La Place’s hors Bordeaux 2026 spring collection: tasting notes

Following his assessment of the upcoming spring hors Bordeaux campaign on La Place, which features wines from as far afield as Italy, Chile, Argentina, the US, France, Spain and China, db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay gives his verdict on the releases. 

Tasting notes by region 

French releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Bourgogne Pinot Fin	2024	Burgundy	89
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Marsannay Les Champs Perdrix	2024	Burgundy	91
Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes	2024	Burgundy	93
Domaine Ampeau Auxey-Duresses	1999	Burgundy	90
Domaine Ampeau Pommard	2002	Burgundy	88
Domaine de Roure (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné)	2015	Rhone	88
Domaine de Roure (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné)	2016	Rhone	91
Odysée	2022	Rhone/Bordeaux	94

Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Bourgogne Pinot Fin 2024 (Bourgogne; from a plot of 3.16 hectares; 100% Pinot Noir;13% alcohol). Distinct and quite dark in the glass. Fresh and pure. Slightly smoky. Tomato concentrate. Loganberry. Lithe and limpid, with plenty of lift and rather more concentration in the mid-palate than you would imagine from the aromatics. Chewy. Simple but impressive in its way with decent length. 89.

Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Marsannay ‘Les Champs Perdrix’ 2024 (Marsannay; 100% Pinot Noir, from a tiny parcel of 0.5 hectares; 13% alcohol). This is smokier still. Dusty and earthy with a little hint of delicate florality. Sloes and assorted crunchy berry fruits – raspberry, loganberry and a little cranberry with its additional freshness. Deep, quite rich but silkily textured and glassy. Nicely done and with some aging potential. 91.

Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2024 (Gevrey-Chambertin; from a parcel of 2.32 hectares; 100% Pinot Noir; 13.5% alcohol). Darker still in the glass and ruby/purple at the rim. More floral still, more serious and richer as well with that lovely redolent slight nuttiness of Gevrey. A little almond. Quite saline, with a ferrous note to the minerality. There are nice gamey notes too. Big, plump and mouth-filling with lots of tension and a luminous quality to the mid-palate. Perhaps a little monotonic, but a wine that tells you where it comes from. 93.

Domaine Ampeau Auxey-Duresses 1999 (Auxey-Duresses; 100% Pinot Noir; from a single-vineyard plot of 0.89 hectares; 13% alcohol). Classic old-school Burgundy. Quite funky with a hint of struck match. Getting past that we have something impressively fresh and lifted at its core, that blends primary notes with secondary and more tertiary elements. Raspberry. Loganberry. Leather. A little frangipane. This is juicy in the moth, with a hint of rose petal. Bloody and viscous, quite ample in frame. A chewy mouthful. Gently tapering on the finish. Ready but will keep but it’s nice to drink it now while the fresher fruit notes remain. A little dry on the finish, but fine with food. 90.

Domaine Ampeau Pommard 2002 (Pommard; 100% Pinot Noir; from 1.05 hectares; 13% alcohol). This is odd. A little closed aromatically and rather earthy and loamy. Less fresh fruited than the Auxey-Duresses. It would perhaps benefit from a decanter. This seems rather tired and I suspect a certain amount of bottle variation. Dry tannins. and a somewhat cardboardy finish. NR.

Domaine de Roure (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné) 2015 (Crozes-Hermitage; 100% Syrah; 14% alcohol). Sunny in personality. Slightly dusty. There’s a signature floral note that I often associate the better Jaboulet cuvées from this period, more pot pourri than fresh flowers perhaps. Quite rich and full, but at the same time quite evolved (much more so than the 2016). Grippy tannins. Long, yes, but a little unrefined with some dryness now on the finish. 88.

Domaine de Roure (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné) 2016 (Crozes-Hermitage; 100% Syrah; 13.5% alcohol). Brighter, fresher, more vertical and lifted and much less obviously solar. It’s also more crystalline on the palate, more vital and sapid, and much more youthful in the overall impression that gives. Game and dark berry fruits. An impressive ringer for Jaboulet’s Hermitage cuvées. Impressive even in the context of this excellent vintage too. 91.

