Jeb Dunnuck (96+)

This estate has been on fire of late and that doesn't appear to have changed with the 2018 Château Sansonnet. Revealing a dense purple hue as well as a young, unevolved bouquet of pure crème de cassis, graphite, crushed violets, bouquet garni, chocolate, and distinct chalky minerality, it delivers remarkable purity, full-bodied richness, silky tannins, and flawless balance. A wine that builds slowly with time in the glass, offering a beautiful mix of richness, elegance, and length, it's as good, if not even better than the 2016. Don't miss it!

James Suckling (96-97)

This is superb: a triumph for the vintage considering how complicated it was in St.-Emilion. Elegance with power. Full-bodied, intense and forthright. Wonderful length and depth. Better than the 2015.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (93+)

The 2017 Tour Saint Christophe is a dense, richly constituted wine loaded with tremendous energy and pure power. It is also a bit shut down; so I would prefer to give it a few years in bottle to be at its best. Black fruit, chocolate, leather, licorice and spice build into the potent, virile finish. This is a wine with tremendous promise.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (93+)

The 2017 Tour Saint Christophe is a dense, richly constituted wine loaded with tremendous energy and pure power. It is also a bit shut down; so I would prefer to give it a few years in bottle to be at its best. Black fruit, chocolate, leather, licorice and spice build into the potent, virile finish. This is a wine with tremendous promise.

James Suckling (96-97)

Blueberry and blackberry character with hints of white pepper and chalk. Salty, too. Full-bodied, tight and polished with fantastic texture and length. Very closed and tight with gorgeous tannin quality.

James Suckling (96-97)

This is tight with finesse and focus. Minerally and salty with an ultra-fine palate and polished tannins. It goes on and on and on. Strength and finesse at the same time. 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc.

James Suckling (96-97)

This is tight with finesse and focus. Minerally and salty with an ultra-fine palate and polished tannins. It goes on and on and on. Strength and finesse at the same time. 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc.

The Wine Cellar Insider (95-97)

Deep, and dark in color, and equally dark and deep in its fruit, the nose pops with perfectly ripe dark red and black fruits, licorice, smoke, cherry blossoms, crushed rocks and stones. The wine has depth, sensuality, luscious textures and layers of ripe,opulent fruits. The finish lingers with layers of black and red fruits with dark chocolate that feel as good as they taste. This could be the finest vintage of Tour Sant Christophe ever produced, and that is really saying something. The wine is made from blending 80% Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc. You can age for 20-25 years. Or if you like,you can also enjoy this on the young side.

Jeb Dunnuck (97)

A flat-out gorgeous wine in the vintage is the 2012 Troplong Mondot, which sports an inky ruby/purple color to go with heavenly notes of black currants, smoked earth, plums, licorice and graphite. Full-bodied, seamless, ultra-pure and impressively concentrated, this blockbuster effort needs 3-4 years in the cellar to let the tannins integrate, and it will knock your socks off over the following two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (96)

The 2014 Troplong Mondot is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage, and this beauty has more intensity, richness, and exuberance than just about every other wine in 2014. A blend of 90% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc brought up in 85% new French oak, it sports a deep purple/plum color as well as a smorgasbord of blackcurrants, blackberries, scorched earth, toasty oak, graphite, espresso, and earth. With full-bodied richness, beautiful purity of fruit, and a rich, yet weightless texture, it’s a big, yet classy, elegant, and seamless wine from Xavier Pariente that should be snatched up by readers. It’s already drinking well but has 20-25 years of prime drinking to go.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

A wine I was able to taste on multiple occasions, the 2015 Troplong Mondot is a tour de force that readers need to snatch up. This cuvee comes from the cool, clay and limestone soils on the upper plateau (it’s the highest point in the appellation) and is a blend of 92% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, harvest between September 30th and October 21st, that was brought up in 85% new French oak. Sporting a deep, inky color as well as a sensational bouquet of creme de cassis, blackberry, toasted spice, licorice and spring flowers, it’s another huge wine from this estate that has perfect balance between its fruit, oak and tannin, a stacked mid-palate, and an incredible finish. I wrote "crazy good" more than once in my notes. It has enough fruit and texture to drink nicely even today, yet needs 4-5 years of cellaring and will keep for two to three decades. It's one of the great wines of the vintage.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (98+)

