France

92-94 Points! Perhaps the single finest Echézeaux I tasted this trip, this wine has it all. Explosive fruit, staggering complexity and profoundly long, spicy, velvety flavors, this wine clearly demonstrates, without fear of contradiction, that Echézeaux can produce wines worthy of grand cru stature. The fact that it so rarely does is not an excuse for those who make lesser examples. - Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan 2001 

97 Points! Loïc Dugat-Py continues to work on his version of Mazoyères, moving away from the massive, tannic style of previous vintages to something with much more precision and depth. The 2023 features charming blackberry fruit with a bit of bramble and earth – true complexity in an approachable format. The texture is supple yet still dense, and the length is truly impressive. The grapes are from a quarter-hectare parcel near the Aux Charmes lieu-dit; 90% are fermented as whole clusters, and the wine is currently ageing in cask (30% new). - Decanter Magazine 

97 Points! The Mazoyères from Dugat-Py is delightful, if somewhat puzzling. In many previous vintages, I have qualified it as 'massive' or 'imposing', and I found it more tannic and slightly more rustic than the Charmes, where he also has vines. In the 2022 vintage, I found rather the opposite: silky and ripe, with a fragrant blackberry and pomegranate fruit scented with liquorice and rose petals. The texture was impressively dense, but the wine was approachable even at this age and gave the impression it should open up reasonably young. There is still plenty of tannic grip, but this element doesn't dominate. - Decanter Magazine

96+ Points! The 2022 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru is taut and mineral, unwinding in the glass with a typically brooding bouquet of dark berries and plums mingled with hints of rose petals, spices, burning embers and beetroot. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with lively acids, powdery tannins and a long, chalky finish, it will demand some patience. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

95 Points! The Mazis from Dugat-Py is profound, if not as expressively open as other wines in the cellar, yet there is abundant substance here. The aromas are spicy and complex, with an impressive depth of flavour to the black plum fruit and a round, supple structure. The grapes are from 75-year-old vines in Mazis-Bas; with the next vintage, Loïc will add a cuvée of Mazis-Haut from a sharecropping agreement. The fruit is fermented as 90% whole clusters; ageing is in 50% new casks. - Decanter Magazine

96 Points! The 2021 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru is less brooding than is often the case, no doubt thanks to the vintage. Wafting from the glass with notes of sweet red berries, wild plums, rose petals, cinnamon and potpourri, it's full-bodied, rich and layered, with a beautifully seamless, suave profile that means it's far from forbidding, even right out of the gates. Patience, however, will of course be rewarded. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

95 Points! The 2021 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru has also turned out brilliantly in bottle, and readers will have a hard time choosing between this and the Lavaux Saint-Jacques. Bursting from the glass with aromas of peonies, wild berries, cherries, orange zest and spices, it's full-bodied, ample and multidimensional, with a broad attack that segues into a layered, enveloping core, concluding with a long, spicy finish. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

Not really 'Bourgogne' per se but in fact some killer juice from declassified Gevrey-Chambertin vines!

97 Points! Violets, roses, raspberries, and red cherries emanate from the 2003 Richebourg. Full-bodied, deep, and hugely concentrated, it is muscular, firm and displays the firmest structure of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti’s 2003s. Soy sauce, tar, chocolate, and dark fruits are found in its focused, audacious personality. Its impressively persistent finish is studded with highly present tannin. - Pierre Rovani, robertparker.com, Aug 2005 

Amazignly rare due to frost, only bottled in Magnum in 2016...

