The 2018 Scharzhofberger Auslese (AP #8) is coolish, clear, intense and concentrated on the flinty and even rocky nose with its crunchy notes of broken slate and lemon juice. On the palate, this is a generous, highly elegant and refined, beautifully balanced and salty-crystalline Auslese with concentrated but detailed, elegant fruit, finely grained minerals and a long, complex finish. An impressive, great vin de terroir. Tasted in June 2019. Drink date: 2020-2070. Score - 97. (Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, Aug. 30, 2019)
This is all about purity, with cherries, strawberries, spices, sandalwood, iodine, seashells and black truffles on the nose. Full-bodied but so balanced and focused, with layering and vertically that go on and on. The nebbiolo character is intense and gorgeous. Some pure fruit at the end, with notes of flint and gunpowder. Best after 2027, but it's already a joy to taste. Score - 98. (jamessuckling.com, Aug. 16, 2024)
Sourced from vines ranging from 31 to 36 years of age, this wine has good balance and presence, with a fine intensity of red fruit, cherry and earth. Still young, it will drink through 2050.
Packaged with the red label, the Bruno Giacosa 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Asili was a little shy when I tasted it, but it clearly has the runway for long cellar aging. It opens to a medium-plus texture with a darker hue of ruby red. The tannins are elegant and fine, and although this was a warm vintage, the fruit feels very fresh and taut. You get good structure and firm tannins to carry it over the long term. Drink date: 2027-2055. Score - 96. (Monica Larner, robertparker.com, Jan. 30, 2025)
This opens beautifully on the nose, with strawberries, cherries and some flint, terra cotta, peaches and orange peel. Medium- to full-bodied with ultra-fine tannins that are ready. The consistency and length are so beautiful. You can drink this now, but it will age for decades and always satisfy. Available in January 2025. Try on release, but it's going to be much better in three or four years. Score - 99. (jamessuckling.com, Aug. 16, 2024)
Floral and quite big, with cherry, cassis and excellent structure. Characterful and fine. Drink through mid-2030s.
This wine comes from vines 28-34 years of age and is quite rich and intense, with ripe dark fruit, crushed flowers and sweet spices. Drink into early 2030s.
The Bruno Giacosa 2022 Barbaresco Asili is hitting the market now. It was bottled on the 15th of July, 2024. This elegant wine shows the finely tuned and nuanced essence of Asili with its fine soils. It opens to a bright ruby color and delivers chalky tannins that retain their tension and grippy feel. On the close, you get hints of violets and blue flower. This is a very terroir-driven wine, but it needs more time in bottle to fully express itself. Drink date: 2027-2050. Score - 95. (Monica Larner, robertparker.com, Jan. 30, 2025)
From a 1.6ha vineyard with vine age averaging 74 years, this is a very classy, exacting Cotes de Nuits Villages. Has the deeper colour of Nuits with lovely nose of blackcurrant/raspberry, violet, nutmeg and distant wood smoke. It is medium weight, quite firm and mineral but not at all austere. The length is excellent. Very classy. Best over the next decade. Tasted March 2025 Score - 93. (David Lawrason, winealign.com)
Clos De La Chapelle is a south-eastern facing clay-limestone half hectare parcel at 230m of elevation planted in 2012. The chardonnay ages in second and third use French wood for a much fuller expression and one that surprises with its depth and breadth. A chewy one and all this to suggest that the parcel (with quite the famous French vineyard name) is a special one - likely a block that Nicolas Patel had is eye on for some time. Well now he has a piece and this is the one to stock up on because subsequent vintages will surely rise quickly in price and exponentially over time. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted March 2025. Score - 92. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
The Scharzhofberg plantings owned by the Müller family are unique even to this singular hill of 28 hectares. The 8.5 hectares owned by the Müllers is exposed to a unique microclimate that is unusually cool and has slightly less temperature fluctuation than neighboring plantings. Consistently great wines year after year.
