1995 Les Forts de Latour

89 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2001 – 2015
£200 (VAT EXCLUDED)

Latour’s second wine, Forts de Latour, is now one of the two or three finest second wines of Bordeaux. The terrific, dark ruby/purple-coloured 1995 possesses a sweet, jammy black fruit-scented nose intertwined with smoky minerals, earth, and spicy oak. The wine is surprisingly thick and rich in the mouth, with its glycerin and concentration of fruit largely concealing the moderate tannin. This excellent, sweet wine is less powerful, but more accessible than other years’ one.

1986 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

94 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2003 – 2015
£170 (VAT EXCLUDED)

Just now emerging from a very clumsy dormant period, Pichon-Lalande’s dense ruby/purple-colored 1986 still has the color of a 4 or 5 year old wine. This is the most tannic and backward Pichon-Lalande after 1975 and before 1996. The wine shows notes of cedar, black currants, earth, spice box, and licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, very concentrated, intense palate with a still noticeable tannic structure, a relatively big, muscular style for Pichon-Lalande.

2005 Palmer

97 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2017 – 2045
£200 (VAT EXCLUDED)

This spectacular offering should continue to improve, and may merit an even higher score after additional aging. Stunningly rich and powerful, the dark purple-tinged 2005 Palmer is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot. Aromas of incense, burning embers, black currants, plums, licorice, and flowers are followed by a full-bodied Margaux characteristic. The abundant acidity and tannins are beautifully coated by the wine’s exceptional fruit extract and overall harmony and richness.

1996 Mouton-Rothschild

94 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2007 – 2030
£334 (VAT EXCLUDED

This wine is showing surprising forwardness and complexity in its aromatics. It possesses an exuberant, flamboyant bouquet of roasted coffee, cassis, smoky oak, and soy sauce. The impressive 1996 Mouton-Rothschild offers impressive aromas of black currants, framboise, coffee, and new saddle leather. This full-bodied, ripe, rich, concentrated, superbly balanced wine is paradoxical in the sense that the aromatics suggest a far more evolved wine than the flavors reveal. The 1996 blend consists of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc.

1996 Latour

99 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2010-2030
£560 (VAT EXCLUDED)

Deep garnet-black in colour, the 1996 is classic Latour at its utmost. The nose offers a tantalizing array of complex notes including dried Chinese plums, toasted nuts, Indian spices and black olive tapenade over a core of dried cherries and aged meat. The palate is pure power that is stunningly balanced giving a generous level of fruit concentration perfectly offset by a high level of very finely grained tannins and seamless freshness. Possessing a finish that just goes on and on, this is as good as it gets.

1986 Chateau Margaux

98 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 2003 – 2050
£500 (VAT EXCLUDED)

The color of 1986 Chateau Margaux is a dense ruby/purple with just a hint of lightening at the rim. With several hours of aeration, the aromatics become striking, with notes of smoke, toast, creme de cassis, mineral, and white flowers. Very full-bodied, with high but sweet tannin, great purity, and a very masculine, full-bodied style, this wine should prove nearly immortal in terms of its aging potential. It is beginning to budge from its infantile stage and approach adolescence.

1999 Pierre Morey Meursault Les Perrieres

91 points, Allen Meadows
Drink: 2005-2014
£105 (VAT Excluded)

Another great Pierre Morey Perrières with its intense nose of citrus, spice, obvious toast and a hint of almonds. But it’s the purity and flavor authority that really set this apart with its wet stone nuances, impressive focus and elegant fruit/acid balance that continue on into an almost painfully intense finish. A first-rate Perrières that remains very fresh and one that should continue to age well.

2003 Louis Jadot Corton Charlemagne

90-92 points, Pierre Rovani
Drink: 2008 – 2016
£150 (VAT EXCLUDED)

The intense mineral aromas of the 2003 Corton-Charlemagne (white) lead to a medium-bodied, seamless core of fruit. Silky-textured, it offers flavors reminiscent of grilled minerals, oak spices, and crisp pears. This fresh, well-structured effort is a candidate for drinking between 2008 and 2016+.

2002 Domaine Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste Hune

93 points, David Schildknecht
Drink: 2010~2030
£250 (VAT EXCLUDED)

The 2002 Riesling Clos Ste-Hune – at under 8,000 bottles the smallest lot ever (even 2003 approached 9,000) – displays chicken stock, quarry dust, musk, wood smoke, and lime on the nose, then deposits minerality as deep, saline, and mysterious as the ocean. It is still very firm in finish for all of its length and one will have to have patience here as well. Plan on enjoying this anytime during the second decade of this new century, but plan on cuisine that will suit its extreme minerality.

1995 Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc de l’Oree

97 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 1997~2047
£260 (VAT EXCLUDED

This wine represents the essence of white Hermitage. Made from 100% Marsanne from extremely old vines and microscopic yields of 12 hectoliters per hectare, the wines overwhelm any evidence of their barrique aging. It possess extraordinary intensity, full body, the multi-layered texture of a great Montrachet, and intense, honeyed, mineral-like fruit flavors that ooze over the palate with remarkable richness, yet no sense of heaviness. This wine should easily last 40-50 years – assuming excellent storage.

1979 Chateau d’Yquem

88 points, Robert Parker
Drink: 1990-2020
£350 (VAT EXCLUDED)

This is an immensely attractive Yquem, yet it seems to be missing something. Light golden, with Yquem’s typically oaky, spicy, buttery, ripe bouquet, it is only slightly more reserved than usual. On the palate, this full-bodied wine is intense and well balanced, but falls just a trifle short in the finish. The 1979 Yquem is not as powerful or as rich as this wine can be in the top vintages. Only 40% of the crop was retained. Last tasted, 12/90.

1995 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet

95 points, Allen Meadows
Drink: now – 2020
£680 (VAT EXCLUDED)

Elegance personified as even at 18 years of age this remains extremely fresh with absolutely no botrytis influence that highlights the wonderfully penetrating nose of knife-like delineation that offers white flowers, hazelnut and anise notes followed by precise, rich flavors dripping with minerality and breath taking intensity. The intensity builds from the mid-palate and continues on to the long, dynamic, beautifully balanced finish. A knockout Chevalier with excellent density that is still on the way up in this format.