Vinous - Neal Martin (100)

Just weeks after tasting the 2001 Château d’Yquem at the estate, another bottle was served at a lunch in London and it was perfection. The aromatics are practically identical and likewise the palate, but this bottle, which had been decanted, displays a scintilla more tension, perhaps more "vibrancy" that so effortlessly counterbalances the richness. Irrespective of points, it is simply one of the most magnificent wines of any kind that can pass your lips.

Wine Spectator (100)

This is very long and intense. Really impressive. Full and very sweet, yet racy and fresh, with spicy botrytis character. Fantastic. Score range: 95-100 -JS

Wine Spectator (99)

A lovely, creamy, tropical style, with mango, papaya and guava notes lending a caressing feel, while singed almond and warm piecrust accents blossom through the lush finish. Just when you think that's all there is, toasted coconut, fig, orange blossom and persimmon details kick in, lending length and dimension. The finish is ridiculously long. Best from 2020 through 2060. -JM

Vinous - Neal Martin (97)

The 2014 d'Yquem has a complex bouquet with buttered toast, almond, honey and peach skin aromas. It opens with greater zeal than its peers, there is more immediacy here. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, a finely tuned and satisfying Sauternes with style and grace, evincing great tension and mineral drive towards the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Wine Advocate (100)

Following a very long harvest stretching nearly two months, the 2015 Château d'Yquem came in at 13.9% alcohol and 144 grams per liter of residual sugar, sporting a pH of 3.65 and six grams per liter of tartaric acid. None of these numbers, however, even remotely begin to tell you how profound this wine is. The nose opens with electric notes of ripe pineapples, green mango, orange blossoms and lemon tart with hints of fungi, lime zest, crushed rocks and jasmine. The freshness on the palate is just astonishing, permeating and lifting layer upon layer of tropical fruits and earthy notions, all encased in a sumptuous texture and culminating in a very, very long, mineral-tinged finish. Truly, this is a legendary vintage for d'Yquem. I've been conservative with my drinking window here, and I would not be at all surprised if our descendants are drinking this vintage well into the next century.

Wine Advocate (100)

Following a very long harvest stretching nearly two months, the 2015 Château d'Yquem came in at 13.9% alcohol and 144 grams per liter of residual sugar, sporting a pH of 3.65 and six grams per liter of tartaric acid. None of these numbers, however, even remotely begin to tell you how profound this wine is. The nose opens with electric notes of ripe pineapples, green mango, orange blossoms and lemon tart with hints of fungi, lime zest, crushed rocks and jasmine. The freshness on the palate is just astonishing, permeating and lifting layer upon layer of tropical fruits and earthy notions, all encased in a sumptuous texture and culminating in a very, very long, mineral-tinged finish. Truly, this is a legendary vintage for d'Yquem. I've been conservative with my drinking window here, and I would not be at all surprised if our descendants are drinking this vintage well into the next century.

Vinous - Neal Martin (98)

Owners LVMH took the decision to delay the release of the 2019 Yquem until spring 2022. It was tasted with winemaker Sandrine Garbay in London. After the summer drought when Sauternes received just 2.5mm of rain until 26 July, that day saw a 112mm deluge that replenished underground reserves and gave ripening the push it needed. Dry and warm conditions prevailed throughout September when there was no sign of botrytis infection. That was finally provoked by 38mm of rain between 21 and 25 of September, followed by warm clement weather. After minor picking of Sauvignon Blanc on 7 of October, the main harvest began in earnest on 10 October. Pickers worked over the following five days, including Sunday. Time was of the essence because, as forecasts predicted, the weather suddenly changed on 14 of October with 40mm or rain. After that, the picking teams skirted between showers between 17 and 22 of October, though by now the fruit had begun to deteriorate. Therefore, the key aspect of this Yquem is the extremely tight picking window. The final blend contains 138g/L residual sugar, which is slightly less than the previous vintage, with 5.5g/L total acidity and 14.4% alcohol. Tasting the 2019, I noticed that it has a slightly paler hue compared to recent vintages (though I never read too much into the colour of young Sauternes.) For certain, it has a highly-aromatic bouquet that is beguiling in purity, enticing aromas of honeysuckle and saffron, soon joined by camomile, white flowers and orange blossom. It has wonderful delineation and gains intensity with aeration. The palate is supremely well-balanced with fine bead of acidity. Very harmonious and armed with just the right amount of viscosity, this Yquem is surprisingly understated at first but gains presence, offering irresistible flavours of layers of honey, lemongrass, lemon thyme and orange pith. Yquem is so tempting in its youth, but I feel that this vintage will repay those with the nous to cellar for at least a decade.

