Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Unwinding in the glass with notes of peach, white flowers, orange zest and beeswax, Pillot's 2018 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets is medium to full-bodied, satiny and textural, with a racy spine of acidity and a long, chalky finish. Fine-boned and precise, it's showing well. (WK)

One wine that has the potential to surpass its 2017 counterpart is Pillot's 2018 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée, a stunning cuvée that soars from the glass with scents of pear, clear honey, iodine and warm pastry. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and enveloping, it's concentrated and racy, with a layered core and a long, precise finish. This will be worth a special effort to seek out. (WK)

The 2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles was showing very well, opening in the glass
with notes of fresh peach and pear mingled with notions of oatmeal, pastry cream and white
flowers. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, textural and fleshy, with fine
concentration and structuring dry extract, good underlying acidity and a long, saline finish. (WK)

The 2018 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru was also quite introverted and reserved when I
tasted it, mingling scents of orange oil, pear and green apple with hints of crushed chalk and
fresh pastry in a youthfully shy bouquet. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, chalky and
tensile, with fine concentration, racy acids and a serious, almost austere profile in the context
of this charming white Burgundy vintage. (WK)

Just ever so slightly richer and more textured than the Sur Echalas Vineyard, the 2013 Syrah The Tribe Vineyard is a blockbuster effort that is up there with the crème de la crème of the vintage. Concentrated, full-bodied, sexy and layered on the palate, it has to-die-for notes of black cherries, currants, olives, steak tartare and Hermitage-like scorched earth characteristics. Like the other 2013s here, it needs 4-5 years of cellaring and will have two decades of longevity. (JD)

Leading off the 2013s from bottle, the 2013 Grenache la Paciencia Vineyard is getting up there with some of the top Grenache releases to come out of the New World. Incredibly perfumed, with notes of herbes de Provence, flowers, dried strawberries and assorted red fruits, it’s medium to full-bodied, seamless and impeccably balanced. The buzz words here are perfume, complexity and elegance. It’s also worth noting that the Grenache vines for this wine come from the famed Rayas lieu-dit in Chateauneuf du Pape. (JD)

Showing with a deep ruby core that fades to a purple edge, the 2017 Syrah High Contrast Vineyard explodes from the glass with pronounced smoky aromas that waft with delicate notes of dark chocolate-covered blackberries, then show hints of roasted coffee bean, notions of petrichor, baked earth and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is elegantly powerful, showcasing a balanced chassis of youthful tannins that evolve with the complex nature of the wine.

Wow—now this is a seductive Grenache! The 2016 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard has power and elegance with dark red chewy fruit that has an underlying dustiness to the core. The nose reveals a sleeping giant with a multitude of expressions ready at a moment's notice. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, the wine is eerily soft but jam-packed with dusty sweet strawberries, raspberries wrapped in red flower petals and a smoky flavor that fades in and out throughout the mid-palate. It brings immense pleasure—it acts like a big Grenache yet is reigned in and governed by its 13.4% alcohol.

From the first sniff, you know this is a special wine. The 2016 Syrah Sur Echalas Vineyard pops with a blackberry-scented nose and impressive, seductive Syrah tones reticent of the Northern Rhône, with a soft smokiness and mineral edge, warn leather and soft ashiness that lingers on with aromas of crushed violets. There are a noticeable stemmy and black pepper tones on the nose and palate that command my attention.

The 2015 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard is stunning, wafting from the glass with a captivating bouquet that features floral top notes of roses and peony, savory nuances of rich coniferous forest floor and bouillon, overlaying a sapid base of ripe cherry and strawberry. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, immensely intense and mouthwateringly savory, with incredible complexity and stony depth. The finish is long and saline. Though Baron's Cayuse Grenache is great this year, this wine is another step up. (WK)