Odyssée 2022 (Vin de France; 40% Cabernet Sauvignon; 49% Grenache; 11% Carignan; 14.5% alcohol; from Pierre Graffeuille and Matthieu Dumarcher; 10712 bottles produced). Plump and plush, svelte and tense, tight and taut with the Rhone and Bordeaux varietals seemingly perfectly integrated already – if anything even more so when re-tasted 6 months on. The beady granular tannins outline the spherical contours of the palate here, highlighting the crystalline core. Sinuous rather than strict or linear. Impressively lithe and dynamic. Nicely done. The best vintage of this wine to date. 94.

Spanish releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Chorus Rioja (Viñedos del Contino)	2024	Rioja	97+

Chorus (Viñedos del Contino) 2024 (Rioja; 100% Tempranillo; pH 3.69; 13.86% alcohol; aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, 50% of them new; tasted with Emma Thienpont at Wine Paris; 2880 bottles and 100 magnums). A wine of considerable grace and charm. There’s a subtle and delicate warm spice – cinnamon, a scratch of nutmeg – and dark plums, damsons, mulberries and bramble. Indeed, this is a wine composed of shades of dark red. It’s amply framed, but not excessively so and that gives this a sense of shape and calmness. It feels very natural and undemonstrative. It’s also very crystalline in texture for pure Tempranillo with a luminous mid-palate that helps one focus in on those delightful cedar and graphite notes. A wine that exudes harmony, this is deep and dark at its spherical core, with a lovely grip and pinch just before the lifted finish. Rioja with a Bordeaux sensibility. 97+.

Italian releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Borgogno Barolo Riserva Liste	2020	Piedmont	97
Borgogno Barolo Riserva Annunziata	2020	Piedmont	97
Borgogno Barolo Riserva Cannubi	2020	Piedmont	98
Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino	2021	Toscana	93
Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Ripe al Convento	2020	Toscana	94
Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino	2022	Toscana	94
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino	2021	Toscana	97
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva	2020	Toscana	100
Lucente	2023	Toscana	90
Luce della Vite	2023	Toscana	91
Luce Brunello di Montalcino	2021	Toscana	93+
Luce Lux Vitis	2022	Toscana	92
I Sodi di San Niccolo (Castellare di Castellina)	2022	Toscana	NYT
Il Pino di Biserno	2024	Toscana	91
Biserno	2023	Toscana	94
Le Volte Dell’Ornellaia	2024	Toscana	90
Le Serre Nuove Dell’Ornellaia	2023	Toscana	93
Ornellaia	2022	Toscana	96
Guado Al Tasso (Antinori)	2023	Toscana	96+
Tignanello (Antinori)	2023	Toscana	98
Cont’Ugo (Antinori)	2023	Toscana	93+
Marchese Antinori (Antinori)	2023	Toscana	93

Borgogno Barolo Annuziata Riserva 2020 (Barolo Riserva; 100% Nebbiolo; 14.5% alcohol). Confit rose petals and some fresh petals too. A certain dusty minerality. A hint of lavender. Red berries, a little red cherry and a touch of exquisite tomato consommé. A hint of cordite. Crystalline, pure, radiant and ample in the frame – but with impressive heft and depth. Refined yet broad and imposing, with lovely almost flaky, grippy, Nebbiolo tannins. Sapid and very long with a lovely finish on lavender. Shapely and beautifully structured. 97.

Borgogno Barolo Liste Riserva 2020 (Barolo Riserva; 100% Nebbiolo; 14.5% alcohol). Very different but similarly made, this is very relaxed, broad, ample in frame and hyper-crystalline in texture. It’s less floral, or at least different in its florality, with bracken and dried petals from a long-cherished rose. Ketchup and a hint of balsamic. Sandalwood. In the mouth this is broad and really mouth-filling. It’s also lithe and limpid with impressive viscosity. A fabulous wine once again with lovely grippy tannins framing quite a floated finish. Substantial, though perhaps a little more elegant than the Annunziata. These Borgogno sngle-vineyards Riservas are just exceptional! 97.

Borgogno Barolo Cannubi Riserva 2020 (Barolo Riserva; 100% Nebbiolo; 14.5% alcohol). Tomato consommé. Homemade ketchup. Lilac and lavender. A little wild rosemary. A pleasing salinity that reinforces the sense of concentration and viscosity. Deep. Dark. Profound. Viscous. This has more vertical range and depth in the mouth than the other Borgogno Riservas and exceptional concentration and density. That incredibly visceral sense of viscosity too. The most juicy, fresh and sapid on the finish of the Borgogno Riservas, with the acidity swirling around the pointy pixilating tannins bringing eddies of freshness that extend the finish to a far distant horizon. The best vintage of this I’ve tasted and the highlight of an exceptional trilogy from Borgogno. 98.

