1 | Wine | White, Loire, 86 or higher

"Tasted from tank, into which it had been assembled just two weeks beforehand, the Morin 2011 Sancerre Vieilles Vignes – which will as usual be a cuvee solely for the U.S. market, and bottled unfiltered – brims with bright lime and grapefruit; apple and honeydew melon, offering a lovely balance between lees-enrichment and refreshing vivacity. There is a chalky sense of mineral impingement to the vibrantly zesty, invigorating, yet persistently succulent finish of this buoyant (incidentally, 12.7% alcohol) Sancerre that should drink well for the next 3-4 years if not beyond."

"The lush, ripe pit fruit; luscious citrus; and wafting floral perfume that characterized “the rest” of the material that will become this year’s Tradition cuvee here display additional intensity, accompanied by piquant nut oils, oyster liquor, and shrimp shell reduction, making for a deep, saliva-liberating savor. For all of its richness, this delivers ample refreshment, while evincing a remarkable sense of buoyancy. Look to have a wonderful time with this beauty over the next 3-4 years."

"A stunning, dry Vouvray (although I suspect there is a touch of residual sugar), this 2011 possesses a flamboyant nose of peaches, orange marmalade, lemon custard and spring flowers. Medium-bodied, elegant, and totally satisfying both intellectually and on the palate, this white wine should drink nicely for several years." -Robert Parker

"Crisp, stony, grapefruit and citrus notes are present in this light-bodied, dry, mineral-laced Muscadet. Wines such as this are the perfect foil for freshly shucked oysters. Enjoy it over the next 1-2 years."

"Bursts from the glass in an exuberant bouquet of buddleia and apple blossom; quince and intimations of wet stone. This transcends the poise and clarity exhibited by several immediately preceding Clos du Papillon bottlings and suggests that – chronologically speaking – we have moved up into a new echelon of expressiveness. The bitter, piquant notes of toasted nut, quinine, white pepper, and fruit pit here are extremely subtle and integrated into a matrix of lusciously juicy pear, white peach, and quince. A salvia-inducing salinity and scallop-like sweetness ally themselves to the stony mineral elements in this wine’s long finishing colloquy with flowers and fruits, and there is a levity and refreshment – a sheer drinkability – that I have not noticed in previous Baumard Savennieres – particularly pre-2007. Yet there is still ample sense of glycerin-richness and subtle oiliness. The combination of roughly a half percent less alcohol and more expressive acidity renders this drier-tasting than its 2006 and 2007 counterparts. Florent Baumard admits that a lesser percentage of his 2008s went through malo-lactic transformation than in most vintages, though I did not have chance to check precise analytical data on that. This sensational value is a delight to drink now. Whether it will “suffer” on that account a reduced “life span” must remain to be seen, although if anything my intuition is that this will be lovely for a decade, but that you would be foolish to deprive yourself of its short-term pleasure."

"The combination of brine and oyster shell signaled already in the nose of Blanchet’s 2011 Pouilly-Fume Vieilles Vignes suffuses the apple, grapefruit, and lime that render the palate satisfyingly juicy. I miss quite the clarity, focus, energy, or extension found in the best examples of this cuvee, but there is still plenty of refreshment, and mouthwatering hints of salinity as well as stony notes manage to make their way into the finish."

"Delivers an almost inordinate diversity of floral, herbal, citrus, and pit-fruit elements. ...with the bitterness of fruit pits, smoky pungency of red currant and crushed stone, as well as notes of shrimp shell reduction and iodine inflecting a long, bittersweet, yet at the same time vibrant, buoyant finish. This silken textured seducer should gain with time in bottle and be worth following for ten or a dozen years." 93-94+ pts.

"A stunning Pouilly Fume, this 2010 offers up notes of honeyed melons, white peaches, crushed rocks and smoked herbs. Medium-bodied with a fresh personality as well as outstanding texture and concentration balanced by penetrating and zesty acidity, this superb white wine can be enjoyed over the next several years." -Robert Parker

"Tiny berry- and desiccated concentration rather than botrytis characterize even the 2009 Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg Moelleux 1er Trie. This evinces an as yet unresolved tension between fresh citrus, chalk, and alkali on the one hand, and honey, caramel, and nut paste on the other. For all of its ripeness, there is a sense of textural firmness underlying the palate impression here. Marzipan, singed vanilla cookies, and suggestions of both peach and strawberry preserves enhance the wine’s confectionary aura, and despite its manifestly good strong acidity by vintage standards, the nearly 100 grams of residual sugar present here certainly result in a dominating youthful sweetness in its formidably long finish. If you want this to balance on its own (i.e. not in a dessert wine capacity) then I would be prepared to wait more than a decade, and the wine no doubt has at least three in it. Pinguet says this reminds him of the 1989 1er trie bottlings at the same stage."