2012 Wine from France

Wine Spectator, 93 points: A rich version, this savory red evokes cherry, blackberry, beet, black currant, smoke and tobacco notes. Dense yet supple in texture, with a firm underlying structure and a compact finish. The long aftertaste suggests tar...

Wine Spectator, 91 points: Admirably rich for the vintage, with solid plum and black currant paste flavors, allied to a decidedly brisk and racy structure and backed by plum pit, iron and singed alder notes through the finish, giving this a rather...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 points: The 2012 is another truly great wine from Troplong Mondot. It’s always sentimental to taste this wine, realizing that proprietress Christine Valette (the larger-than-life heart and soul behind this estate) has passed...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 94 points: One of the von Neipperg estates, the 2012 Clos de l'Oratoire is an undeniable success story. Dense ruby/purple, with plenty of crème de cassis, roasted coffee, licorice and spice, full-bodied, opulent and sexy, it is a...

TheWineCellarInsider.com, 97 points: Tannic and built to age, the wine is not going to be fun to drink young. It will take at least a decade for the layers of fresh, ripe, smoky fruits and polished, lush, soft, elegant textures to begin opening and display...

jebdunnuck.com, 96 points: A wine I've had multiple times, the 2012 Clinet is a rich, beautifully pure effort that has terrific notes of black currants, plums, charred earth, licorice and smoke. Luxuriously textured, full-bodied, impeccably...

jamessuckling.com, 99 points: This is a great vintage for Cristal Rosé. The pinot noir finds a band of power and expressiveness. The power here is impressive, very assertive and rich, really mouth-filling and super deep. This is exceptional and has...

View From The Cellar, 92 points: 92+ The Rossignols’ parcel in Combottes is always the very first vines that are harvested at the domaine, as they sit up high in the vineyard where the soil is very much defined by its fine, small stones here that retain...

Vinous, 94 points: Delamotte’s 2012 Brut Vintage is rich, creamy and super-expressive. This is only the second vintage (the first was 2008) in which fruit from Oiry rounds out the classic core of Le Mesnil, Oger and Cramant that forms the...

Vinous, 93 points: 93+ A totally elusive wine, the 2012 Chablis Les Preuses is playing its cards close to the vest. A brilliant, energetic Chablis, the Preuses shows considerable textural depth, but is otherwise not terribly expressive...

jamessuckling.com, 97 points: The nose has a complex array of fine-ground eastern spices, strong cardamom, fine dark chocolate and ripe black cherries and plums. There's even some licorice. It has a neatly composed and elegant feel on the palate. It...

Vinous, 91 points: Bright medium red. Ineffable aromas of perfumed red fruits, dried flowers and truffley underbrush, complicated by a saline quality. Supple and seamless on the palate, showing a restrained sweetness to its flavors of red...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: My favorite of the lineup, and one of the top Châteauneufs in the vintage, the 2012 Châteauneuf du Pape Imperiale is 95% Grenache (5% other varieties) that comes from 100-year-old vines and the pure sand soils of the...

Burghound, 93 points: (90-93) A background application of wood frames the very ripe aromas of cassis, black cherry, earth and a touch of the sauvage. There is a lush and opulent mouth feel to the concentrated and palate coating medium weight...