color and concentration. The winemaking team has succeeded in bringing out an especially elegant side to this vintage. The wine offers pronounced notes of cherry and wild plum with delicate spice at the back. Like the other wines in this portfolio, there is a pretty mineral note that makes for a consistent through-line in all these new releases.

Vinous (92)

The 2020 Pinot Noir Bannockburn is welcoming as well as rich, savory and sinewy, delivering a plump cloud of both lifted and brooding fruit: a portion of whole-cluster fermentation has brought herbal and violet high notes alongside red and black cherry. There's excellent concentration despite this being the entry to the Felton Pinot range, and fine, lightly furry tannins on the medium-long finish. This could be approached now, but it’s better to wait a couple of years to let the components settle.

Jeb Dunnuck (96-98)

Another blockbuster in the making from this tiny estate in Pomerol, the 2020 Château Feytit-Clinet is based on a normal blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, hitting 14.8% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.7. The aging will span 18 months in 70% new French oak. It boasts a dense purple hue as well as a stunning nose of crème de cassis, currants, tobacco, and damp earth. About as ripe, sexy, and opulent as they come, it still shows the purity and freshness of this great vintage. It reveals more and more tannins with time in the glass, but given its mid-palate as well as its overall density, it’s going to benefit from just 3-4 years of bottle age and cruise for 20-30 years.

James Suckling (100)

A mesmerizing nose here with flowers such as violets and red roses, then shows cherries and currants with some mineral and black truffles. Full-bodied yet so refined and harmonized with ultra-fine tannins that run the length of the wine. Flavors of perfectly ripened fruit (al dente) with a hazelnut character that comes from the seeds. Incredibly transparent young red. Breathtaking. 37% merlot, 32% cabernet franc and 31% cabernet sauvignon. Drink after 2028 and onwards. Magnificent.

Celebrated as an epitome of excellence, the Fillaboa Rias Baixas Albarino 2020 is a remarkable embodiment of Spanish viticulture originating from the prestigious Rias Baixas region in Galicia. This distinct single-varietal Albarino was meticulously curated by Fillaboa, a revered estate known for its commitment to maintaining indigenous varieties and implementing sustainable practices in their vineyards.

The wine was produced through careful vinification in stainless steel tanks to extract maximum esseence from the low-yielding, hand-harvested grapes all while maintaining utmost integrity of the Albarino character. The result is a strikingly splendid wine with expressive aromatic profiles of citrus, stone fruits, and subtle floral hints.

Upon tasting, the Fillaboa Rias Baixas Albarino 2020 reveals a harmonious balance of minerality and vibrancy, ending with a lingering finish. This wine's elegance and flavour complexity make it an impeccable pair to seafood and shellfish. An experience in a bottle that is truly unforgettable.

James Suckling (95-96)

Vivid and lively with blackberries, earth and some flowers. It’s full and layered with tannins that spread across the palate. Broader form to this young Bordeaux. Lots of tannins at the end.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (88-91)

Real powerful black purple. Brutally concentrated nose. Much firmer tannins, black fruit, a little less acidity, built more around the tannic structure. Powerful stuff but not unbalanced. Tasted: October 2021

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (88-91)

From Le Charlemagne. Rich dense purple with quite a powerful weight of fruit but verging on the cooked plums. Good oak, quite suave, not at all ugly at the finish, but a riper style of fruit than the ideal. Tasted: October 2021

Vinous (86)

The 2020 Bourgogne Blanc has a light apple blossom nose, touches of citrus peel, the absence of new oak lending this a sense of neutrality. The palate is well balanced with a fine thread of acidity, taut and fresh. Fine.

Vinous (94)

The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet La Boudriotte 1er Cru is very floral on the nose with pressed white flowers, honeysuckle and broom, touches of chalk and apricot. The palate is well balanced with fine acidity, more density than the La Grande Montagne, impressive weight and salinity that gets the saliva flowing on the finish. Excellent.

Wine Advocate (94)

The Fontodi 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Terrazze San Leonlino (a certified organic wine) is a new addition to this exciting portfolio, now in its second vintage. With fruit from the upper part of the Conca d'Oro of Panzano, this wine shows a more robust and powerful personality with a strong 15% alcohol content. It ages in barrique and botte for 24 months. The bouquet is rich with cherry liqueur, blackberry kirsch and dried plum. There is more fruit weight here and you taste the ripeness in the grape skins. The wine has an almost carbonic quality that reminds me of cherry cola, and it ends on a sweet note with soft tannins. Only 5,000 bottles were made.

Wine Advocate (96)

Showing enormous precision and direction, the 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo (with 25,000 bottles released) is a generous expression of Sangiovese that boasts singular intensity. This organic wine offers black fruit, grilled rosemary, pressed rose and crushed limestone. All of these aromas enjoy special, forward-moving intensity that dovetails into the ample fruit generosity that this sun-filled vintage will be remembered for.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 2020 Flaccianello della Pieve is the full package. This point is clear when you taste all the other wines in the Fontodi portfolio and conclude with this bottle. This organic Sangiovese shows beautiful intensity and remains balanced throughout with dark fruit, crushed stone, spice and wild rose. It borrows themes of elegance, depth and ripeness played across this vintage. The wine wraps smoothly over the palate with substantial fruit weight and sweet tannins. This warm-vintage expression can be aged or enjoyed straight out of the gate. Production is 60,000 bottles.

Experience the remarkable quality of Frederic Cossard Gevrey-Chambertin Les Genevrieres Qvevris 2020, a prestigious wine from the heart of Burgundy. Frederic Cossard, respected as a maestro in biodynamic farming and natural winemaking, employs ancient Georgian winemaking techniques, with grapes fermented in Qvevris - special clay pots buried underground. The 2020 Les Genevrieres, sourced from handpicked Pinot Noir grapes amid the low-yielding Gevrey-Chambertin vineyards, demonstrates masterful vinification.

