French

"This shows fabulous length with a chocolate, berry and mineral undertone. Licorice and currants too. Full body yet refined with seamless tannins. ...

There was little to harvest in Mercurey or Montrachet. Givry had no frost and enjoyed a very good, even great, harvest, as did Corton. Pernand saw ...

"Bright, dark red-ruby. Tight, high-pitched nose suggests blackberry, licorice, mint and flowers, complicated by oak spices and an inky nuance. Ric...

"1998 was a late flowering year but the grapes achieved perfect ripeness by harvest time. It's an excellent vintage that's generally known as a Rig...

"Juicy and direct, with bright cassis and cherry compote notes and red licorice and sweet tobacco flavors. Offers a flash of garrigue that keeps it...

"Cherry blossoms, licorice, spice, and kirsch notes are available with ease. Fresh, medium-bodied, and loaded with sweet, ripe, red fruits that exp...

"My favorite of the 2005s from Chapoutier, the 2005 Ermitage Le Pavillon is a heavenly wine that comes from one of the greatest sites for Syrah in ...

"The 2006 Ermitage L’Ermite is more focused and reserved compared to the Pavillon, offering beautiful crushed rock-like minerality as well as a mas...

"This is really beautiful and decadent with mushroom, chocolate, plum and sliced-meat character. Even some foie gras. Full-bodied, tight and linear...

"Once again, the 2005 Clos L'Eglise is fabulous. Deep, bold and luscious, the 2005 delivers the goods, and then some. Sweet red cherry fruit, plum,...

Domaine Bernard-Bonin has been managed since 1998 by Nicolas Bernard and Véronique Bonin, daughter of the renowned Michelot family. The estate span...

"Pichon Baron 2004 impresses by its youthful energy and a floral bouquet brimming with black fruit including cherry. Aeration reveals a delightful ...

"The 2009 Corton is a showstopper. The huge, boisterous bouquet is the first sign the Corton is just as dazzling from bottle as it was from barrel....

"Inky, bluish/black/purple, with notes of spring flowers, licorice, camphor, graphite, and a boatload of blueberry, black raspberry and blackberry ...

"An open, loosely knit style, this white shows ample baking spice notes of vanilla, clove and nutmeg around the core of lemon and apple fruit." - W...

"A classic St.-Emilion, the 2010 from Grand-Pontet is dense purple and ripe, with loads of black cherry, plum, fig and vanillin notes. The wine has...

"The wood element is important here, but it is based on a firm Cabernet Sauvignon structure, dry but rich tannins. The wine is a great success for ...

"The 2016 Suduiraut is fabulous. Crème brulée, passion fruit, tangerine peel and exotic floral notes all race out of the glass. I marvel at how Sud...

"The 1989 Le Pavilion is a prodigious wine. Made from yields of 14 hectoliters per hectare, this parcel of old vines (averaging 70-80 years of age)...

"Combining power with great elegance, this wine displays superripe, rich fruits that are restrained by velvet tannins and the delicious perfumed ch...

"Similar in style to the blockbuster 2005, the 2009 Pavie is another magical, legendary wine from the Perse family that tops out on my scale. Made ...

"I loved this vintage of Haut Brion en primeur and am so happy that it has more than lived up to expectations now that it is well into its sec...

"This a Petrus with extraordinary balance and depth. It shows such elegance in the nose with complexity of black olives, dark fruits, and flowers. ...

"It is hard to call Petrus a 'sleeper of the vintage,' but the 2008 will merit more attention than most consumers would think. Low yields of 30 hec...

"The 2005 Château Angelus has been absolute pure perfection every time I’ve been lucky enough to taste it, surpassing the 1990 and rivaling the 200...

"Another absolute legend in the vintage is the 2005 Château Pape Clément, which is just now starting to hit prime time. Based on 55% Merlot and 45%...

"The 2016 Canon makes it a double slam-dunk for head winemaker Nicolas Audebert and his team, as it is the second of two ethereal wines that will p...

"The 2012 Romanee-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru comes from 0.48-hectares of vine planted back in 1920 It already boasts a show-stopping mineral-rich bouqu...

"The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Alexis Establet is pure Grenache raised in a combination of foudres, demi-muids and new barriques. It's a riche...

This Puligny-Montrachet, from 40-year-old Chardonnay vines on calcareous clay below Bâtard and Bienvenues-Bâtard, is manually harvested and aged 18...

"Immediate depth to the aromas of dark cherries, plums and blackberries with subtly spicy and cedary oak amid stony, minerally accents. The pa...

"The complex, explosively fragrant 1999 Cheval Blanc is a blend of 59% Merlot and 41% Cabernet Franc. It is already showing well, which is a good s...

"This is certainly one of the stars of the vintage. With its solid tannins and dark, smoky character, it is going to be powerful, but with such ele...

"This has fine density, but there's also a supple, silky appeal. Combine that with saturated flavors of black currant, bilberry, violet and mineral...

"Very saturated red-ruby. Bright, sweet black raspberry and cassis nose. Very sweet and intensely flavored, but bracing acidity gives the wine grea...

"For many, this vineyard offers the purest form of Pinot Noir, a seductive, opulent style, with rich fruits dominant, the powerful acidity deceptiv...

"The RSV has a refined, well-defined bouquet with light strawberry, rosemary, boysenberry and rose petals. The palate is medium-bodied and very fin...

"Bottled after over a decade of maturation on the lees in tank, Defaix's 2007 Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon is drinking brilliantly, offering up aromas o...

"For readers who may not be familiar with the wines of this domaine, they are a kind of a stylistic throw back to older times. There is no artifice...

"Don't Miss! The most complex nose of any of these wines with violets, plum, anise, underbrush, black fruit and smoked meat that is followed by cla...

"The 1982 La Tour Haut-Brion, which I have tasted numerous times, has long been one of the lesser-known gems of the vintage. This bottle was, incid...

"Showing much more evolved and open from bottle than barrel, the 2009 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul is ...

"This vintage which was immediately acknowledged in Bordeaux as a great success, developed very slowly in bottle, especially those wines that were ...

"This is very fine and racy with refined tannins that are long and really precise. It’s medium-bodied with a lovely, creamy texture. Really long an...

"Spicy and structured, this is a classic Saint-Estèphe. Big tannins are boldly paired with the potential of the ripe black currant fruits that are ...

"The nose is impressively rich with an opulence and sexiness with earth, berry, spice and chocolate character. Black truffles! Full body, with seam...