Calvados, Champagne, Rhone Ble...

STAFF PICKS 2024 - ALEX WILCOX

The Prince Wine Store team uncovered the Lilbert on a recent trip to France and we were very lucky to be given a small allocation for Australia. This tiny producer (3.5 hectare) is a great addition to our Champagne portfolio. For me this is what champagne is all about - pure fine and elegant with an underlying power - this is truly an anywhere, anytime great bottle of Champagne. If you haven't tried it, you really should.

Bertrand Lilbert's crafts his wines from 100% Chardonnay grown in the Northern part of the Cote du Blanc, the NV is a blend of 50% reserve wine and 50% from 2016 for this most recent bottling. As small grower Champagne prices continue to skyrocket this cuvee is great value for money and will stand up against many bigger name Blanc du Blanc. Elsewhere, these wines have a cult like following, something we hope to help build here. This will be a feature of my Christmas Day in Tamworth. ALEX WILCOX


Lilbert-Fils is a small, slightly under-the-radar grower in Cramant with a loyal following, and it's easy to see why. With 50% of the blend for the first wine of the house coming from a perpetual reserve of Cramant Chardonnay started in the 1990s by Bertrand Lilbert's father, this is an entry level that is anything but simple and youthful. The style is rather floral, with apricot and jasmine notes floating over a real hit of savour from the reserve and a bone dry, mineral presence. It's singular, yet harmonious; a blanc de blancs that takes care of the simple pleasures, yet hides rather a lot under the bonnet. TOM HEWSON, decanter.com

Note on previous release:
As is consistently the case with this wine, the nose is airy and almost delicate with its softly yeasty aromas of Granny Smith apples, lemon-lime and a floral top note. The ultra-fine if firm mousse contributes to the impression of refinement on the equally pure middle weight flavors that terminate in a clean, dry and delicious but not really austere finale…BURGHOUND

Offering up aromas of orange zest, white flowers and green apple, the 2022 Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes Blanc is medium-bodied, bright and lively, with a charming, fine-boned profile that will make friends on release. WILLIAM KELLEY

Ooh, that’s a waft of inviting aroma – lots of white flowers too. Mouth-filling with lots of energy, juicy wine and completely delicious – full but with plenty of energy to balance. BILL NANSON

Coming from the blending of plots on the heights of Saint-Romain, the downgrading of the Appellation Village of the Cote de Beaune and the purchase of grapes from another certified organic farming estate. Our Bourgogne Blanc combines freshness and minerality, finesse and depth.” – FRANCK BUISSON

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!

From Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman of Sandhi fame. Fruit for this estate wine comes from Burgundian clones rooted into a rockier section of Seven Springs’ mid-slope, which they believe plays into the texture and final flavor profile of the wine. Whole cluster pressed indigenous yeast fermentation in once-used puncheons and barriques. Aged 6 months in neutral barrique and 1 month in stainless steel. Cold stabilized and lightly fined with bentonite clay before bottling 

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!

Bright medium-light yellow colour; aromas of matchstick/gunflint reduction overlying grapefruit/citrus and biscuit nuances. In the mouth, very intense flavours of tightly focused but generously proportioned citrus/grapefruit and smoked charcuterie-impressively deep and very long-lasting. A great chardonnay of terrific refinement and formidable power. (98) HUON HOOKE, therealreview.com

A double wow kind of chardonnay, such is the level of deep concentration and the purity of flavour and delivery. Shows a sophisticated side, complex in construction and taste, led by white peach, nectarine, grapefruit pith and peel, spice and a savoury almond influence that lifts both aromatically and flavour-wise. Walks, as ever, a fine line between generosity and fineness, the latter winning the day with some scintillating tangy acid drive in place. And the best part? This still has a long, long journey ahead. (97) JENI PORT, winecompanion.com

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!

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!

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!

