First rate wine that marries considerable richness and surprising freshness. Very slick winemaking that emphasises harmony. Beautiful layered complexity. Light and fluffy texture that felt like a cloud in the glass.

Mature wine of considerable character. Structurally built on its acid. Moderate bead intensity in keeping with its age.Quite aged in character but very complex with it - the acid keeps the wine in focus. Slightly maderised.

A huge nose and the taste of canned peas dominates a wine of considerable glycerine. Certainly held too long ( in a very cold cellar) I was unable to finish a glass of this. The body and mouthfeel of the wine certainly alludes to what would have been a spectacular bottle of wine 10 years ago.

Beautiful example of aged Riesling with 10 grams per litre of residual sugar. A point at the moment - this bottle enjoyed excellent bottle age character, stunning Riesling varietal fruit, great minerality and a strong acid backbone. The sugar contributes to a lush and opulent finish.

Rich aged Chardonnay that was slightly clumsy at the table. Highly oaked with bottle age character and lots of presence in the mouth. The flavours veered towards opulence and tropical flavours that to my taste were slightly unrelieved by the structural elements in the wine. I would call this outstanding but slightly out of balance.

Light Chablis styled wine. That features a sulfite influenced nose that focuses on mineral, herbal and peaty Chardonnay fruit. Crisp and complex. This is light food wine that has excellent class. I called this French - even after seeing the label.

Stunning showing for this bottle that for me further emphasises that Chave Hermitage Blanc is one of the glories of France. At 23 years of age, this is perfect now but shows no sense of needing to be drunk up. It feels ageless and to me, defines harmony. Fat honeysuckle nose and palate with great glycerine depth and some alcoholic heat on the back palate. Close to perfect to me and a wine I would love to revisit in 10-15 years. Note that this wine needed two hours in a decanter to open up. Very youthful colour.

Gorgeous nose, dominated by beautiful floral top notes driven by well judged volatile acidity. On the palate, beautifully harmonious and silken mouthfeel that has clear new oak influence that is integrated. Lovely to drink and apparently one of the successes of the vintage, the wine is undoubtedly outstanding but lacks the requisite multi layered complexity to warrant a higher score - it just lacks a bit of complexity on the palate.

Still an absolute baby - has the look and nose of a much younger wine. Drunk next to a Pichon Baron 1990, almost the entire table confused the two wines. Once the identities were revealed those people who confused them ( including me) could see the ripeness of the California fruit vs. the green streak of the Bordeaux. This is certainly world class Cabernet that is slightly monolithic but I imagine will develop into a more nuanced wine with further age. Beautiful fruit and immaculate winemaking at work.

Very youthful appearance, ripe and rich with a distinct green edge. Slightly monolithic in nature, this was confused with a Phelps Insignia 1992.... Very well made and I could see this developing more transparency and nuance with more age. 91+ points.

Stuck in a time warp, this wine has not budged in evolution in over ten years. Black cherry fruit, tobacco thick tannins - this was the most monolithic wine on the table. For me, this wine will always be chunky and hugely tannic but will also always have impressive fruit power. I would be surprised if this developed to grace but it certainly is a wine of impressive dimension that is crying out for a rich fatty braise. 88+? Points hard to say where this wine is going...

Very mature with great development. Very botrytis and caramel in style that lacks acid cut and felt a little unfocused.