A harmonious symphony of opulence and finesse, the David Duband Chambolle Musigny 2019 is the culmination of meticulous craftsmanship from renowned French winemaker, David Duband. Exquisitely hailing from his estate in the heart of Burgundy's Chambolle-Musigny village, this wine is a testament to sustained tradition and dedicated viticulture. Each grape was handpicked from this famed appellation before undergoing rigorous selection and gentle destemming, a technique employed by only the most discerning of vignerons.

The wine exudes a pristine ruby hue and reveals an exquisite bouquet of wild berries and violets, underpinned with a subtle hint of oak. On the palate, its opulence is eloquently balanced with a fine line of acidity, unveiling a depth of intricate texture and jubilant fruit flavours. The David Duband Chambolle Musigny 2019 offers a testament to the mastery of its eponymous creator, expertly capturing the quintessence of its prestigious terroir.

As an acclaimed French winemaker, David Duband casts a spell with his rendition of the Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Sentiers 2020, a quintessentially 'Burgundian' Pinot Noir. This elegant wine hails from Chambolle-Musigny, a highly reputed French appellation where winemaking has rich historic lineage. Meticulous vine management using biodynamic principles and the tinder care the Sentiers vineyard is given result in a wine marked with finesse and structure.

The David Duband Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Sentiers 2020 exhibits vibrant aromas of dark cherry, violet, and damp earth, underpinned by an enchanting minerality. Defined by its refined palate, this wine is a harmonious balance of intense fruit, silky tannins, and a lingering finish. David Duband's talent for harnessing the terroir's unique character is evident in each bottle, promising an extraordinary journey into the heart of Burgundy enjoyment. Due to its limited production, each bottle is a prized possession for any discerning wine enthusiast.

Tim Atkin MW (97)

Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero's Albillo Mayor is one of Spain's greatest whites. Think of it as a cross between a Jura Vin Jaune and a Viña Tondonia Blanco from Rioja in style. Nutty, salty yet produced without a veil of flor yeast, it's a subtly wooded delight, showing old vine concentration and the leesy, waxy, oxidative complexity that comes from a two-year fermentation without added sulphur.

Tim Atkin MW (98)

One of Spain's greatest white wines, produced outside the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen for the time being, this is a field blend of Albillo Mayor with 5% of other varieties. Salty, stony and appealingly reductive, with some lovely struck match top notes, it has the concentration of its 100-year-old vines, bread, almond and citrus peel flavours and a chiselled finish. World class.

Wine Advocate (98)

The scarcest and rarest of the reds is the single-vineyard 2015 Canta la Perdiz, produced with the field-blend grapes of one of the oldest vineyards in the village of La Aguilera, a plot at 890 meters in altitude that has sandy and limestone-rich soils that give the wine a specific texture reminiscent of chalk. It's planted with a field blend dominated by Tempranillo but with small percentages of many other grapes, and the aim is to be able to ferment them all together. The ripeness of 2015 allowed for all the different varieties to achieve good ripeness, and they were all included in the wine, which fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts. It was foot trodden, and the malolactic and slow and long aging was in French oak barrels and lasted 31 months. It's a wine of perfume and finesse, gentle and tender, attractive and showy, developing nice complexity in the glass, with a more Mediterranean profile, some fennel and aromatic herbs. It has a velvety texture with very fine tannins. It also has very good freshness and balance, and it finishes long and dry. 1,220 bottles and 24 magnums were filled in May 2018.

Wine Advocate (98)

The scarcest and rarest of the reds is the single-vineyard 2015 Canta la Perdiz, produced with the field-blend grapes of one of the oldest vineyards in the village of La Aguilera, a plot at 890 meters in altitude that has sandy and limestone-rich soils that give the wine a specific texture reminiscent of chalk. It's planted with a field blend dominated by Tempranillo but with small percentages of many other grapes, and the aim is to be able to ferment them all together. The ripeness of 2015 allowed for all the different varieties to achieve good ripeness, and they were all included in the wine, which fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts. It was foot trodden, and the malolactic and slow and long aging was in French oak barrels and lasted 31 months. It's a wine of perfume and finesse, gentle and tender, attractive and showy, developing nice complexity in the glass, with a more Mediterranean profile, some fennel and aromatic herbs. It has a velvety texture with very fine tannins. It also has very good freshness and balance, and it finishes long and dry. 1,220 bottles and 24 magnums were filled in May 2018.