Brunello di Montalcino Castelgiocondo 2021 (Brunello di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; 14.5% alcohol). From Frescobaldi. Less oaky than in recent vintages. Crushed and dried rose petals, a little tomato consommé and ketchup, a little white pepper too and a distinct hint of curry leaf. Maybe a hint of sloe. Red cherry and preserved Japanese plums (with that distinct saline note), a certain bloodiness with the hint of iron that suggests. Substantial; fleshy. The tannins are soft on the entry, yet they bristle pleasingly in the mid-palate where the wine becomes more juicy and fresh, nicely sustained to a long finish. A little one-dimensional, perhaps, but very well-made and likely to be excellent value as ever. 93.

Brunello di Montalcino Castelgiocondo Ripe Al Convento 2020 (Brunello di Montalcino Riserva; 100% Sangiovese; 15.5% alcohol). Eucalyptus. White pepper. Confit petals. Candlewax. Saffron. Pot pourri. Ripe plum fruits and a little baked plum too. Modern but, again, much less enrobed in oak than once it was. Quite heady both aromatically and actually in terms of alcohol – which is my one hesitation here. Quite sweet-scented and spicy too. Engaging, dynamic but a little heavy on the finish where one does sense the alcohol a touch and the tannins hint as a certain dryness, though less so when re-tasted. 94.

Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino 2022 (Rosso di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; 14% alcohol). Fabulous. Dark berry fruits. Supple leather from your favourite armchair. Plump, very pure and quite delicate in a way, but with a certain confidence and authority. It knows its class and its provenance, even from this, the most difficult vintage in recent years, dry and hot with significant losses in the vineyard and the harvest almost a month earlier than usual. Cranberry. A little black tea. A hint of pink rose. Rosehip. A little cinnamon. Lavender notes too, but subtly. This is lithe, limpid, gracious and quite succulent and juicy. A wonderful wine in the context of the vintage with great length. A reference point for the vintage. 94.

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2021 (Brunello di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; 14% alcohol). 15% of the potential yield was lost to April frost and August hail. Initially a little closed aromatically, this is darker at the core and a little darker fruited too, with mulberry and black raspberry, hints of cherry and rose hip. There’s rose water too. And a hint of Earl Grey tea. It becomes more balsamic with aeration. Ample in frame, spherical in shape – more so than the 2020 (tasted alongside) – with a great sense of integration and harmony. Succulent again, the tannins gathering a little at the bottom of the palate and entering in between the layers but only in the depths of the lower palate. This has great vertical range and very considerable aging potential. It’s a little less solar and sunny than the 2020. Stays ample in frame all the way to the finish. A touch of wild herb on the finish with the engagement of the tannins. Incredibly long. It’s more like the 2020 than the 2019 in a way. There’s a deeply impressive almost imposing seriousness to this. 97.

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2020 (Brunello di Montalcino Riserva; 100% Sangiovese; 13.5% alcohol; around 4000 bottles produced). Harvested from the lower parts on the vineyard in last week of September and then on 6^th October, two weeks later, for the structure and substance – blended to produce the single cask. Staggeringly pure and aromatically expressive, with intense eucalyptus notes and wild garrigue herbs, a little hint of cardamom and rose petals in abundance. There’s lovely delicate spicing and a little red Szechuan peppercorn. I love the little bulby iris note that I only discover when retasting this 2 months on. Wow! There’s a touch of clove now too that I didn’t discern when I tasted this at the property. And a little lavender and wild rosemary in the mouth. This is vibrant, vivid and bright aromatically and limpid, viscous and crystalline in the mouth. The tannins are divinely textured and tactile. But it’s the parfumier’s essences of delicate rose petals and fresh single rose petals that really capture my attention, with a little hint of saffron. I genuinely have tears in my eyes. I love the mouthfeel, it almost tickles and entices the top and the bottom of the mouth. Divine is the word. An incredible wine to which one reacts emotionally. 100.

