Wine Advocate (97)

For the 2018 Anaperenna Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon, Glaetzer blended in 18% Cabernet Sauvignon to give the wine increased fragrance and length. The nose is smoky, slightly herbal and marked by sweet cedar- and vanilla-tinged oak, but it also offers great cassis and blackberry fruit. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, the flavors are kept nicely in check by fine-grained tannins. This wine has it all: terrific intensity, complexity, length and texture.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (91-93)

Picked 19th September, with enough fruit for two tanks: one was destemmed and the other not at all. Fresh light purple, one never expects a great depth of colour from the Clos des Poutures. This is very attractive and with a bit more flesh round the edges than sometimes, enough acidity, some tannins from the terroir and the vinification, but overall making an attractive ensemble here with some length.

Halliday Wine Companion (96)

From a single vineyard in Light Pass planted in the late ’70s, matured in French hogsheads (10% new). Very good colour depth/brightness. Takes no prisoners; intense blackcurrant, black olive and cabernet tannins.

Wine Advocate (97)

Notes of mint, sage and bay leaf accent bold aromas of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries on the nose of Hobbs's 2018 1905 Shiraz. Picked later than the Gregor but not dried prior to fermentation, it's a well-behaved 14.7% alcohol wine that would be at home on the table alongside a tomahawk ribeye, roast lamb or any long-cooked stew. Full-bodied and intense, it not only shows tremendous complexity—mixing red and dark berries with various herbal nuances and hints of licorice, coffee beans and seared meat—but also boasts a rich, velvety mouthfeel combined with notable drinkability. It's a terrific contrast in style with the Gregor, showing more elegance but not nearly as much power.

Halliday Wine Companion (94)

Deeply coloured, yet bright; a complex bouquet of black fruits, licorice, spice and cedary oak, then a very powerful palate enriched by 24 months in French oak. From ancient vines and, against all the odds, carries its alcohol well.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2018 Gregor Shiraz was partially dried prior to crushing and fermentation, so it packs considerable concentration and power, weighing in at 15.8% alcohol on the label. It's a blockbuster in every sense of the word, from its huge aromas of mint, blueberries and plums to the mind-bending intensity on the full-bodied palate. Although not as raisined or alcoholic as Dal Forno's Amarone, there are similarities in size and structure, with waves of velvety, super ripe fruit and dark chocolate bolstered by softly dusty tannins and mouthwatering acidity on a finish that must be tasted to be believed. Wow!

Wine Advocate (88-90)

Produced from purchased fruit and vinified with one-third whole clusters, the 2018 Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes (négoce) bursts with aromas of raspberries, berries, woodsmoke and sweet soil tones. It's medium to full-bodied, succulent and fine-boned, with a delicate core of fruit framed by powdery tannins.

Tim Atkin MW (93)

Not currently available.

Burghound (89-91)

(from 11 different parcels in 7 different lieux-dits). A more elegant and slightly fresher nose is composed by aromas of black cherry, raspberry and pretty violet nuances. There is a really lovely texture to the delicious, saline-inflected and sneaky long finish that is very well-balanced. A quality Chambolle villages. (89-91)/2025+

Vinous (90-92)

The 2020 Chambolle-Musigny Village has a vivid bouquet with red cherries, cranberry and violet scents, actually, quite Vosne-like in personality. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fine acidity, quite poised and tense with a dash of spice on the finish. This is a delicious Chambolle that should give 12-15 years' drinking pleasure.

Wine Advocate (95-97)

Mugnier's 2019 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses is thrilling, soaring from the glass with scents of peonies, blood orange, rose petals, raspberries, bergamot and Indian spices. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's exquisitely refined, with melting tannins, vibrant fruit and a long, penetrating finish. Exemplifying the ideal of intensity without weight, this is worth every effort to seek out.

Vinous (87-89)

The 2017 Chambolle-Musigny La Combe d’Orveau, wiped out last year after frost, has a straitlaced, rather reserved bouquet, touches of sous-bois and tobacco tincturing the red fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a little foursquare and perhaps, relative to Grivot’s other 2017s, just missing a little energy on the finish.

Jancis Robinson (17)

Bottled. Pale shaded crimson. Intense floral perfume. Pure Chambolle with real excitement and detail. Pretty early maturing though.

Jancis Robinson (17.5)

Bottled. Especially pale rim. Very floral and hedonistic. Sweet start and surely just what burgundy lovers currently seek. Really rather gorgeous fruit and precision with just a little dry finish so probably worth waiting a while. Very long.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

Eligo is made from the best parcels of the vintage, fermented with submerged caps in small open fermenters, matured for 20 months in French hogsheads (50% new). The tannins and oak are built into the wine like an inlaid checkerboard table created by a master craftsman with decades of experience. Like John Duval.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

John Duval is a master blender. This is all about the best of the vintage, fruit from various sites across the and Eden Barossa Valleys, to morph into the mighty Eligo. A powerhouse of flavour yet never loses focus. Dark plums infused with star anise, cinnamon, Dutch licorice and soy sauce. Full-bodied with velvety rich tannins. It gets the most oak - French hogsheads 54% new, aged 18 months, and needs time to settle in. It will.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

From old vines in five districts, fermented with submerged cap, matured in French hogsheads (32% new) for 15 months. Complex and rich from the first whiff through to the aftertaste, not wasting a single berry in this great vintage. So much power, such elegance.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

A full-bodied wine of ultimate coherence and quality, the bouquet setting the signal for the palate to follow. Attention to detail is obvious, especially the handling of tannins and oak. The integration of these components with the blackcurrant fruit is faultless.

