Jancis Robinson (19)

I bowed to this bottle. Very deep ruby. Lovely savour. Bones and richness on the end with dry finish. Much, much more grown-up than the Iona. Precise and fresh. Really expressive and gorgeous. Long and stunning now. Bone-dry end.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 2014 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru has a very intense, cold stone and blackberry scented bouquet, moving towards subtle marine like aromas (oyster shells, Crustacea) with time. There is just wonderful precision here. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip in the mouth, firm backbone, a slightly more masculine Musigny with just a hint of savoriness towards the long finish. This is showing great personality even at this early juncture, although of course, it will not even consider reaching its drinking plateau without 8-10 years in bottle. I suspect this Musigny will only gradually open. Tasted November 2016.

Vinous (97-99)

The 2018 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is even darker than the Bonnes-Mares. It has a spectacular bouquet of intense black fruit, blueberries and shucked oyster shells, the mineralité heightened over the Bonnes-Mares and lending a great deal of precision. The palate is medium-bodied with blueberry, boysenberry and black currant fruit, extraordinary tension, razor-sharp acidity and a dash of white pepper on the crystalline finish. One of the finest Musignys I have tasted from barrel at de Vogüé.

Vinous (97-99)

The 2018 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is even darker than the Bonnes-Mares. It has a spectacular bouquet of intense black fruit, blueberries and shucked oyster shells, the mineralité heightened over the Bonnes-Mares and lending a great deal of precision. The palate is medium-bodied with blueberry, boysenberry and black currant fruit, extraordinary tension, razor-sharp acidity and a dash of white pepper on the crystalline finish. One of the finest Musignys I have tasted from barrel at de Vogüé.

Burghound (95-98)

(from an incredible 6.46 ha parcel, which doesn’t include the .67 ha section planted to chardonnay). This too is quite aromatically restrained though aggressive swirling does eventually coax the pure and elegant aromas to emerge and when they do, they are almost a hypothetical blend of the Amoureuses and the Bonnes Mares. The concentrated, powerful and decidedly muscular flavors retain plenty of refinement and minerality that conclude in a wonderfully complex and superbly long finale. The mid-palate texture is akin to rolling rocks around in the mouth and the finish just goes on and on. This too is brilliant, and the word Zen definitely comes to mind. (95-98)/2041+

Burghound (95-98)

(from an incredible 6.46 ha parcel, which doesn’t include the .67 ha section planted to chardonnay). As is often the case, this is aromatically similar to the Chambolle 1er but it’s less expressive and perhaps more densely fruited. There is notably better mid-palate concentration to the substantially sized big-bodied flavors that also possess a positively gorgeous mouthfeel while exuding an abundance of mineral character on the hugely long and impeccably well-balanced and youthfully austere finale. This Zen-like effort is superb and a wine that should also age gracefully over the next two decades. (95-98)/2040+

Vinous (96+)

Deep red with ruby tones. Flamboyantly ripe aromas of black fruits, blood orange, peony and espresso. Huge yet weightless, saturating every square millimeter of the mouth with very ripe dark fruits, minerals and spices. This plush, sweet, extremely unevolved wine is almost monolithic today but the explosive, palate-staining finish suggests that it has a slow and glorious evolution ahead of it. The fruit here was picked with potential alcohol of 13.7%, the same as in 2005.

Vinous (93)

Bright, deep red. Knockout aromas and flavors of black cherry, black raspberry, crushed stone and smoky minerality. Wonderfully deep, tangy and sweet, with a captivating creamy texture making this deceptively tastable today. Impressive today for its volume, and finishes very long, broad and classically dry, with substantial fine-grained tannins. As delicious as this is right now, its overall balance suggests it will reward a decade of aging. For his part, Mugnier says that virtually every vintage of his Musigny needs ten years in the bottle.

Vinous - Stephen Tanzer (93+)

Good medium red. Slightly reduced, reserved aromas of kirsch, minerals and clove. Quite taut in the mouth, and showing much more energy in bottle than it displayed from barrel in November of 2010. The medicinal redcurrant and red cherry fruit flavors are complemented by saline and pronounced spice qualities. Ultimately silky and classy wine, with a long, clinging finish that shows continuing spice character. This needs a good eight to ten years of bottle aging.

