Calvados, Aperitif, White Blen...

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The 2022 Lafite-Rothschild is a magnificent, thrilling wine. A Lafite for the ages, the 2022 possesses off-the-charts richness and yet never loses its unique Lafiteness. It's as if all the elements are dialed up to the maximum, but without sacrificing clarity. That's quite an achievement in my book. Inky red fruit, blood orange, spice and incense are some of the many notes that build in the glass. The 2022 is a Lafite of nearly indescribable beauty, driven by a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon and spellbinding overall balance. Vinification was carried out over 22 days, after which the wine was racked into French oak, 100% new, for an élevage of 15 months.  (98) ANTONIO GALLONI,Vinous.com

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The 2022 Cheval Blanc is quite unusual in that it was made from 46 out of the 47 parcels that make up the estate, the highest proportion of blocks ever used in the Grand Vin. There is also no Petit Cheval. One block was sold in bulk, and everything else went into the Grand Vin. That's basically it. In tasting, the 2022 is a wine of sublime elegance, and yet there's a certain strictness in its vertical build that keeps things buttoned up. Time in the glass starts to release the Cabernet Franc aromatics, but this remains incredibly dense. It barely budged over the two days I followed it. All the 2022 needs is time. The only question is how much.  (99) ANTONIO GALLONI,Vinous.com

One of the stars of the vintage is the striking 2022 Château Cheval Blanc, a blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon that bursts from the glass with aromas of mulberries, cherries and wild berries mingled with mint, orange zest, pencil lead, vine smoke and exotic spices. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and layered, it's rich and gourmand, with beautifully refined tannins, lively acids and a long, saline, pungently perfumed finish. Harvest began on 29 August, with all the Merlot picked before the month was out, and the result is a wine that is as vibrant as it is lavish. (97-100) WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

100 points - Magnificent - NEAL MARTIN
100 points - Unforgettable, Magnificent, Captivating  - ANTONIO GALLONI
100 points - A benchmark Latour that reminds me of the 1982 in many ways - JAMES SUCKLING
100 points - JEB DUNNUCK

Under CEO Frédéric Engerer and technical director Hélène Génin, unremitting perfectionism and attention to detail are the order of the day at Château Latour, so it's no surprise that this great estate has delivered some of the finest wines of the vintage in Bordeaux. Certified organic since 2018, most of Latour's historic "Enclos" is being farmed biodynamically these days, and its entirety is now cultivated by horse to minimize soil compaction and preserve intact as many old vines as possible. But the objective, above all, rather than subscribing to any particular theoretical approach, is to treat the vineyard holistically, as a system, within and with nature rather than against it. Winemaking is precise but traditional, with macerations in stainless steel followed by maturation in barrel with rackings every three months and one fining with egg whites. Great attention is paid to the choice of barrels: each lot is tasted, and its style defined, before it's barreled down in cooperage adapted to that style. But if these methods realize the potential of this great site, what makes Latour's site so great? After all, this isn't the only vineyard to occupy the quaternary gravel terrace that makes its appearance along the banks of the Gironde. When I posed this question, Hélène Génin's response was to point to Latour's lenses of blue clay interfingered with and underlying those gravels. It's these pockets of clay in just the right places, Génin contends, that contain the secret to the wine's elegantly muscular power and immense longevity. WILLIAM KELLEY


I am dreaming as I smell this wine, perfectly ripe cabernet sauvignon with currants, tobacco and fresh mint. Orange blossoms too. This amazing nose is so complex. Medium- to full-bodied, this has has perfectly integrated tannins that you don't feel but know are there, elevating the wine to another level. It's very drinkable because of its stellar balance, yet the tannic tension gives it energy and seamless texture. A benchmark Latour that reminds me of the 1982 in many ways. Drink or hold. (100) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2016 Latour is magnificent. Regal and nuanced, with tons of energy, the 2016 is immediately captivating. The bouquet announces an important wine, a feeling that builds through the wine's mid-palate. There's a real feeling of exuberance in 2016, and yet the wine remains quite classic in its structural composition. Beams of supporting tannin extend the effortless, beautifully persistent finish. Unforgettable.(100) ANTONIO GALLONI