Lucente 2023 (Toscana IGT; Merlot & Sangiovese; 14% alcohol). Saline. Ferrous. Dark-berry fruits and fondant plums. Very Merlot in personality, with more cassis on the palate. Lithe, limpid and glossy despite the weight, depth and density. Fresher than it used to be even in this hot vintage. Honest. Well-made. Much less oak-defined than it once was, even if it’s still quite punchy and extracted, the tannins just a little astringent right on the finish. 90.

Luce Della Vite 2023 (Toscana IG; Merlot and Sangiovese; 15% alcohol). A little confected. Confit blueberries and blackberries. A touch of sofa leather. Candlewax. I find this a bit jammy with a hint of residual sugar and quite a lot of oak spice. It’s well made but to a certain style. Big and exotic. Lots of vanilla. Good fruit concentration. Drying on the finish which arrests the development on the palate. 91.

Luce Brunello di Montalcino 2021 (Brunello di Montalcino; 100% Sangiovese; 14% alcohol). Lots of oak. Fireworks and cordite. Candles. Sweet spices, notably vanilla pod in its pure form. Dark berry and stone fruit. Again, there’s great fruit intensity but you might not pick this as Brunello Sangiovese in a blind tasting as some of its natural salinity and fruit levity is masked. Bold, rich, deep and succulent with pleasing freshness even in the very core of the palate. Spherical. Almost Bordeaux-style in its wine-making and impressive on the juicy palate. But the oak-inflected aromatics have still to be tamed. 93+.

Lux Vitis 2022 (Toscana IGT; Cabernet Sauvignon & Sangiovese; 14.7% alcohol). Full, rich, deep, dark and incredibly oaky in the context of the tasting. Candles from the crypt. Incense and myrrh. Dark berry and stone fruits; fruit compote. Confit angelica. The tannins are a little dry on the finish too and one notices the alcohol. Not a wine made to please me and it feels a little out of place now. It’s certainly impressive and succulent too, but there’s wood everywhere. 92.

I Sodi di San Niccolo (Castellare di Castellina) 2022 (IGT Toscana; 85% Sangioveto – a special clone of Sangiovese with thinner skins; 15% Malvasia Nera – which softens the big tannins of the Sangiovese; aged in oak, 50% new, 50% first and second use for 24-30 months; 14% alcohol). NYT.

Il Pino di Biserno 2024 (Toscana IGT; a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon & Petit Verdot). Bright, fresh, lifted, quite floral and with a lovely berry fruit intensity. Cassis. A little damson. Pure and focused. A little residual sugar but actually that seems right alongside the fresh crunchiness of the berries. Enticing. Easy. Accessible. 91.

Biserno 2023 (Toscana IGT; 36% Cabernet Sauvignon; 29% Merlot; 29% Cabernet Franc; 6% Petit Verdot; 14.5% alcohol). Pure. Aerial. Focussed. Lifted. Intense again in its fruit signature – blueberries, blackberries and damson. A little Szechuan peppercorn and a hint of peony. And there’s more of both with gentle aeration. Vibrant and engaging. A touch of residual sugar renders this a little confected. Solaire. That for me disrupts this. I prefer the 2022 but I do love the purity of the fruit. I find this perhaps just a little heavy-handed in the extraction. But at the same time, it has a presence and a stylistic signature and intensity that I really like. I’ll be intrigued to re-taste. 94.

Le Volte Dell’Ornellaia 2024 (IGT Toscana; a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot; 13% alcohol). Delicate, yet with plenty of fruit intensity and focus, with lovely cassis notes. Simple. Easy. Eloquent, if not exactly complex, but just as it should be. There’s the impression of just touch of residual sugar. Honest and pleasing. 90.

Le Serre Nuove Dell’Ornellaia 2023 (Bolgheri DOC; 44% Merlot; 37% Cabernet Sauvignon; 11% Cabernet Franc; 8% Petit Verdot; 14.5% alcohol). A step up in concentration, impact and intensity, this is very pure and precise in its wine-making and very authentic in the clarity of its fruit impression. Cassis, black cherry, a little dark plum skin. White pepper. There’s little or no sensation of oak. Crystalline and glistening on the finish. There’s a lovely oyster shell salinity too, with liquorice on the finish. Not a complex wine, but beautifully made. 93.

