Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)

One of a handful of single vineyard châteaux in Champagne, now being made by Leclerc-Briant (although they are not owners). Crisp, clean, touches of green apple on the nose but there is weight behind this and it opens to show plenty of quince, hazlenut, biscuit and flaky pastry character, not quite as far as brioche at this point although it will develop over the next few years. The first wine to be released under the new regime, with Hervé Jestin chef de cave, as for Leclerc-Briant (he was in fact already making wine here under the previous owners). Ageing in neutral oak casks, biodynamic viticulture. 2.5ha of vines, 12%abv. Tasted twice, loved it both times, powerful depth of flavour. Brut zero (2g/l dosage), Blanc de Blancs, 100% Grand Cru.

Meticulously crafted in the esteemed Poggio Antico estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, the Lemartine Poggio Antico 2012 honours Italian viticulture at its finest. This Brunello offers robust depth of character, attributed to the specific terroir's clay-limestone profile - ideal for Sangiovese grapes. Produced using eco-sustainable processes, the wine celebrates the land’s richness, tradition, and affinity for excellence.

The wine first undergoes a meticulous selection process and maceration. Aged for three years in large Slavonian oak barrels, it further rests in the bottle for several months, enhancing its elegant complexity. Marked by a deep garnet colour, it exhibits fragrant notes of ripe cherries, tobacco, and subtle hints of leather.

The winemaking tradition in Lemartine Poggio Antico, dating back to the eighteenth century, ensures each bottle captures the ethereal essence of Tuscany’s allure. An embodiment of devotion to quality, the Lemartine Poggio Antico 2012 is a paragon of treasured Italian craftsmanship.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (92)

The 2012 Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is dark, voluptuous and immediate. A burst of sweet red plums, smoke, graphite, licorice and tobacco hits the palate. The tannins are sweet but also energetic. Extroverted in style, the 2012 also has enough depth and overall density to drink well for another decade or so. Rose petal, iron and white pepper add the final shades of nuance. Here in its first vintage, Les Griffons is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot.

Vinous (94+)

Good deep ruby. Rich aromas of currant and graphite minerality. Lush, round and large-scaled, with strong rocky and mineral qualities adding interest to its very sexy flavors of black raspberry and spices. Dry, classic, powerful cabernet whose broad tannins are amazingly supple for Mount Veeder. Finishes subtle and extremely long. An excellent vintage for this bottling, which is from vines planted at 1,700 feet.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder is as compelling a Cabernet Sauvignon as one could ever hope to taste. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a high-elevation site boasts an inky/purple color, and smells of ink, blueberry liqueur, blackberries, black raspberries, mulberries, licorice, charcoal and camphor. With magnificent fruit richness, a layered, full-bodied mouthfeel, and incredible length, this seamlessly constructed 2012 should provide immense pleasure for 25+ years. Kudos to winemaker Chris Carpenter as he is clearly at the top of his game.

Tim Atkin MW (94)

Serious and concentrated, at least by the standards of some López de Heredia reds, this reflects the heat of the 2009 vintage. Tempranillo-based with 30% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, it’s spicy, savoury and high toned with grippy tannins, layers of tobacco and red fruits and classic, supporting acidity. 2021-30

Vinous (93-95)

The 2012 Clos Vougeot is one of the most impressive of the Grand Crus I tasted at Jadot this year. Powerful, rich and layered, the 2012 has more than enough fruit to balance the tannins. Dark red fruit, scorched earth, chalk and iron are all layered into the supple, racy finish. This is a surprisingly finessed Clos Vougeot. Hints of rose petal and mint add lift on the close. There is so much to admire here.

