Château Les Grands Chênes
Domaine Georges Noëllat
Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru Pinot Noir 2015
Complex evolving with hints of caramel yet also dried and ripened fruit. So lovely. — 2 months ago
Domaine François Buffet
Clos des Chênes Volnay 1er Cru Pinot Noir 2023
Glory is this wine. Just one of the best wines in Burgundy now. After the 22 I had large expectations and this surpassed them. Nose is just bananas. Not literal bananas. The other type of bananas. The most complex cherry diaspora. Sour, mid season, late season and black. Spice galore and florals up the wazoo. Earth, limestone, dead leaves, living leaves and wet leaves. The nose is a 9.8 on the pop and pour. Just insane. Wild mint. What stands out the most is the layering and the clarity. Also the breadth. Wow that inner mouth perfume and endless, boundless energy that has the same fruit energy as La Tache. What I mean by that is this wine, yes can be about minerals as CDC is rocky, but man the fruit in 22 and now 23 is just in another register. Sappy, poised and clear as the sky is blue on a cloudless day. Yes the tannins are firm but you know with air they will melt into the fruit. The nobility of this site never fails to blow me away. Unreal concentration and density and just insane length. The tannins are velvety, sweet and intense but so so high class. Nose has so much florality, spice and red cherry fruit one cannot believe it. This is just insane. It’s almost a perfect wine. The balance is just beyond and the structure is incredible. This is a 50 year CDC. What a finish. Let’s see where this goes. After an hour the nose is remarkable. So deep, so nuanced, so spicy, so floral. Provocative. Palate is silky, sweet and so dense. Pumps the fruit out like an old set of Wilson Puppies. Unreal balance and purity. But this is built like a brick house. Let’s see where this goes. Will unfurl more but it’s a slow one! The concentration and tiny berry fruit intensity is off the charts. Now after 17 hours open its nose is full blown complex and flat out stunning. The cherry trifecta of sour/mid season and black. Mint and bramble plus wonderful and gorgeous sous bois. Stoney as well. All velvety bramble and such elegant and ripe tannin. A wave. Stunning inner mouth aromas, tiny berry fruit intensity and stunning purity. This seems like it’s more classic than the 22. Even on day 3 this is stunning. Lost nothing. — 16 days ago
Egly-Ouriet
Cuvée des Grands Côtés Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes Coteaux Champenois Ambonnay Pinot Noir 2012
No doubt the finest Coteaux in all of Champagne, it’s particularly special to find this wine with some bottle age. From south facing 60+ year old vines in Ambonnay, 2012 is showing beautifully, drinking like a top notch red burg, perfumed, silky and pure with soft tannins and saline-mineral inflicted finale. Special wine. — a month ago
Emmanuel Darnaud
Les Trois Chênes Crozes-Hermitage Syrah 2020
Youthful medium-dark color, great red and blackfruit aromas and flavors, excellent balancing acidity, still shows quite a bit of structure, but tannins are not harsh, I’d guess 3-5 more years of further aging is merited, but it may last much longer than that, long, lingering finish, excellent Crozes!! — 25 days ago
Conrad Green
Wow. Just amazing nose- roses, plum, red flowers, lifted cherry. Heartbreakingly beautiful and lifted. The palate is still pure and intense. Defined with incredible limpid definition… violets and length. Wonderful — 11 days ago