The Vintage Journal (98)

Deep crimson. Complex blackcurrant, blackberry, praline, roasted chestnut mocha, marzipan notes. Richly flavoured, round and smooth with beautiful pure blackcurrant, blackberry mocha espresso flavours, fine loose-knit grainy tannins and underlying roasted chestnut, toffee notes. Finishes chocolaty and long with a long life ahead.

Vinous (93)

The 2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru has an open nose of brambly red fruit, sous-bois and wilted rose petals, very pure and charming, and not dissimilar in style to François Bertheau's Chambolle 1er Cru. The palate is very harmonious, open and transparent. It feels lighter than others, yet the tension and precision will see this age with style, and perhaps it will not close down. Tempting now, but I would prefer to wait. Classy. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2017 tasting.

Decanter (95)

This is a classic 'cuvée ronde', combining fruit from six different Premiers Crus to produce a stylish example of what Véronique Drouhin calls the 'cashmere of Burgundy'. Scented, balanced and ethereal, it's a transparent expression of Chambolle's range of terroirs, with sweet summer berry flavours and fine, velvety tannins. Accomplished stuff.

Tim Atkin MW (94)

Most of this fruit comes from domaine-owned parcels, but some is purchased. Six parcels in total contribute to this pretty, floral and silky-textured Chambolle. Sweet red fruits spread gently across the mid-weight palate before a light ganache note joins in and brings the wine into a gently fading finish. 2022-34

Tim Atkin MW (96)

South Africa's Sweet Wine of the Year 2017.

Decanter (98)

An historical wine, Vin de Constance has been re-established in the last few years as one of the world’s finest sweet wines. Dried Muscat grapes are aged for three years before bottling, in French and Hungarian casks with a touch of acacia wood. Citrus, orange zest, rosewater and spice notes leap out of the glass. The palate has a laser-like focus with massive sweetness perfectly balanced by acidity and a mineral finish. As impressive as Château d’Yquem (and considerably better value).

Tim Atkin MW (98)

Increasingly celebrated as one of the great sweet wines of the world, not just the Cape, Vin de Constance is a delight to taste and review. Slightly drier than the 205 release at 165 grams of sugar, it has more in common with the Loire or Tokaji than it does with Sauternes in terms of freshness and structure.

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

I am informed by the top man at Klein Constantia that the price will be the same as last year’s superb 2017 and all of the likely candidates in the UK are likely to hold stock. It will require a little effort on Google and you will see that a large number of wine merchants will list 2018 Vin de Constance and while the prices swing around like no other wine I know, at £60 or so, for a half litre, it certainly makes sense to me and when you consider the sheer quality of this vintage, it is a bargain for this celestial experience. Stock is likely to arrive in September 2021, but do feel free to register your interest with your preferred wine merchant now. Vintage reports suggest that the build-up to the 2018 harvest brought the highest summer rainfall of the last six years and, combined with some of the coldest night-time temperatures on record, the vines were granted a very long and very slow growing season. These conditions have imbued extreme delicacy of perfume and flavour and also staggering concentration and length in this wine. It also means that the 2018 vintage has otherworldly characteristics and I cannot remember a young vintage tasting so refined and demure. Light bunches and tiny Muscat de Frontignan berries underline just how unusual this vintage was and with a harvest that was a fortnight later than average and crops down by about 15% all of these facts make sense when you taste this ethereal wine. Aged for three years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small number of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres, this is both a sensual and also sensitive wine. For a start, the colour is incredibly pale – think a young Sancerre! But the viscosity is amazing when you pour a glass because the liquid moves ever so slightly slower and more deliberately into the glass. The lights come on and the brain fires up immediately and it takes you by surprise just how quickly your olfactory system senses that you are in the presence of greatness. I was in a state of heightened anticipation, long before I raised the glass to my lips and the reward is exquisite. The perfume and palate combine in an astral haze of delight with orange blossom, fig, lemon verbena, wild honey and acacia notes caressing your senses. The texture is super-smooth, incredibly long and unnervingly gentle. It certainly possesses the longest finish I can remember on a Vin de Constance and I have, very fortunately, a tasted huge number of vintages of this wine. If you have never tasted this wine before, please start with this vintage – it will blow your mind. If you have and you are a fan, this is a critical purchase for your collection. I cannot wait to add this wine to my cellar later in the year.

Decanter (98)

Butterscotch, lemon patisserie and peach aromas. Pristine quality to the texture, lively and thrilling, this is a serious, opulent and powerful wine, more on the spiced, nuanced side with aspects of dried herbs, wood scents and bitter lemon and orange with a touch of honeyed lychee. It feels supremely complex and characterful. Sophisticated, layered and balanced with some minerality, a slight graphite edge all of which adds to the whole. It's still extremely youthful but there is real sculpting here, a sense of precision, style and freshness. Well crafted with an extremely long life ahead. A wonder, and one of the best from the estate!

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (92-95)

Raised in 30% new wood and 70% 1 year old. Solid purple with medium depth. The nose starts on the oak and soon moves to the fruit. Very succulent again, smoothly balanced with a firm grip to the tannins. Yet it is suavely put together. High class, and it certainly has the length. Tasted: October 2019

Wine Advocate (86-88)

The 2015 Pommard Les Perrières has quite a rich bouquet with touches of fig infusing the kirsch and cassis aromas. The palate is sweet on the entry with bold tannin, moderate complexity with a firm, slightly confit-like finish that needs to muster a little more precision. Not bad, although maybe just picked a day or two too late? Let's see.