Ornellaia 2023 (Bolgheri DOC Superiore; 55% Cabernet Sauvignon; 26% Merlot; 12% Cabernet Franc; 7% Petit Verdot; 14.5% alcohol). Silky, soft, enticing, dark and rich. Cassis. Cedar. Graphite. Very classical. Very suave. Very glossy but not in any sense polished or worked, this feels entirely natural. Black cherries, liquorice, graphite again and brambles on the palate. Spherical at the core and with a certain succulence, this has very significant aging potential. The freshness is integral and that brings a tension rare in this hot vintage. Well-managed. The liquorice on the finish is, for now, just a little dominating, crowding our the cedar for now. A hot vintage edition of Ornellaia (though with little hydric stress and no sustained heat spikes), but one that has been very well managed retaining its essential vitality. 96.

Guado Al Tasso (Antinori) 2023 (Bolgheri DOC Superiore; 44% Cabernet Sauvignon; 30% Cabernet Franc; 26% Merlot; 14.5% alcohol). Every bit as gorgeous as the previous vintage – and then some! This is very fine, very elegant and at the same time very classically constructed, with a grace and charm that is both very Tuscan but also rather Bordellais – with that lovely touch of cedar accentuating the sense of lift and freshness that comes from the combination of dark berry fruits and a delicate wild herbal element. The tannins are beautifully soft and that gives this is a cashmere mouthfeel, with the grip that forms the fantail finish releasing beguiling lilac and lavender. 96+.

Tignanello (Antinori) 2023 (Toscana IGT; 80% Sangiovese; 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc; 14.5% alcohol). A fantastic vintage of this Tuscan superstar, a super Tuscan so clearly and surely but undemonstratively so, with no excess – just poise, harmony, elegance and, above all, finesse. This is gorgeously beguiling and enticing aromatically, drawing you in to its dark web of berry and stone fruits, graphite, cracked black pepper and subtler floral and herbal notes. I love the little hint of cornflowers, lilac and blueberry. Shimmering in its crystalline purity with the ultra-fine grained, almost glassy, tannins pixilating the mid-palate picking out details as they do so and offering an early glimpse of the staggering complexity and layering of this wine. 98.

Cont’Ugo (Tenuta Guado Al Tasso) 2023 (Bolgheri DOC; 100% Merlot; 14% alcohol). Another beautiful wine from Tenuta Guado Al Tasso that provides an excellent introduction to the grand vin itself. Searingly lifted with a beautifully intense very dark berry fruit and a trace of wild thyme, a touch of lavender and just a hint of spice from the oak but no more. On the palate this is fresh and dynamic with the grippy but refined tannins engaging quickly and stretching the wine out, imparting in the process a sense of forward momentum. Nicely sustained on the finish too. 93+.

Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2023 (Chianti Classico Riserva; predominantly Sangiovese with a little Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc; 14.5% alcohol). Elegant, gracious and lifted aromatically, with that signature wild mountain herbal note alongside the crunchy dark berries and that salty minerality. There’s a little hint of graphite too. Taut and tight to the spine, with quite a slender frame yet a lovely luminous and crystalline core. This is balanced and poised, accessible yet with considerable aging potential and it seems more harmonious than the 2022 tasted at the same stage. 93.

Chilean releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Clos Apalta Vinotèque	2016	Colchagua	NYT
Clos du Lican	2023	Colchagua	NYT
Las Pizarras Pinot Noir (Errazuriz)	2024	Aconcagua	93
Las Pizarras Syrah (Errazuriz)	2024	Aconcagua	93
Viñedo Chadwick	2023	Maipo	98

Clos Apalta Vinotèque 2016 (Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 64% Carménère; 17% Merlot; 19% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.7; 15% alcohol). The Carménère and Cabernet Sauvignon here is from ungrafted vines planted in 1920. NYT.

Clos du Lican 2023 (Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 100% Syrah; 15% alcohol; only some 6,000 bottles produced). NYT.

Las Pizarras Pinot Noir (Errazuriz) 2024 (Aconcagua Costa D.O.; 100% Pinot Noir; 12.5% alcohol). Fresh. Pure, lithe, lifted. Gracious. Cranberries and strawberries, a little pink gooseberry. This has a lovely biting freshness. A little oak smoke. Pure and refined. Tapering and hyper-chiselled. Nicely done. Simple but delightful. 93.

Las Pizarras Syrah (Errazuriz) 2024 (Aconcagua Costa D.O.; 100% Syrah; 12.5% alcohol). Dustier, smokier, richer, deeper, darker. Sloes, damsons, assorted red cherries and other stone fruits. Fluid, sinuous and quite gracious really, much more chiselled on the palate than one imagines from the aromatics. 93.