Dark red-ruby. The brooding, medicinal scents of black cherry and licorice suggest an extremely concentrated wine. At once sweeter and even more tannic than the Echézeaux, conveying a powerful impression of extract but also uncanny cut to its dark fruit and saline mineral flavors. Finishes with explosive length. The impression of chewiness and solidity verges on extreme, and this wine is likely to need a minimum of a decade of bottle aging. Incidentally, both this wine and the Echézeaux will be bottled entirely in magnums. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media

The 2021 Volnay En Champans 1er Cru has a very attractive bouquet with brambly, red berry fruit, white pepper and sous-bois scents, nicely focused with a subtle garrigues note. The palate is medium--bodied with depth, crisp and lively with a healthy dash of white pepper. Well-focused and harmonious, this is a fine Volnay Champans. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

The 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin Village presents a pretty nose with a mixture of blackcurrant and raspberry fruit. Well defined with nicely integrated oak, it conveys a sense of transparency. Fine tannins frame the palate, offering raspberry and strawberry fruit with a dash of spice on the finish, which is more structured than I expected. Delightful. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

A slightly riper nose freely offers up its array of plum, dark currant and more prominent earth influence. There is more size and weight, if not necessary better density, to the sappy, dusty and complex finale that is noticeably firmer. This is a lovely Gevrey villages and worth considering. - Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan 2025 

A super-fresh and bright red pinot fruit nose is cut with discreet earth nuances that are reflected on the delicious if not especially dense flavors that possess both fine cut and punch before concluding in a saline-suffused and refreshing finale where a touch of rusticity appears. - Allen Meadows, Burghound, Jan 2025 

Dugat's 2022 Bourgogne delivers aromas of sweet cherries, berries and petals, followed by a medium-bodied, bright and precise palate that's vibrant and mouthwatering. William Kelley, robertparker.com, Jan 2024 

92+ Points! There are two barrels of Beaumonts in the cellars this year, one of which was new. This is a terrific wine in the making and will be worth a special search to locate in the market. The bouquet is deep, pure and very classy, as it offers up a fine mélange of dark berries, plums, a touch of venison, woodsmoke, fresh herbs, espresso and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and beautifully focused, with a fine core of fruit, tangy acids, moderate tannins and outstanding length and grip on the pure and soil-driven finish. Classy juice. - John Gilman, View From The Cellar, Apr 2010 

90-93 Points! From a 50/50 blend of Les Millandes and La Riotte. Ripe aromas of poached plum, various dark berries and pungent earth leads to more energetic and more finely detailed if less powerful medium weight flavors that also possess a seductive texture on the youthfully austere finale. Lovely. - Allen Meadows, Burghound.com

92 Points! The wide spectrum of black berries with notes of candied orange and clove pull you into this rich and fleshy Beaune 1er Cru. However, there's a firm tannic core beneath all this and the powdery tannins at the long finish provide clear contours. Slight salinity there. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

90-92 Points! Pretty and cool yet definitely ripe aromas reveal notes of various dark berries, violet and rose petal. The suave and seductively textured medium weight flavors possess very fine density while the youthfully austere and moderately firm finish makes clear that this will need at least a few years of bottle aging first. - Allen Meadows, Burghound

95 Points! Deep, bright red. Knockout vibrant nose combines purple and red berries, crushed stone, violet and animal fur. Lush, thick and deep but with terrific chalky energy animating the middle palate. Conveys striking depth to its red fruit and floral flavors, with the 45% new oak practically invisible today. Finishes with huge but round, noble tannins and outstanding lingering sweetness. In a more opulent style than the potentially great 2013, and probably for drinking before that wine. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media

93+ Points! (like the Chapelle, this is also made from fruit purchased from Damoy) Bright dark red with ruby tones. Sexy aromas of black fruits, spices, dried flowers, licorice, espresso and chocolate. Juicy, penetrating and high-pitched in the mouth, with lovely floral and mineral lift to the complex flavors of red and darker fruits, leather and pepper. In a very upright, firmly structured style, and not at all exotic. Prost uses more tight-grained Vosges oak for this cuvee, which makes for a longer, slower oxygenation during elevage. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media

93+ Points! (I tasted a blend of Bouchard's three barrels) Good deep red. Wild, soil-driven aromas of brown spices, licorice, pepper, wild herbs, celery seed and toasted bread, plus a light yeasty quality. Big, silky and rich, with a flavor of clafoutis Unusually round and generous for young Bonnes-Mares. Quite horizontal on the back end, finishing with extremely sweet, fine-grained tannins for Bonnes-Mares and superb persistence. I would not be surprised to see this rate a score at the high end of my projected range. - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous Media