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New Releases from Champagne (Dec 2008)

The estate’s 2003 Grand Vintage offers attractive notes of honey, smoke, apricots, with a full-bodied, generous personality. There is good length here, yet slightly bitter tannins on the finish detract from the wine’s overall balance.

A Century of…Fives (Jun 2025)

The 2005 Gruaud Larose, which was decanted for 30 minutes upon my request, replicated its performance a couple of years ago. This was the final vintage to include Malbec (1%). It has a very “useful” bouquet of blackberry, juniper berries and cedar that opens with vigour in the glass with satisfying intensity. The palate is…

A Century of…Fives (Jun 2025)

The 2005 Gruaud Larose, which was decanted for 30 minutes upon my request, replicated its performance a couple of years ago. This was the final vintage to include Malbec (1%). It has a very “useful” bouquet of blackberry, juniper berries and cedar that opens with vigour in the glass with satisfying intensity. The palate is…

2025 Tuscany Preview (Feb 2025)

The 2022 Sassicaia is a very pretty, expressive wine. There’s a bit more Cabernet Sauvignon (and less Franc) in this year’s blend, and that really comes through in the wine’s flavor profile and slightly bruising tannins. Dark cherry, plum, leather, licorice, graphite and incense give the 2022 striking aromatic presence to match its rather brooding…

A Burgundy Intermezzo (Jul 2024)

The 2022 Meursault Sous Le Dos d’Ane 1er Cru is clean and precise on the nose with hazelnut and light fumé aromas. The bouquet is focused and gains intensity with aeration. The palate is fresh and saline, a little Puligny-like in terms of the green apples towards the brisk, sapid finish. Lovely.

Power and Energy: The 2018 and 2017 Northern Rhônes (Apr 2020)

Deep, glistening violet color. Highly perfumed aromas of fresh black/blue fruits, exotic spices, peony, vanilla and incense are complemented by a smoky mineral nuance. Juicy and expansive in the mouth, displaying alluringly sweet, mineral-tinged blueberry, cherry preserve and floral pastille flavors along with hints of licorice and cola. The floral and spice notes repeat emphatically…