Calvados, Valpolicella, Pinot ...

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

A strong effort in a challenging year, the 2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir delivers aromas of sweet berries, plums and spices, followed by a light to medium-bodied, tangy and supple palate that will make for thirst-quenching drinking on release. WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

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!

Wildly exotic, the 2022 Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée captivates with its seductive blend of dried flowers, incense, rosemary and dried strawberries. This is wonderfully fresh, nearly crunchy in feel, with stimulating acidity offsetting its tart red fruits and hints of sour citrus that pucker the cheeks. The 2022 finishes with youthful tension, lightly structured yet cooling and fresh, leaving suggestions of tart raspberry. About 52% whole cluster fermentation. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous.com

The 2022 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard Mt. Jefferson Cuvee is gorgeous out of the gate, offering a floral and fresh profile revealing notes of incense and ripe wild raspberries. Medium-bodied and elegant but structured, it has a mouth-filling, rich texture, with ripe tannins and great energy. The acidity is even and ripe, but there's still vibrant energy to it. JEB DUNNUCK

Wonderfully savoury, fresh mint, gravel dust and fresh wild strawberries. Country berries offer an elegant rusticity to the front palate, savoury herbs and white pepper, a new height for Mt Jefferson. DECANTER

A lively, precise and well-composed pinot with notes of sour cherries, red currants, crushed roses and mild spices on the nose, followed through to a medium body with bright acidity. It's crisp and spot-on, with succulent wild berries at the center and verve throughout. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

Pale ruby in colour. Gorgeous nose that manages to perfectly balance cedary oak and forest floor with sweet red and black fruit. Fresh acidity, firm tannin and a lengthy finish. Bravo! (17.5) JANCIS ROBINSON MW

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

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

Clouet's rose epitomises elegance and focus, while flamboyantly celebrating the generous red cherry, strawberry, watermelon and pink pepper fruit of Bouzy.  It encapsulates that wonderful talent of pinot noir to build and rise on the finish, all the while retaining graceful precision as delicate as rose petal perfume.  Structure is fine and elegant, driven both by chalk minerality of the village and a very finely executed tannin presence.  It finishes with great length and poise of exquisite red cherry fruit.  A pristine and enticingly priced rose. Older disgorgements have taken on savoury suggestions of tamarillo, while upholding their primary integrity.  TYSON STELZER

The NV Brut Rosé No 3 Grand Cru is a pure Bouzy Pinot Noir that gets its beautiful intense onion-skin color from the addition of 8% red wine. The nose is rich and complex but at the same time pure and refined, with a nice chalky layer and vinous fruit intensity. Round and rich but fresh and vital on the pure and elegant palate, this is a full-bodied, pretty intense and persistent rosé to be served with main courses. This rosé is seriously complex and expressive, with grip, tension and a long finish. Remarkable in class and style. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

(made from 100% Grand Cru Bouzy pinot noir, with 8% still wine): Vivid orange-pink. Aromas and flavors of ripe red berries, candied rose and toasty lees. Fleshy but nervy and focused, with strong mineral cut and hints of bitter herbs on the very long, energetic finish. Smoothly blends richness and vivacity, making it extremely flexible with food or without. JOSH RAYNOLDS

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 

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!

Wow, what a lovely aroma of raspberry and dark cherry fruit laid over a faintly stoney backbeat and gorgeous blue florals of violets. The palate is full and ripe but nuanced and full of energy. Intensity of flavour without heft. I love the limestone drying quality in this wine and the mouth aromas that mark it as a Volnay through and through. Tannins are well managed and covered by the fruit. I love this. MICHAEL MCNAMARA, PWS

Ripe aromas of both red and dark berry fruit enjoy pretty floral top notes. There is again very good energy to the solidly dense and voluminous flavors that are at once generous yet grippy and rustic on the firm finish. While better balanced than the St. Romain, I suspect that this will always have a bit of a tannic edge to it. BURGHOUND

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!

Extremely perfumed with a pretty ripeness and clarity, offering plums and al-dente strawberries. Some cantaloupe, too. It's medium- to full-bodied with juicy fruit that's lovely and open. You want to drink it now. And do. Crunchy yet velvety and caressing in the mouth-feel from the lovely, open tannins. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Best in a year or two, but right on. (97) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2020 Rippon Mature Vine Pinot Noir is restrained on the nose, with an earthy (i.e., of the earth, gray rocks, etc.) countenance that I find highly engaging. In the mouth, the fruit comes alive with cherry and cranberry, pomegranate pearls, graphite and pencil lead, layers of black tea, coal dust and brine. This is dark without being heavy or dense, and it’s very fine. The silty tannins linger through the finish and seem to settle on the palate, which is pleasurable. It's fresh, and it's restrained and composed. An exciting wine. ERIN LARKIN, Wine Advocate

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

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!