WORTH A SPECIAL SEARCH - Less impact than Sechets but more perfumed and floral. Ooh! That's got so much volume that I question how it can also be so incisive. Pure but concentrated - the fluidity of this meaning you hardly note the generosity of the wine. Slowly fading - actually quite a discreet finish vs the rest of the wine - but no less persistent than the wines around it I think. That will be a great one too. BILL NANSON

OUTSTANDING - This is similar to the regular cuvée except that it seems ever-so-slightly riper. By contrast, there is better concentration and power to the medium-bodied flavors and, somewhat unusually, the mouthfeel is finer as well, particularly on the more complex if also more austere finale. Lovely. BURGHOUND

The 2022 Chablis Butteaux Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru comes from vines around 70 years old, only slightly older than the regular cuvée, but on different soils (white clay rather than brown with high fossil content). It is usually bottled slightly later. The nose is a little more expressive with hints of red cherries and peach skin - very well defined. The palate is well-balanced with more harmony than the regular cuvée, a crisp line of acidity and touches of oyster shell on the saline finish. Great persistence here. Excellent. NEAL MARTIN

WORTH A SPECIAL SEARCH - Hmm - this has beautiful dimensions of aroma and is more demonstrative than the MdT today - great. Also wow in the mouth - intense but wide-screen in flavour. The citrus intense here but not hard. Also to wait for but what a combination of intensity and clarity! Bravo! BILL NANSON

OUTSTANDING - A restrained if vaguely exotic nose grudgingly offers up its aromas of white peach, citrus confit, lychee and quinine. There is fine intensity to the equally well-detailed and even more mineral-driven middleweight flavors that exhibit very good persistence on the balanced and nicely dry finale. This highly refreshing, though presently somewhat linear, effort could use better depth so again, a few years of keeping should prove beneficial. BURGHOUND

The 2022 Chablis Séchets 1er Cru has a lovely bouquet with orange blossom plus touches of beeswax that gains intensity with aeration. The palate is well-balanced, with a lightly spiced entry and fine depth. It is quite saline in the mouth, with a slice of sour lemon lending tension towards the finish. One of Louis Michel's more complex and intellectual Premier Crus this year. NEAL MARTIN

Pale yellow-gold. Fragrant melon, white peach and tangerine aromas are complicated by smoky lees and floral honey. On the palate, supple melon and pit fruit flavors are energized by smoky minerality. Shows a gently sweet touch and finishes with excellent cut, clarity and persistence. JOSH RAYNOLDS, Vinous Media

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!

WORTH A SPECIAL SEARCH - More airy but with depth of aroma too. Extra wide - panoramic - the mineral stature of the last, perhaps faintly more incisive. It's a wine I'd wait longer to open - maybe 3 years to start with - but it's also a great wine. BILL NANSON

OUTSTANDING - A more elegant, airier and more floral-suffused nose combines notes of spiced pear and enough Chablis elements to be more than just interesting. The refined, delicious and caressing, if not quite as concentrated, middle weight flavors possess very good punch on the firm, balanced, moderately dry bitter lemon-inflected finish. This markedly stony, linear and chiseled effort is also quite good and worth considering. BURGHOUND

The 2022 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre 1er Cru has an attractive bouquet with touches of frangipane infusing the citrus fruit and hints of dried orange peel coming through with time. The palate is well-balanced with a waxy-textured opening. Good delineation, quite saline, with a twist of sour lemon dovetailing into a slight nutty/smoky note on the finish. One of the finest Premier Crus from Louis Michel. NEAL MARTIN

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!

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!

Aromas of Italian croissant, cooked apple and tarte tatin. Medium-bodied with a roundness and freshness. Steely. Floats on the palate like you are in the clouds. (96) JAMES SUCKLING

It shines in this blend with clarity, precision and excellent freshness of apple, pear, grapefruit and lemon. All the theatrics of his masterful reserve solera build out a backdrop layered with enticing brioche and mixed spice. Its fruit presence contrasts a well-poised malic acid line, with the magnificent frothing salt mineral structure of Le Mesnil singing loud and clear… TYSON STELZER, The Champagne Guide