The 2017 Troplong Mondot is stunning, just as it was en primeur. Rich and ample, yet endowed with striking energy as well, the 2017 is the first vintage made by new CEO Aymeric de Gironde and consulting winemaker Thomas Duclos. The 2017 takes hold of all the senses and never lets up. All of the power that is typical of this site is evident, it seems to come so naturally, and yet picking earlier and then using a lighter hand in the cellar yielded a Troplong of uncommon energy and vibrancy. The 2017 has been nothing short of thrilling on the four occasions I have tasted it from bottle so far. What a wine!

James Suckling (98)

This is a very linear red and layered at the same time, showing blackberry, blueberry, black-truffle, bark and stone character. Chalk and minerality, too. It’s full-bodied and well framed with gorgeous intensity and freshness. Muscular with wonderful structure and brightness. Salty and savory notes on the finish. Try after 2024.

Decanter (99)

Such a seductive soft perfume to the nose, delicate yet generous aromatics of cherry and rose. The palate is juicy and fresh, charming yet energetic with such crystalline purity and balance. Tannins are smooth but softly textured giving nuance to the flavours where refreshing high toned ripe red and black cherry fruit play alongside mint, dark chocolate and graphite. Clearly powerfully but carefully controlled from start to finish giving such a satisfying overall mouthful and lasting impression. Incredible.

Decanter (100)

A sensational Troplong. Vibrant and vivid, this makes you smile from the first smell: milk chocolate, floral notes of roses and lavender, wet stones, liquorice, cinnamon and ripe bramble fruits. Round and thrilling on the palate, tannins are abundant with a chalky blueberry coolness while a salty tang settles around the mouth. Lovely precision and purity of fruit; you feel the sharp definition - still linear which makes it less immediately charming than the 2019 but giving undeniable complexity. Deep but not heady, this remains pure and detailed, with a leanness from the terroir really setting this apart. After a few minutes, the glamour starts to appear giving a salivating, succulent and moreish aspect to the finish. An absolute beauty.

A collaboration between winemakers Jess Jackson and Pierre Seillan, Vérité was launched with the aim of creating wines from Sonoma that could rival that of Pétrus. Since its inaugural vintage in 1998, Vérité has achieved colossal success, including being awarded seven 100 point scores from Robert M. Parker Jr. Guided by Pierre Seillan’s micro-cru philosophy and over 50 years of experience, Vérité produces 3 blends – La Joie, La Muse and La Désir, from a myriad of over 50 distinct plots spread across 4 appellations across Sonoma - namely Knights Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Bennet Valley AVAs.

It contains one bottle of each:

1x75cl La Joie 2013 - 100 Points | Robert M. Parker, Jr. (Wine Advocate)

1x75cl La Muse 2013 - 100 Points | Robert M. Parker, Jr. (Wine Advocate)

1x75cl La Désir 2013 - 99 Points | Robert M. Parker, Jr. (Wine Advocate)

A collaboration between winemakers Jess Jackson and Pierre Seillan, Vérité was launched with the aim of creating wines from Sonoma that could rival that of Pétrus. Since its inaugural vintage in 1998, Vérité has achieved colossal success, including being awarded seven 100 point scores from Robert M. Parker Jr. Guided by Pierre Seillan’s micro-cru philosophy and over 50 years of experience, Vérité produces 3 blends – La Joie, La Muse and La Désir, from a myriad of over 50 distinct plots spread across 4 appellations across Sonoma - namely Knights Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Bennet Valley AVAs.