Jeb Dunnuck (97)

The 2009 Cristal is a beauty, with incredible richness as well as elegance, which are the hallmarks of this cuvée. Always a rough blend of 60/40 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from estate vineyards, it has a toasty, yet pure bouquet of stone fruits, rising bread, white flowers, and toasted bread, as well as a terrific sense of chalky minerality. While it’s not built around sheer richness and power (à la Krug), it’s perfectly balanced, has a fine, fine mousse, and shines for its class and purity. Bravo! It’s going to keep for another two decades.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (98)

The 2012 Cristal is the first made entirely from biodynamically farmed vineyards. Passionfruit, mango, spice and ginger open first, but it is the wine’s textural richness and volume that stand out most. The 2012 is one of the most opulent, flamboyant recent Cristals. Those qualities feel especially amplified in this tasting, perhaps because of the presence of wines from the surrounding vintages. It was a complicated season, as mildew reduced yields significantly, resulting in an especially rich Cristal that seems to be gaining intensity with time in bottle. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: 2020.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (98)

The 2012 Cristal is the first made entirely from biodynamically farmed vineyards. Passionfruit, mango, spice and ginger open first, but it is the wine’s textural richness and volume that stand out most. The 2012 is one of the most opulent, flamboyant recent Cristals. Those qualities feel especially amplified in this tasting, perhaps because of the presence of wines from the surrounding vintages. It was a complicated season, as mildew reduced yields significantly, resulting in an especially rich Cristal that seems to be gaining intensity with time in bottle. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: 2020.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades.

James Suckling (96)

Just over two-thirds pinot noir (Verzenay) and the balance southeast-facing chardonnay from Chouilly. This has 30% of oak fermentation which has compressed the wine, lending it an air of extreme concentration. The nose is gently spicy, offering peaches and cherries as well as neat autolysis edge. The palate has a powerful, long and assertive feel, with peach and lemon pith, chalky minerals, and some grapefruit. A powerful vintage for Roederer.

Vinous (96)

The 2012 Barolo Le Vigne, here in a library release, is still a very young wine. Bright acids lift a core of red fruit in a Barolo that impresses with its vibrancy. Spice, blood orange, mint, rose petal and lavender open with a bit of time in the glass. The 2012 showed quite a bit of potential as a young wine, now, that potential is really starting to come through. This is a terrific showing.

The Wine Cellar Insider (100)

If you are wondering what heaven in a glass feel, smells and tastes like, look no further. This is everything a great wine needs. The texture is pure silk and velvet. And speaking of purity, the fruit delivers that in spades. The sensual texture really brings everything together. If you have a bottle and can wait another decade, as good as this is today, it will be even better!

The Wine Cellar Insider (100)

If you are wondering what heaven in a glass feel, smells and tastes like, look no further. This is everything a great wine needs. The texture is pure silk and velvet. And speaking of purity, the fruit delivers that in spades. The sensual texture really brings everything together. If you have a bottle and can wait another decade, as good as this is today, it will be even better!

Immerse yourself in the sublime intricacy of the Mischief & Mayhem Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Brulees 2012. This revolutionary creation hails from the illustrious vineyards of Vosne-Romanée, located in the heart of France's revered Burgundy region. Handcrafted by Mischief and Mayhem, a well-established and respected multinational team of wine experts, this 2012 vintage exemplifies the pinnacle of their passion for Viticulture and arbiters of sensual delight.

The wine is artfully assembled from hand-harvested, carefully selected 100% Pinot Noir grapes. The Mischief & Mayhem Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Brulees 2012 presents a mélange of luscious dark fruit aromas, delicately laced with enchanting earthy, smoky notes, beautifully balanced by fine-grained tannins and elegant acidity. Its sumptuous taste and lavish bouquet finish impeccably with a persistent, textured finish.

Enrich your collection with Mischief & Mayhem Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Brulees 2012: a quintessentially French expression of peerless wine craftsmanship.

The Wine Independent (100)

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2009 Montrose prances out with showy notes of blackcurrant preserves, blackberry pie, dark chocolate, anise, and violets with touches of menthol and fallen leaves. The medium to full-bodied is jam packed with impactful black fruit preserves, supported by firm, ripe, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing with epic length and wonderfully fragrant.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

#23 in top 100 wines of 2015 This is a beautifully opulent wine, great Mouton in its richness and succulent fruits. It's combines structure and obvious new-wood aging with hugely ripe black plum and currant flavors. While it is a pleasure to taste now, there is a great tannic structure in the background to give the sense of power and aging potential. Drink from 2024.