Viñedo Chadwick 2023 (Maipo Valley D.O.; 96% Cabernet Sauvignon; 4% Syrah; 13.5% alcohol). With a special 25^th year celebration label. Glossy, very pure, aerial and lifted even if it’s a little close at first. Less obviously spicy and a little more classical and refined and restrained than it sometimes is at this stage. Shimmering in its cool precision and elegance, very layered and with a fantastic luminous and crystalline presence in the mouth – sheets of silk layered on top of one another. The florality, only subtly suggested aromatically, is so well conveyed to the palate. So cool and plunge-pool at the core. Pixilating tannins pick out little details and also the layering. Milles feuilles. I love it. There’s a subtle florality here too. Sumptuous, yet so refined and elegant. 98.

Argentine releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Nicolas Catena Zapata	2022	Mendoza	96+
Adrianna Vineyards Mundus Bacillus Terrae	2022	Mendoza	96

Nicolas Catena Zapata 2022 (Mendoza D.O.; 46% Cabernet Sauvignon; 43% Malbec; 11% Cabernet Franc; 13.5% alcohol). Impressively impactful. So intense and vivid. An upwardly pointed firehose of damson and dark berry fruits. Graphite. Black pepper and Szechuan peppercorns. Iris. This is gorgeous on the entry and intensely floral again. Narrow in frame and very vertical and profound in its depth. Truly excellent. Black cherry perfection. Generous. Long and rippling as the tannins engage on the sapid finish. A little like the 2021 and different from earlier vintages. There’s a lovely purity to this. 96+.

Adrianna Vineyards Mundus Bacillus Terrae 2022 (Mendoza D.O.; 100% Malbec; 13.5% alcohol). A little more cedar here and a more evident green Szechuan peppercorn note accompanying the cassis and blueberry fruits. A little violet and lily of the valley, a hint of wild thyme. Very pure and crunchy in its fruit signature. Quite lean and sleek in comparison with Nicolas Catena Zapata. Very linear and cooler at the core too, with if anything a little less depth and concentration. But it’s very long and tapering on the gracious finish, extended by the beady tannins. Juicy and hyper-fresh. 96.

Australian releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon	2023	Western Australia	97

Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 (Margaret River; 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.81; 13.5% alcohol; just 1979 bottles produced from this exquisite vineyard of 0.8 hectares). From a cooler and wetter vintage with considerable heat towards the end and low production as a consequence. A little more closed at first aromatically and, more like the 2017, more ample in frame with the fruit more disparate and distributed more widely in the mouth – and with less visceral viscosity as a consequence at first. I say ‘at first’ because in fact it’s there and one hones it on it. In fact, this is more open and expressive when tasted the second time. There is nothing missing here. Rose petals and hyacinth aromatically and also, incredibly so, on the palate. There’s a note of red and black liquorice too and cordite and whetstone. The salinity of the minerality is remarkable and really engaging – like the perfect seasoning of an exquisite dish that draws one’s attention. 97.

Chinese releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Ao Yun	2022	Yunnan	96

Ao Yun 2022 (Yunnan; 55% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14% Cabernet Franc; 17% Merlot; 7% Syrah; 7% Petit Verdot; 13.8% alcohol). Glorious. Deep dark black cherries, bulby floral elements, a little Szechuan and rose peppercorn, blueberries, mulberries and brambles. All pure and crunchy and essential. Loads of graphite too and a hint of cedar. Sandalwood. This feels quite solaire for Au Yun and there’s quite a lot of liquorice. It’s lovely and very pure, but a wine that’s a little less accessible at this stage than previous vintages. But it does retain a remarkable freshness. Quite saline on the finish, and with it a little game. All the elements are present and although integrated one senses the final form of that integration is still to come. This needs time and will reward it. 96.