Fresh and floral nose with tiles, vibrant red berries and pomegranate. Stony, mineral verve. Pure and expressive with good tension on the medium-bodied palate. Silky, very nimble and elegant. Acidic red berries in the finish that cleanse the palate. So much drinkability. Drink or hold. From biodynamically grown grapes. (96) JAMES SUCKL:ING

From 1955 plantings. One thing to note, is that for premium wines, the bottles are pretty lightweight. Good!
Raspberry and cherry pip, spice, a liquorice/fennel perfume, stony, a little peppery. Medium-bodied, spicy red fruit, some rhubarb and strawberry pie, kind of juicy, but also tight, sappy, and controlled with a distinct cool ‘mineral’ feel to it. Tannin is dusty and gently peppery, and the finish is stony and long. Outstanding. Love these wines. Drink 2024 - 2034+. (96) GARY WALSH, The Wine Front

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!

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!

Opulent aromas of rose petals, smoke and crushed raspberries mark this wine from the La Bohème Vineyard, planted in 1985. Sweet black raspberries, cloves, and green tea leaves are met by sandalwood and chicory root. The structure is impressive, and the fruit goes on seemingly forever. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Pinot Noir La Bohème, from grapes planted in 1985, has pure, alluring aromas of pomegranate, blueberry, mushroom powder, iron and desiccated flowers. The light-bodied palate is chalky and refreshing with understated yet complex flavors and a long, perfumed finish. ERIN BROOKES, Wine advocate

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

A gorgeously bright and savoury Pinot Noir from this 24-ha parcel in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA is done at 50% whole cluster. It's got pretty aromatics of savoury dried herbs, fresh mint, evergreen tips and early-season strawberries. The palate flashes a real depth of fruit with rich brambleberries, brightened by pine sap, smoked sea salt and sumac notes. A delicious coming together of the wine's rich fruit and mineral complexity. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Pinot Noir Goodrich comes from marine sedimentary soils and was crafted with around 40% whole clusters. It has powerful, broody scents of red and black cherries, iron, mushroom powder and violet. The medium-bodied palate has a finely chalky texture and explosive, juicy fruit that lures you in for another taste. It becomes more complex and detailed as it opens in the glass ERIN BROOKES, Wine advocate

Deliciously ripe, the Mount Richmond site is secluded, sitting at the western end of the Willamette Valley with south-east-facing slopes. It's generously aromatic with Christmas spice and clove that lead to black and red berry fruits. The palate is lushly dark fruited, fleshy ripe cherries, hints of turned earth and umami and a wonderful wild anise note at the finish. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Pinot Noir Mount Richmond, from marine sedimentary soils, has deep scents of raspberry and blackberry preserves, rose petals, mushrooms, aniseed and earth. The light-bodied palate features perfumed, spicy berry fruit. It has a silky texture, fireworks of fresh acidity and a long, nuanced finish ERIN BROOKES, Wine Advocate

From a hillside vineyard, Clay Court is on top of Parrett Mountain comes a beautifully balanced Pinot Noir. Ruby red-hued with great floral elegance, showy notes of dusty red berries, and a gravelly minerality. The palate is fleshy, red-fruited and delicious; a squeeze of blood orange brightens the affair; it's followed on by tart cranberries, green tea leaves and an array of savoury dried herbs, finishing with tart cherries and a hint of minerality. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Pinot Noir Clay Court, grown on volcanic Jory soils, has wonderfully spicy aromas of cinnamon, tea leaves, mossy bark and mushrooms complementing a core of raspberry and red cherry jam. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated, spicy fruit. It's structured by fine, grainy tannins and bright acidity and has a long, bitters-laced finish. ERIN BROOKES, Wine advocate

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 - 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

From a historic site in the foothills of the Cascade Range and the Laurelwood District AVA, the aromas are soft and elegant, With sweet red berries, smoky rose petals, and notes of black tea. The palate is concentrated with ripe fruit, candied raspberries, black cherry flesh, and a finish of spicy black plums. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Pinot Noir Five Mountain, grown on Laurelwood soils, is scented of raspberry, red cherry jam, cinnamon, mushrooms and orange peel. The light-bodied palate is silky and refreshing with understated, floral fruit and a long, spicy finish. ERIN BROOKES, Wine advocate