Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Powerful but controlled, the 2019 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru displays aromas of pear, peach and honeycomb mingled with toasted nuts, dried white flowers and smoke. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional while remaining lively and mineral, it's an elegantly rendered Bâtard in an inherently powerful finish. (WK)

The 2019 Montrachet Grand Cru is also very promising, unwinding in the glass with a reserved nose of orchard fruit, nutmeg, freshly baked bread, orange oil and spices. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's layered and concentrated, with real texture and intensity. This is still on the lees in barrel, so it's not so advanced in its élevage as the other wines in the cellar, but it's full of promise. (WK)

The 2014 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes reveals a pretty bouquet of red plums, blackberries, spring flowers and potpourri. On the palate, it's full-bodied, velvety and layered, with tangy acids, fine-grained but chalky tannins and a deep, concentrated core of fruit. While this has shut down, it isn't as structurally reserved as some of the top 2014s have become. It's an elegant Clos de la Roche in the making. Harvested on September 18, this was one of Ponsot's earliest harvests in recent years: the 2013 Clos de la Roche, for example, was picked on October 9.

The 2016 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is superb, bursting from the glass with aromas of juicy cherries, peonies, blood orange, licorice, raw cocoa and espresso roast. On the palate, it's full-bodied, deep and succulent, with a concentrated, layered mid-palate, satiny structuring tannins and vibrant underlying acidity, concluding with a long finish. Harvested on October 7 at a comparatively high yield by Ponsot's standards of 38 hectoliters per hectare, this year seems to have been perfectly adapted to Ponsot's style.

The 2017 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is also showing very well from bottle, unfurling in the glass with a deep bouquet of sweet red berries, plums and cassis, complemented by sweet soil tones and lifted top notes of orange rind and peonies. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, it's deep and concentrated, its velvety tannins and succulent acids cloaked in an ample core of fruit. This is a brilliant wine from Domaine Ponsot.

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2019 Vieux Château Certan unfurls in the glass with a striking bouquet of cassis and cherries mingled with notions of violets, loamy soil, sweet spices and incense. Full-bodied, ample and layered, it's seamless and enveloping, with a fleshy core of beautifully vibrant fruit, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. Concluding with a long, resonant finish, this perfumed, sensual Vieux Château Certan is a remarkable achievement from Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont.

Pol Roger's newly released 2012 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is showing brilliantly, bursting from the glass with youthful aromas of honeyed pears, toasted brioche, pomelo, fresh pastry, green apple and mandarin orange, with hints of stone fruit emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied, vinous and textural, with an enveloping core of fleshy, concentrated fruit, bright acids and an elegant pinpoint mousse, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish.

Pol Roger's newly released 2012 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is showing brilliantly, bursting from the glass with youthful aromas of honeyed pears, toasted brioche, pomelo, fresh pastry, green apple and mandarin orange, with hints of stone fruit emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied, vinous and textural, with an enveloping core of fleshy, concentrated fruit, bright acids and an elegant pinpoint mousse, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish.

The 2018 Petrus has retained its opaque purple-black color after bottling, foreshadowing the seemingly frozen-in-time glacial pace at which this wine is proceeding. It opens very reluctantly, requiring considerable air with vigorous swirling and doggedly demands a few hours before it offers glimpses at this slumbering giant of a wine.

The forthcoming release of Doyard's NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Vendémiaire (2015 base), and it's a touch richer and more gourmand than its 2014-base counterpart. Mingling aromas of peach, white flowers, green apple, nutmeg and toasted almonds, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with a vinous profile, lively acids and fine length on the finish.