US releases (red)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Favia Cabernet Sauvignon	2023	Napa Valley	98
Cathiard Vineyards	2023	Napa Valley	NYT
Promontory (Harlan)	2021	Napa Valley	97+
Cardinale	2022	Napa Vallet	NYT

Favia Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 (Napa Valley; 75% Cabernet Sauvignon; 21% Cabernet Franc; 4% Petit Verdot; 15% alcohol; tasted twice, the second with Andy Erickson in Paris). A first release on la place of this wine, from parcels next to Opus One. Very poised, elegant, refined and charming, with dark berries and cherries vying for attention with white pepper and assorted delicate white floral petal notes. Incense. Very beautiful and beguiling with more and more floral complexity overlaying the dark berries with aeration. Graphite and a hint of cedar. Violet. Rosemary. Lemon thyme. Spherical and dense at the core. Gorgeous. A black hole at the centre sucking you towards it. Sumptuous, succulent and gorgeous. So juicy and lithe on the finish, the Cabernet Franc sings in this and accentuates its lovely poise and cool elegance. 98.

Cathiard Vineyard 2023 (Napa Valley; 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14.5% alcohol). NYT.

Promontory 2021 (Napa Valley; 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; 13.5% alcohol). Dark, sensuous, beguiling, a very seductive Napa. Sumptuous, and quite opulent with that lovely counterpoint between the graphite and the black cherry that I now so closely associate with Promontory. Cool and composed, intense, dense, compact and spherical in form. Another wine that is so profound that it feels like there’s a black hole at its core, drawing all towards it. Peony and red rose petals. Pure, refined, elegant and supremely harmonious. Cashmere in a glass. Stylish and suave, with a lovely hint of incense. Long and fluid and sinuous. Needs a decade or so really to be at its best but with so much potential. 97+.

Whites

Italian releases (white)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Poggio Alle Gazze Dell’Ornellaia	2024	Toscana	91
Ornellaia biano	2023	Toscana	93
Cervaro della Sala (Antinori)	2024	Umbria	96

Poggio Alle Gazze Dell’Ornellaia 2024 (Toscana IGT; 55% Sauvignon Blanc; 40% Vermentino; 3% Semillon; 2% Viognier; 13.5% alcohol). Glossy. Glassy. Crystalline. Waxy. The oak is obvious from the spicing it imparts, but it’s delicate. Yuzu. White pear. Lime juice and zest. A little quince and green apple. Rich and ample and with only just enough natural acidity to cope – but cope it does. Long, glossy and fine on the finish, but almost a little too rich for my palate. 91.

Ornellaia Bianco 2023 (Toscana IGT; 100% Sauvignon Blanc; 13% alcohol). Big, rich, quite full again, a wine that’s not scared of its amplitude but there’s a lovely if subtle grapefruit zestiness that goes a long way in holding in the tension here and stopping this from becoming too rich and fat. Energised and precise in the mouth with a vivid freshness drawn from the citrus notes. But at the same time, this is almost too ample in frame for me and that means it misses some of the fruit intensity it’s had in other recent vintages. 93.

Cervaro della Sala (Antinori) 2024 (Umbria IGT; 97% Chardonnay; 3% Grechetto; 12.5% alcohol). This confounds my expectations a little and in a good way. I was fearing that it might come across a little oaky, rich and opulent; instead it is searingly fresh, crunchy and with a racy, energising, almost biting acidity that I really like. Greengage, yellow plums and a basket of assorted citrus elements – from white grapefruit juice to blood orange zest, lime confit to tarte au citron. There’s just a little hint of spice and a little quince too. Vivid and intensely sapid in the mid-palate this is crystalline in its focused purity and despite all that raw static electricity, refined and elegant. 96.

German releases (white)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Battenfeld Spanier Mölsheim Auf Dem Kalkofen Riesling	2024	Rheinhessen	95

Battenfeld Spanier Mölsheim Auf Dem Kalkofen Riesling 2024 (Rheinhessen; 100% Riesling; single vineyard; premier cru; 12.5% alcohol; certified organic). This is only the second vintage of this unique wine that I have ever tasted – and I’m struck once again by just how unique it is (it’s rare I guess that a second encounter is as staggering as the first!). Incredibly complex and fascinating in that complexity. Each time I focus in on an aromatic element it is replaced by another, contributing to the overall impression of energy, vibrancy and sheer vivacity. It’s the vinous equivalent of reading Joyce’s Ulysses (very quickly)! Peanut shells, yuzu, quince, green apple skins, clementine zest, pink grapefruit, blood orange, pollen and beeswax, a little jasmine and fresh ginger. I could go on. As with the 2023, this is much more terroir-driven than it is varietal-driven, though a wine like this has to be Riesling when one thinks about it. In the mouth this is brilliantly, almost painfully chiselled, yet at the same time so elegant and pure and refined in its pristine shocking clarity. There’s a fascinating slight iodine and phenolic (TCP) note that reminds me of Lagavulin (the most peaty and medicinal of Islay whiskies). Wow! Make time to taste this properly from your very best stemware. 95.