Wine Advocate (100)

I was really looking forward to the single-vineyard red 2016 Canta la Perdiz, their rarest and finest bottling. It comes from a one of the oldest plots in the village of La Aguilera found at 890 meters in altitude on sand and limestone soils that give it a special personality and a chalky texture. The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats, and the wine went through seven months of a slow malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, where it completed an élevage of 31 months. The wine delivers what I was expecting, incredible finesse and elegance while filling your mouth. It is nuanced, perfumed and with a crystalline personality, with light and energy. It has very fine, chalky tannins that give it a velvety texture. It has incredible length. It's a world-class red that should develop for a very long time in bottle but also drink well throughout its life, even as young as now. This is one of the finest wines they have produced at this domaine, among the greatest in Ribera del Duero, fine, crystalline and full of Ribera character, serious but with a hedonist side. 1,789 bottles and 50 magnums were filled in May 2019.

Wine Advocate (97)

I also tasted the 2017 Canta la Perdiz from the low-yielding and warm year marked by spring frost. The Tempranillo field blend clusters fermented in concrete vats with natural yeasts after being foot trodden. The wine went through malolactic and 39 months of aging in oak barrels, mostly French, for 39 months. It has the perfume and approachability of the 2017s, but there's a lot more finesse here, the quality of the tannins is superb, and there's great balance and freshness. Another 2017 that transcends the vintage. The label is different each vintage, and in this different year, it does have a surprising, somewhat Ponsot-like label...1,103 bottles and 10 magnums were filled in March 2021.

Wine Advocate (97+)

The 2018 Canta la Perdiz feels like a more rustic version of the 2016, with earthiness and abundant tannins and more backward than the approachable and juicy 2019 I tasted next to it. It fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts in concrete vats followed by a slow malolactic in barrel and 37 months in those barrels. The wine is still a little oaky, spicy and smoky, with good ripeness, 14.5% alcohol, good freshness and balance and abundant tannins that feel a little rustic. We'll have to see how the wine develops in bottle. 1,365 bottles and 32 magnums were filled in November 2021.

Wine Advocate (98)

I tasted two vintages of the single-vineyard Canta la Perdiz, from the vineyard that they consider to produce their most elegant red. The youngest of the two, the 2019 Canta la Perdiz was cropped from a warm and dry year, fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete with full clusters and a slow malolactic in barrel (seven months) and then spent 35 months in French oak barrels. It has a very expressive nose that is open and immediate, with polished tannins and surprisingly integrated oak after such a long élevage. It's a vintage of pleasure and juiciness but with serious structure and depth, and it is very harmonious and balanced with fine-grained chalky tannins. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.55 denoting good freshness. 1,847 bottles and 30 magnums produced. It was bottled in September 2022.

Decanter (98)

Probably the purest and most refined wine in the whole Ribera del Duero region, a jewel of balance and subtlety with a wonderfully persistent delicacy. The newest icon in Spain.

Wine Advocate (99)

Their Gran Reserva is released a good six or seven years after the harvest, and they consider the 2013 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva still too young. It comes from small plots of some of the oldest vineyards in the village of La Aguilera, in the zone known as Peñas Aladas in a cooler place at 870 to 890 meters in altitude. The topsoils are sandy, and then there is clay and a limestone-and-marl mother rock that they consider perfect. The dominant grape is Tempranillo, but in these old plots, there is always a mix of varieties—Albillo, Bruñal, Garnacha, Bobal, Cariñena—and the aim is to ferment them all together (ripeness permitting). This fermented with full clusters that were foot trodden, and malolactic was in barrel and extremely slow (19 months). It matured in barrel for five years. It is an incredibly backward wine, young and undeveloped, with tons of gunpowder, earthy and mineral, diesel-like, complex and with a magnetic attraction that makes you go back over and over again. It has pungent and pristine flavors, with amazing precision and symmetry, like laser cut, long, with very fine tannins and a supple, almost salty finish. This wine should age forever in bottle. This wine is just magic. 1,671 bottles and 69 magnums were filled in September 2018. The initial 2010 is now glorious, but I agree, still young...