A precise, crystalline wine, the NV Brut Cuvée de Réserve is the perfect wine with which to explore the Péters Champagnes. Lemon peel white, flowers and slate are super-expressive throughout in a Champagne that impresses with its finely-sculpted personality and energy. The Cuvée de Réserve is quite powerful, but never heavy. Slightly tropical overtones add the final shades of nuance. It remains one of the best values in artisan Champagne. ANTONIO GALLONI

The 2021 Masters Chardonnay is spicy and concentrated on the nose, with lashings of fruit flavor in the mouth. This has a really savory edge to it that sits so gracefully within the fruit. You get salted peach, white tea/dandelion, cracked fennel seeds, a hint of cumin, white pepper, curls of saffron and loads of crushed shells. This is sleek and polished—it moves sort of like a spearhead through the air. There is full malolactic conversion here but within a tighter frame, and it is a kaleidoscopic, balanced experience. Feels good, smells good, tastes good. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. ERIN LARKIN, The Wine Advocate


Even more restrained than the 2020, this is very young, showing tightly wound fruit framed by carefully judged oak and a flinty reductive edge. The fruit is precise and detailed, poised between white peach, apple and lemon with a touch of cream, delicately floral perfume and fantastically driving acidity. This has a coiled, energetic core of citrus/apple fruit, coupled with a hint of phenolic bitterness to accentuate its chalky minerality. Crystalline and etched, this is very elegant, vibrant Chardonnay with a fine-grained, flowing texture. Focussed, tight and refreshingly pure on the finish, the quality and class is undeniable. STEPHEN WONG MW

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!

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!

Medium-full yellow colour with a smoky struck-flint aroma overlying lemon/citrus fruit, a touch of oak spice, all in balance. The palate is superfine and seamless, elegant and long, with touches of oak and reductive smokiness meeting citrus and stone-fruits, the back-palate swelling into a big finale. A beautiful wine, everything is in its place and the finish seems endless. Very impressive chardonnay. (98) HUON HOOKE, therealreview.com

Nectarine, cumquat jelly and rosewater, ginger and cinnamon, hazelnut, chamomile and mint, and while I’ve likely written some outlandish stuff here, in essence, it pretty much just smells and tastes like a very good Chardonnay. It has plenty of flavour, though it’s not heavy, hazelnut and salted pistachio, a subtle cultured butter character, a chalky and stony thing to texture, acidity is cool and fine, green mango and ripe lemon closes out a finish of excellent length. It has a certain X factor that pushes it up to 96 points for me. Outstanding. GARY WALSH, thewinefront.com

WORTH A SPECIAL SEARCH - Much more airy - almost vertical - perfumed and showing beautiful definition. A wine with more structure - extra breadth - cushioned intensity. A beauty. BILL NANSON

The 2020 Chablis Vent d'Ange has a light bouquet with lemon verbena, and citrus peel touches, just slightly smudged at first but gaining clarity with aeration. The palate is well-balanced with a slightly reduced entry, fine depth, plenty of extract, and a saline finish. Just a hint of blackcurrant leaf on the finish. Fine. NEAL MARTIN

WORTH A SPECIAL SEARCH - Hmm that's direct, fine fruited - what an invitation. Wide, vibrant - almost as incisive as the 20s but with a little extra ripeness to the fruit. Just in bottle a month - that's a simply great 2019 villages! BILL NANSON, Burgundy Report

Creamy, ample and layered, it is a fabulous introduction to these wines. Lemon confit, mint, apricot and sweet floral notes are all laced together in a Chablis of total nuance and class. Rich and oily on the palate with superb textural intensity, it is a real winner. Ageing in steel keeps the flavours bright. What a wine. All of the wines in this range are terrific, but I would be tempted to go for the straight Chablis. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous

The 2018 Chablis Vent d'Ange AOC was the only Thomas Pico bottling that I could include in this report -but what a great Chablis AOC it is, possible the best you will find! Displaying wonderful focus and precision on the nose, this is intense and mineral-driven. Captivating! The palate is poised and full of energy and tension, achieving Premier Cru quality, with fantastic salinity on the finish. Pico at his best. Bravo! ANTONIO GALLONI

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!

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!

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!