Chilean release (white)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Las Pizarras Chardonnay	2024	Aconcagua	91

Las Pizarras Chardonnay 2024 (Aconcagua Costa D.O.; 100% Chardonnay; 12.5% alcohol). I notice the oak spice first, aromatically, and again on the palate, but there’s a pleasing peach flesh fruit and little hints of fresh exotic fruits – guava and mango, passionfruit and a little passionflower. The acidity builds towards the finish which stops this being as fat and rich as it seems at first. I like the gentle hint of ginger, but this is another white that I find just a little rich for my palate. 91.

Australian release (white)

	Vintage	Region	Rating
Cloudburst Chardonnay	2024	Western Australia	97

Cloudburst Chardonnay 2024 (Margaret River; 100% Chardonnay; 14% alcohol; pH 3.60; 4188 bottles from Will Berliner’s single hectare of Chardonnay). Almond skin, frangipane, with a little grating of fresh lime zest and a handful of newly plucked wild strawberries. Pollen, beeswax and the flowers from which the bees harvested their pollen! There’s a lovely crushed rock, stony minerality too. Rich, but not too ample, incredibly dense and compact – one feels the viscosity. Spherical at its core and with a racy citrus-tinted acidity that breaks the surface at the edges and rises vertically towards the top of the mouth. Brilliantly vibrant and exciting with a little touch of ginger and galangal on the long, tapering finish. Every bit as good as the 2023, my previous favourite. Tasted twice with almost identical notes. Needs time for the oak to integrate, but it will (as my vertical of last year shows so well). 97.

French releases (white)

Domaine de Roure blanc (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné)	2019	Rhone	89
Domaine Ampeau Meursault	2002	Burgundy	90
Domaine Ampeau Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières	1999	Burgundy	91

Domaine de Roure blanc (Paul Jaboulet-Aîné) 2019 (Crozes-Hermitage; 100% Marsanne; 14.5% alcohol). Saffron. A little incense. Yellow flowers and yellow stone fruit. This is waxy, quite distinctive and interesting in terms of its aromatic profile, with a note of marzipan and frangipane as well as Angelica. But it almost lacks a little freshness. 89.

Domaine Ampeau Meursault 2002 (Meursault; 100% Chardonnay from a plot of 1 hectare; 13.5% alcohol). Creamy. Fresh and with that lovely limestone element bringing tension and structure. More youthful than you’d imagine. Pollen and beeswax. White rose petals. Quite blowsy and ample but then, just as it starts to lose focus, it’s pulled back into the spine by the limestone-charged acidity. Impressively chiselled by the time we get to the finish! 90.

Domaine Ampeau Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières 1999 (Meursault; 100% Chardonnay; from a single-vineyard plot of 0.56 hectares; 13.5% alcohol). This seems significantly older aromatically than the village Meursault release and, indeed, than the palate suggests. Rather oxidative at this stage, at least from this sample. There’s plenty of density, to be sure, and tension from the terroir that cuts the impressive richness, but I’d like more of a sense of the fresh fruit that this would once have had. I do love the fresh ginger on the finish however. I can’t help but feel that I would have preferred this in its relative youth. 91.

Champagne

Champagne releases	Vintage	Region	Rating
Domaine Alexandre Bonnet La Forêt	2021	Champagne	93+

Domaine Alexandre Bonnet La Forêt Blancs de Noirs 2021 (Champagne; 100% Pinot Noir; zero dosage; 13% alcohol; there are just 2523 bottles produced ). From the primest of prime terroirs in Riceys. Quite yeasty, but with a little hint of wild blueberry and cranberry signalling the freshness. Greengage and gooseberry. Such an eloquent expression of its steeply sloping Kimmeridgean limestone terroir. Chiselled as is the style and the terroir signature. Almost a note of the whisky distillery – grain and worst! Barley. Bracken. Lovely wild strawberry notes, more present on the palate than aromatically. A nice viscosity too which provides a frame for the racy acidity. Peach and peach skin. Crunchy but at the same time rich. Red berry fruits – notably loganberry. 93+.

 

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