A bit woodsy in feel now, with a youthfully raw edge, as singed sandalwood and alder notes liberally frame the core of dark cherry, plum and black currant fruit. This has length and drive, with a smoldering feel echoing...

The savoury, floral edge of Cabernet on gravel is fully on display, and it needs time in the glass to soften and unroll. After a few minutes, the smoky side comes out, and the lean but concentrated berry fruit, although...

The brilliant 2011 Troplong Mondot is one of the superstars of the vintage. The final blend was 89% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, and the wine tips the scales at 14.5% alcohol. Its opaque...

(WE93-95 points) A firm and tannic wine, it has the weight to support its tannins. It's balanced, solid and dense, with a powerful shot of black fruits.

(94-96). Barrel sample. Showing a judicious blend of new wood and ripe fruit, this is a wine that has a creamed-apple texture. It's full of bright grapefruit, sweet apple and green plum flavors.

(WE94-96 points) Big and powerful this is a wine that is supported by dense tannins. The feeling is dry and firm with a brooding black-currant character.

95-97. Barrel sample. This wine is rich with flavors of tropical fruit and citrus, with judicious wood aging and fine concentration. ROGER VOSS

The 2011 Pape Clement, a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, was aged 18 months in new French oak before being bottled unfiltered. Absolutely profound, with a complex...

The 2011 Marguet “Sapience” is a brilliant young wine that completely transcends the general quality of the vintage, as this was one of the more difficult growing seasons in recent Champagne history. But, no matter for...

A mature Champagne from a great vintage year, this is concentrated. With toast over the white fruits and with minerality still very present, the wine is taut, textured, vibrant and ready to drink. ROGER VOSS

The 2011 Pavie is composed of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon (14.3% alcohol). It possesses a certain approachability, which is somewhat disarming for the big, robust, super-concentrated and...

A great success for the vintage, this wine is firmly structured and expressive, bringing out a dark structure, ripe tannins and swathes of black fruits. Further generosity will develop as the wine matures. Drink from...

A Duhart that was particularly subdued when young, it is continuing to develop and will be even better in two or three years. Plenty of juice, dark fruits and firm tannins. It's a wine with so much freshness that you get...

The 2011 vintage of Clos des Goisses is quite unique in the annals of this great single vineyard Champagne, as it is composed solely of pinot noir in this year! This the first vintage to ever be crafted exclusively from...

Fascinating dry white with lavender, lemon-rind and sliced-apple character. Full, very dry and mineral, with chalk and fruit character. Solid and structured. Needs at least four or five years to soften, but what a white...

This is typical of the ripe and opulent style of this property with superripe black currant fruit. It's concentrated in flavor, but also structured with smooth tannins. It's a wine both for short-term fruitiness and...

Larmandier-Bernier's 2011 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Terre de Vertus ler Cru is as good a wine from this challenging vintage as readers are likely to find. Deep, powerful and vinous, the 2011 offers terrific persistence...

A totem of the region, this is a stunning recioto born of six-months appassimento and a decade in barrel. Riffs on Chinotto, alpine spruce, bitter cherry, clove, mahogany and walnut husk, with a waft of something more...

This is the first vintage of Jacques Thienpont's new wine, over the border in St-Émilion. Eight hectares of 30-year-old vines, harvested three weeks later than at Le Pin. 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. Spicy, ripe and...

Beautifully balanced, this opens with alluring scents of wild berry, rose, baking spice and whiffs of chopped herb. Seamlessly combining ripe fruit and the firm's trademark finesse, the bright elegantly structured palate...

Wow. Wonderfully aromatic nose of currants, blackberries and lilacs. Full body but refined and beautiful. The quality of the tannins is exception. So fine. Lovely austerity and tension on the finish. Better in 2016.

This rich red is suave and ripe, laced with black cherry, black currant and oak spice flavors. Balanced and supple, with complexity and a lingering aftertaste of sweet fruit, mineral and spice. Best from 2016 through...

This complex wine has rich tannins and layers of new wood atop dark black berries. At the same time, it is rounding out well, offering spice, sweet acidity and a terse freshness that is infectious. It's a very fruity wine...

Fabulous aromas of crushed berries, black truffles and cocoa. Full body with super-integrated tannins and a beautiful finish. This is fantastic for the second wine of Lafleur although the owner says the wine comes from a...

Clos Fourtet is a continuing success. This 2011 is both rich and seriously structured. Ripe, with a mineral character, it starts firm and then shows generous blackberry fruits. Still young, it should not be drunk before 2018.

The 2011 Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux is dressed in a dark and dense red color. Very pure, intense, ripe, concentrated and almost bloody, as well as leathery on the nose where black olives, licorice, black cherries and...

The 2011 Nuits St.Georges Les Allots has a striking bouquet, more immediate than the Pommard with lifted mineralite, beautifully defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, waves of black...

The 2011 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Aux Vignerondes has a pretty bouquet that is initially taciturn, opening with blackberry, cola, a touch of broom and wilted rose petals. The palate is rounded and lithe in the mouth, the...