Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

A new wine from the folks at Caccia al Piano, the 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Caccia al Piano is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Cabernet Franc with fruit coming from a 12-hectare site located on the upper parts of the appellation at 180 meters above sea level with rocky limestone soils. This special site merits single-vineyard status, and the estate has made positive tweaks in recent years to improve winemaking. It flaunts a classic approach with great fruit versus oak integration and the sharpness that is characteristic of this vintage.

A new wine from the folks at Caccia al Piano, the 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Caccia al Piano is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Cabernet Franc with fruit coming from a 12-hectare site located on the upper parts of the appellation at 180 meters above sea level with rocky limestone soils. This special site merits single-vineyard status, and the estate has made positive tweaks in recent years to improve winemaking. It flaunts a classic approach with great fruit versus oak integration and the sharpness that is characteristic of this vintage.

The 2021 Bolgheri Rosso Ruit Hora (a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah and 5% Petit Verdot) has wide-ranging aromas of dark fruit, spice and blackberry preserves. The effect is less focused in the minutiae, but you do get lots of intensity with round and rich flavors. There is a sweet note that gives this wine an accessible quality. You are left with a combination of chalk and fruit on the close. Fruit comes from four vineyard sites, and the total production is 90,000 bottles. (ML)

Soaring from the glass with aromas of buttered orchard fruit, honeycomb, orange oil, peach and nutmeg, the 2020 Montrachet Grand Cru is full-bodied, rich and satiny, with a layered, muscular mid-palate that's girdled by lively acids and a long, resonant finish. This is an expressive, dramatic Montrachet that can comfortably keep company with the superb 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages.

Tasted from an ex-château bottle at BI Wine & Spirits Calon-Segur dinner in London. The 2000 Calon Segur is one of those wines that reminds you how great the millennial vintage could be. Now at fifteen years old, it has a brilliant, vivacious red berry nose infused with ash and cigar box aromas. The detail here is a beguiling and it just "sings" Saint Estèphe. The palate is medium-bodied with dense, firm tannin that provide a rigid backbone, but it is swathed in copious tobacco-drenched black fruit and a superb line of acidity.

Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London. The 2006 Château Pontet-Canet has an extremely pure, vivacious, perfumed bouquet with crushed violets infusing the blueberry and blackberry fruit. But it is all about the detail and precision in this wine. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip in the mouth: lightly toasted black fruit, dried orange peel, cedar and a pinch of white pepper. This feels very cohesive and poised with just a touch of mint entering right on the finish. What a great wine from Alfred Tesseron and Jean-Michel Comme.

The 2015 Brut La Grande Année was disgorged last year with eight grams per liter dosage. The wine has turned out beautifully, exhibiting a more muscular, old-school Bollinger profile in contrast to the unusually racy, fine-boned 2014 that preceded it. Wafting from the glass with notes of pear, orange oil and white flowers mingled with notions of mocha, toasted hazelnuts and fino sherry, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and textural, with a dense core of fruit framed by chalky structuring extract, concluding with a long, sapid finish. (WK)

Yellow plums, apples, and white flowers can be discerned in the nose of the 2002 Meursault Chevalieres. Highly focused, pure, and detailed, it offers minerals, pears, and apples in its lengthy, expressive character. Drink it over the next 6-7 years. (PR)

The super-spicy 2002 Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseigneres is a light to medium-bodied wine of outstanding depth. Lively talcum and mineral flavors can be found in its delineated and detailed character. In addition, this wine sports a sweet, long, supple finish. (PR)

Raveneau's 2005 Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre is beginning to drink beautifully as it approaches age 13, wafting from the glass with a complex bouquet of lemon oil, mandarin, drawn butter, iodine, beeswax and dried white flowers. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and textural, with the mid-palate richness and generosity of a warm vintage but with a delineated, chalky finish that's faithful to the Montée de Tonnerre. This is a gourmand, fleshy vintage for Raveneau—though not to the extent of 2006 or 2003—but the wines are aging gracefully. (WK)