Burghound (92-94)

A brooding and beautifully complex nose of spiced plum and a remarkably broad mix of dark berry fruit scents is trimmed in a background application of wood. The opulent, rich, round, velvety and wonderfully refined middle weight flavors display excellent mid-palate density and impressive volume on the superbly long finish where a touch of menthol appears. This too is really very good but note well that it's indisputably built-to-age.

Wine Advocate (98)

The single-vineyard Sorte O Soro had not been produced since 2016, and the 2019 Sorte O Soro is the next vintage after that. This plot has always shown additional elegance, freshness and salinity since he started vinifying it in 2004, because of the altitude (710 meters above sea level) and the north exposure to the Bibei Valley, where the old clone is planted on fine granite sand and quartz soils. Like As Sortes, this Sorte also fermented and matured with lees in new 500-liter French oak barrels for eight months. It has 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.12 and higher acidity (at 7.5 grams) than the rest of the 2019s. It feels very harmonious, elegant and nuanced with some creaminess, with notes of wet pollen and yellow flowers. The palate reflects the soil, with vibrant granite and very fine sand and electric quartz (saline), and it's also round and powerful from the clone that is planted in the vineyard. This vineyard is in the process of being organically and biodynamically certified. 2,240 bottles were filled in September 2020. I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Rafa Palacios in Valdeorras. For him, these are two very good years. 2019 had a mild and dry winter and a rainy and cold spring that delayed budding, followed by a mild summer with fewer hours of sunshine, which meant a delay in the ripening process. Harvest was more than one month later than usual, and the grapes achieved very slow ripening and full development of aromas and flavors while keeping the acidity. The harvest started in October and finished in November. It's a beautiful, homogeneous vintage with very good wines. 2020 saw a moderately cool and rainy winter and a dry and cold spring that resulted in 20% less bunches than in 2019. The summer was also quite dry but, fortunately, not too hot. Given the low yields, maturation was accelerated, and the harvest began at the beginning of September for Louro and from September 25th for As Sortes. Given the scarce water, the plants had to work harder deep down into the soil, which marked the wines; the silica and quartz from the sandy soils of O Bolo shaped a saline identity and the wines achieved a lot of elegance and balance. It's a more heterogeneous vintage, and the higher-altitude vineyards behaved better. The 2020 O Soro is out of this world. He gave me a quick preview of the very cold 2021, a vin de garde vintage but a challenging year with a lot of rain. They are in the process of certifying their vineyards (organic and biodynamic), but they have some problems in the vineyards with neighbors who are not organic, so it will probably be faster for O Soro and Sorte Antiga.

Decanter (98)

Sampled from a vat, this is one of the best As Sortes I have ever tasted, comparable to the iconic 2011. It's a prodigy of subtleness and elegance. Everything is firmly delicate in this wine. Restrained aromas open up parsimoniously, with a steely structure like a great Burgundy, but with flinty acidity almost like Grosses Gewächs from Rheingau. Despite the fact that the sample was not yet bottled, the wine had no oak influence, just the indication that it had been aged, as top Godello must. Rafael Palacios is refining his work year after year, reaching the magic of the greatest wines. A top wine, and one to keep.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2015 O Diviso felt closed, more reticent, and seems more powerful, despite the fact they did a nonextractive vinification; they did nothing and let the wine ferment at its own pace. This matured in one 600-liter oak barrel, and this is the only red that has a slight note from the oak. There is also a relevant amount of Garnacha Tintorera, so the combination of a warm year, the small barrel and the varietal mix resulted in a more austere and backward wine that is going to require more time in bottle. The fruit is darker and the wine is more powerful than the 2014. It might evolve with time in bottle, because it certainly has the stuffing to do so, but today As Caborcas was singing, and I have to give it the edge. 895 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2016.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95-98)

100% whole bunch vinification. Most of the vines date back to 1928-29 with a few from 1989. Glowing imperial purple. The nose mirrors the majesty. Starts discreetly then swells on the palate. The wine is entirely harmonious with perfectly integrated light touch of acidity. It is very far from being massive but it is a beauty nonetheless.