The 2016 Latour is a vintage that I have tasted a couple of times post-bottling. On one occasion, it warranted a perfect score, but that was then moot since this vintage had not been released. Now that it is due to hit the shelves this coming March, does the wine still merit that three-digit accolade? Without question, yes. Deep lucid deep purple in color, it seems to shimmer in the glass. The bouquet plays with you, a bit of a femme fatale, distant for the first few minutes during which I chatted with the superstar of this First Growth, winemaker Hélène Genin. Then, it magically coalesces and gains incredible intensity with blackberry, pencil lead, background hints of oyster shell and notes of Japanese wakame. The aromatics announce exactly which château you are doing business with. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, again, as I found before, blessed with beguiling symmetry and ineffable poise. Residing firmly on the black side of the fruit spectrum, there is underlying mineralité. Veins of cassis run through the persistent finish. This is everything you could really wish for in a Latour. The 2016 can be uttered in the same breath as the 1900, 1924, 1959, 1961, 1982 and 2010. Magnificent. (100) NEAL MARTIN

Retasting the 2016 Château Latour next to both the 2010 and 2022 had me feeling like a kid in a candy store. Needing lots of air to show at its best, its dense purple hue is followed by quintessential Latour notes of smoky blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and lead pencil shavings. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Pauillac that has lively acids, a pure, seamless, layered mouthfeel, building yet perfectly ripe tannins, and that rare Latour mix of power, austerity, and elegance that makes this château so compelling. Pulled from just 36% of the total production, the 2016 is 92.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7.1% Merlot hitting 13.5 alcohol with an IPT of 83. It's primarily academic at this stage, but it's starting to round the corner and clearly, with its level of fruit and overall balance, offers pleasure. I think it needs another 5-7 years to hit the early stages of its prime drinking window and will have 75-100 years of overall longevity. (100) JEB DUNNUCK

The 2020 Lafite-Rothschild, which contains the highest proportion of Merlot since the 2016, hit the bull's eye from barrel. Revisiting the wine in the bottle since July, it still bursts from the glass with copious blackberries, touches of blueberry and juniper, pencil lead and a hint of crushed stone. Wonderful delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with finely-chiseled tannins, quite linear and "correct" - a quintessential Lafite-Rothschild in many ways. It gently builds in the mouth while keeping a restraint on things, finishing with fine sapidity yet a little more juiciness than you would have found a decade or two earlier. This has the potential to evolve beautifully over several decades. 98 NEAL MARKTIN, vinous.com

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The 2022 Ausone, which was the earliest-picked ever on September 5 (although that is later than Cheval Blanc) has another very intense bouquet with layers of plush blackberry, blueberry, crushed violet and incense aromas that are beautifully entwined with the 100% new oak. Hints of blood orange emerge with a few minutes in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with silky tannins and perfectly pitched acidity. The slightly higher proportion of Cabernet Franc imparts a touch more pepperiness toward the finish. You can feel this on your tongue long after it has departed. There is a surfeit of freshness on the finish. This is an outstanding Ausone that can look forward to a very long future. (98) NEAL MARTIN, Vinous.com

The 2020 Ausone is stellar. Usually a showier wine, Ausone is packed with bright acids, deep fruit and tons of supporting structure. Dark red fruit, blood orange, pomegranate, rose petal, mocha and dried herbs all race out of the glass. Deep and layered, with magnificent finesse, Ausone is lights out in 2020. What a wine. Readers lucky enough to own it are in for a thrilling ride over the next few decades. 99 ANTONIO GALLONI, vinous.com

The 2005 Léoville Las Cases is a classic that numbers among the wines of the vintage in the Médoc. Wafting from the glass with notes of dark berries, cassis, incense, burning embers, sweet soil tones, dark chocolate and cigar wrapper, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a vibrant core of fruit, lively acids and sweet, powdery tannins. More elegant and refined than the hulking, uncompromising 2006, the 2005 is nevertheless a powerful, tightly wound wine that will reward further bottle age, even if it's actually quite expressive today. (98) WILLIAM KELLEY, The Wine Advocate

The 2005 Léoville-Las-Cases is one of my favorite wines of the night. Now, after 17 years, the 2005 is in a place where it is not a crime to open a bottle. Elegant and regal in bearing, the 2005 Las-Cases is simply everything Las-Cases can and should be. This is a great, great bottle. I loved it. (98) ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

1 Bottle at the time of the offer

This really is a creation of true refinement and class, that lends itself to the harmonious, graceful style that is so typical of great St. Emilion. Suckling, Perotti-Brown and Galloni all awarded it perfection, with Jeff Leve noting that there are few wines at this level of quality produced from any vineyard in the world. If you can afford just one of 20,000 bottles produced annually, it will be a trophy for any cellar designed to last 50-100 years. -Tom Portet

Antonio Galloni  99
The 2018 Ausone is mind-blowing. The aromatics alone are mesmerizing. I don't know what more to say. Cabernet Franc is so expressive, so vibrant so nuanced. Rose petal, cinnamon, star anise and sage meld into a core of red fleshed fruit. The 2018 doesn't impress with opulence or richness, rather it is a Saint-Émilion that is all about persistence and energy. I won't be at all surprised if it merits a higher score in the future. Readers who can find it should not hesitate. The 2018 is a viscerally thrilling wine of the highest level.
 
