Decanter (92)

Faiveley's exemplary Mercurey Premier Cru comes from a substantial six-hectare parcel that faces east on a very gentle slope. Just a little more concentrated than its La Framboisière cuvée - which is also worth buying - this is rich, sunny and full of red berry and bramble fruit with good underlying zip, fine tannins and suave 30% new wood.

Wine Advocate (92)

Faiveley's 2019 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Myglands has turned out beautifully, wafting from the glass with aromas of cherries and raspberries mingled with woodsmoke, loamy soil and warm spices. Medium to full-bodied, lively and charming, it's velvety and succulent, with fine depth at the core and a suave, elegant profile.

Wine Advocate (93)

Aromas of plums, spices, incense and soil tones, framed by a touch of toasty new oak, introduce the 2019 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos du Roy, a medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety wine that's fleshy and concentrated, with fine, powdery tannins and lively acids. This is an enveloping, gourmand wine from a 2.6-hectare parcel.

Wine Advocate (93+)

From vines planted in 1982 in the sloping, southeast-facing part of Faiveley's parcel in the Clos du Roy, the 2017 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos du Roy La Favorite offers up a more overtly oak-inflected bouquet of dark berry fruit, spices, incense and vanilla pod. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and muscular, with ripe acids and an ample chassis of powdery tannin framing a nicely concentrated core of fruit. This shows definite promise, but it will demand some patience.

Wine Advocate (93+)

Faiveley's 2018 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos du Roy La Favorite has turned out brilliantly, mingling aromas of blackberries and cassis with nuances of licorice, violets and coniferous forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and concentrated, it's seamless and layered, with fine depth at the core, succulent acids and a long, expansive finish. This would embarrass plenty of wines from the Côte de Nuits in a blind tasting.

Bright aromas of raspberries, crushed red plums and Morello cherries surrounded with warm spices and a touch of oak. Super texture, fine tannins and concentration, with a line of richness running through the palate. A long, textured finish with bright fruits and spice lingering.

Wine Advocate (93+)

A small cuvée of some 900 bottles derived from the most steeply sloping part of Faiveley's holdings in this climat where the vines produce small, shot berries, the 2020 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos du Roy La Favorite unwinds in the glass with scents of cherries, sweet plums, cocoa nib, loamy soil and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's more structured and introverted than the regular cuvée, and it will reward a bit of patience.

Wine Advocate (90+)

The 2017 Mercurey 1er Cru Les Vasées unfurls in the glass with aromas of smoky blackberries, cassis, grilled game bird and espresso roast. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and nicely concentrated, its fine but chalky tannins largely cloaked in fleshy fruit.

Regarded as the epitome of eponymous exquisiteness is the Francois Raquillet Mercurey 1er Cru Les Vasees 2018. This exquisite red wine is carefully crafted by Francois Raquillet, an 11th generation winemaker, in Burgundy's esteemed Côte Chalonnaise region. Dating back to sixteenth-century, the estate’s commitment to tradition and detail is evident in each bottle.

Les Vasees 2018 is synonymous for its distinct finesse, expressing a harmony of ripe black fruits, complemented by svelte tannins and an invigorating mineral backbone. The wine is made from hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes, grown in calcareous-clay soil and matured in French oak barrels. This gentle approach ensures preservation of the elegant fruit character alongside development of a mesmerising complexity.

A wine deserving its Premier Cru status, the Francois Raquillet Mercurey 1er Cru Les Vasees 2018 offers a refined drinking experience and typifies the irrefutable cachet of fine French wines.

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!