Reviews

The 2019 Cabernet Franc JCB #17 is all varietal and comes from a single vineyard in St. Helena. It spent 19 months in 40% new French oak. This pretty, medium to full-bodied, super elegant red offers lots of spicy, cedary, savory nuances as well as ample ripe darker cherry and berry fruits, supple tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. Drink it over the coming 15 years or more.

Black cherry; clove; plums; luscious fruit.

Expressive, spicy and silky, with berry and cherry fruit wrapped in toasty, vanilla-tinged oak. Firm yet elegant, with a layer of dusty tannins; however, the lasting impression is ripe fruit and an underlying mineral element. Just needs time. Best from 2026 through 2045. —B.S.

The 2019 Surrealist, Jean-Charles Boisset's Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot blend, screams out of the glass with layers of plush, inky red fruit. Mocha, spice and rose petal complement the super-ripe fruit nicely. Unabashedly flamboyant and inviting, Surrealist captures the essence of the Boisset style...and personality.

-- Antonio Galloni

Beautiful violet and black-cherry nose. A gentle giant that has a radical mineral and tannin structure, but also wonderful elegance, the finishing washing over you in waves that echo down the valleys. Great aging potential. Drink or hold.

This wine shows depth and balance, offering a classic nose of ripe dark fruit, vanilla and eucalyptus. Some crushed-stone minerality, too. Full-bodied and dense with impressive concentration, viscous tannins and bright acidity. Fresh and juicy aftertaste. Lovely now, but better in 2023.

The 2020 Charlemagne Grand Cru has a well-defined and quite focused bouquet with admirable mineralité and tension. The palate is taut and fresh, impressive in terms of depth, quite focused and poised with a touch of sea salt towards the finish. Lots of energy here - this is one of Vougeraie’s best whites.

The 2020 Corton Clos du Roi Grand Cru contains 100% whole bunch this year. I appreciate the aromatics here - well-defined, fragrant and quite floral, there offers fine mineralité and tension. The palate is mediumbodied with supple tannins, very harmonious with a bead of acidity that lends finesse and elegant towads the finish. This is clever winemaking and a successful Corton. Excellent.

Medium ruby-garnet colour. This has sumptuous, spicy aromas of damson plum, black cherry, earth and underbrush. A well-endowed Pinot Noir, coating the palate with concentrated black cherry, spiced plum, and a tapestry of fine cedar tannins...

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is immediately seductive, revealing heady brown spices, perfumed purple florals, sweet cedar and elegant tobacco accents. Nothing shy here. A positively siken texture, laced with creamy blackberry and black cherry fruit, brown sugar...