Experience the riveting allure of the distinguished Oreste Stefano Barolo Perno 2012, a timeless exemplar of the Piemonte region's grandeur. Produced by Oreste Stefano - a cellarer famed for a meticulous approach, this Barolo is a sumptuous homage to traditional vinification. Assembled entirely from Nebbiolo grapes, this vintage embodies a divine synthesis of finesse and potency.

Matured in Slavonian oak barrels, the Oreste Stefano Barolo Perno 2012 offers an opulent tapestry of harmonised tannins, combined with a brilliant acidity countenance. Its olfactory profile is a graceful serenade of roses, cherries, and hint of licorice. On the palate, one can expect a full-bodied wine with a seamless balance of ripe red fruits, laced subtly with earthy undertones.

Crafted in the verdant swathes of Barolo Perno, famed for its calcareous-clay matrix, this stellar wine faithfully represents the terrains' unique microclimate, culminating in a lasting, elegant finish.

Wine Enthusiast (94)

This powerful wine is dense with rich tannins and black fruits that are balanced. Full and concentrated, it's a wine with great potential.

James Suckling (97)

A tight and silky red with compacted fruit and tannin texture featuring blackcurrant, mushroom and bark undertones. Full body, firm tannins and a minerally finish. Excellent structure and mouthfeel. A cooler style of Ornellaia, bringing it back to the classicism of this celebrated region. Bordeaux blend. Better in 2018.

Jeb Dunnuck (94)

The 2009 Pagodes De Cos is a blockbuster that I wish I had more of in the cellar. A blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest mostly Merlot (there’s a small amount of Petit Verdot) brought up in roughly 50% new French oak, its deep purple/plum color is followed by a smorgasbord of black raspberry and kirsch like fruits, spice box, dried flowers and licorice. With a huge mid-palate, sweet, sweet tannin, beautiful purity of fruit, and a great finish, it’s an incredibly sexy, satisfying second wine that will keep for another 10-15 years.

Decanter (94)

Notes of dried fruit and candied lemon dance out of the glass, with aromas of fresh pastry and ginger spice. There’s also a distinctive toasted hazelnut element with a honeyed richness developing. Initial freshness is there, reflecting the lovely balance of this fine 2012 vintage, while textural creaminess evolves into toffee caramel on the generous, spicy finish. There’s more Pinot Noir (49%) in this blend, from the north-facing slopes of Verzenay and Mailly, and that’s helping the freshness, with the Villers-Marmery Chardonnay providing the silky, mid-palate richness. A difficult growing year with a very cold, wet spring and wet summer, was saved by sunny weather in the last couple of weeks before picking and resulted in a small, concentrated, ripe harvest, widely compared with top predecessors like 2002 and 1990. Tasted from magnum. Dosage: 7g/L. Disgorged: November 2020. 49% Pinot Noir from Mailly and Verzenay; 46% Chardonnay from Trépail and Villers-Marmery; 5% Meunier from Ludes, Chigny-les-Rosé and Rilly-la-Montagne.

Vinous (94)

The 2012 Barolo Ginestra Riserva is gorgeous. Fresh, aromatic and beautifully lifted, the 2012 is all grace. Ginestra Barolos are often brawny and powerful. Conterno's 2012 stands out for its sensuality, finesse and total sense of harmony. Bright acids perk up a core of sweet red berry fruit as the 2012 gradually reveals its many charms.

Wine Advocate (100)

Deep garnet in color, the 2009 Pavie drifts effortlessly and profoundly from the glass with baked plums, spice cake, sandalwood, Black Forest cake and blueberry pie scents followed up with a fragrant undercurrent of potpourri, unsmoked cigars and bouquet garni. Full-bodied, rich and plush, this is pure seduction in the mouth, offering a taut yet velvety texture and oodles of freshness to frame the opulent fruit, finishing very long and mineral laced.

Pazo Senorans Rias Baixas Albarino Seleccion Anada 2012 is the latest released vintage of the wonderful white, and we can rest assured that it is a wine of immense personality. Awarded 98 points from the Peñin Guide, the leading wine magazine in Spain, this sings with fascinating notes of “white fruit, citrus fruit, fine lees, petrol”. It possesses a richly flavourful and elegant palate ending with a lengthy finish.