Reviews

Year's Best Burgundy (Oct 2013). Vougeraie owns close to 2.5 acres of vines in Clos de Vougeot, in the northwest sector of the vineyard, including several blocks planted in the late 1940s and early '50s. Farmed under biodynamics since 2001, the vines produce a true grand cru wine, the 2010 seductive and monastically severe at once. Its scen is awsome: the perfume of the arth after a rain, the essence of cherries and pressed flowers. The flavor is dense, a youthfully blank slate that fills with the interplay of sun and earth as the complexity develops for minutes after each taste. Check on this with ten years of bottle age; it's destined for greatness.

Shows striking intensity, density, focus and layers of flavor, with tiers of mocha, blackberry, mineral, black licorice and melted chocolate. The finish sails on, retaining focus and persistence.

Don't miss! This is restrained to the point of being borderline inexpressive though aggressive swirling coaxes notes of highly spiced floral, red currant, black cherry and kirsch to reveal themselves. The mouth feel of the strikingly seductive medium weight plus sized flavors is pure silk and satin as the grain of the tannins is ultra-fine. There is also excellent underlying tension and delineation to the understated and harmonious finish that really fans out on the beautifully well-balanced finish. This is a stunner of a wine that should thoroughly reward long-term cellaring.

Don't miss! This is almost exuberantly pinot in basic character with its cool, pure and spicy mix of various red berries combined with a broad array of warm earth and floral nuances. The big-bodied but round and mouth coating flavors are blessed with an abundance of structure-buffering dry extract that imparts a velvety texture to the mid-palate before terminating in a powerful and explosively long finish. Wow, this is very impressive as there is plenty of underlying tension as well as impeccably good balance.

Editor's Choice. With the 2009 vintage, De Loach is at the top of its Pinot Noir game, and this one, from a chilly vineyard south of Sebastopol, is among its best ever. The crisp acidity, like a squirt of lime, that accompanies the raspberry, cherry and persimmon fruit is bracing. Meanwhile, a mushroomy earthiness gives complex layers that don’t stop. It should age through the next decade.

An outstanding wine, the best California Cabernet Jean-Charles Boisset has ever produced from any of his properties. It stands out in any tasting of its peers. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, and aged in 60% new oak, it shows satisfying, complex flavors of blackberries, blueberries, cassis, hazelnut-infused chocolate and spices. Hard to exaggerate its power and grace. Wonderful now and good for six years, but it's difficult to predict its evolution beyond 2018. -S.H.