James Suckling (94)

Rich and decadent on the nose, with exotic fruits, spices and incense. Full body, with so much wonderful chocolate, fruit and velvety tannins. It's a joy to taste now, but will give even more pleasure in years to come. Best ever from here and one of the best values of the vintage. Try after 2018.

Vinous - Neal Martin (94)

The 2010 Gloria has a very attractive and quite intense bouquet with a surfeit of blackberry and wild strawberry scents, cedar and light seaweed coming through with aeration. The palate is very well balanced with supple but firm tannins framing the pure blackberry and bilberry fruit, laced with black pepper and clove. Very complex, very focused and very precise on the finish, this is an outstanding 2010 Saint-Julien. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (96)

The 2016 Gloria is one of the undisputed stars of this vintage. Rich, deep and explosive, the 2016 possesses tremendous intensity in all of its dimensions. Sweet red cherry, tobacco, menthol, licorice and dried rose petal all add complexity. In 2016 Gloria is a real head-turner. It should be a fabulous value as well. There is not much else to say.

Wine Spectator (93-96)

There's lots here, with raspberry, blackberry, currant and blueberry fruit all playing a role, along with lively briar and licorice snap notes. An apple wood frame keeps the elements in line.

Decanter (94)

Very fine florality and purity on first impression – less of the meatiness of past vintages. The classic Gruaud-Larose smoothness is there along with added precision. Great attention to detail; a very fine claret.

James Suckling (95-96)

Full-bodied, layered and juicy young wine. Very tannic yet ripe and intense. Powerful finish. This will be excellent. Better than the 2015.

Wine Advocate (95-97)

The 2018 Gruaud Larose is blended of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc, with a pH of 3.88 and 14.2% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple in color, it leaps from the glass with bold black cherries, mulberries, plum preserves and blackcurrant cordial scents with hints of menthol, lilacs, licorice and cloves plus wafts of fallen leaves and tilled soil. Medium to full-bodied with a taut core of ripe, densely packed, muscular fruit, it has a firm line of ripe, grainy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and spicy. Very exotic Gruaud!

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.

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.

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!

Decanter (95)

So much purity and definition, this is a beautiful wine with clarity of flavour. Touches of grilled almond and rosemary, mocha, smoke and coffee bean, there is so much freshness, with juice rushing in between the muscles and a mint leaf finish. 3.78pH, 60% new oak. Yields were 25-30hl/ha. In a year where second wines in the Médoc have sometimes suffered from over-concentration, La Croix de Beaucaillou is a standout success.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

A stunningly successful Lagrange, easily one of the best ever at the property, with complexity, density, and staying power. Combines the exuberant texture of the 2009 with precision and clarity of fruit. The conditions of the vintage meant the smallest size of beries in 35 years, and although the tannins are clearly present they are finessed and sappy. A very young wine, but balanced and seductive, with lush cassis and blackberry fruits. 3.47ph, 60% new oak - this is an upscore from my last tasting of this vintage, but it is really singing. Harvest October 3 to October 24 with a record (since Suntory purchase) 49% of production making it to the 1st wine. Eric Boissenot consultant.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

A stunningly successful Lagrange, easily one of the best ever at the property, with complexity, density, and staying power. Combines the exuberant texture of the 2009 with precision and clarity of fruit. The conditions of the vintage meant the smallest size of beries in 35 years, and although the tannins are clearly present they are finessed and sappy. A very young wine, but balanced and seductive, with lush cassis and blackberry fruits. 3.47ph, 60% new oak - this is an upscore from my last tasting of this vintage, but it is really singing. Harvest October 3 to October 24 with a record (since Suntory purchase) 49% of production making it to the 1st wine. Eric Boissenot consultant.

Wine Advocate (93-95+)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Lagrange opens a little closed and broody, slowly revealing cedar chest, tar, pencil shavings, camphor and fragrant earth scents with a baked plums and warm cassis core plus a hint of yeast extract. Full-bodied and jam-packed with black fruits and earthy accents, it has a solid frame of firm, chunky tannins and just enough freshness, finishing on a persistent mineral note.

Decanter (96)

Lovely deep red pink rim to the glass. Such freshness and floral lift on the nose, smells lively and welcoming with a cool blue fruit touch to the aromas alongside faint hints of liquorice. Amazing texture and mouthfeel - filling with a good density of chalky and textured tannins underpinning creamy red fruits with a juicy acidity that is so succulent and mouthwatering. Just giving everything - abundant, generous lively fruit, creamy velvet-textured tannins, bright acidity and gorgeous Cabernet aspects. Round and complete, excellent winemaking on show.