Dark and brooding on the nose, reserved and still in a reductive state, this is very evidently a long way off from prime enjoyment. The palate, however, points the way forward to future harmony and integration, offering a superior dimension of flavours and saliva-inducing succulence, of energy and vibrancy. Reverberations of the earth rumble across the palate, and the body; there's clearly something special underfoot here, a tsunami of terroir, of place. The finish lingers on and on - this is special. Taste this to understand what terroir is all about, but not before 2030 for maximum revelation. Tasted March 2025. Score - 97. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)
Aux Chaignots is a newer and pint-sized 0.14 hectare plot of Premier Cru Nuits-Saint-Georges in the northerly Côte d'Or upslope and within a limestone throw over to those in the village of Vosne-Romanée. Makes for the most two-toned, dual-textured Bourgogne of the lot, at one crisp and crunchy and then chewy, from exterior to interior. Reminds somewhat of the formidable 2020 and its striking tannins, both capable of unleashing and crashing their power over our palates with impunity and trenchant intention. Of course this 2023 remains in an immovable state, grippy and suggestive of a hands off approach for a minimum five years post vintage. More would be the suggestion because the fortification is a secure one and there is really no sense trying to break down barriers that do not want to be broken down. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted March 2025. Score - 96. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
Les Quartiers De Nuits is yet another minuscule plot of a vineyard identified and chosen by Nicolas Potel, not quite one-third of a hectare, planted 96 years before this 2023 harvest. An early one for the most part, before the cold winds move in and ahead of Grand Cru neighbours like that of Echezeaux and Clos de Vougeot. There is a bit of mean intensity and streak in this singular, lieu-dit cru of a Bourgogne. The tannins are fierce, they lash upon the palate with severity and therefore the necessity to give time will become the requiem to success. Les Quartiers De Nuits is no shrinking violet and in fact the mix of botanical verdancy and bitters make up a formula which could never be solved in the first few years. The stuffing can't be denied and the objective is perspicuous. Stay clear for a while. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted March 2025. Score - 93. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
Ode to a matriarch and the height of quality but also importance within the Beaune reds made at Domaine de Bellene. More closed than the Savigny and Volnay, stricter and more tightly wound. Not exactly a matter of density but it does feel more compact and yet restricted to say that these vineyards produce fruit of a higher skin to flesh ratio. The extraction and maceration follow suit to establish an unyielding compression that will take some years to unravel and eventually expose the true nature of the fruit. Expect a truly fleshy Beaune Premier Cru somewhere ahead between three and for years time. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted March 2025. Score - 93. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
This old vine 1er Cru Savigny shows surprisingly deep colour. The nose is lifted, fragrant and floral (lily), with very ripe strawberry/cherry jam, baked plum (actually thought of grenache) barrel spice and toast. It is a mouthful - rich, warm, smooth and refined at the same time. Real power here, with fine tannin balance - almost seamless, and excellent length. Some minerality as well. The length is outstanding. A real mouthful! Tasted March 2025 Score - 95. (David Lawrason, winealign.com)
Old vineyards from Nuits-Saint-Georges takes the Côte de Nuits ideal to a positive, furthered and more substantial place with a pulpy, fleshy and next agglomerated tier of fruit. Not all old vines are created equal and so imagine those from NSG to hold more wisdom but also more agility without any creak or crick to their bones. That's what you notice and feel from this 2023 expression, a fullness but also a pliability that shows greater layering and integration between the fruit and structure. The elasticity of movement means more malleability, food pairing ability and longevity. Great showing for this cuvée. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted March 2025. Score - 94. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
One the smaller lieu-dits from which Nicolas Potel draws fruit, a small 0.415 hectare plot planted in 1985 up against the village and vineyards of Pommard. Nearing forty years of age at this stage and so essentially old vines to say that experience and concentration are by now a given. The fantasy of fragrance is the initial grace of this fine and focused pinot noir, a veritable roses and Bougainvillea of perfume that leads towards more impression abroad the palate. There is a moment of sanguine, clay-earthy fromage and the complexity perceived feels like a foraged find, a Russula Rosea if you will, as opposed to the inedible Sanguinaria. Good bones complete the picture for this right proper Volnay. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted March 2025. Score - 93. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
Old vines (meaning 40-plus years of age) are the source for a Villages-level Savigny-les-Beaune that fulfills the quality quota of the vintage. Simply executed because hue conspires with mouthfeel using acidity as the catalyst to achieve overall structure. A crisp, crunchy and herbaceous Savigny, certainly less refined than the Premier Cru (Hommage à Jean Ferté) but worthy in its own right because of ample fruit maturity and accumulation. Quite tannic on the follow-through to tell us 2027 and beyond are when the wine will become open for business. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted March 2025. Score - 91. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
Good substance and depth for 'basic' Bourgogne, thanks to the old vines - in this case from a single 3.7ha site with average vine age of 67 years. It shows quite ripe cherry/raspberry fruit, a touch of violet, barrel toast, spice and vanilla. Although not specified it seems to me to be more a Cotes de Nuits style. It is medium weight, quite firm and voluminous with good acidity and some heat. More mineral. Excellent length. Best 2027 to 2035. Score - 92. (David Lawrason, winealign.com)