“This mineral-driven version is silky and soft on the palate, with light notes of wildflowers, white raspberry and peach hovering over a bed of crushed stone and flint. A delicate, understated style, with some simmering power underneath. Grenache and Mourvèdre. Drink now”

“Fresh aromatic layers of mint sit atop crushed red cherriesand wild strawberries, with light clove and thyme on the nose. The palate is rich and enticing with black cherries, plums, rhubarb, pomegranate seeds, black olives and freshly picked rosemary leaves. Tremendous texture, structure, and refreshing acidity carry this wine to a robust finish of orange zest and black tea leaves.”

“Dense and structured, this robust wine offers more than the usual tannins and acidity, giving it a grippy mouthfeel and the potential to mellow with time. Black cherries, black currants and woodsy spices are there, waiting to develop.”

“The 2016 Louis Roederer Brut Rosé is made this vintage from a blend of sixty-two percent pinot noir from Cumières and thirty-eight percent chardonnay from Chouilly. This year, twentyone percent of the vins clairs are raised in barrels, but with only four percent of the blend going through malolactic fermentation. It was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter. The bouquet is bright and very elegant, wafting from the glass in a mix of tangerine, strawberries, bread dough, a complex base of chalky soil tones, orange zest, rose petals and just a whisper of oak hovering in the background. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and refined, with a lovely core, superb mineral drive, elegant mousse and a very long, precise and impeccably balanced finish. This is a gorgeous wine that is already drinking beautifully, but which will be even better down the road with some bottle age. 2023-2060.”

The 2021 Dominus is a powerful, tightly-coiled wine that is holding back quite a bit of reserve. There's real depth and resonance waiting to emerge as the wine matures. Floral overtones and bright acids confer energy to a core of red/bluish fruits. Readers will find a Dominus built more on linear precision rather than opulence. It is hugely impressive in this tasting, with a long chalky finish.