Jeannie Cho Lee

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Conti Grand Cru 2016 /
An expressive Romanee-Conti with great exuberance, intensity and complexity. This is a brilliant vintage for DRC and the Romanee-Conti in this vintage is suprisingly open at this stage. The wine combines everything one would want in a great Burgundy wine – delicacy, purity, depth, complexity, length and seductive flavors. 99 points

The 2010 Château Rieussec offers a beguiling nose of marmalade, candied orange peel and honey, and on the palate a brilliant clarity of fruit despite the intense sugar levels and full body. This is a gorgeous and generous Sauternes with great depth and length and amazing layers of flavour. 

Château Lafleur 1952 - 100 points / A gorgeous wine with layers of tobacco, leather, dried plums and hint of cacao. The palate is seductively silky with an explosion of additional spicy and dried berry flavours. Wonderful lingering finish. This wine is utter perfection.

1945 Mommessin – Clos de Tart Grand Cru / Medium garnet hue with a fading rim. This wine is amazingly young and an unconvincing ’45. Sweet potpourri on the nose with hints of dried red berries. This wine is still fresh, possesses good density, firm tannins and a grippy, tannic finish. Discussions evolved around what other wine (from Africa, southern France) this bottle might contain besides Clos de Tart.(93)

Overall, Burgundy 2018 will be remembered as a warm vintage with heat spikes that didn’t last as long as during 2003. Thus the red wines tend toward fruits such as figs and prunes with elevated, dense tannins that could be plush and supple or chunky and dry. The biggest challenge was getting sufficient freshness in the wines, with the dense tannins, ripe fruit and/or high alcohol trying to take center stage. In capable hands, the red wines have great power and capacity to age and the quality is very high. The high quality is not across the board, and in my experience, around 70% of the estates and wines I tasted took full advantage of this vintage and made fabulous wines, and the rest were disappointing.

2005 Château Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux, France / This is a sweet opulent Palmer that doesn’t have the delicate floral notes; rather, the flavours are dominated more by primary fruit right now. The palate is explosive and shows great promise for a fantastic wine with great ageing potential. A real beauty that tastes balanced when young but with the potential to age for decades. A concentrated, very impressive wine. (98)

Chateau Musar 1998 / This is a beautifully mature wine that is delicious to enjoy now. The wine has elegance, persistence and ethereal flavours of dried autumn leaves, black truffles and pu'er tea. Lovely, silky texture, supple palate and a long finish. An impressive wine that rivals the best of Bordeaux

2004 Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Millenaires / Toasty and layered with wonderful depth and a long finish. This prestige cuvee offers wonderful concentration and is often under-valued in the market compared to its peers. Since 1983, the Blanc de Millenaires is only sourced from 5 villages of Cote de Blanc. 30,000 bottles made per year. Aged for 13 years on its lees and made only every 5-7 years.

1982 is an iconic vintage for Bordeaux, and for many wine lovers, it’s a reference point as a modern, ripe year that was delicious from the onset. The top wines are still holding up well and show no signs of fading. However, some of the lesser wines are starting to show its age. This ripe vintage has given us a wide drinking window, regardless of the specific appellation and terroir. For those that still have some top 1982 Bordeaux in your cellar, there is no rush to pull the cork. A long life ahead awaits these beauties.