Wine Advocate (99)

Their Gran Reserva is released a good six or seven years after the harvest, and they consider the 2013 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva still too young. It comes from small plots of some of the oldest vineyards in the village of La Aguilera, in the zone known as Peñas Aladas in a cooler place at 870 to 890 meters in altitude. The topsoils are sandy, and then there is clay and a limestone-and-marl mother rock that they consider perfect. The dominant grape is Tempranillo, but in these old plots, there is always a mix of varieties—Albillo, Bruñal, Garnacha, Bobal, Cariñena—and the aim is to ferment them all together (ripeness permitting). This fermented with full clusters that were foot trodden, and malolactic was in barrel and extremely slow (19 months). It matured in barrel for five years. It is an incredibly backward wine, young and undeveloped, with tons of gunpowder, earthy and mineral, diesel-like, complex and with a magnetic attraction that makes you go back over and over again. It has pungent and pristine flavors, with amazing precision and symmetry, like laser cut, long, with very fine tannins and a supple, almost salty finish. This wine should age forever in bottle. This wine is just magic. 1,671 bottles and 69 magnums were filled in September 2018. The initial 2010 is now glorious, but I agree, still young...

Wine Advocate (99)

Their Gran Reserva is released a good six or seven years after the harvest, and they consider the 2013 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva still too young. It comes from small plots of some of the oldest vineyards in the village of La Aguilera, in the zone known as Peñas Aladas in a cooler place at 870 to 890 meters in altitude. The topsoils are sandy, and then there is clay and a limestone-and-marl mother rock that they consider perfect. The dominant grape is Tempranillo, but in these old plots, there is always a mix of varieties—Albillo, Bruñal, Garnacha, Bobal, Cariñena—and the aim is to ferment them all together (ripeness permitting). This fermented with full clusters that were foot trodden, and malolactic was in barrel and extremely slow (19 months). It matured in barrel for five years. It is an incredibly backward wine, young and undeveloped, with tons of gunpowder, earthy and mineral, diesel-like, complex and with a magnetic attraction that makes you go back over and over again. It has pungent and pristine flavors, with amazing precision and symmetry, like laser cut, long, with very fine tannins and a supple, almost salty finish. This wine should age forever in bottle. This wine is just magic. 1,671 bottles and 69 magnums were filled in September 2018. The initial 2010 is now glorious, but I agree, still young...

Wine Advocate (96)

The Gran Reserva from 2014 had also been bottled for over one year when I tasted the wines, so I included the 2014 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva in this report, although the wine might take some time to reach the market. This is a rare wine, matured in oak barrels for 45 months and produced in limited quantities in a painfully slow process to create a wine with very high aging potential that, even when released some five or six years after the harvest, feels too young and a little raw. It feels a lot gentler and approachable than the 2013 I tasted next to it; it's more aromatic and expressive, complex and at the same time easy to understand. The palate is also approachable and tender, with very fine-grained tannins, when in reality, it's very powerful and tannic, but the balance is terrific. It should develop beautifully in bottle, and the Ribera character, which is there, should be even more evident with a little more time. 3,051 bottles and 43 magnums were filled unfined and unfiltered by hand in June 2018.

Wine Advocate (96)

The Gran Reserva from 2014 had also been bottled for over one year when I tasted the wines, so I included the 2014 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva in this report, although the wine might take some time to reach the market. This is a rare wine, matured in oak barrels for 45 months and produced in limited quantities in a painfully slow process to create a wine with very high aging potential that, even when released some five or six years after the harvest, feels too young and a little raw. It feels a lot gentler and approachable than the 2013 I tasted next to it; it's more aromatic and expressive, complex and at the same time easy to understand. The palate is also approachable and tender, with very fine-grained tannins, when in reality, it's very powerful and tannic, but the balance is terrific. It should develop beautifully in bottle, and the Ribera character, which is there, should be even more evident with a little more time. 3,051 bottles and 43 magnums were filled unfined and unfiltered by hand in June 2018.