It contains one bottle of each:

1x75cl La Joie 2015 - 99 Points | Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Wine Advocate)

1x75cl La Muse 2015 - 97 Points | Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Wine Advocate)

1x75cl La Désir 2015 - 100 Points | Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Wine Advocate)

Jeb Dunnuck (La Muse) (100)

Including the highest percentage of Merlot (at the moment anyway), the 2016 La Muse checks in as 93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec that spent 15-16 months in roughly 90% new French oak. This magical wine shows how good Merlot (and Sonoma) can be and offers extraordinary notes of crushed violets, spring flowers, scorched earth, graphite, black cherries, and crème de cassis. As elegant and seamless as they come, it’s full-bodied, perfectly balanced, has an incredible spine of acidity and tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. It has the class and purity to drink well even today, but it’s not going to hit prime time for at least another decade and will keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo!

Containing 1 bottle each of:

Vérité La Muse 2018 | 100 WA, 99 JD

Vérité La Joie 2018 | 98 WA, 98+ JD

Vérité Le Désir 2018 | 97+ WA, 98+ JD

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2012 La Joie, which is a blend of 76% Cabernet, 12% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, blew me away. A profound effort, with 55% of it coming from Hillsides in Alexander Valley, 31% from Knights Valley and the balance from Chalk Hill, the wine shows great minerality, oodles of crme de cassis fruit, incense, licorice, crushed rock, and a provocative full-throttle mouthfeel. A wine of great intensity, purity and equilibrium, this definitely begs for 4-7 years of bottle aging and should drink well for at least 30+ years.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2013 La Joie, which is 46% from Knights Valley, 32% from Chalk Hill and 22% from Alexander Valley, is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Showing loads of graphite, cedar wood, charcoal, crème de cassis and forest floor, this may well turn out to be a 50+-year wine. It tastes like a great first-growth Pauillac and has an amazing amount of complexity and richness.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2014 La Muse (2,800 cases ) is a legendary effort. The wine offers an opaque purple color and a gorgeous nose of lead pencil shavings, blackberry, incense, Asian spice, cocoa, plum, and a touch of chocolate and barrique. On the palate, more cassis and blackberry come to the forefront. The wine is unctuous, with adequate acidity and a stunning energy underneath the massive fruit and body. This is a spectacularly fragrant and, at the same time, dense wine, with enough structure (somewhat surprising in this vintage) to last 35-45+ years. The final blend was 88% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2012 Le Desir (64% Cabernet Franc, 24% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Malbec) reminds me of a young vintage of Ausone, such as 2005. The wine has amazing minerality and an explosive blueberry nose intermixed with blackberries, new saddle leather, charcoal and camphor. It is full-bodied, with espresso notes emerging on the palate. There are 1,900 cases of this super-endowed, prodigious wine that should drink well for 35-40 years. How fun it would be for mega-millionaires to put this in a blind tasting of a great vintage of Ausone in 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2014 Le Désir (53% Cabernet Franc, 21% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec) has an inky purple color and a sweet kiss of chocolate, black truffle, forest floor, black raspberry and black currants. Opulent, but again structured and super-dense and pure, this is another massively concentrated wine meant for the long haul (and for our grandchildren). Give it 4-6 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 35-40 years. Remarkably, Pierre Seillan told me that 2014, while a drought year, was not actually that hot in the micro-terroirs he was working, but in terms of quality, it turned out to be the most surprisingly positive vintage he’s ever witnessed.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (94)

The 2018 Virginie de Valandraud is superb. Silky, pliant and expressive, the 2018 is wonderfully caressing right out of the gate. Crushed red berry fruit, mocha, spice and new leather all meld together effortlessly. From bottle, the 2018 is more refined and delicate than it was from barrel, and every bit as compelling. The Virginie is made from a collection of unclassed parcels around Valandraud and on the plains below the core holdings.

James Suckling (94)

Blackberry, chocolate and hazelnut character on the nose, following through nicely to a medium body with integrated tannins and a fresh finish. Tight at the end, suggesting more to come with bottle age. Hints of mushrooms and earth. Second wine of Valandraud. Hint of wood at the end that will dissipate with age. Drink after 2024.