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.

Vinous (100)

Roederer’s 2002 Cristal, from magnum, is just off the charts. What else is there to say? The magnum format is so well-suited to Champagne. As opposed to still wines, which are just aged in glass, for Champagne, the secondary fermentation takes place in the glass. I am convinced that is a major part of what makes Champagne from magnum (or larger) often so compelling. The texture, breadth and overall pedigree here is just remarkable, with layers of apricot, spice, dried flowers and citrus confit that continue to build over time. The 2002 is neither old nor young; it is quite simply eternal. What a great way to start the night. Wow!

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.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Château Margaux is really beginning to hit its stride at age 31, soaring from the glass with aromas of blackberries and cassis mingled with notions of licorice, cedar and violets, framed by subtle hints of vanilla and spice. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's seamless and complete, its velvety tannins and ripe acids entirely cloaked in a lavish but vibrant core of fruit. This is an especially dramatic, fleshy rendition of Margaux, yet it remains impeccably balanced and has decades of longevity ahead of it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Halliday Wine Companion (98)

Sourced from Coonawarra, Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully and the Adelaide Hills; the fermentation is completed in new American oak hogsheads, whereafter it is matured in those hogsheads for 14 months. There is amazing depth to the purple-crimson colour. Its full-bodied colours are nailed to the mast immediately the wine enters the mouth; it’s strange how the cabernet of this wine marries with the American oak, providing the ultimate Christmas cake of aromas and flavours; one of its great strengths is the tannin structure that gives the wine its exceptional length (and mouthfeel along the way).

Wine Advocate (99)

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2012 Grange sports an earthy/meaty nose with notes of tree bark, dusty earth, underbrush and chargrill over a core of dried mulberries and Christmas cake, plus hints of pepper and baking spices. Rich, medium to full-bodied and seductive, it has spicy layers and a long meaty/savory finish.

Wine Advocate (96+)

The 2012 Shiraz St Henri is very impressive with its elegant, sophisticated and well-crafted expression of this superb vintage. As always, there is no new oak employed here, simply 50+ year old large oak vats. This vintage has a dollop (3%) Cabernet Sauvignon, contributing a lovely cassis lift to the heady perfume. Deep garnet-purple colored, it displays a gorgeous nose of commendable purity and intensity with notes of red and blackcurrants, freshly crushed blackberries, menthol, cinnamon stick, bacon fat and cloves. Rich and already expressive on the palate, it is nonetheless built for the long haul with firm, ripe and grainy tannins carrying the fruit to a long and layered finish. This should be a long-lived St Henri that should cellar gracefully for at least 2 decades.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Petrus remains incredibly young, one of the least evolved wines of the vintage (along with Montrose and Beausejour-Duffau). This dense ruby/purple-colored effort is beginning to hint at the massive richness and full-bodied intensity lurking beneath its wall of tannin. The vintage’s sweetness, low acidity, and velvety tannins are present in abundance, and the wine is massive in the mouth as well as incredibly pure and well-delineated. I thought it would be drinkable by now, but it appears another 5-10 years will pass before it begins to reach its plateau of maturity. This wine is capable of lasting at least four more decades. An incredible achievement! Release price: ($5000.00/case)

Wine Enthusiast (98)

This single vineyard, one of the steepest in Champagne, produces fabulous wines. Richness restrained by the minerality from the terroir is balanced by the structured Pinot Noir fruits that bring touches of toast, spice and white fruits. Drink through 2025 at least.

Wine Enthusiast (96)

This grand cru wine is named in celebration of the date of the Philipponnat family's arrival in the village of Aÿ. It is a mature blend of 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, proportions that are typical of this producer on the Montagne de Reims. Rich, lightly toasty with green-apple and pear flavors, the wine is ready to drink.

Wine Enthusiast (96)

This grand cru wine is named in celebration of the date of the Philipponnat family's arrival in the village of Aÿ. It is a mature blend of 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, proportions that are typical of this producer on the Montagne de Reims. Rich, lightly toasty with green-apple and pear flavors, the wine is ready to drink.

Wine Advocate (96)

"Why has the non-vintage concept largely been reserved to entry-level wines?" pondered Péters, and he decided to produce a new cuvée to change that. Based on the 2012 Les Chétillons and supplemented by wine from the family's long-established perpetual reserve, the NV L’Étonnant Monsieur Victor Edition MK 12 is the latest rendition, and it's showing very well, opening in the glass with aromas of lemon oil, warm bread, white flowers, crushed chalk, oyster shells and wheat toast. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, with superb concentration, racy acids and a precise, intensely saline finish.

Wine Advocate (93+)

Unfurling in the glass with incipiently complex aromas of citrus oil, wheat toast, fresh peach and crisp orchard fruit, the newly released 2012 Vintage Brut is full-bodied, deep and tightly wound, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a fine mousse, concluding with a long and penetrating finish. Even though it's still a little reserved after its recent disgorgement

Decanter (98)

Best in Show Award Pale gold in colour; very fine mousse. Fresh, pure and invigorating aromas in which green apple and citrus slowly give way to subtle, soft brioche, ivy leaf and plant sap; just a brush stroke of cream behind. This is a lean, pure Champagne of perfectly poised ripeness and restraint, very long in flavour, with the creamy richness of autolysis perfectly judged -- supportive but in no way obtrusive. The minority Chardonnay still takes a leading role at this stage; the majority Pinot Noir provides a pure frame and canvas. Exciting now, but don't hurry to drink, even though it already has a decade and a half behind it: there are further rewards ahead.

Vinous (95)

The 2012 Barolo Bussia Dardi Le Rose is another fabulous wine from Poderi Colla. Deep, layered and quite giving at the moment, the 2012 has more than enough depth to drink well for many years to come. It is perhaps not as pedigreed as the 2013 tasted alongside it, but it is very, very close. In fact, this is one of the highlights of the vintage.

James Suckling (97)

This is a deep and profound 2002 with such fine bubbles that have the texture of fine silk. Full body. Extremely dense and compact. Just rolls over your palate. Superb quality and satisfaction, after all this time. Drink now.