Fermented using indigenous yeasts and aged in Qvevris for a distinctive profile, this wine exhibits a magnificent balance of firm minerality and remarkable fruit purity. Rich notes of cherries and redcurrants intertwine with undertones of forest floor and exotic spices, leading to a stupendously long, poised finish. Perfect for sipping or savouring alongside sophisticated fare, Frederic Cossard Gevrey-Chambertin Les Genevrieres Qvevris 2020 is a quintessential indulgence for any discerning oenophile.

James Suckling (96)

I love the delicate nose of gardenia, honeycomb and fresh herbs. A rich yet refined Mosel riesling with exquisite elegance at the very long finish with so much mineral freshness. Drink or hold.

James Suckling (93)

Did somebody say aperitif? Effusive white-peach, honeysuckle and vanilla-bean aromas pour from the glass of this Kabinett. A very juicy wine with wonderful lightness and mineral freshness. An ideal partner for conversation. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

James Suckling (96)

A super-filigree Mosel Auslese that impresses with fabulous delicacy and precision. So much vanilla-bean character, but also tropical-flower aromas. Beautifully integrated grape sweetness at the long, very refined finish. Drink or hold.

Decanter (96)

The acclaimed Peter-Allan Finlayson, whose own label is Crystallum, also makes the Gabriëlskloof wines. This cuvée is an effort to showcase the ‘national treasure’ that is old-vine Chenin, with grapes drawn mainly from Swartland but also Durbanville. Subtle and complex aromas of flowers, herbs, yellow apple, peach and spice, while the palate is dense and detailed and the finish gently savoury.

Wine Advocate (96+)

Bottled in early March, the 2020 Pinot Noir is pure, precise and intense on the more classic, coolish and noble nose that shows a spellbinding purity, intensity and balance. Absolutely marvelous. Full-bodied, round and intense on the palate, this is a generously juicy, ripe yet fine and concentrated, also refreshingly salty and crystalline Pinot with a tight, sustainable structure and an enormously long and intense finish. This is a highlight of the Gantenbein Saga. Tasted at the domaine in March 2022.

Wine Advocate (92)

There's more and more information on the bottle of the wines, and the 2020 Old Vine Pale now mentions rosé(!) Truquilemu Vineyard Half a hectare and DO Empedrado, an appellation in Maule. All of their labels are so very informative, fun and amusing, and reading them makes you want to drink the wine and even know and support his peasant farmers. And on this 2020, it says Cariñena Monastrell instead of the Cariñena Mataró from previous vintages. But what he told me was even better, "The world has grown up, and the proper rosé category now includes some wonderful darker rosés—including this one, exported to 10 countries. We still think it’s best described: 'first glass of a long lunch' because it makes one hungry like few wines can." Enough said! 3,812 bottles.

Jeb Dunnuck (96-98)

Dramatically different, the 2020 Côte Rôtie Les Rochins is more meaty, bloody, and iron-driven aromatically, yet on balance it has beautiful finesse and elegance. This comes from the Côte Brune and has plenty of tannins, medium to full body, gorgeous balance, and one heck of a great finish. It’s not for the early crowd though.

Jeb Dunnuck (97)

Another gorgeous wine from this team is the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Lieu-Dit Pignan, which is 100% Grenache from one of the top terroirs in the appellation. It doesn't have the sheer power of the 2019, but it's finer and more elegant, offering a thrilling nose of wild strawberries, blueberries, peppery herbs, spring flowers, and exotic spices. Just incredibly pure, medium to full-bodied, and ultra-fine, with a gorgeous finish, it can be drunk any time over the coming 10-15 years. It's a thrilling example of finesse-driven Grenache.

Experience the exquisite taste of Georges Lelektsoglou Saint-Joseph Trois Freres 2020, crafted meticulously from the prestigious vineyards of Rhône Valley, France. This compelling red is a product of authentic viticultural savoir-faire and passion. Renowned producer Georges Lelektsoglou has curated a blend coupling the intensity of Syrah bolstered by the delicacy of Marsanne Roussanne. This wine is a product of traditional vinification methods; the grapes are hand-picked, followed by partial destemming and careful ageing in both wooden vats and barrels.

The Georges Lelektsoglou Saint-Joseph Trois Freres 2020 emits an inviting aroma of dark fruit with an undertone of spice and licorice. It is well-structured, complex, offering an impeccable balance of engaging tannins and vibrant acidity; it culminates in an impressively enduring finish. This fine wine pairs harmoniously with robust dishes, greatly enhancing the dining experience.

Decanter (97)

Ripe Ribena and cassis flavours with perfumed cloves and fresh ground pepper. The full-bodied palate is rich with tannins and holds lots of oak while offering accents of baked fig, cooked cherry, and soy. The wine has the substance and quality to age gracefully.

Vinous (85-87)

The 2020 Bourgogne Rouge, which comes from parcels in Gilly, has a light-hearted, pure and winsome bouquet with dark cherry and raspberry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a tart entry, moderate depth with a tang of sour cherry on the finish. Drink over 3-4 years.

Halliday Wine Companion (96)

Giant Steps' higher-elevation sites, as in this and Applejack Vineyard, have turned out racy, long and superfine wines – it’s the moreish, mouth-watering acidity. Of course there’s more: the complex flavours and heady aromas. Smoky, slinky and talc-like texture to the acidity, with a dab of creamed honey and citrus on the palate. There’s a lot of precision and it’s a pure wine in a way that evolves superbly in the glass.