Wine Advocate (96)

The Gran Reserva from 2014 had also been bottled for over one year when I tasted the wines, so I included the 2014 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva in this report, although the wine might take some time to reach the market. This is a rare wine, matured in oak barrels for 45 months and produced in limited quantities in a painfully slow process to create a wine with very high aging potential that, even when released some five or six years after the harvest, feels too young and a little raw. It feels a lot gentler and approachable than the 2013 I tasted next to it; it's more aromatic and expressive, complex and at the same time easy to understand. The palate is also approachable and tender, with very fine-grained tannins, when in reality, it's very powerful and tannic, but the balance is terrific. It should develop beautifully in bottle, and the Ribera character, which is there, should be even more evident with a little more time. 3,051 bottles and 43 magnums were filled unfined and unfiltered by hand in June 2018.

Wine Advocate (98)

Their Gran Reserva style red 2015 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva had a very long aging in barrel, a total of 54 months, including six months of malolactic fermentation. This comes from a myriad of small plots of some of the oldest vines in the village of La Aguilera in the same zone that names the wine, at 870 to 890 meters in altitude. The valley receives very cold winds from the Duero River, and the vineyards are surrounded by junipers, pines and oak trees, which makes it up to three degrees Celsius lower than the rest of the village, one of the coldest places in the whole of Ribera del Duero. The soils have a layer of sand that is gradually mixed with clay until around one meter deep, and then there's a layer of marl and limestone, a textbook soil for the vine. 2015 was a powerful vintage, and there was some frost that also delivered a little more concentration. The wine has an old Ribera del Duero style, with some rusticity and lots of power, energy and concentration but with great balance. It has plenty of fine tannins and lots of chalkiness. This should be very long lived. 2,223 bottles and 41 magnums were hand bottled unfiltered and unfined in May 2020.

Wine Advocate (100)

The youth, freshness, balance and harmony of the 2016 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva is gobsmacking. The wine is a little shy, insinuating, reticent and a little closed, and it feels younger than it is. It comes from a collection of small plots of some of the oldest vines in the village of La Aguilera in the lieu-dit, or "paraje," that names the wine, in a small valley surrounded by pine, holm and juniper trees, where there is a cold draft of air and the temperature is lower than in the rest of the village. The soils are sandy and intermixed with clay on a marl mother rock. The plants are mostly Tempranillo, but as they are very old vines, there's always a field blend of other varieties—Albillo Mayor, Monastrell, Garnacha, Bobal and Cariñena—all fermented together with full clusters that were foot trodden in concrete vats and indigenous yeasts. Malolactic was in barrel and lasted for 11 months, while the élevage was extended to a total of 55 months (almost five years!). After all this time in barrels, the wine is not oaky at all; it's floral and perfumed, elegant, nuanced and layered. The texture is silky, and it's medium-bodied, with moderate ripeness, 14% alcohol and very good freshness denoted by a pH of 3.41. It has fine tannins that make it nicely textured and fine-boned, with subtle minerality. This should be veeeeeery long lived, as it has the stuffing, all the ingredients and the balance between them to make old bones. Amazing juice. 3,591 bottles and 51 magnums were filled in April 2021.

Jeb Dunnuck (95)

The 2015 Reserva checks in a Tempranillo-dominated red with 15% comprising a field blend of Garnacha, Bobal, and Albillo, all aged 35 months in barrel. Gorgeous blueberries, smoked blackberries, roasted herbs, chocolate, lead pencil, and graphite notes dominate the bouquet, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a concentrated, powerful texture, lots of tannins, and a great finish. It certainly shows the warmer style of the vintage in its texture and tannins, yet it stays balanced and offers notable freshness as well as a great finish. It has another decade of prime drinking.

Wine Advocate (97)

Quite different from the 2015 was the 2016 Reserva, a red from a cooler year with good yields, so they were able to increase production of this wine over twofold and increase the quality! It took some seven months to complete fermentation, and the élevage in barrel lasted some 29 months. It has an incredible nose, violets and something musky, intriguing, complex and nuanced, mysterious and difficult to define, with some notes reminiscent of soy sauce. The palate is seamless and with terrific balance, a silky texture and very fine but chalky tannins. This is an amazing Ribera del Duero. 18,834 bottles and 519 magnums produced. It was bottled in April 2019.