This was an invaluable overview of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Richebourg—an opportunity to really examine a single cuvée, to observe how it interacts with the heterogeneity of growing seasons that leads to differing results in the bottle. It was also a timely reminder that despite this domaine’s lofty reputation, no bottle is beyond criticism.

I have tasted a great deal of mature Bordeaux wine, including Sauternes, but I have not yet achieved the magic number of 100 different vintages from a single estate. I mentioned my goal to Lorenzo Pasquini, Yquem’s head winemaker, when visiting in April, and he promised to do his best to help, cracking open a selection of mainly off-vintages that filled some of the gaps.

A wine of suave sophistication and supreme textural finesse, the 1995 Monte Bello is almost shockingly primary and fresh as a daisy.

I don’t drink enough white Rhône wines. But when I do, it might as well be amongst the very best.

There are more famous Chardonnays in Australia, but none are more keenly collected or tightly held than Rick Kinzbrunner’s enigmatic Giaconda. Originally conceived in California, Giaconda not only put the small outpost of Beechworth in Victoria on the international map, it also helped an entire nation to find its Chardonnay mojo. A rare chance to taste the last decade of vintages exceeded expectations and showcased a world-class wine that can compete with the very best.

Let’s get the elephant out of the room. The secondary market price for this “humble” Aligoté is around £3,000 per bottle. That is absurd. That is unbelievable. But that is reality. Someone out there is prepared to pay that amount of money for this wine, motivated by the fact that it was crafted by Lalou Bize-Leroy or perhaps motivated by pecuniary gains.

This brief article updates recent vintages of Quinta do Noval and Naçional at a recent tasting in London hosted by Christian Seely. It was proof, if any was still necessary, that Noval is consistently bringing its A-game.

During this year’s en primeur campaign I had a chance to taste nine mature vintages of Lascombs. I plan to assess more recent vintages for a more in-depth, standalone piece. But in the meantime, these wines see the light of day as a Cellar Favourite.

Porseleinberg leads an impressive and growing fleet of world-class Syrah/Rhône blends from South Africa.

Over the last few months, I have been drinking quite a few bottles from Domaine Henri Germain. Winemaker Jean-François Germain has really ratcheted up quality in recent years thanks both to the pedigree of his family’s holdings and his conscientious approach. Germain still flies a little under-the-radar, and though prices are increasing, you can still find their wines on restaurant lists at reasonable cost, just as I did with this bottle at Noizé in London.

No Burrier, no Premier Cru! Frédéric Burrier, the congenial proprietor of Château de Beauregard in the village of Fuissé, was the driving force that, after a decade of relentless campaigning, convinced the INAO that 22 vineyards in Pouilly-Fuissé merited promotion to Premier Cru status, commencing with the 2020 vintage.

As the 2011 Napa Valley Cabernets reached the ten-year mark, revisionist thinking about the wines started to surface. Had the Cabernets of this much-derided vintage turned out better than expected? Absolutely not! The top 2011s were always gorgeous. Today, with the added benefit of bottle age, the best 2011s are showing especially well.

It was actually during a visit to Ducru-Beaucaillou that I chanced upon this week’s Cellar Favourite. Entertaining a fellow wine scribe for lunch, proprietor Bruno Borie invited me to choose their pre-prandial white before I had to shoot off to another appointment.

After the ecstatically-received 2009 and 2010 vintages, 2011 brought Bordeaux down to earth with a bump. Is this vintage an underrated gem? Or are the wines just a bit ordinary? What better way to find out than a two-day blind tasting.

Cornas has been having a moment for the last decade, thanks to the excellent work of a new generation of winemakers who have breathed new life into what were once the most rustic, wild wines of the northern Rhône.

The 1995 Bordeaux vintage is one that I would like to revisit more often. It has not been forgotten about. After all, it was one of the most celebrated vintages of the decade, but it has been side-lined by subsequent growing seasons.

One of the most revered château in Bordeaux, this article on La Mission Haut-Brion presents both a historical and contemporary insight courtesy of a Q&A with winemaker Jean-Philippe Delmas, plus tasting notes back to the 1920s.

Jean-Antoine Nony was one of the first winemakers I ever interviewed for Wine-Journal in 2003. Almost two decades later, I finally return to Grand Mayne to conduct a comprehensive vertical and discover more about this ascendant Saint-Émilion estate.

After the tragic passing of proprietor Lionel Cousin, I found myself digging through my cellar for past vintages of his lovely creation, the Cupano Brunello di Montalcino.

Saintsbury was the first winery I visited in Napa Valley. Tasting the wines always brings back so many memories; both of that trip and the time I spent selling the Saintsbury Pinots in my restaurant days just after college.

What is the place for a retrospective on Petrus in a time of global pandemic and economic hardship? This article has been in suspended animation since January 2019, when London’s Hide restaurant witnessed one of the most unforgettable wine dinners in recent memory. But finally, after 18 months, I decided that these rare and precious wines should be written up. First of all, as the only journalist in attendance, I had a duty to formally record a tasting that might never happen again. Secondly, life goes on; you cannot put everything on hold forever.

When I recently conducted a Vinous Live with Jacques Thienpont and his wife Fiona Morrison MW, two days before transmission, the latter suggested that I should be drinking a bottle of Le Pin during the interview. Unfortunately, the Martin cellar does not maintain a reserve of Le Pin for whenever I fancy a cheeky iconic Pomerol.

DeLille Cellars’ Chaleur Blanc has been Washington State’s most consistently brilliant white wine since the mid-2000s. It has achieved an exceptional track record for longevity over a quarter-century of production, as this vertical back to 1995 showed.

I feel that people sometimes look down on Jadot’s Clos Saint-Jacques because unlike the other four, it is part of a large company’s portfolio rather than a family domaine. However, in blind tastings I find it stands shoulder to shoulder with the competition.

Mayacamas continues to make striking wines under its new ownership. In addition to a host of current and upcoming releases (covered in my forthcoming Napa Valley report) I also had a chance to revisit two Cabernets from the estate’s library.