James Suckling 99-100
This is really exotic with wild-fruit character that I have seldom encountered in Ausone. Full-bodied yet reserved and very tight. Amazing depth and purity of fruit. Incredible beauty. Sexy.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown 98-100
Full-bodied, rich, decadent and tightly knit, it offers layer upon layer of fruit, spice and mineral nuances with a firm frame of exquisitely fine tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length and heart-stopping beauty.

(a blend of 83% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot; 13% alcohol) Bright, full ruby. Very pure, highly aromatic nose combines blackberry, boysenberry, minerals, dark chocolate and violet. Densely packed but pure and perfumed in the mouth; at once suave and penetrating. Offers outstanding mouth coverage and great class. Finishes with extremely fine-grained tannins and extraordinary length and breadth, without losing any of its definition and purity. A great Margaux in the making. (98) STEPHEN TANZER

An extraordinary wine and undeniably one of the great wines of the Medoc, and qualitatively a wine that towers over what other estates produced in the appellation of Margaux, the 2003 Chateau Margaux is made in a style that almost mirrors Lafite Rothschild in 2003. Last year I thought it could represent a hypothetical blend of the 1990 and 1996, but the wine has taken on even more opulence and seductiveness in an almost atypical but still fragrant, elegant, classic Chateau Margaux personality. Dense ruby/purple to the rim with an extraordinary floral nose intermixed with blackberries, cassis, mineral, licorice, and some vanilla, the wine is dense, opulent, voluptuously textured, with wonderful sweetness (reminiscent of 1982 and 1990 in that sense), low acidity, but tremendous concentration and an almost seamless integration of all components – alcohol, tannin, new wood, and acidity. This is truly sumptuous stuff that should drink reasonably well young after 4 or 5 years in the bottle and age for 30+ years. Bravo! (100) WINE ADVOCATE

1 AVAILABLE

I have had a remarkable number of opportunities to taste this wine. One of the most frustratingly irregular wines I have ever encountered, the 1970 Mouton can range from pure nectar, to a wine that is angular, austere, and frightfully hard and tannic. This bottle (one of the Reserve du Chateau bottlings that was mistakenly released by the estate and labeled with the letters R.C., rather than a number) was impossible to assess when decanted, given its hard, tough, impenetrable style. Nearly eight hours later, the wine had opened magnificently to reveal a classic bouquet of sweet cassis, tobacco, minerals, and exotic spice aromas. Opulent, full-bodied, thick, and juicy, the extraordinary evolution of this particular bottle would make a persuasive argument for long-term decanting. After being perplexed throughout much of this wine's evolution, I was reassured by this bottle. No doubt Mouton's high Cabernet Sauvignon content causes this wine to go through a tight, hard, ungenerous stage, and the 1970 requires 5-7 more years of cellaring. ROBERT PARKER

The 2010 is a brilliant Chateau Margaux, as one might expect in this vintage. The percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the final blend hit 90%, the balance Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and only 38% of the crop made it into the Chateau Margaux. Paul Pontallier, the administrator, told me that this wine has even higher levels of tannin than some other extraordinary vintages such as 2005, 2000, 1996, etc. Deep purple, pure and intense, with floral notes, tremendous opulence and palate presence, this is a wine of considerable nobility. With loads of blueberry, black currant and violet-infused fruit and a heady alcohol level above 13.5% (although that looks modest compared to several other first growths, particularly Chateau Latour and Chateau Haut-Brion), its beautifully sweet texture, ripe tannin, abundant depth and profound finish all make for another near-perfect wine that should age effortlessly for 30-40 years. (99) WINE ADVOCATE

As we head out of Pauillac, you feel the register change. It takes a heartbeat to adjust, but then you start to see the beauty of a different style of 2010, a little more elegant, a little more sculpted, with concentration that sits deep in the body of the wine but builds more slowly through the palate. This shows the beauty of the appellation of Margaux in the way that you always want and hope the First Growths will - a signpost towards the rest, showing why they should be celebrated. Here are violet aromatics, soft black truffle flavours and silky, elongated tannins. Extremely good quality; fairly savoury berry fruits. (99) DECANTER

A phenomenal nose of roses, violets, and other flowers. Subtle yet rich raspberries and currants. It is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon. The is a curious wine, almost ethereal. It is all in the front of the palate with ultra-fine tannins. It is full and very, very rich but it is forever balanced and in harmony What a wine. It is a pinpointed wine. So cerebral. It sends shivers down my spine. Incredible. (100) JAMES SUCKLING